Marie Pierre Haoussa and Louis Baronnet fils (1792)

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One document we have been thinking about the last few days is a notarized contract from 1792. Establishing a société d'habitation de Marie Pierre Haoussa avec Louis Baronnet fils, the document is interesting for the surname of Marie Pierre: Haoussa. Although most documents in colonial Haiti spell "Hausa" as Aoussa, not Haoussa, we were nonetheless curious about Marie Pierre as a person of possible Hausa extraction. After all, colonial legislation did attempt to push free people to bear African names. Furthermore, people of African origin were sometimes known by a first name and their alleged "nation," too. 

In the case of Marie Pierre Haoussa, however, we could not trace her exact origins. It would appear that she was a free black woman owning land in Aquin, presumably i an area that may be today's la Colline à Mongons. When checking the parish registry, we did come across a Marie Pierre, black Creole, who married her "mulatto" master in 1781. But there is no indication of Marie Pierre's parents' origins in the parish books for Aquin. We were also wondering why she did not use her husband's surname, but he may not have been of legitimate birth either. Either way, Gabriel and this Marie Pierre had a number of children, he married her, and, from what we could gather, the Marie Pierre Haoussa named here could be the same woman.

In terms of her 1792 partnership with a man from Bainet, we were struck by the huge diversity in slaves both brought into their planned coffee farm. Marie Pierre was responsible for bringing 6 slaves, most apparently female. They consist of a mix of Arada, Mandingue, Thiamba, Ibo, Canga and one "nation" we could not decipher in the notary's handwriting (perhaps Aguiam?). Baronnet fils, on the other hand, was responsible for bringing in more slaves who were mostly male. Since the land was apparently held by Marie Pierre Haoussa, he may have been required to supply more of the forced labor. Either way, his enslaved workers were also very diverse in origins. One, whose "nation" looks like Guialuuka, is from a background we could not figure out. But others included Thiamba, Bibi (Ibibio), Biny (possibly Edo, for people from the kingdom of Benin), Congo, Creoles, Ibos, and a Mine. 

Naturally, we will have to conduct further searches in the notarized documents and parish registry to see if we can locate more records of Marie Pierre. But, the fact that she owned land and slaves is consistent with someone who was married to a free "mulatto" landowner for some time in the region. We suspect the "Haoussa" part of her name comes from an African-born father but have to dig deeper into the archives to prove it. 

Inventory of Louis Torteau (1719)

In addition to Bainet plantations, it is worthwhile to explore inventories, contracts, deeds, and sales for Jacmel and Cayes-de-Jacmel. We suspect the demographics of the slave population in those parishes was similar to that of Bainet, and the 3 parishes likely received their slaves via the same mechanisms. In order to explore an early inventory, we found one of Louis Torteau from 1719. A commandant of the militia and supposedly the son of a nobleman in France, Torteau owned about 40 slaves. He appears to have been an indigo planter like so many of the early colons of the Jacmel quarter. One wonders if, due to his supposedly noble background and other connections, he might have had easier access to slaves than other colonists, who may have relied upon the Compagnie de Saint-Domingue's ineffective supply. Perhaps he was also buying smuggled captives? What is surprising to us is that he had fewer Creole slaves. With the exception of 2 adult Creoles, there were 8 children who, it is impossible to say, may have been born in Africa or the colony. If we assume the children were Creoles, then only 1/4 of his human property were Creoles. This is in sharp contrast to what the data suggests for the Saugrain in Bainet, who owned a similar number of captives in 1720. However, in their case, perhaps the Creole presence was higher due to a greater number of children. In addition, the Saugrain had been present in Bainet since at least 1703, when they owned 8 captives. Perhaps Torteau's enslaved laborers represent a later plantation owned by someone of means and status.

What is striking about the Torteau case is the marked increase in "Congos." With 10 Congos and 1 Mondongue, about 27.5% of his bonded laborers were of Central African origin. If one counts the children of "Congo" slaves, 35% of the laborers were of West Central African origin. What is also surprising in this case was the large Mine population (8 adults, plus 3 children of Mine). If the Mine or Mina represent a Gold Coast-derived group, as some of their names suggest (names like Coffy, for instance, sometimes appear among these captives), then the "Mine" could have been a sizable presence on some plantations during this era. After the Mina, the Arada and "Senegal" are next at 4 adults each. However, with 2 children of Arada captives, those of "Arada" descent represented 6 out of 40 slaves. The "Senegal" may have included a Muslim captive, named Fatima (Fatiment). The other Africans, include a Mondongue, a Bambara, a Barba (Bariba?) and one person of a "nation" we could not read. It is interesting to note the diversity of "nations" reported here, albeit in tiny numbers. With 4 "Senegal" anda  Bambara, about 5/40 slaves were from "Upper Guinea" while the other West Africans were Lower Guinea. The substantial Central African presence is also worthy of note. We hope to gather more data from inventories and notarized records, especially for coffee plantations, to help us establish with a bit more clarity some of the distinctions between indigo and coffee plantations. However, in order to do that, we must delve deeper into the data.

Bainet in 1739

ANOM also includes a 1739 census for Saint Domingue, with the Jacmel quarter's population and other statistics. It is an interest change observable just 9 years after the 1730 Census for Saint Domingue. First of all, Bainet's free black and mulatto population disappeared. Instead, no adult or child free people of color are reported. Obviously, when one consults the parish register for the 1730s, however, there were free people of color in the parish. Thus, many free people of color were probably passing as "white" or accepted as such, which may have been easier due to rise of coffee plantations in the area. It is interesting to see that while Bainet's free population of color vanished in 1739, that of Jacmel and Cayes de Jacmel were still reported. Intriguingly, Bainet's white population also dropped to 156 (including the priest). Either many whites left the parish in between 1730 and 1739 or census of 1730 overestimated their count at 168 (which is likely did). Nonetheless, the 12 free people of color reported in 1730 could have disappeared from the total population of (free) males to decrease their numbers from 168 to 156. 

