Free Women of Color In Spanish Colonial New

Free Women of Color In Spanish Colonial New Orleans, 1768 -1803 Research by Keia Wegner Mentor Dr. Seth Meisel New Orleans Population by Status and Sex, 1771 -1805 Whites Free Blacks Year M F Total Sex Ratio M 1771 --- --1, 803 ----- 97 ----1777 1, 104 632 1, 736 175 101 214 315 47 518 1788 1, 310 1, 060 2, 370 124 233 587 820 40 956 1791 1, 474 912 2, 386 162 324 538 862 60 871 1805 1, 901 1, 650 3, 551 115 324 942 1, 566 66 1, 338 Purpose: My paper examined the economic and social mobility of free women of color in Spanish colonial New Orleans through an analysis of notarial documents, wills, acts, and marriage records. These records showed how free women of color’s relationships with white, upper class males, affected their children and later generations through patterns of economic and social mobility and wealth. Slaves F Total Sex Ratio --1, 227 --633 1, 151 82 1, 175 2, 131 81 918 1, 789 95 1, 767 3, 105 76 KEY Child Married Liaison Sources: For 1771: Kinnaird, Spain in the Mississippi Valley, 2: 196; for 1777: “Padron general de todos los individuos de la provincia de Luisiana, ” AGI PC 2351, 12 May 1777; for 1788: “Resumen general del padron hecho en la provincial de la Luisiana, distrito de la Movila y plaza de Panzacola, ” AGI PC 1425, 1788; for 1791 Census; for 1805: Flannery, New Orleáns in 1805. (From Kimberly S. Hanger, Bounded Lives, Bounded Places: Free Black Society in Colonial New Orleáns, 1769 -1803. Durham: Duke University Press, 1997, pg. 22). Family Benefits From Relations with White Males Prudhome Family Tree Mr. Prudhome (White) The first woman, Maria Juana Prudhome benefited from two relationships with white males. The second one seemed to prove more fruitful since Don Juan Antonio Lugar named his two natural daughters from Prudhome his heirs and also gave half the value of his house to her daughter from her first relationship, Margarita. Angelica Forest (Morena Libre) Excerpts From Notarial Books of Juan Bautista Garic Joseph Cabaret (Pardo Libre) Maria Juana Prudhome (Parda) Anonymous Male (White) Carlos Decoudreaux* (Cuarteron) Don Juan Antonio Lugar (White) Margarita Castanedo* (Cuarterona) Rita (Cuarterona) Petrona (Cuarterona) Her daughter, Margarita Castanedo married a free man of color named Carlos Decoudreaux with connections to white society as well. His sister’s relationship with Don Luis Dauqueminil de Morant allowed him to be a godfather to many of his “nieces and nephews” and also stood as a guarantor for a loan one of Maria Francisca’s sisters used to help her tavern. Decoudreaux Family Tree Anonymous Partner (White) Average Price for Manumission (in Pesos Fuertes) by Decade and Slave’s Sex, New Orleans Decade Females N Males Mariana (Cuarterona) Fanchoneta Decoudreaux (Parda Libre) Catalina (Cuarterona) Carlos (Cuarteron) N 1771 -1779 254 97 270 57 1780 -1789 419 166 507 355 244 328 136 1800 -1803 359 131 385 101 All Years 347 638 373 395 Don Luis Dauqueminil de Moran (White) 101 1790 -1799 Margarita Castanedo (Cuarterona) Maria Francisca (Cuarterona) Large Inheritances From Free Women of Color Mandeville Family Tree Source: Notarial Records (From Kimberly S. Hanger, Bounded Lives, Bounded Places: Free Black Society in Colonial New Orleáns, 1769 -1803. Durham: Duke University Press, 1997, pg. 31). Mr. Mandeville (White) Francisco Durand (Pardo Libre) Maria Juana (India Mestiza Libre) Luison Mandeville (Parda) Don Jose Lopez de la Pena (White) Dona Clara (Cuarterona/White) • Depending on the language of a sale or manumission and the price, one can infer if there was some sort of unique bond between a white gentleman and a free woman of color. For example, in one notarial record I found from 1774, a Don Juan manumitted his slave named Maria Luiza for 250 pesos and 8 reales. This price was average for the time period and the manumission record does not contain frivolous language about her “loving care” and “special bonds” as some others do. • In 1799, Fanchon Montreuil (from the family tree) bought a female slave for 150 pesos when the average price was around 383 pesos. In 1771, Maria Chateaulin bought a 13 year old female slave for 140 pesos when the average price was 197 pesos. In 1797, Margarita Castanedo (also in the family tree) was given a female slave as a gift, when the average price was 244 pesos. Two out of the four women are known to have had intimate relationships with white gentleman; these relationships in turn benefited them economically. Sources: Notaries Juan Bautista Garic and Carlos Ximenez. Averages from Hanger, Bounded Lives, Bounded Places, pg. 78. Montreuil Family Tree Francisco Rancontre (White) Don Pedro Cadis (White) Susana (? ) Fanchon Montreuil (Morena Libre) Naneta Cadis (Parda) Pedro Bailly (Pardo Libre) Luison Mandeville (Brouner) was also a woman who benefited from liaisons with white gentleman. She later (like Prudhome) married a free man of color (Francisco Durand) and into the marriage brought “…a plot of land a house with a separate kitchen in New Orleans, much furniture, personal clothing, and five slaves”. Her and her husband also benefited from the fictive kin ties of her godmother, Naneta Chabert. Don Louis Declouet (White) Finally, Fanchon Montreuil left behind a large estate for her family to inherit (As did her daughter Naneta). Fanchon “… possessed an estate valued at 10, 459 pesos…. five slaves, one slave that was promised freedom, a house and lot in New Orleans, two plantations along Bayou Road, livestock, furniture, and household goods…”. Sources: Notaries Juan Bautista Garic and Carlos Ximenez. Hanger, Bounded Lives, Bounded Places pgs. 53, 76, 93, 97, 106, 85, 94, 82, 107 A Big Thanks To: The Undergraduate Research Center and University of Wisconsin Whitewater for allowing me this opportunity and sending me to New Orleans for my research, Dr. Seth Meisel, The New Orleans Notarial Archives Staff, Kali Wegner & Joseph Cull