Inventory of Jerome de Livet (1739)

 

While continuing our search through notarized documents from Jacmel, we found one from 1739 from the estate of the deceased Jerome de Livet or Livet, a Jacmel planter. Their presence in the region can be attested as early as 1712, though of their 31 slaves, only 8 were children (not included in the table). However, 4 of the children were described as Creole, while some of the adult Creoles were "English" (presumably acquired via intercolonial slave trading). Interestingly, there were nearly twice as many adult males as women among the estate, so one is not surprised that the number of "Creole" children was rather small. This inventory is also unique in that the rare "Madagascar" slaves make an appearance. While Charlevoix had mentioned small-scale imports of Madagascar and even "Monomotapa" slaves into the colony, they were supposedly not considered good workers. Yet the de Livet estate included on Thomas, a "Madagascar." This brings to mind the story of a free person of color, a Roumat, said to be the grandchild of a black Madagascar woman later in the century. The fact that Ibos and Congos were not the largest groups (both trailing Creoles) demonstrates how variable each plantation could be in its workforce.