The apparent development of coffee plantations in the area appears to have been the major development that would shape the future of colonial Bainet for the rest of the century. While the number of indigoteries increased from 57 to 67, the inclusion of coffee plantations or estates in the statistical data was a new feature. Bainet, which possessed 51,800 pieds of caféières, accounted for about 64.55% of the total in the quarter (Jacmel, Cayes de Jacmel, and Bainet). Presumably, the expansion of coffee plantations in the area also fueled the increase of the enslaved population in Bainet, which reached a total of 535 adult, laboring slaves out of the quarter's total of 2532. Bainet's total enslaved population reached approximately 889 (assuming the exemptions category is taken from the total adult enslaved population) this year, a significant increase since 1730. There was also an increase in the numbers of infirm and children among this population, although adult slaves still comprised the majority. The increase in cotton production must have similarly driven a need for more enslaved labor, since numbers grew from 9780 pieds of cottoniers to 72,000. 

Thus, by 1739, Bainet appears to reached the form that would characterize it until the end of slavery. Indigo, coffee and cotton were the major crops, although tobacco was once important in Bainet's history, too. The area's free people of color could occasionally be considered as "white" but shifts in racial ideology and politics likely led to many who used to pass becoming "people of color" once more. As demonstrated by Trouillot's "Motion in the System: Coffee, Color, and Slavery in Eighteenth-Century Saint-Domingue", areas like Bainet became one in which free people of color outnumbered whites and coffee was either the most important product or shared that status with indigo. We presume the enslaved population also became more "Creole" on some plantations (perhaps the indigo ones) while coffee may have been fueled by imports of "cheaper" slaves. Alas, we have not yet located any detailed records or inventories of early coffee plantations in Bainet, so we cannot ascertain an average number of workers per plantation or get a sense of the African nations represented. 

Bainet's Population in 1730

Looking at ANOM's digitized collection of Saint Domingue census material brought our attention to this detailed 1730 census. Bainet's population in that year is enumerated separately from Jacmel, so one can see exactly who was living in the area in that year. Of course, some of the information must be interpreted carefully, as with all censuses. What is interesting is that only 12 free black and mulatto persons were enumerated, although there were likely additional free people of color who may have been counted as white in 1730 (besides, women seem to be excluded from that total). In total, Bainet had 700 slaves in this year, with 325 male adults and 138 enslaved women. Among the enslaved children, only 168 were counted while the infirm were about 69. Bainet also had the smallest slave population in the Jacmel quartier, which is not too surprising. For the entire quartier, only Jacmel possessed a sucrerie so indigoteries were the main type of plantation. However, Bainet did have more cotton than Cayes de Jacmel and, presumably, Jacmel. 

It is clear that Bainet at this stage was still a developing area in terms of the colony's slave-based plantation model. Indigo and cotton were profitable, but one can see that the white population, which reached a total of about 168 people, was not outnumbered by the slave population to the same extreme degree like in other parts of the colony. Of course, part of the "white" population were likely mixed-race people, but we are still talking about a region with a less "developed" plantation economy than Jacmel and Cayes de Jacmel, with only 57 indigoteries to 101 in Cayes de Jacmel or 147 in Jacmel. Of course, the adult enslaved laboring population in Bainet was lower than that of the other two parishes in the quarter, only 463 out of the total 2,263 (20.46%). 

Bainet Origins with Ancestry DNA Estimates

Our Haitian parent took a DNA test via Ancestry recently. A native of Bainet, we find their results to be what one might expect of an average Haitian person: mainly sub-Saharan African in origin (and a mix of various parts of West Africa and West Central Africa) and some European ancestry (mainly French). None of this is too surprising, and we always knew our mother's family had some European ancestry. However, we believe she was trying to find more precise data on her African ancestry. Unfortunately, the algorithm and samples used by Ancestry appear to be rather limited on details or precision when it comes to sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, we see results broken down by nation without any additional breakdown on specific ethnic groups within these occasionally vast or large nations & regions. For instance, what does it mean to be 25% Nigerian, like our parent? Nigeria is a large country with dozens of ethnic groups. We know some of the modern-day populations of Nigeria were enslaved in Saint Domingue, like the Yoruba, Nupe, Hausa and Ibo, but this genetic ancestry estimate only confirms that broadly. Nonetheless, as the amateur, self-proclaimed genealogist, I shall endeavor to connect her results with my previous feeble attempts at tracing our roots in the context of Bainet and Haitian history.

First, the easy part. The 11% European ancestry, only designated as 5% French. We believe there must be issues or occasional problems with the algorithm for detecting French ancestry. Or, alternatively, one of our very distant forebears may have been of Spanish or Iberian origin and took a French name upon arrival in Saint Domingue. As for Wales and Scotland, these are perhaps misread for French ancestry or, perhaps, a remnant of a Scottish family that lived in Bainet in the 1700s. We refer, of course, to the MacGill family of colonial Bainet. The first of that name in Bainet appears to have been a Michel MacGille, who died in 1750. ANOM, which has digitized the parish books of Baynet, has Michel MacGille listed as a native of Montserrat (?), indicating that he may have been from the British isles but resident in the Antilles before relocating to Bainet. Perhaps the Welsh and Scottish ancestry indicated in the Ancestry DNA estimate is also from this man, who could have raped an enslaved woman like so many planters and colons in the Antilles. Overall, the European ancestry is likely from France, and inherited from free people of color, including families we have ranted about previously at this blog. 

