Cane River collection, 1829. - Cane River collection, 1829.

Auguste Augustin Metoyer was a merchant, planter, community leader, landowner, Creole, and free man of color, born in the Cane River settlement of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana in 1800. His parents were Nicholas Augustin Metoyer and Marie Agnes Poissot, both free people of color 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 person, slave owner, and property owner, and Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer (1744-1815), a French-born, white plantation owner and businessman. Marie Thérèze Coincoin and her son Nicholas Augustin Metoyer are credited with founding the Cane River community. Auguste Metoyer married his first cousin, Marie Thérèse Carmelite Anty, daughter of Dr. Joseph Conant and Marie Suzanne Metoyer (1768-1838), a free woman of color.</br></br>Jean Baptiste Espallier ""Paliere"" Rachal (1797?-1847?) was a propertied slave owner, gin operator, billiard hall owner, and free man of color from Isle Brevelle in Natchitoches Parish. He was born to Marie Françoise Rachal (died 1864), a half-French, former enslaved person, and Jean Baptiste Barthelemy Rachal (born 1784), a white planter. He married Susanne Metoyer (born 1802), the daughter of Dominique Metoyer (1776-1839), a creole founder of the Cane River settlement, and Marie Marguerite LeComte (born 1780). The couple had a daughter named Marie Celina Rachal (born 1820).</br></br>Marie Louise Marguerite LeComte was a free woman of color born in 1782 to Françoise, an enslaved woman in the household of Baptiste Dupré. Her mother was the daughter of Marie Thérèze Coincoin, a former enslaved person and a founder of the Cane River settlement, and a non-Metoyer father. Marie Louise Marguerite married Louis Monet, Sr. (also spelled Monette) and later James Porter. In 1824, she successfully petitioned for the emancipation of her son, Louis Monet (born 1802), who later married Marie Louise Coton-Maïs.