They called their Claiborne County plantation “La Cache” — the hiding place — but for Harmon and Margaret Blennerhasset there wasn’t a place to shield them from their political, economic and social woes.

The Blennerhassets came to the Mississippi Territory with Aaron Burr, the former vice president of the United States who, about 1807, gathered a small army and began a flotilla down the Mississippi River from the Ohio. It was rumored he planned to start a new country on Spanish land that is now Texas. When the expedition fell apart near Bruins-burg, the Blennerhassets decided to stay in Claiborne County.

Gordon Cotton is an author and historian who lives in Vicksburg.

Blennerhasset was not of noble birth, but he was from an Irish family of landed gentry and received his law degree from Trinity College in Dublin and was admitted to the bar in 1790. Seven years later, he and his wife, Margaret, arrived in New York, stayed a short while, then moved to an island they purchased in the Ohio River below Parkersburg.

He claimed all his siblings had died and he had inherited a vast fortune. Margaret was the daughter of the lieutenant governor of the Isle of Man; her maiden name was Agnew.

On their island the Blennerhassets created a virtual paradise, building a fine home surrounded by elaborate gardens. He enjoyed astronomy and chemistry and loved to hunt and to farm. He wrote music and played both the violin and violincello. Margaret was considered the epitome of culture and refinement. Tall and fair, she had dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. She often dressed in bright colors and wore a turban.

She, too, was a musician, wrote poetry and was fluent in both French and Italian. The couple spent many hours in the library, reading, enjoying music and delving into scientific experiments. Blennerhasset also wrote for the Ohio Gazette, urging the western states and territories to leave the 13 original colonies and start their own country.

It was into this setting that Aaron Burr came in the early 1800s, attracted by the beauty of the island home — and some thought by Margaret. It was decided to undertake the expedition to the Southwest. Goods would be stored on the island, and troops trained there. The flotilla departed on the night of Dec. 10, 1806; soon after, the Ohio militia wrecked the place.

Blennerhasset was not only Burr’s first lieutenant, but no doubt also supplied much of the money. After Burr’s arrest and hearing, and later his trial for treason (of which he was acquitted), he returned north, then moved to Europe.

On Feb. 10, 1810, the Blennerhassets bought La Cache on Chubby’s Creek Fork of Bayou Pierre, paying $4,000 for 1,000 acres. They immediately began a structure that was similar to the island home; it was an elegant mansion in the wilds of Claiborne County.

Blennerhasset established himself in the community. He was appointed to lay out a public road and in 1813 superintended the erection of a stockade for protection from Indians. The embargo of 1812, however, was the start of his financial ruin.

Troubles with his neighbors exist on the pages of history and in rumors. It was said he shot one neighbor and that another threatened him with an ax. In 1818, there was a dispute with other neighbors who took several bales of cotton from La Cache presumably to settle a debt. Threats of death were made by both parties, and Blennerhasset and his son Dominic fired, but failed to hit anyone. The Blennerhassets were accused of beating one neighbor into insensibility and leaving him for dead. They were arrested, found guilty, fined a $1,000 and remanded to short terms in jail. The case had been appealed to the state Supreme Court, the second ruling by that body. They lost again, blamed it partially on the attorney general and tried to have him impeached.

On Dec. 21, 1818, Blennerhasset sold La Cache to Robert Cochran and John Murdoch for $25,000, and the much-troubled family left for Canada.

During their years in Claiborne County, it was said that Margaret Blennerhasset could hold her own against any man when it came to drinking. It was also rumored that she had danced at the tavern for entertainment, a story which, true or not, disgraced her socially.

The Blennerhasset family included a daughter, Margaret, who had died in Ohio, and another one born at La Cache, also named Margaret, who died there. There were three sons — Dominic, Harmon Jr., and Joseph Lewis. Only Joseph Lewis lived a normal life and earned college degrees with high honors and was a linguist like his mother. The other sons were described as “moral degenerates.”

Before they left Mississippi, Harmon Blennerhasset petitioned the legislature for financial assistance, but nothing came of it. The family moved to Montreal, to Ireland, then to the Isle of Guernsey where he died in 1831.

Margaret returned to the United States, seeking reimbursement from the government that had destroyed her home and basically, as she saw it, ruined her life. Coming to her defense was Henry Clay, who told his fellow senators of her needs, that “her condition is one of absolute want, and she has but a short time left to enjoy any better fortune in this world.” But all was in vain, for she died before Congress could act. She died in New York City, among strangers, and is buried in an unmarked grave.

Harmon and Margaret Blennerhasset had found no hiding place at La Cache or anywhere else, but one thing had remained hidden from public scrutiny for a century or more, until 1901, when a descendant, through Joseph Lewis Blennerhasset, told the family secret: Margaret Blennerhasset was the daughter of Catherine Agnew — she was Harmon Blennerhasset’s niece.

Today they are practically forgotten, remembered on old court records and in the footnotes of history. Their Claiborne County plantation, on Tiliman Road beyond Mercy Seat Church, has been developed into subdivisions, and a hunting camp takes up most of the site where the mansion stood. La Cache is private, posted property.

Terraces and walkways outlined with flowers are reminders of the Blennerhassets’ gardens, but the bricks and ruins on the site appear to be from a later home. The couples’ La Cache is literally that — a hiding place obscured by time and the elements.