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People held as slaves by MRCD Menude

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Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Charleston, South Carolina, United Statesmap
Surnames/tags: Slaves Menude
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Marie-Rose Castonnet-Desfosses (MRCD) Menude was a French planter and refugee from Saint-Domingue who came to Charleston, South Carolina as a widow in 1791, and lived there until her death in 1812.

Mme Menude evidently left Saint-Domingue with some material resources, during the early stages of the revolution that ultimately led to the independence of Haiti. It is not known if she also brought with her any enslaved people (as some French refugees apparently did), or who they may have been.

Information on the enslaved people held by Mme Menude as presented here comes from her estate inventory on 22 July 1812, and a few records of sale of enslavement rights while she was still living.

Contents

People held as slaves at time of death

The estate inventory for MRCD Menude[1] included the names of 30 people she had held as slaves (plus 4 unnamed children mentioned with their respective mothers). These are listed in the sortable table below. The numbering, which does not appear in the original, was added to reflect the order of their mention in the estate inventory (which appears to have been random). The transcription of some names may need review and possible correction. The comments in quotes are from the document.

No. Name Age Comments
01 Bob 45
02 Tiamba 25 "& Child"
03 Cyrus 70
04 Nancy - "an old Woman unable to do any Work"
05 Aly 60
06 Philis 30 "& her two children"
07 Jim 28
08 Nany 45
09 Andrew 40
10 Françoise 30
11 Peter 25
12 Mary 25
13 Jack 65
14 Sophia 22
15 Billy 45 "(ruptured)"
16 Collot 45
17 Peggy - "an old Woman unable to Work"
18 Gabe 45
19 Louis 14
20 Cyrus 45
21 Marie Joseph 50
22 Clarissa 23 "& Child"
23 Seide 29
24 Edward 27
25 François 20
26 Genevieve 23
27 Hyacinthe 26
28 Voltaire 24
29 Justine 17
30 Jasmin 55 "(cook)"

Anyone over age 21 in the above list would have been old enough to have been born before Mme Menude's departure from Saint-Domingue in 1791. It is tempting to see the French names of some of these people as evidence of a connection with Saint-Domingue, but the names could just as easily have been assigned by the enslaver.

Information from sales of enslavement rights

MRCD Menude bought and sold rights to hold enslaved people. Information on this comes from "bills of sale" naming the people subject to the transactions.

  • On 23 September 1807, she sold the rights over "Celestine with her two children named Philippe and Alexander" to Philippe S. Noisette.[2] (Some secondary sources interpret name of the seller as "RCD Menude," but the text clearly has "M. R. C. D. Menude" in 3 locations on the document, and no record for an RCD Menude in Charleston has been found. A reason for the confusion might be that in one of four mentions in the document of the purchaser, "P. Noisette," the latter's name is prefaced with "Mr.") It is generally accepted in materials that treat Noisette history and genealogy that Celestine was born in what later became Haiti.
  • On 12 August 1808, she sold the rights over a "Mulatto boy named St. Jean aged about eight years" to Joseph Desir.[3] (The meta-data on the online source has the date as 12 September 1808, but the written date in the original seems to be August.)
  • On 12 September 1808, she purchased the rights over "one Negro man named Cyrus ... a Compleate Carpenter" from Christian Tamarus, Carpenter.[4] This would presumably be the younger Cyrus in the estate listing. (It appears that Mr. Tamarus or Tamerus had purchased enslavement rights over this same person only two years earlier, on 13 July 1806.[5])

Additional information

In 1825, an enslaved woman named Felicity, with the "slave owner's surname" of Menude, died in Charleston, SC. Her age at the time would indicate birth around 1789. It is not known what connection she may have had with the MRCD Menude household (or perhaps that of her son, JBG Menude), or at what time.

None of the information above gets into the history of enslavement in Saint-Domingue by Mme. Menude, who with her husband (and perhaps from her inheritance) owned various plantations in that colony. Such history, if records exist, would among other things perhaps help fill out details on the lives of some of the abovementioned enslaved people. One tantalizing hint might be the story of an Alexis Menude, who apparently purchased his own freedom (from whom?) and served as a free Black member of the militia in Saint-Domingue until his death around 1792.

Sources

  1. "South Carolina, Charleston District, Estate inventories, 1732-1844," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:W1WZ-T13Z : 12 March 2020), M R C D Menude, 22 Jul 1812; citing Court, Charleston, South Carolina, United States, L10136, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia.
  2. "South Carolina, Charleston District, Bill of sales of Negro slaves, 1774-1872," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:W1XW-YXZM : 12 March 2020), M R C D Menude, 23 Sep 1807; citing Court, Charleston, South Carolina, United States, Records Of The Secretary Of State, Recorded Instruments, Miscellaneous Records (Main Series), Bills Of Sale Volumes, 464, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia.
  3. "South Carolina, Charleston District, Bill of sales of Negro slaves, 1774-1872," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:W1X7-V92M : 21 May 2021), M R Menude, 12 Sep 1808; citing Court, Charleston, South Carolina, United States, Records Of The Secretary Of State, Recorded Instruments,
  4. "South Carolina, Charleston District, Bill of sales of Negro slaves, 1774-1872," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:W1X7-V3MM : 21 May 2021), Mary Rose Menude, 12 Sep 1808; citing Court, Charleston, South Carolina, United States, Records Of The Secretary Of State, Recorded Instruments, Miscellaneous Records (Main Series), Bills Of Sale Volumes, 100, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia.
  5. "South Carolina, Charleston District, Bill of sales of Negro slaves, 1774-1872," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:W1XQ-1GT2 : 12 March 2020), Christian Tamerus, 25 Aug 1806; citing Court, Charleston, South Carolina, United States, Records Of The Secretary Of State, Recorded Instruments, Miscellaneous Records (Main Series), Bills Of Sale Volumes, 257, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia.




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