The African origins, the fun part, is, sadly, the most difficult to make sense of. Overall, our parent is mainly West African rather than Central African. However, this West African ancestry is rather well-distributed across that vast region. Although Senegal is represented at 3% (perhaps a sign of distant Wolof ancestry, although "Senegalois" were not always defined as such in the records of Saint Domingue, Mali (18%) is rather high. While this is a problematic category and lacks ethnic breakdowns, we assume this "Mali" ancestry in Bainet is likely traceable to the Bambara and Mandingue populations. We know Bambara were a sizable minority of the enslaved population in 18th century Bainet. Mandingue and other related peoples were also present in Saint Domingue, some of whom were actually Muslims. The rather high Mali results obtained here may be a sign of an important concentration of Bambara and Mandingue peoples in Bainet or its environs in the 18th century.

How to interpret the Ghana & Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Benin & Togo results is also difficult. We know from French records that Cotocoli, Mina, Hausa, Borno, Nupe, Ibo, Fon, Arada, Thiamba, Ouidah, Dahomey, and Nago were exported to Saint Domingue. Again, the lack of precise breakdowns of the African DNA results means we cannot go much further than this. We can hypothesize a general descent from all or some of these aforementioned groups in Bainet. Likewise, the 14% Cameroon, Congo and Western Bantu Peoples is probably indicating some degree of "Congo" ancestry, and we know the "Congos" were numerous in Saint-Domingue. Nigeria, an enormous nation of rich ethnic diversity, included Yoruba, Hausa, Ibo, Fulani, Borno (Kanuri?), Nupe and others sold into slavery. That rich ethnic diversity in Bainet may have included a demographically important Ibo component, as Ibos were present in Bainet. Indeed, Geggus's research on the French slave trade found a significant number of captives brought to the South of the colony were from the Bight of Biafra, which would have included Ibos. 

Intriguingly, our parent is overwhelmingly of West African origin rather than Central African, which we interpret as possibly being evidence of a deeper ancestry among Creole slaves. Our thinking here is that the already demographically significant Creole slave population had less Central African ancestry by the late 1700s, and this group appears to have been the majority on some plantations in Bainet. Indeed, looking at some data on the Saugrain plantation in 1720, one finds that Creole slaves were already the largest group. The other Africans were mainly West Africans, with areas of the Slave Coast and Gold Coast represented among the bossales and a mix of other Africans from Senegal and Central Africa. By the late 18th century, Creoles appear to have outnumbered the other slaves owned by at least one Perronneau in the 1790s and on two indigoteries studied by Siguret. The enslaved workforce of Bainet appears to have been largely Creole, with significant Ibo and Congo presence. 

Of course, the above is just speculation based on limited data. Sex ratios, plantation inventories, and more precise data on the growth of the slave population in Bainet is required. However, we find our results to be generally in concordance with that of a summary of 45 Haitian Ancestry DNA results analyzed here. The main difference is that our parent had far less Central African ancestry and more Mali. We would love to see more data from Bainet and people with Bainet origins to see if this pattern is generally true in our region. As for the "hacked" results, they reveal trace amounts of Khoisan, Aka, Mbuti and Indigenous Americas ancestry. Presumably, because the results are less than 0.5%, Ancestry did not include them into their Ethnicity breakdown. We assume Indigenous Americas is probably Taino of some sort or another. 

The "Indien" Prunier Connection

One surprising and random discovery made from examining the Baynet and Grand-Goave parish records is the find that the Prunier claimed "Indian" ancestry. Although we are missing adequate details on the origins of the Prunier, it would seem that two daughters of Michel Pitiot and Marie Victoire Gory married Prunier men. The earliest indication of a connection is the 1782 marriage of Christophe Prunier to Therese Anne Zabeth. Christophe Prunier's father's name is not given, but his mother was identified as a deceased "mestive indienne" named Marie Louise Petit. Christophe Prunier was thus claiming part "Indian" heritage or ancestry through his mother. This could have been something done at a time of increased racial prejudice against those of African ancestry. Again, to indicate what a small world Bainet and Grand-Goave were, our friend Jean-Baptiste Marillac was a witness to this wedding.

However, other sources from Baynet parish may elucidate this alleged "Indien" ancestry of the Prunier. There was indeed a teenager named Marie Louise, of the "Indian" nation, who died in in 1755. Marie Louise's father's name is difficult to read, but it looks like Don Pedre, Indien. She also died on the habitation of Peronneau (Louis?), which could be a useful clue. After all, the Perronneau habitation in 1764 appeared in a map, showing it to be on the coast and not too far from Baynet's bay. It was likely a cotton or indigo plantation. So far, however, it establishes that there was an "Indien" man with a daughter who passed away in 1755, supposedly around the age of 13. If that age is accurate, she probably is not the mother of Christophe Prunier. If the estimated age is off by a few years, and she was perhaps closer to 16, then perhaps she was indeed the mother of Christophe Prunier.

