"Marie-Therese-Coincoin Metoyer (1742?-1820)

Slave,agriculturalist, and head of a dynasty, was probably born in Natchitoches, Louisiana,what

was then the border between Spanish Texas and French Louisiana,it is possible that she was born in Africa and came to Louisiana as a young child.Her name definitely originated in Africa,no convincing argument has been made that traces it to one particular location.She was baptized in 1742 as the slave of Louis Juchereau de St.Denis, the founder of Natchitoches which was the first permanent  settlement in Louisiana.In 1756 she was inherited  by the widow of St. Denis,and then became the property of  the widow's son Pierre Antoine de St. Denis Jr., in 1758,ending up the slave of the de Soto family.Between 1761 & 1766 she had three African-American children Don Manuel, Francoise, and Jean Joseph.In 1767 a white French merchant, CLaude Thomas Pierre Metoyer,known as Pierre,arrived  in Natchiitoches and  Marie was loaned to him by her owner.They quickly entered into a relationship.Between 1768 & 1784 they had ten children including Augustin Metoyer & Louis Metoyer.Realtionships between African-American and white men were semi-authorized,given  a customary rather than legal status,the Louisianan system of placage,in which white men provided for free women of color in return for sexual favors.A white living openly with an African-American slave as a common-law wife in a shared household was more,unusual,and aroused the disapproval of the Catholic Church.In 1777 Father Luis de Quintanilla,the local priest,complained to local authorities about their relationship.While this caused a  scandal at the time,the intervention of caused Madame de Soto,and then Pierre's purchase and manumission of Marie in 1778,eased the situation.The children that Marie bore Pierre when enslaved remained the property of her owner,and between 1776 & 1780 Pierre set about buying his enslaved from the de soto family.

Marie,Pierre,and their children lived together for the next decade.This was a period of financial and familial stability,Marie's three oldest children remained enslaved.As well as occupying herself  with her children,Marie was probably in charge of running the plantation the household, and given that Pierre was one of the wealthiest men in Natchitoches Parish,she probably had enslaved servants to undertake the the heavier housework,and had very little or no contact with agricultural work.

However,this phase of Marie's life was soon to end.In 1786 Pierre succumbed to pressure to marry a suitable white French woman,and his relationship with Marie ended.It was apparently an amicable split,,as upon her departure  from their household,he gave her  a plot of land  close to his plantation on the Cane River,South of  Natchitoches,an an annuity of  120 piasters.Here,Marie  now at least forty and the mama of thirteen children,finally became completely independent.She built a house,and earned a living through agriculture.In 1793 Marie petitioned for and was granted more land by the Spanish government.It seems likely that she undertook the cultivation of tobacco and  indigo on these plots,both requiring intense production and skilled processing,
though her later purchase in 1807 of three sheep suggest she was also raising animals.Those amongst her children who were born after her liberation and were therefore free accompanied her,
and she welcomed other family members into her home.Tradition has it that Marie was knowledgeable about native medicinal plants, and she may also have been involved in bear trapping for skins and grease.Archaeological excavations at the location of her home reveal a quantity    of pots made locally by Native Americans,which were associated with the bear oil trade.

Initially,Marie must have undertaken most of  the work at the plantation herself,as she is not recorded   in the 1787 Slave Census as owning any slaves,and at the time the free children who accompanied her were just ten,four,and two.Her other children with Pierre were still owned by him (although he eventually liberated them all), her oldest children, born before her relationship with Pierre, were still enslaved, as were the other close members of her family.In 1790 Marie began the process of remedying this situation through loaning her daughter Thereze and Thereze's
son Joseph from their (and former) owner. She bought them in 1797,by which time she had bought and freed Catiche,the illegitimate daughter of her son Louis Metoyer in 1794,who was already living in her household. In 1795, she bought and presumably freed, her own sister Marie Louise.

As well as buying family members to liberate them,Marie also bought slaves to work the land she owned.In the 1795 Slave Census she is recorded as owning five slaves and by,by 1816 when she divided her property amongst her children,she had twelve slaves,six women and six men.These slaves- Jean Baptiste,Harry,Marguerite,,Marie Jenne, Constance,Louis,Froisine, and Hilaire- appear in earlier  records,so we can trace some family ties between them. Oral tradition in the Cane River Creole community has it that Marie was a good owner who never hit her slaves,we can't  be certain of this,the presence of family groups and equal numbers of men and women suggest that the slave community at her plantation was settled and stable.

As well as dividing her slaves amongst her children in 1816,she also sold her main plot of land on
the Cane River to a white neighbor. Her decision may have been influenced by her closest neighbor, Nicholas Doclas,who sold his plantation and died that year. Marie and Nicholas were at one time two of only a handful of free people of African descent in Natchitoches Parish, and lived next to each other for fourteen years. Traditional accounts report that she moved to live with her son Louis at his nearby plantation,it is probable that she moved to another community of free
African Americans,as she appears in the 180 census living with another free woman of color aged over forty-five, nda free man of color aged over forty-five. She may of course have moved in with Louis at his large plantation home at a later date,whenshe must have been extremwly old. There is no record of the date or location of herdeath,it is presumed that it must have been fairly after 1820.