Feb 6, 2017 Orange County Review
I am still on the hunt for the 16 slaves sold from Montpelier to Louisiana, but feel confident that I am closing in on at least one living descendant. Still, I am not counting my chickens just yet.
Having made two trips to the Pointe Coupee Parish (PCP) Courthouse and another coming this week, I’ve added more data to a growing volume of material. Archived in the court records are deeds of sale of the Lakeland property and each one includes a list of slaves by name; William Taylor’s will and inventory (1850) and Lucy Thom Taylor’s will (1864), but no inventory. As you might guess, the inventories are extremely important as records that include a listing of human property.
The second trip to the courthouse civil department (rather than conveyance records) provided the complete record of the lawsuit pertaining to Taylor’s original purchase of Lakeland mentioned in last week’s column. That trip also revealed a few other occurrences of litigation including a case brought by Drury Mitchell, a free man of color (FMC) against William Taylor for non-payment of services rendered. Surprised? Louisiana law allowed free people of color to use the courts for the same purposes as whites. Yes, this was before Emancipation. I was not able to review all the cases and plan to return this week.
I had spent the earlier part of that most recent trip to PCP reviewing the church records at Grace Episcopal in St. Francisville across the river. The records began in 1837, were well-preserved and easily read. However, I came up empty handed except for one entry notating Mr. and Mrs. Taylor as the sponsors for the baptism of a child who carried Lucy’s name. A puzzle for sure as the records indicated several enslaved children on the Lakeland Plantation were baptized.
I crossed the Mississippi into PCP and decided to drive the river road in search of ferry entry on the west bank and a glimpse of the location of the former Lakeland Plantation. It was a rather desolate area with a massive plant, a small detention center and very wet looking sugar fields and pasture for cattle. The 30 to 40-foot levee stood unapologetically between me and the mighty Mississippi offering protection to all those in the floodplain to the west.
Approaching a significant curve away from the river, I now know is called Scott’s Bend, I saw a road to the right climbing straight up the levee. Could this be the ferry road? Only one way to tell, so turn I did and up I went. It was a relatively short distance to the top and like so many roller coasters, it was an immediate and steep decline to the river. I was at the NW corner of Lakeland Plantation!
As I retraced my route back down to Scott’s Bend, I knew I needed to hustle on to the courthouse. Nonetheless, I took the opportunity to drive slowly enough to look for “communities” where former slaves may have settled, churches that may have served the community of freedmen and associated cemeteries.
I made it to the courthouse with a couple of hours to spare and found the clerk, Lauren, to be extraordinarily helpful. Though I did not find the document I was specifically searching for, I did find fascinating material I had not expected noted above. Lauren allowed me to stay for a short while after the courthouse closed. When I said I was on my way to the library and asked for directions, she said, “follow me!”
At the library, I was five minutes too late to catch the local historian and would not be able to speak with him until the next day. But, what a revealing conversation that would be!
Until next week, be well.