Jacques 'Santiago' Lemelle was born 14 August 1729 in New Orleans, LA, and died on 21 March 1784 in New Orleans, LA.
Mother of his children Jacqueline (Lemelle) was born Abt. 1730 in New Orleans, LA, and died Abt. 1790 in New Orleans, LA.
Their children were:
1- Agathe Lemelle b: Abt. 1760 in New Orleans, LA; d: Aft. 1791
+Geronimo 'Jerome' La Chiapella b: 1743; m: in France; d: 1822 Bordeaux, France
Notes for Agathe Lemelle:
Agathe's husband was one of Jean Lafitte's pirates (according to author Virginia Gould). Listed in 1770 census as Jerome Lachapelle on Toulouse St. in N.O. Jerome Chiapella was described as a 'trader of Italian extraction' who arrived in N.O. c1770. He had two lines of descent, one in France and one in Louisiana. The French line owned La Mission Haut-Brion in Bordeaux. When a bank was established on 12 March 1804 in Louisiana 'Jerome La Chiapella' was listed as one of the officers.
2- Gaspard Lemelle b: Abt. January 1767 in New Orleans, LA
Notes for Gaspard Lemelle:
- According to documents at the Archdiocese in N.O. (19 July 1767), the 6-month-old boy was sold to Gaspard Gardelle for a very high price. Document listed Jacqueline as mother, and Gaspard Gardelle as the probable father. Child was to remain with Jacqueline until 18 months old and would be freed by his purchaser.
3- Marie Jeanne 'Tonton' Lemelle b: Abt. 15 September 1769 in New Orleans, LA; d: Aft. 1807.
4- Marie Adelaide Lemelle b: Abt. 1771 in New Orleans, LA; d: Aft. 8 November 1829 in New Orleans, LA
+Louis Bruno Giraudeau b: Abt. 1759 in Bordeaux, France; m: Abt. 1787 in New Orleans, LA; d: 6 June 1811 in New Orleans, LA
Notes for Jacques Lemelle:
- 1770 census of captains, marines, fishermen and voyagers (New Orleans): under ‘captains & marines’: Jacques Lemelle at 45 Royal
- Ownership of 'Madame John's Legacy' (property in French Quarter) - Santiago Lemelle bought in 1777, described as an 'old house' with a kitchen on the lot (probably the riverside pavillion); sold to Rene Beluche in 1778
- June 1778 census N.O.: left side of Ste. Ursulle St.: Jacques Lemelle (13-49) ship captain; Jacqueline, free Mulatress (13-49); 4 children; 1 Negress slave (13-49)
- Year 1783, box #43; year 1788, Sp-Doc. #1701, box #50: Adelaide Lemelle, Free octaroon, sister of Tonton and Agathe, was sued jointly for the collection of 114 pesos by Jean Baptiste Legret.
- 17 January 1788, doc. #1701, box #50 - Case of Don Juan Bautista Lagre versus Agata, Adelaida, Thomasa Lemelle (free Tawnies), Plaintiff instituted action for the collection of 114 pesos.
- 29 July 1785 Sp-Doc. #1106, box #44 -Agata, Juana Francisca Marie Adelaida Lemelle, (free mulattress), with their birth certificates proved that they can administrate their properties.
- 27 September 1785, Sp-Doc. #1144, box #44 - Agueda, Maria Juana, alias Tonton and Adelaida Lemelle, petitioned the court for the purpose of compelling their testamentary executor, Don Jacques (Santiago) Lemelle, to release a certain sum of money.
- Adelaide Lemelle (free Negress) - Doc. #932, 21 March 1784, box #42; Doc. #1106, 29 June 1785, box #44; Doc. #1701, 17 January 1788, box #50
- Mdme. Lemelle - 3 October 1786 - doc. #1401, box 47 - Proceedings instituted by Don Josef Bermudes in order to obtain a copy of a certain deed of sale of the schooner The Two Brothers, granted Mdme. Lemell.
- Agathe Lemelle - year 1788, Sp. Doc. #1730, box #50 - Free octaroon. Instituted proceedings vs Don Francisco Mena, to compel defendant to pay the sum of 1150 balance due the plaintiff on the purchase of a certain house located on Bourbon St., next to the properties of the Charity Hospital and the houses of the Religious Nuns of this city. The said house was constructed of lumber and brick and corrugated tin and the plaintiff acquired it by purchase from Pedro Canelle (free negro).
