Celeste Bouny, widow of the late Symphorien Verret, seeks to emancipate her forty-eight or fifty-year-old female slave named Eulalie. Celeste vouches that Eulalie is not “subject to any mortgage lien or privilege whatsoever,” and that she is in “good health” and “well able to earn her own living.” According to Mrs. Verret, Eulalie’s “good character & sober habits” are “well known to a large portion of the community.” During the late Symphorien’s last illness, Eulalie performed “offices & sacrifices that showed a devotion above her condition in life,” accompanying the patient wherever he went seeking “the recovery of his health.” In fact, Symphorien made his wife promise to free “Lalie” immediately after his death. According to Mrs. Verret, Eulalie is well deserving of freedom, having always kept “a uniform good conduct in every position in which she has been placed in her humble sphere.” She believes that Lalie’s “exemplary & religious life” will be “a guide for the well deportment of others” and her “presence will be a benefit to persons of her class.” Mrs. Bouny avers that she has already given notice of her intention to sue for Eulalie’s freedom as the law requires. She prays that Eulalie be freed with permission to remain in the state.
Result: Granted.
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Repository: Ascension Parish Courthouse, Donaldsonville, Louisiana