Another possible connection to the "Indien" origins of Prunier can be found in the death of a Pierre Petit, an "Indien." This Pierre Petit, who died in Jacmel in the year 1780, was around 50 years old and married to a Marguerite. Her surname is difficult to decipher and we have not figured out who she was. However, if this Pierre Petit was the same person as the "Don Pedre" identified as Marie Louise's father, this could be helpful. After all, Baynet and Jacmel were neighboring parishes and perhaps, by 1780, Pierre had moved there. 

Alternatively, in 1771, a Marie, with no name but designated as an Indien, died in Bainet. Said to have been around 40 years old, this Indian Marie could also have been the mother of Christophe Prunier. Unfortunately, the surname Petit does not appear. Moreover, no connection to the Pruniers or Pierre Petit is obvious from this. If Marie Louise Petit was from Baynet or Jacmel, then she may have been the one who passed away in 1755. Exactly where she came from is unknown, since they could have had Amerindian or Asian Indian ancestry. Alternatively, Christophe Prunier may have also called his mother a "mestive indienne"to just avoid the stigma associated with blackness?

Full Circle on Victoire

After revisiting old parish registers and notes, we have returned to believing the mother of our Anne Marie Joseph Gaury was indeed Victoire Susanne Monteise. The other possibilities we know about either do not fit or are too unlikely. For instance, we once thought a woman baptized in 1778, Marie Victoire Sanite, could have been the mother. Sanite was the illegitimate daughter of a Marie Magdelaine Beaubrun Dupuy and her godmother was none other than Marie Victoire Susanne Monteise. However, Baynet parish records indicate that a Marie Victoire died about 5 years later in 1783. The mother is only identified as a Marie Magdelaine, but this probably means that Marie Victoire Sanite died in 1783, about ten years before the birth of Anne Marie Joseph Gaury. 

Another candidate for the mother, Marie Victoire Pitiot, appears to have been married to a Diegue Prunieu (or Prunier?). Marie Victoire Pitiot, baptized in 1765, was incorrectly identified as a Pichot by the parish priest. However, it becomes rather clear that Pitiot was her surname since her mother was identified as a Marie Victoire Gory. We later learn when Marie Michelle Gabrielle Pitiot was baptized that her godmother was Marie Victoire Pitiot, the wife of Diegue Prunieu. If Marie Victoire Pitiot was married to a Prunieu by 1787, and descendants of the Gory/Pitiot would also marry them in 1800s Grand-Goave, it is probably unlikely for Marie Victoire Pitiot to have been the mother of Anne Marie Joseph in 1793.

The original Marie Victoire Gory is also worthy of attention. Baptized in 1749, Marie Victoire Gory was the daughter of Francois Gory and Francoise Saugrain. She married Michel Pitiot in 1765. They went on to have at least a few children, including Marie Victoire Pitiot, Jean Joseph Gabriel Pitiot (baptized in 1781), Marie Michelle Gabrielle Pitiot (baptized in 1787) and even another child, Marie Anne Francois Pitiot, in an unknown year. It seems highly unlikely that this Marie Victoire Gory was the mother of Anne Marie Joseph. She was more likely to have still been married to Michel Pitiot in 1793. 

The loss of Marie Victoire Gory (baptized 1749), Marie Victoire Pitiot (baptized 1765) and Marie Victoire Sanite (baptized 1778) as possibilities leaves us with Victoire Susanne Monteise. Baptized in 1764, she was the daughter of a white Frenchman and Marie Francoise Gory. Her godmother, Marie Victoire Gory, was the source of her name (which was written as Marie Victoire Susanne Monteise by the priest who recorded Sanite's baptism). We know that this Victoire Susanne's sister married Jean Baptiste Marillac, a frequent witness to events affecting members of the Beaubrun Dupuy, Pitiot, Gory, and other Baynet families in the late 1700s. We also known that all these women were related to or connected to each other in Baynet during the second half of the 18th century. 

Of course, one still needs to understand why Anne Marie Joseph's mother was recorded in 1793 as simply Victoire Gory. Was it due to to her illegitimate birth? Or was there yet another Victoire Gory living in the same area of Baynet and part of the same kinship networks? And who was the Joseph mentioned as Anne Marie Joseph's father in her 1859 death certificate? The only Joseph Gory was the son of Jean-Baptiste Gory, a cousin of Victoire Susanne. A Joseph Deslande was also present, but he married Agathe Gaury in 1775. With Agathe, he had a son named Joseph Guillaume Deslande, baptized in 1776. It seems improbable that Joseph Deslande was the father of Anne Marie Joseph, although we cannot rule it out. After all, Agathe Gaury died in 1788.

An alternative clue to the identity of Anne Marie Joseph's origins may also be found by looking at her godparents again. Both of her godparents were from the Marillac family, and siblings. Indeed, her godmother, Marie Marillac, was a widow who also had an illegitimate child after her husband's death. According to the Bainet parish books, Jean Baptiste Marillac's sister had her illegitimate daughter baptized in 1788. She used her own name, Marillac, and had her relatives, including the sister of Victoire Susanne Monteise, serve as a godparent. Whatever stigma of an illegitimate child in this era clearly did not stop men like Jean Baptiste Marillac from acting as a godparent to the children of his relatives. We are inclined to believe the same thing applied to Anne Marie Joseph Gaury, whose mother's name was inexplicably written as Victoire Gory. There may have been another Victoire Gory out there, perhaps in Grand-Goave, whose existence we cannot affirm. Based on the sources we currently possess, the simplest explanation is that Victoire Gory and Victoire Susanne Monteise were indeed the same people.

