Queen Tales: Marie Laveau

Vodou queen of New Orleans. Laveau’s powers reportedly included healing the sick, extending altruistic gifts to the poor, and overseeing spiritual rites. the first of her maternal line to be born free. Her story begins with her great-grandmother, Marguerite, who had no surname because she was enslaved. Marguerite was born around 1736, and historical evidence suggests that she was transported from Senegal to Louisiana aboard the last French slave-trading vessel, the St. Ursin, in 1743.

Marie Laveau is believed to have been born in the French Quarter of New Orleans on September 10, 1794, the illegitimate daughter of wealthy Creole plantation owner Charles Laveau and his mistress Marguerite (who was reportedly black and Choctaw Indian). Marie grew up on her father’s plantation where she was educated and studied to be a hairdresser. She was a devout Catholic who went to mass every day of her life.”

August 4 1819, Marie Laveau married Jacques Paris, their marriage certificate is preserved in St. Louis Cathedral. This record also contains the names of Marie’s parents: Charles Laveau and Marguerite Darcantrel. Marie was described as tall, beautiful and statuesque, with curly black hair, golden skin and ‘good’ features (then meaning more white than Negro). Jacques Paris was a free quadroon carpenter from Saint Domingue (now Haiti). Living in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the couple had two daughters, Marie Angelie Paris baptized in 1823 and Felicite Paris baptized in 1824 are both listed as the daughters of Marie Laveau and Jacques Paris. Felicite’s records state that she was seven years old at the time of her baptism, which would mean that she was born in 1817, two years before Marie and Jacque’s marriage. Unfortunately, the records on Marie Angelie and Felicite stop there. Felicité and Marie Angèlie Paris, are believed to have died in childhood, as well as Jacques Paris died or disappeared around 1824, and Marie was thereafter known as the Widow Paris.

By 1826 she had entered a domestic partnership with a white man of noble French descent, Louis Christophe Dominic Duminy de Glapion, which lasted until Glapion died in 1855. Marie and Christophe had seven (15?) children together. Of these, only Marie Heloïse Euchariste Glapion (born in 1827) and Marie Philomène Glapion (born in 1836) survived to adulthood. The Laveau-Glapion family lived in the original French section of the city, now known as the Vieux Carré or French Quarter, in a cottage on St. Ann Street between Rampart and Burgundy. This dwelling was built around 1798 by Marie’s grandmother, Catherine Henry.

Catherine, Marie’s grandmother passed away in 1831. A creditor surfaced and claimed that Catherine was indebted her home and an additional lump sum. Her cottage on St. Ann, that Marie had grown up in, was put up for auction. Glapion came to the rescue and purchased her childhood home. The Creole cottage on St. Ann would continue to be the home of Marie Laveau, Christophe Glapion, and their family until the end of the 19th century.

Christophe Glapion died in June of 1855, after being Marie Laveau’s common-law husband and devoted father to their children for almost thirty years. There is no evidence of Marie ever taking up with another man after Glapion’s death.

There are stories out there that say Marie started having babies with Glapion immediately and that they had 15 children over the course of 20 years. However, what is actually recorded is that they had seven children from 1827 - 1839. Three of these children died in infancy. Marie Philomene Glapion, born a “free quadroon” in 1836, lived the longest of the children. She would eventually be who many assumed the infamous Marie II.