Francisco Brunetti presents to the police jury that he has "determined" to free Arsène, a fifty-year-old African-born female slave, whom he recently purchased from a free woman of color named Marie Madeleine Hervo and with whom he has been acquainted for fifteen years. While she was the property of Marie Madeleine Hervo, Arsène, who was allowed by Hervo to live "virtually free," hired out to Brunetti; and she not only provided Brunetti with the services "to which he was entitled" but took care of him as "a good and attentive nurse and friend" during several "dangerous diseases." To repay the debts he had "contracted towards" her, he purchased her for the express purpose of giving her freedom. He declares that he has confidence that Arsène can provide for herself; she is a very good cook and a laundress, and she "understands well trading on the levee." Brunetti thus asks the police jury to authorize him to fulfill the formalities prescribed by law [Original in French and English].
Result: Granted.
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Repository: New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans, Louisiana