Another Victoire

Somehow we neglected to mention the existence of another Victoire related to the Gory of 18th century Bainet. A quick persual of ANOM's Baynet parish registries clarified the matter, somewhat. In addition to Victoire Suzanne Monteise and her godmother, Marie Victoire Gory, there was a Marie Victoire Pitiot (incorrectly written as Pichot by the parish priest). Baptized in 1765, this Marie Victoire could also have been the mother of Anne Marie Joseph Gaury. Again, like Victoire Suzanne, there is a problem of why her name was recorded as Gory by the parish priest but that could have been an error on his part, just like the parish priest who wrote Pichot instead of Pitiot. We know Marie Victoire Gory was married to Michel Pitiot and thus the mother of Marie Victoire Pitiot. Marie Victoire was also the aunt of Victoire Suzanne Monteise. In other words, the mother of the Anne Marie Joseph baptized in 1793 was likely one of these three women. 

It seems that Anne Marie Joseph's parents were still alive when she passed away in 1859, so it was probably one of the younger women (the daughter or the niece of Marie Victoire Gory). Marie Victoire Gory was still married to Michel Pitiot in the 1780s and we were unable to find any mention of his death before 1793. Moreover, we know that Victoire Suzanne Monteise's first name was obviously Victoire, strengthening the case for identifying her as the mother. We could only find one instance in which Marie Victoire Gory's name appeared as just Victoire Gory, and that was when her sister's illegitimate child, Marie Louise, was baptized in 1769. Marillac, who married a sister of Victoire Suzanne Monteise, was also the godfather to the son of Marie Victoire Gory born in 1781. He must have known all three of these women but all the evidence remains slightly in greater favor for Victoire Suzanne. 

Pierre Celin dit Cangé

The signature of Jean Pierre Cangé appears here, when he became the godfather to a Jean Joseph Stanislas in 1781. 

What makes trying to piece together the origins of the Cangé in the 18th century so difficult is their large numbers and the repetition of the same names (Jean, Pierre, etc.). One glaring example is the appearance of at least two people with Pierre Celin as part of their full name. Both were supposedly the sons of Jean Cangé and Marguerite Butet, but they married different women and were not the same person. Our tentative reconstruction of our great-great-grandmother's father's family assumes descent from one of them, the younger one not born in 1729. 

In 1755, Pierre Louis Celin Cangé married Marie Therese Petit.

Our Cangé ancestry appears to derive from the Pierre Celin dit Cangé, who was the father of Jean Pierre, baptized in 1760. That Jean Pierre went on to marry a Saugrain and became the father of Jean Charles, the man we suspect was the grandfather of our great-great-grandmother. From what I could gather, the Pierre Louis Cangé who married Marie Therese Petit (the woman whose family suddenly became "Indians" later in the 18th century) was actually the father of the general who went on to fight at the Battle of Savannah and became a general during the Haitian Revolution. That Pierre Cangé later fell in disgrace after the 1805 Santo Domingo campaign and was killed by order of Henri Christophe in 1806, according to Histoire de Toussaint Louverture by Pauléus Sannon.

So, there appear to have been two men brothers named Pierre, children of the free people of color Marguerite Butet and Jean Cangé. Pierre Celin dit Cangé had a number of children with a Françoise or Marie Françoise Geoffroi or Geffroy, before he married her in 1770. The other one, Pierre Louis Celin, married a Petit and sired a number of children. If our theory is correct, our great-great-grandmother was a descendant of the Pierre Celin dit Cangé. As mentioned in our previous speculative posts about her origins, we are still lacking a birth record for her father and would like some information on her Alexandre mother. However, it does seem likely that her father was a descendant of the Jean Charles born in the 1780s. We also know that Jean Pierre Cangé was still living in the Valley of Bainet in the 1790s, and it is likely that his son remained in the same area. Unfortunately, we still couldn't identify any of the African-born forebears of these free people of color or figure out the origins of the Geoffroy before Pierre Geoffroy.

Pitiot

Another family related to the Bainet Gory in the 18th century was the Pitiot. A swift perusal of ANOM's Bainet materials revealed that the first Pitiot in Bainet, Jean, was a native of Port de Paix who died in 1761. His son, a "grif" named Michel, married Marie Victoire Gory. Their child, Jean Joseph Pitiot, was baptized in 1781 and had the same godfather as our Anne Marie Joseph Gory. 

Marie Victoire Gory, the mother of Jean Joseph Pitiot, was also the godmother of Victoire Suzanne Monteise, the woman who appears to have been the mother of Anne Marie Joseph. Unsurprisingly, in a small place like Bainet, along the L'Islet River, every knew each other and those from the same family likely lived on the same habitation or nearby. The Pitiot connection surprised us in that Jean Pitiot came to Bainet from Port de Paix, on the other side of the colony. 

Thinking of Susanne

The Marie Saugrain baptized in 1718 died in 1756. She was married to a Barreau.

After reviewing the ANOM documents in my attempt to reconstruct the origins of the Gory family in colonial Bainet, I realize that I have likely made a mistake. I failed to identify an enslaved woman of the Saugrains as the most likely mother of the Marie Françoise Saugrain who married François Gory. I initially thought the Marie Françoise who married Gory was the one baptized in 1718, an illegitimate child of Alexis Saugrain and an unnamed enslaved mother. It actually looks like Marie Françoise was the daughter of Suzanne and an unnamed father, presumably another Saugrain (Louis or Alexis?). 

In 1781, Marie Françoise Saugrain died. Aged around 60, she was probably the child of Susanne.

