Saugrain Habitation in Bainet, c. 1720

The Saugrain habitation in early 18th century Bainet is actually one of the indigoteries for which we have some data on its enslaved workforce. Much of our interest in the Saugrain comes from Alexis Saugrain, the son of Francois Saugrain and a woman named Barbe. Alexis, Charles, and Francois were the sons of these two and all three appear to have been born in Saint-Domingue (in Grand-Goave). Their father, who remarried a few years before his demise, expired in 1719. Their father was presumably from Normandy, as the Jacmel parish registers indicate in his marriage to a Marguerite Francq. The parents of Alexis and his brothers appear in the 1735 testament of Francois Saugrain, naming Alexis as his heir. Charles Saugrain also gave some of his property (including 3 slaves) to Alexis in that same year...

Alexis Saugrain's brother's testament from 1735 names their parents. Yes, I know...3 different generations of men named Francois Saugrain. Alexis had a brother named Francois, father called Francois, and a grandfather named Francois...

In 1720, the property of the Saugrain habitation was listed and can be found on among the Saint-Domingue Notariat from Jacmel in the 1720s. Luckily, FamilySearch's website included it among their limited Saint-Domingue Notariat records. We have produced a crude table illustrating the enslaved population by its "national" origins. The Creole predominance this early in a Bainet plantation is a little striking.

Nation		Quantity
Arada		5
Creole		20
Senegalois		1
Minne (Mine)		4
Nago		1
Mamou		3
Mondongue		1
Loango		1
Samba?		1
Adouri?		1
Jouda		1
Oueda		1

From 1703, when the Saugrain household only included 8 slaves in the census, their habitation increased to 40 enslaved laborers by 1720. Half of their human "property" consisted of Creoles, mostly children and born in the colony. Suzanne, the woman we suspect to be the same slave of the Saugrain who gave birth to a daughter who married a Gory in 1738, was the only Creole born outside of Saint-Domingue. The other notable feature of the data is the weak presence of Central Africans. The ubiquitous "Congos" are only represented by 2 Central Africans, 1 Mondongue and 1 person who probably came from or via Loango. The Senegalois presence is also limited, despite the Senegambia region probably providing a more sizable portion of Saint-Domingue's slave population than in later decades.

Thanks to ANOM, we know Francois Saugrain married a Marguerite Francq in 1717, whose father was from Jamaica. Baptisms recorded for other children of Jean Francq refer to him as a slave of Francois Saugrain...

In this sample, clearly the Slave Coast and Gold Coast were the major sources of Africans. The Minne or Mine represented 10 percent of the total. If one combines Arada, Jouda, Nago, and Oueda, then 20 percent came via the Slave Coast. Allada, once the dominant kingdom in today's Benin, claimed suzerainty over Ouidah during the period before 1720 and powerful Oyo to the north also contributed to the provision of captives through its slave trade. Of the African-born population on the plantation, 40 percent appear to have been from the Slave Coast. If the identification of the ambiguous "nations" could be confidently asserted, then the Slave Coast proportion might have been even higher. Unfortunately, we have no idea what to make of the Mamou, Samba (?) and the other unknown nation. Google searching brings up a Mamou in Guinea, which probably isn't what we are looking for. The other 2 are unknown to us and Debien has not provided any clues. It is interesting to note that none of the adult males were Creoles. Supposedly the Saugrain did own an adult Creole a few years before 1720, a native of Jamaica named Jean Francq. But he must have been freed since his children were freed by the Saugrain. 

We cannot decipher the "nation" or ethnic background of Andre.

Naturally, we cannot ascertain how representative the Saugrain habitation was for Bainet or Jacmel in the 1720s. Indigo plantations must have differed from other types, and we know the Compagnie de Saint-Domingue was still the main (legal) source of slaves. Perhaps smuggling (such as a slave from Jamaica and a slave from Curacao) provided much of the laborers? We would have to find inventories, deeds, and testaments for other parts of Bainet or Jacmel for a more representative sample of Bainet's African population in the early 1700s. Yet it is still interesting to know what one early Bainet plantation looked like and the world one of our (probable) enslaved ancestors experienced. 

