Mar 17, 2017 Orange County Review
I ask for your patience as Maher Washington and I continue the investigation of his discovery of the first Black couple to be legally wed in the county of Orange. Invariably, there is more to a story than can be unearthed in the preliminary research. There will be more to come.
In the meantime, you may be interested in an update on the ongoing Louisiana research. Last week, a perplexing and unresolved issue was unraveled, thanks to a new friend and ally in New Orleans.
Stepping back a bit, let me bring you up to speed and clarification of some earlier theories. William Taylor was born in Orange County in 1782 and prior to the age of 4 moved with his family to Kentucky where his father died in 1786. His mother remarried in 1787 and remained in Kentucky until her death in 1796.
It was previously believed that Taylor owned property in Louisiana in 1813 and lived there from 1823 forward. However, new information has come to light that suggests a different chronology, though it, too, has some gaps.
Thom (Lucy Thom Taylor, wife of William Taylor) family history mentions that Taylor served as a marshal for the Louisiana Territory which would have occurred between 1803 (The Louisiana Purchase) and 1812 (Louisiana statehood). It is further believed that William Taylor positioned as a midshipman on the Constitution during the War of 1812 based on a statement in the Dolley Madison Digital Edition and the published crew list for the Constitution. Letters to and from James Madison, Jr. indicate that Taylor served an undetermined number of years in the U.S. Foreign Service prior to being appointed as the U.S. Consulate to Mexico (Veracruz) by 1822. A record of U.S. Consulates for Veracruz lists Taylor as serving in that position until 1831.
Why is all this important? Due to the abysmal void of documentation regarding the lives of the enslaved, researchers engaged in that quest must examine all available data pertaining to the slaveholder.
Continued research revealed that in 1831 Taylor purchased property in Point Coupee Parish, Louisiana originally held by the Julien Poydras estate; it was a package deal complete with a profitable sugar operation and 87 slaves. However, there was an interesting and legally binding condition as part of the Julien Poydras will. None of the 87 enslaved were to be sold away from the property and in 1849 they were all to be manumitted.
A clue that may reflect Taylor’s understanding of that requirement was his sale of eight of those individuals in 1835. His action prompted a lawsuit that finally ended at the Louisiana State Supreme Court and a finding for the Poydras estate, but that is a story for another day.
Understanding the court’s decision, I was baffled by the absence of any manumission conveyances and the continued enslavement of those same individuals after 1849.
Thankfully, the mystery was solved last week. My colleague in New Orleans informed me of legislation he had recently discovered. Due to the increased activity of the abolition movement and the fears of what might happen if more of the enslaved were freed, the Louisiana Legislature voided the portion of Julien Poydras’ will that would have freed the 87 slaves in 1849!
This process of findings, theories, more findings, questions, answers and more questions, is the nature of historic investigations and in no area, is it more challenging than in the pursuit of the African American story.
Thanks for your patience, interest and support.
Until next week, be well.
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