NOTABLE ARKANSANS

The details of her early years come in scarce bits and pieces: She was born a slave in the late 1780s. Some sources state she was born in Arkansas; others say she was born in New Orleans. The 1794 will of the Marquis Etienne de Vaugine, lieutenant colonel of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis in New Orleans, stated the bequest of a slave named Marie Jeanne to his granddaughter, Pelagie, who lived with her parents at Arkansas Post (Arkansas County). A bill of sale — written in French by a notary named André Fagot — records ownership of a “Creole negress” named Marie Jeanne being transferred in 1806 from Marie Languedoc to Jean Larquier, “for the price and sum of eight hundred piasters” (piasters were commonly referred to as “pieces of eight” or pesos, which are Spanish dollars).

In 1811, she was sold “free of mortgage” to James Scull, a prominent American settler at Arkansas Post, for the same price. Scull changed her name to one that sounded more American and easier for record keepers to spell.

During the 30 years she spent as Scull’s slave, she became an accomplished cook. In 1840, Judge J.W. Bocage of Pine Bluff attended a Fourth of July celebration, presumably on the Scull estate, and later wrote, “An immense barbecue was prepared … [she] was on the grounds, superintending … the memory of those splendid dinners at the Post of Arkansas, will never be forgotten by the few survivors of her day.”

Apparently, Scull allowed her to make money for herself, preparing food for other settlers, until she saved enough to buy her own freedom from Scull for $800. The record of this transaction describes her as “a negro woman about fifty years old.”

Aided by two white men as sponsors, she opened an inn and tavern at Arkansas Post, which became regarded by customers as “perhaps the most celebrated in the state for the perfection of its cuisine.” Her reputation of good hospitality and great food extended the length of the Arkansas River. When she died in 1857, the Arkansas Gazette stated: “Such a cook — Delmonico, if his life depended on it, could not get up such coffee and venison steaks as [she] did … She was much respected, and her death is mourned by many.”

What was the Americanized name of this unusual former slave, about whom we know so little?