Saugrain Connections

The Saugrain were counted in the 1703 Census, here transcribed by De Ville. Their three children may have been Francois, Alexis (died in 1744), and Charles.

One family name that consistently appears in the archive is Saugrain. Apparently derived from the word for a grain of salt, the white Saugrain of Bainet and Jacmel were from Normandy, like that well-known family of booksellers and printers. Unlike the perhaps distantly related family that converted to Catholicism and moved to Paris, the Saugrain of Saint-Domingue were planters. According to the 1703 census, they managed a small indigo plantation with only about 8 slaves. Perhaps the heads of the household in 1703 were a François Saugrain and his wife, Magdelaine Trésorier, both from Normandy (the latter from Rouen). 

In 1717, a François Saugrain married Marguerite Francq. According to this document, Saugrain's parents were François Saugrain and Magdelaine Trésorier of Normandie.

Early on in the records of Bainet and Jacmel, mixed-race Saugrain appear. One was Marie Françoise, the daughter of an Alexis Saugrain, baptized in 1718 with Charles Saugrain as her godfather. Marie Françoise's mother was not named, but her grandfather (François Saugrain) freed her. Another one, baptized in 1723, was Louise, the daughter of Susanne (a black slave) and Louis Saugrain. These mixed-race Saugrain went on to marry or produce children with other free people of color in Bainet and Jacmel throughout the 18th century. 

In 1719, François Saugrain died in Bainet. We assume this was the François Saugrain from Normandie.

Our connection to the Saugrain is through the Gory. Beresfort François's mother, Anne Marie Joseph Gaury (or Gory), was born in 1793. Her mother was only named as a Victoire Gory, but an examination of the other Gory in 18th century Bainet suggests she was a descendant of Marie Françoise Saugrain. Where things get confusing is the appearance of a second Marie Françoise Saugrain in 1721, daughter of Susanne. Which one was the ancestor of Anne Marie Joseph? The Bainet one born in the 1710s appears more likely because of her documentary trail consisting entirely of Bainet parish records and close connections to other Bainet-based Gory with the same Saugrain origins (to Alexis?).

Alexis Saugrain, the father of Marie Françoise, died in 1744. His age range makes it likely he was one of the children counted in the census from 1703.

Marie Françoise Saugrain married François Gory (presumably the brother of Jean-Baptiste Gory, son of Louis Gory) and had multiple children, including Françoise, François, Marie Victoire, Marie Louise and Marie Françoise. Their daughter, Marie Françoise, married a François Monteise from Clermont-Ferrand in 1759 and later went on to have Victoire Susanne. This Victoire Susanne was probably the mother of Anne Marie Joseph Gaury, although more documents would be nice to confirm it.

Marie Françoise Saugrain passed away in 1781, about 20 years after François Gory. Note that Jean-Baptiste Marillac, who was baptized in Jacmel in 1729, served as a witness. He was also a godfather of Anne Marie Joseph in 1793. 

If we are correct about the Saugrain ancestry of Beresfort François, it would also be interesting if our theory about Leopold François's wife was correct. If so, then she too had Saugrain ancestry from the marriage of Jean Pierre Cangé to a Marie Louise Saugrain in 1783, the daughter of a Louis Saugrain and a Marillac. Their union went on to produce Jean Charles Celin Cangé in 1788, the man we theorized could have been the father of Jean Michel Cangé. 

A Cangé-Saugrain marriage was something to be expected in the 1700s. It seems that, over the course of the 18th century, free people of color were less likely to marry whites (due to increasing discrimination?) and of course few of them formed formal unions with enslaved people. 

If our theory about the origins of Leopold François's wife is correct, then she was actually a cousin of Leopold. It would not surprise me in the least, and in fact might explain how their families knew of each other. After all, Jean-Baptiste Marillac knew Anne Marie Joseph and was presumably related to the mother of the Louise who married Jean-Pierre Cangé. Alternatively, Leopold could have met his wife through the small world that was 19th century Bainet. But the idea of both Leopold and Marie-Thérèse sharing Saugrain ancestry is not too surprising. It is a perfect illustration of the pattern of marriages between distant cousins in small towns or rural areas.