Magloire et Henriette: After the Happily Ever After

This post is a follow-up to a previous post that I wrote. It was titled “Magloire et Henriette” and it was about a love letter that my great great great great grandfather wrote to his future wife. The letter was written in 1799 and the couple was married June 28, 1801, in St. Gabriel, Louisiana. That would have been the beginning of the happily ever after.

When I wrote that previous post, I intentionally left it in an idealized form. The letter was so formally written in fine French penmanship and he was so sincere in expressing his undying devotion to his lovely wife to be. But when I was looking at documents pertaining to their life, there were things that were definitely not ideal. I decided to leave that out of the first introduction to the couple. The letter was romanticized, but we all know that life isn’t always perfect. Just as I would hope that you don’t demonize the couple for what you find out about them, I wouldn’t want to only present an idealized version of them either.

I was thinking about Magloire and Henriette this week for two reasons. The first reason I was thinking of them is because I ran across some documents about their son Magloire, Jr. this week. Magloire and Henriette had eight children. The first two were daughters that married into the LaBauve family. Then Magloire, Jr. came along. He married a LeBlanc. Their fourth child was my great great great grandmother Jeanne Zerbine, who married Elie Onezime Landry. They were the parents of Emma Landry who married French immigrant Ferdinand Patureau. They are the couple that brought forth all of the Patureau cousins in southern Louisiana. After Jeanne came Edouard Dupuy who also married a Landry, though not a close relation to Elie Onezime. The next son was Alphonse Dupuy. The next daughter was Henriette Coralie, who also married into the same LaBauve family. Their last child was Amelia.

The other reason I was thinking of this couple concerns the ‘definitely not ideal’ part of their life: they were slave owners. I went to a genealogy meeting last weekend that concerned documentation of sales and conveyances in Ascension Parish. The focus was on finding slave records and how that was documented to ensure that family members can find clues about their enslaved ancestors. Since the meeting was in West Baton Rouge, I thought that they might discuss documents from that area pertaining to slavery. But they didn’t.

I was more interested in West Baton Rouge Parish because that is where Magloire and Henriette lived after they were married. Some of their first children were born in St. Gabriel, but at some point they moved to Brusly. Then in 1819, Magloire died at the age of 41, less than a year after their last child was born. That’s the reason we have records of all of their belongings, both fixed and moveable. There was a succession performed at Henriette’s request to determine the value of their possessions and to ensure the protection of her minor children.

The succession information didn’t seem that striking at first. It just gave a description of the property and it introduced the reasons for the succession. A bit of family history information was shown and in a few places I found the handwritten signature of Henriette. I really liked seeing that.

Then it went on to start listing things and the assessed value. A bedstead here, a closet there, nine chairs, a table, and other assorted things for values of a few dollars to around $30. I was starting to think that they didn’t own much. Then I started seeing the names. I really disliked seeing that.

There was “a negroe man named Ben, estimated $800.” Then “a negroe man named Noel, estimated $1500.” The one that was really gut-wrenching was the one that said “a negroe wench named Eulalie with four children estimated $1700.” I can’t imagine being a mother (possibly herself born into slavery) in 1819 trying to explain what life was about to her four children born into slavery. Slavery would continue for another 45 years, but they didn’t know that. There was no promised end in sight.

There was a total of eleven enslaved individuals listed. In addition to the ones already listed, there was Marguerite and her two children and another woman named Agnes. It is difficult to find words to talk about this situation. I knew the history of my family and knew that they were involved in the wretched institution of slavery. But seeing the names of individuals makes it more personal. In an institution all about depersonalization, names bring back the personal.

So when I think back on the names of my ancestors Magloire and Henriette, I will be thinking of other names as well. There will be Ben and Noel, Marguerite and her two kids, and Agnes, but mostly I will remember Eulalie and her four children. People with hopes and fears just like you and me.