Auguste Metoyer papers, 1835-1846. - Auguste Metoyer papers, 1835-1846.

Auguste Augustin Metoyer (1800-1862) was born a free free man of color of creole heritage in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. He is a descendent of the founders of the prominent Cane River colony (formally Isle Brevelle) of free people of color. His parents were Nicholas Augustin Metoyer and Marie Agnes Poissot, both free people of color of creole heritage of the Cane River community. Auguste's father, Nicholas Augustin (1768-1856), was one of ten children born to Marie Thérèze Coincoin (1742-1816?), a former enslaved woman, slave owner, and property owner, and Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer (1744-1815), a French-born, white plantation owner and businessman. Marie Thérèze Coincoin and Auguste's father, Nicholas Augustin Metoyer, are credited with founding the Cane River community.</br></br>Auguste Metoyer was a merchant, plantation owner, slaveholder, and leader of the Isle Brevelle community, owning approximately two thousand acres in the areas surrounding Cane and Little rivers. Auguste Metoyer married his first cousin, Marie Thérèse Carmelite Anty, a free woman of color of creole heritage and daughter of Marie Suzanne Metoyer (1768-1838) and Dr. Joseph Conant. As a merchant, he was the sole owner of a business on Isle Brevelle, a partner in Rocques, Sarpy & Company on Isle Brevelle, and the only free person of color in a New Orleans firm called Jonan, Metoyer & Company. Metoyer's merchandising businesses specialized in the sale of dry goods, groceries, whiskey, tobacco, wine, medicines, furniture, and cotton. Auguste conducted business with other free men of color and whites in the Natchitoches and New Orleans areas and was well-respected for his judgment in business and finances. Various residents entrusted him with their estates, including Jesse Smith, a white man, who appointed Auguste Metoyer as administrator of his succession.</br></br>The collapsed credit system and the financial depression of the late-1930s resulted in the failure of Metoyer's business enterprises, leaving him indebted to the Union Bank of Louisiana and various other business partners. Auguste Metoyer's heirs were declared not responsible for Auguste's debt by the lower court of Natchitoches Parish. Auguste Metoyer died in 1862.</br></br>François Gassion Metoyer (born approximately 1809) was a free man of color of creole heritage and the younger brother of Auguste Metoyer. François married twice: first, to Marie Flavie Mézières; then, to Rosine Carles. He was one of the largest landowners in Natchitoches Parish and regularly conducted business with his brother Auguste. At the succession sale of his Aunt Marie Suzanne Metoyer's estate in 1850, François purchased an enslaved man named Lucas in order to grant him his freedom, though the two were not related.</br></br>Joseph Augustin Metoyer (born 1807-8) was a free man of color of creole descent and the younger brother of Auguste Metoyer. On January 21, 1830, he married a free woman of color (described as a quadroon) named Marie Antoinée Coindet (daughter of Marie Rose Metoyer). Joseph Augustin conducted business with his brother Auguste and leased a plantation from his brother, François Gassion.</br></br>Nicolas Charles LeRoy was a school teacher and acquaintance of Auguste Metoyer. A native of Versailles, France, LeRoy came to the United States in December of 1928, at the age of 44. He worked as a teacher in Isle Brevelle, but he later left the community to teach the children of wealthy, white planters on the Côte Joyeuse.</br></br>Narcisse Prudhomme, Terence Chaler, and Ambrose Secomte were white, creole businessmen and planters who conducted business with Auguste Metoyer.