The Cover Page of Dorothee Lassize's Inventory Prepared for Her Will

ID: 4685 ~ Source: Louisiana, Orleans Parish Estate Files; Author: New Orleans (Louisiana). City Archives; Probate Place: Orleans, Louisiana ~ Date: 1829
This file appears in: Dorothée Lassize's Family Business
The Cover Page of Dorothee Lassize's Inventory Prepared for Her Will

Rare is it to see such a carefully written will and inventory, let alone for a free woman of color. Even rarer is it to see it written on personal stationary printed with the woman's maiden name.

This file appears in: Dorothée Lassize's Family Business

By James Wohlgemuth & Kate Mason
Harriet Martineau, Saxe Weimar, and numerous other antebellum writers described New Orleans free women of color as promiscuous, seductive characters who sought partnerships with wealthy white men so they could live a life of leisure. Indeed,…