In 1825, Martin Durand purchased a "certain piece of ground" in Mobile on the west side of Emanuel street, between Dauphin and Conti streets, for nineteen hundred dollars. He bought the land from Joseph Roth, who had acquired it two years before for $325 from Margaret Collins, a free woman of color. Margaret and her husband Auguste, whom the petitioner calls Augustin, owned ten slaves and much property, and were married in the Catholic Church. In 1841, Auguste's heirs, including Polite, Celeste, Louise, Joseph, and Edward Collins, and John and Augustin Chastang, instituted "an action of Ejectment" to recover the property. Durand defends himself by asserting that Roth purchased the property "with the full authority and Consent of the said heirs." He charges that they have now "combined and confederated" with Margaret Collins to reclaim the property because of its greatly enhanced value. In her related answer, Polite Collins informs the court that, at some point, her late sister Isabel and two children, Augustin and John Chastang, lived with and were supported by a "Mr. Chastang."
Or you may view all people.
Repository: University of South Alabama Archives, Mobile, Alabama