- Succession of Jacques 'Santiago' Lemelle
Notes for Jacqueline Lemelle:
- Jacqueline had at least two other children: Marie Jeanne Davion (b. c1750) who had children by Francois Lemelle, Jacques Lemelle’s brother; and Louis Dusuau de la Croix (b. c1755), Jacqueline’s son by Joseph Dusuau de la Croix.
- Extract from 'In Business for Themselves: Women of Color
and Their Business Dealings in Eighteenth Century Cap Francais and New Orleans'
(Mikal G. Ison): New Orleans, Louisiana provides another example of not only free women of color but slave women and their business activities that were passed on from mothers to their daughters in the urban United
States. In the article, “Urban Slavery-Urban Freedom: The Manumission of Jacqueline Lemelle,” historian, L. Virginia Gould, provides insight into the life of a woman of color who began life as a slave but gained her freedom through a relationship with her white male
owner. Gould challenges Benjamin H. Latrobe’s, a world renowned American architect, observation of slave women in the marketplace.
In his journal, Latrobe noted that “slave women are met carrying baskets upon their heads and calling at the doors of houses ... these baskets contain assortments of dry
goods.” While he acknowledges the presence of women of color in the marketplace carrying out business activities, he gives the impression that women of color were hawkers and peddlers. Most of the women of color who were marketers sold goods from stalls along the levee or in retail shops in the city. Women of color also carried out their marketing activities in their own
households.
Slave women, in New Orleans were often rented out or worked independently, bringing their masters a daily, weekly, or monthly sum. They would sell goods in the marketplace, perform housekeeping duties, and provide laundering or seamstress
services. These services allowed enslaved women of color opportunities to act as managers of their own time and labor as well as the opportunity to accumulate money that in some cases enabled them to purchase their own
freedom.
What is most interesting about Gould’s article is the fact that Jacqueline’s mother, who was a slave, may have been one of the first Africans brought into the colony.
According to Gould, Jacqueline and her mother were urban slaves, meaning they lived and worked in the city of New Orleans free of plantation slavery and rural small farm bondage. According to city records, urban slaves remained in the city and passed their skills onto their children. As an urban slave, Jacqueline’s mother taught her to take over simple chores when she was no more than three or four years old. As she became a youth, Jacqueline continued to work beside her mother, learning domestic and marketing skills from her.
In New Orleans, the Code Noir stipulated that slave children could be separated from their mothers. When Jacqueline was sold away from her mother, she took her skills with her into the home of her new master or
mistress.
The passing down of domestic and marketing skills from Jacqueline’s mother to Jacqueline provides proof of how the tradition of passing on marketing and domestic skills from mother to daughter crossed over the Atlantic and continued in the Americas. Although, we do not know the African descent of Jacqueline’s mother or how long she may have been in the Americas, there is a strong chance that she relied on the marketing and domestic skills that her mother taught her and simply adapted them to her new surroundings.
In 1762 at the age of thirty-two, Jacqueline was purchased by Santiago Lemelle, a ship captain and
merchant. Her domestic and marketing skills would have made her an ideal choice for Lemelle and it is possible that Santiago bought Jacqueline to perform household chores and market the goods that he transported into the colony.
Lemelle’s occupation, more than likely, took him out of the city for months at a time and enabled Jacqueline to sell merchandise from his storefront gallery on Royal Street instead of peddling wares on the streets of the
city.
While it seems that Lemelle purchased Jacqueline for her labor, it also appears that over the years Jacqueline and Lemelle developed a relationship that went beyond the confines of master and slave. After living with Lemelle for ten
years as his slave and bearing three of his daughters, Jacqueline and her three daughters were freed. Upon receiving her freedom and that of her children, Jacqueline remained in Lemelle’s household which suggests that their relationship was mutual. This is extremely important to note because when Lemelle died in 1784, Jacqueline and her children inherited most of his household goods, his property on Royal Street, and his two
slaves.
Possessing freedom, Jacqueline and her daughters were able to secure a legitimate identity, control over their own lives, access to property, legal protection under the law, and the right to inherit. Jacqueline could now fully enjoy the benefits of her marketing skills because the profits earned belonged to her and she could use them as she saw fit. At the time of their manumission, Jacqueline had already begun the process of passing on her marketing and domestic skills to her daughters. This task became even more important upon the death of Lemelle because it was those marketing and domestic skills that had given them the opportunity to receive their freedom and financially survive. One of Jacqueline’s daughters would follow the example of her mother and her African grandmother by entering into a liaison with a prominent white New Orleanian. This suggests that Jacqueline’s daughters continued with the marketing practice left behind by their mother and possibly grandmother.
Parents of Jacqueline (Lemelle) - unknown
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Last updated: 17 April 2006