Thus, Marie Françoise was born in 1721 and was the sister of the mixed-race Saugrain mother of Jean Baptiste Marillac, Marie Barbe. This actually explains why Jean Baptiste Marillac's godmother was Marie Françoise Saugrain of Bainet. Basically, several of the Gory children of Marie Françoise Saugrain were actually cousins of Jean Baptiste Marillac. Of course, this means that Jean-Baptiste Marillac was actually related to Anne Marie Joseph Gory, his godchild, through Susanne.

The Marie Françoise who later married was François Gory was baptized in 1721. What makes things even more confusing is the appearance of another Marie Françoise, baptized in 1722, whose enslaved mother, Marguerite Susanne, was owned by the Saugrain.

As for the Marie Saugrain born in 1718, she married a Jean François Barreau. It is difficult to say if Suzanne was also the mother of Marie, but it is possible. A child born to Suzanne later in the 1720s had Jean François Barreau and a Marie as godparents, perhaps the very same Marie Saugrain, daughter of Alexis and Suzanne? And it looks like all her children went on to use the Saugrain name, or later changed it to Sougrain. So the white fathers eventually recognized their children or at least acted as godparents, as Alexis Saugrain did for a child of Marie Françoise.

In 1725, the twin daughters of Susanne were baptized. One of them, Marie Barbe, was actually the mother of Jean Baptiste Marillac, the godfather of Anne Marie Joseph.

Unfortunately, our poor Suzanne appears to have remained in bondage to the white Saugrains. I could not find any trace of Suzanne or indication of her origins. It is possible she was the young "Negress" slave of the Saugrain mentioned in the 1703 census for the Jacmel quarter and its dependencies. Or, perhaps, she was one of the adult enslaved women of the Saugrain indigoterie. However, knowing her as the progenitor of many of the Gory helps explain Victoire Susanne Monteise's name. Her mother or godmother may have named her after their enslaved ancestor, Susanne. So at least they remembered her in a fashion. 

Jean Baptiste Marillac's godmother was Marie Françoise Saugrain of Baynet, and probably the sister of his mother, Marie Barbe, daughter of Susanne.

It would have been interesting to find out where Suzanne came from or what African "nation" she represented, but for all I know she could have been born in the colony. In fact, if she was the young female slave child listed in the 1703 census, she possibly grew up with the Saugrain. Since we have yet to find any record of what happened to her after the 1720s, we are left in the dark about her origins or fate. 

More Gory Searching

Jean-Baptiste Marillac married a woman of Montes and Gory parentage in 1787. 

A quick perusal of ANOM's Baynet parish record revealed some more information that strengthens my theory for Anne Marie Joseph Gory's origins. Her godfather, Jean-Baptiste Marillac, was actually related to her and shared her Saugrain ancestry. Moreover, Marillac was linked to the Gory through his marriage to a daughter of François Monteise (Montes) and a Gory. Indeed, it is possible that Jean-Baptiste Marillac was actually married to the aunt of Anne Marie Joseph, if indeed Victoire Gory was the same person as Victoire Suzanne Monteise. 

Marguerite Louise, the older sister of Victoire, was born in 1761. 

Although I would like firmer evidence to connect Anne Marie Joseph to Victoire Suzanne Monteise, our case rests on slightly stronger ground. We have identified this specific Jean-Baptiste Marillac, who was baptized in 1758, and linked him to the Saugrain and Gory through birth and marriage. The fact that he was Anne Marie Joseph's godfather further establishes a connection. Indeed, the fact that he was married to Marguerite Louise Montes, the possible older sister of Victoire, makes it possible he was an attractive candidate to be Anne Marie Joseph's godfather (her uncle). Furthermore, we have yet to locate any other Victoire living in that section of Bainet besides the older Marie Victoire Gory, who was probably not Anne Marie Joseph's mother (she would have been far less likely to still be alive in the 1850s). It is possible Victoire Suzanne dropped the Montes name because her father was dead by 1787 if not far earlier.

Jean-Baptiste Marillac appears to have been born in late 1757, baptized in February 1758. His godmother was a Bainet Saugrain married to François Gory. We also see that Jean-Baptiste Marillac was a grandson of an enslaved woman, Suzanne, who had multiple children in the 1720s. At least one of her children was sired by Louis Saugrain. Her daughter, Marie Barbe, used the Saugrain name and married a Marillac.

Anne Marie Joseph Gory's godmother, Marie Marthe Marillac, was probably the brother of her godfather, Jean-Baptiste Marillac. If she was the brother of Jean-Baptiste Marillac, who was a Saugrain through their mother, then Marie Marthe was also a relative of Anne Marie Joseph. 

So, now that we have established the familial link between Jean-Baptiste Marillac and Anne Marie Joseph Gory, what do we know of the deeper origins of the Gory name in Bainet? Despite appearing rather early on as a godfather to several children, the first Gory we know of, Louis Gory, did not leave behind much of a paper trail. Our current theory is that he was the father of not only Jean-Baptiste Gory but François Gory, too. François Gory died in about 1760, around the age of 40. His brother, Jean-Baptiste Gory, died in 1791 around the age of 80. They both appear to have been sons of Louis Gory, a "free mulatto" who was still alive in 1746. 

Jean-Baptiste Gory died in May 1791. If he was 80 at the time of his death, then Louis Gory must have been born sometime in the later decades of the 1600s. Our current theory for Anne Marie Joseph links her to Jean-Baptiste and François. 

