The volume displayed here records information on slaves emancipated by the Councils of the city's three municipalities during the period 186-1850. The Marie Laveau whose estate freed Sans Souci in January 1848 is not the famous voodoo practitioner, but the Mrs. L. Lalaurie who freed Orestes in the following year is the infamous slave-owner of the Haunted House on Royal Street legend! View text of document
This volume of estate inventories, 1816-1818, includes the record of property left by Gabriel Tagand in 1817. Among Tagand's possessions were three slaves, each of whom is identified in the record by name, age, and occupation, along with some indication of her/his origin. This document, along with hundred like it that are available on microfilm, make it clear that urban slave holdings were often quite small--nothing at all like the slave populations to be found on large cotton and sugar plantations in the rest of Louisiana. View text of document
These pages from a scrapbook kept by Benjamin Kendig & Co., a local auctioneering firm during the antebellum period, record two slave sales in which Kendig was involved. They summarize information from the actual sale documents, including the name, age, occupation, and place of origin for each individual slave included in the transaction. The actual slave sale documents are on file at the New Orleans Notarial Archives at 421 Loyola Ave. (basement level). View text of document
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