http://www.canerivercolony.com/History/historical_documents.htm#Louis

Louis Metoyer Granted his Freedom Courtesy of Northwestern University Library Archives Translated by Eric Talley (Wayne State University) for Herbert Metoyer 1996

Natchitoches Courthouse Miscellaneous Book #2 Page #208

            Today, the twenty-eighth of the month of May of the year one thousand eight hundred two, I, Pierre Metoyer, a resident of this post of Natchitoches, by virtue of my contract of marriage with Therese Buard, presently my wife, signed with the Clerk of this said Post, under the date of October the tenth, of the year one thousand seven hundred eighty-eight, by which it is recorded that I reserved to myself the right and the power to give liberty, when it would seem good to me, without my wife being able to oppose it in any manner whatever, to six of my slaves, mulattoes or mulattresses, named in the said contract, who are independent of our community property, in consequence of that right, the man named Louis, a mulatto, the son of marie Therese called Coincoin, a free negress, having always served me, and who is in a position to earn his living whereever he will be; for these reasons I declare, in the presence of the Sieurs Jean Baptiste Ailhaud St. Anne and Jean Baptiste Buard, witnesses required and undersigned, to have given verbally on the first of January, one thousand eight hundred one, liberty to the said Louis, which liberty I confirm this day and declared him irrevocably free since the said time, that he is entirely free to go where ever it will please him, and to enjoy the privileges accorded to freed slaves, such is my will, which is irrevocable. Therefore I have signed the presence act of the witnesses named here in above, and who have also signed, to the end that present act may have its full and entire effect.

============================================================================================== http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/caneriver/mel.htm

Yucca (Melrose) Plantation

Photo courtesy of the Natchitoches Convention and Visitors Bureau Yucca Plantation, now known as Melrose, is a 200-year old cotton and pecan plantation located on the banks of Cane River Lake. The plantation has nine standing historic buildings, three of which bear explanation here. The oldest of these is Yucca House, built between 1796 and 1814. This French Creole cottage served as the first big house for the plantation. The second building is the African House, constructed sometime between 1800 and 1830. Many have speculated that it was built to resemble traditional African homes, although others claim its inspiration comes from French barns. Finally there is the current big house, which was completed in 1833. This bousillage (a mixture of mud, Spanish moss and deer hair) building has been remodeled numerous times and has several additions, including two distinctive hexagonal towers, known as garçoniéres, flanking the front gallery.

Louis Metoyer originally acquired the land in 1795. Metoyer was the second son of Jean Baptiste Metoyer, a French planter, and Marie Thérèse Coincoin an African slave owned by Metoyer and later freed by him. He and his descendents built and managed a plantation here until 1847, when it was sold to the Hertzogs, the family that owned Magnolia Plantation. Joseph Henry later acquired the land and moved his family onto it in 1898. He died the next year and the property was passed on to his son, John Hampton Henry, and his daughter-in-law, Cammie Garrett Henry. Miss Cammie, as she was known, was a college-educated woman who was fond of culture and society. She started an art colony at the plantation that became one of the most popular in the South, entertaining such famous names as William Faulkner, Lyle Saxon and William Spratling. During the Henry era, famed “self-taught" artist Clementine Hunter also got her start at Melrose, where she worked as a cook and painted in her spare time. She became the first African American to have a solo exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Her work depicts daily life in the rural South prior to the mechanization of agriculture.

Africa House at Melrose Plantation Photo courtesy of of National Historic Landmark collection In 1971, the plantation was donated to the Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches (APHN). The organization has conducted numerous repairs and restorations through the years. APHN still maintains the plantation and gives tours of the grounds daily.

Yucca (Melrose) Plantation, a National Historic Landmark, is located several miles south of Natchitoches at the junction of Hwys. 119 and 493 in the village of Melrose. It is open for tours from 12:00pm and 4:00pm Tuesday to Sunday, closed major holidays; there is a fee for admission. For further information call 318-379-0055 or visit the Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches’s website Melrose Plantation has also been documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey.

http://lahistory.org/site30.php

METOYER, Louis, freed slave and planter. Born ca. 1770 as slave of Marie des Neiges Juchereau de St. Denis (q.v.); son of Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer, a French merchant, and of Marie Thérèse dite Coincoin (q.v.), a De Soto slave. Purchased by his father as a child, Louis enjoyed quasi freedom for many years prior to his official manumission in 1802. In 1795 he had been the recipient of a royal grant of 1,372 arpents of land in the Isle Brevelle area of Natchitoches Parish. An astute businessman, as were both his parents, he rapidly expanded his holdings, while successfully waging an on-going legal battle to retain possession of his land against the counterclaim of a prominent white colonist. By 1830, he and his brother

Augustin Metoyer, f.m.c. (q.v.), vied for the rank of eighth-largest slaveholder in this agriculturally rich parish (the sixth and seventh-largest being their white half-brothers who had inherited the paternal fortune). Tradition also credits Louis (together with brother Augustin) as being a co-founder of the Church of St. Augustine de l'Isle Brevelle, the third oldest Catholic church in Northwest Louisiana. Married, February 9, 1801, Marie Thérèse Le Comte (born December 1783 on Cane River as the French-Indian daughter of Marie Thérèze, a Caneci slave belonging to Ambroise Le Comte's neighbor Mathias Le Court [q.v.]). Child: Jean-Baptiste Louis Metoyer (b. 1800). He is additionally said to be the father of four children who were born into slavery but were subsequently manumitted. At his death on March 11, 1832, the ex-slave Metoyer left an estate in excess of a hundred thousand dollars. The central grounds of his plantation, now known as Melrose and held in trust by the Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches, was in 1975 declared a National Historical Landmark. G.B.M. Sources: Gary B. Mills, The Forgotten People: Cane River's Creoles of Color (1977); Elizabeth Shown Mills and Gary B. Mills, "Slaves and Masters: The Louisiana Metoyers," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, LXX (September, 1982).

--------------------------------------------

Louisiana Census Records, Volume 2, Iberville, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, and Rapides Parishes, 1810 and 1820 (See Photo)