If Louis Gory was not a native to Bainet, from whence did he come? The other Gory or Gaury in early 18th century Saint-Domingue were in Croix-des-Bouquets and Cavaillon. The Croix-des-Bouquet Gory was a woman from Saint-Christophe, Anne, who died in 1732. Her father, Pierre Gorry, was presumably the son of another Pierre and his "mulatto" wife, Marie. The Cavaillon Gaury in the 1720s was a woman said to be a native of Île-à-Vache. Perhaps the origins of Louis Gory can be found in the Sud, although I cannot recall any census from 1703 or other records identifying a Louis Gory in that region. But I can imagine him moving to Bainet parish from another area once administered by the Compagnie de Saint-Domingue. Or, like others who migrated to Jacmel and Bainet parish, he could have come from Leogane or Croix-des-Bouquets.

In 1723, Louis Gori (Gory) was the godfather of a child of Mathieu Renard (probably related to Jacques Renard, a native of Saint-Christophe) and an enslaved woman. In that same year he was also the godfather of a child born to free blacks Soliman and Marie.

Sadly, we are still in the dark as to the origins of Louis Gory. We can guess he was born in the late 1600s, perhaps the 1680s. Our evidence suggests he was a "mulatto" and was well-connected to a number of other Bainet habitants, including free blacks like the Soliman. We are not sure where else to look for possible traces of Louis, either. Perusals of ANOM materials from Croix-des-Bouquets, Les Cayes, Léogâne, and other parishes has not revealed anything so far.

Here Louis Gory was identified as a "free mulatto" in yet another example of him acting as godfather.

To sum it all up, our current understanding of the available evidence suggests the earliest Gory in Bainet was a "mulatto" named Louis. Jean-Baptiste was his son, as was likely the case for François. Anne Marie Joseph's godfather was also related to the Gory via Saugrain ancestry and marriage to a Gaury who also had a Monteise father. Our theory suggests Anne Marie Joseph's mother was the sister of Jean-Baptiste Marillac's wife. Being her uncle, it is no surprise to see him act as her godfather.

A crude family tree for Anne Marie Joseph Gaury's parents.

Joseph Gory (Gaury)

After reviewing the evidence, we find it likely that Anne Marie Joseph Gaury's parents were actually cousins. In fact, that means Anne Marie Joseph Gaury was a descendant of both Jean-Baptiste Gory and François Gory. A second read of the 1771 marriage license for Joseph Gaury (a son of Jean-Baptiste and Marie Bichot (Pichot?)) and Marie Françoise Paponet (the daughter of a mulatto, Françoise Drouillac, from Léogâne) revealed an interesting fact: Joseph Gory married the mother of Joseph Delande.

A close read of Joseph Delande's marriage record to Agathe Gory (also a child of Jean-Baptiste, but born in 1759) clarified the matter. Joseph Delande was explicitly stated to be under the guardianship of Joseph Gory, who was married to his mother, Paponet. So, Delande, already related to the Gory via his mother's marriage, proceeded to marry Agathe Gaury, the younger sister of his stepfather. Talk about incestuous? Or maybe borderline? At least they were not actually related.

Agathe and Joseph Delande had a son, Joseph Guillaume, baptized in 1776. This Joseph was likely the father of Anne Marie Joseph. Perhaps his name did not appear the entry for her baptism in 1793 because of his age and the fact that the mother was his cousin? The mother, Victoire, was likely Victoire Suzanne Monteise, born in 1764. She was therefore quite a bit older than Joseph Delande. Maybe his name did not appear because of an inappropriate relationship between cousins with a sizable age gap.

Our theory also makes it more easier to explain why Anne Marie Joseph's 1859 death certificate referred to her parents as if they were still alive. If Victoire was still alive in 1859, she would have been in her 90s, which is plausible but rare. Joseph Guillaume would have been in his 80s, which also seems rare but not completely unheard of. As for why Joseph Guillaume was named Gaury in her 1859 death record, perhaps it had something to do with the fact that his father's mother was married to a Joseph Gaury and his own mother was also one.

In light of the close link between Joseph Guillaume's father's family to the Gory, and his own maternal ancestry, one can understand why he used that name. It would appear that his father was an illegitimate child whose own father is not easily traceable. Therefore, the Gory name might have made more sense for him to adopt. We still do not know the exact reasons why Victoire, who was probably a Monteise through her father, used the Gory name. But this theory makes sense out of a messy situation of kissing cousins and missing records. Moreover, it illustrates how Beresfort's mother was linked to a variety of places besides Bainet, including Leogane, Grand Anse, and Jacmel. Now we just have to make sense of the possible Bichot connection and figure out where Paponet and Deslande came from. 

Gaury or Gory Searching

A Joseph Gaury was baptized in Bainet back in 1748.

Despite our limited sources to identify the origins of Beresfort Francois's mother, we have explored the Gory or Gaury name in Bainet for clues as to her origins. Her 1859 death certificate is highly problematic. The document is partly illegible and the full name of Anne Marie Joseph Gaury's mother Victoire cannot be determined. Fortunately, the estimated age of around 60 was plausible for Beresfort's mother. We know two of his siblings were said to have been born in c.1818 and 1816, which would suggest the mother was probably born in the late 1700s or very early 19th century. We suspect Annie Marie Joseph Gaury was born in the 1790s or so. And indeed we found someone named Anne Marie Joseph Gory born in 1793.

Anne Marie Joseph Gory was baptized in April 1793. Her mother was Victoire Gory, but the father is not named. Note the godfather was a Jean-Baptiste Merillac. Who was the Joseph Gaury named in her 1859 death certificate?

Almaïde François, the sister of our great-great-great-grandfather died in 1888. According to the document, she was 70 and therefore born in c.1818.

We did search ANOM's Baynet files for Joseph Gaury or Gory. To our surprise, there was indeed a Joseph Gory, the son of Jean-Baptiste Gory. However, his baptismal record from 1748 would have meant he was around 45 years old when Anne Marie Joseph was born. It is possible, but there could be other explanations for Anne Marie Joseph's father's origin.

Agathe Gory was baptized in 1758. She had a son named Joseph in the 1770s.

So, if the Joseph Gory baptized in 1748 is not the father we are looking for, what does that leave us with? The Gory or Gaury were mostly free people of color linked to the Bichot, Saugrain, Pitiot and other families of similar backgrounds. Many of the marriages, baptisms, and deaths recorded in Bainet for Gory or Gaury involve the descendants of two men, likely brothers: Jean-Baptiste Gory and Francois Gory. Jean-Baptiste's father was named Louis Gory, who was probably also the father of Francois, too. These two Gory fathered multiple children, including the Joseph Gory born in 1748. The other ones include Marie Francoise Gory, Francoise and Francois Gory, Jean Louis, Marie Victoire, Pierre, Agathe, Elisabeth, Jacques, and Guillaume. One person with a Gory mother included a Joseph Guillaume Deslande, son of Agathe. A few others were born in the second half of the 18th century to Gory mothers. Unless one of them fathered a Joseph Gaury that does not appear in the records, we are still in the dark as to the origins of Anne Marie Joseph's father. 

Victoire Monteise

It seems rather unlikely that Joseph Guillaume Deslande would have dropped his father's name, although he is of the right age range (born in 1776) to have been Anne Marie Joseph's (very young) father. A 1776 birth would have made him in his late teens when Annie Marie Joseph was born in the late 1790s or early 1800s. Then he could also have still been alive in 1859, residing in the bourg of Bainet. However, as previously stated, it seems unlikely that Joseph Guillaume would have used his mother's name.

Joseph Guillaume was about the right age to have been the father of Anne Marie Joseph and live well into the 19th century. 

In 1794, a Pierre Gaury passed away. He was almost certainly the Pierre Gory baptized in 1761 and a son of Jean-Baptiste Gory. Note the mention of his habitation. This Pierre would have been an uncle to Joseph Guillaume Deslande (or Delande) and a cousin of Marie Victoire.

But can we identify Victoire Gory, the mother of Anne Marie Joseph? One of the few persons with that name is Marie Victoire Gory, who had married a grif named Michel Pitiot in 1765. That man, the son of a Pitiot and a a slave, had a child with Marie Victoire (daughter of Francois Gory and a Saugrain) named Jean Joseph Gabriel Pitiot, born in 1781. Interestingly, the godfather was Jean-Baptiste Merillac, the very same man who served as the godfather of Annie Marie Joseph. Is it possible that Marie Victoire was the same Victoire who gave birth to Anne Marie Joseph in 1793? Maybe, but her birth in 1749 would have made her in her 40s in 1793. If she had a child with her cousin, the Joseph Gory, baptized the year before, then Anne Marie Joseph was the fruit of kissing cousins in their 40s. That seems a little unlikely considering the ages and the fact that both of these people were married to others.

Marie Victoire Gory's son had the same godfather as Anne Marie Joseph. 

Our theory is that Anne Marie Joseph Gory's mother may have been another Gory, probably a younger one. Since there was a plethora of related individuals bearing the name Gory, and all connected to L'islet, perhaps she was born to one of them and we simply have not located any trace of her yet. One candidate for the mother of of Anne Marie Joseph is a Victoire Susanne Monteise (?), born in 1764. Her mother was Marie Francoise Gory and her godmother was Marie Victoire Gory. We know this Victoire's mother married a Monteise (a white man, from Clermon-Ferrand?) in 1759, and she was the daughter of Francois Gory and Marie Francoise Saugrain. Perhaps she was the mother of Anne Marie Joseph, but used the Gory name or was identified as such in 1793? Perhaps that was sensible if one assumes her Monteise father was a white man who married into a landowning family of free people of color.

Victoire Susanne was the daughter of the Marie Francois Gory and a Monteise, who married in 1759. Monteise appears to have been from Clermont-Ferand.

Either way, her child born in 1781 had the same godfather as Anne Marie Joseph, suggesting that he knew Victoire Gory and Marie Victoire, who were also relatives (aunt and niece). We are inclined to believe Anne Marie Joseph Gory's mother was probably child of Monteise and Marie Francoise Gory.

In 1749, Marie Victoire was baptized. Her mother was  a Saugrain.

All of this confirms that Beresfort Francois's mother was from an ancien libre lineage linked to L'Islet. Beresfort's father, however, does not appear in any records we have searched. As we already assumed he was a former slave or child of former slaves, so finding any trace of him will be exceedingly difficult. But we at least know what part of Bainet Beresfort's mother came from, and some of her family connections. Perhaps his father was from the same section of Bainet? 

In 1781, the widow of Francois Gory, Marie Francoise Saugrain, died. Note that one of the witnesses was Jean-Baptiste Marillac, who was the godfather of Anne Marie Joseph Gory in 1793.

It is probable that the Marie Saugrain baptized in 1718 was the same woman who married Francois Gory. She was an illegitimate child of Alexis Saugrain and freed by her Saugrain grandfather (Francois Saugrain?).

We will take a break from our obsessive Bainet historical and genealogical rantings at this point. We are more interested in the African and Creole slave population and do not have the sources needed to really begin to explore that aspect of our region's history.