Before I get started with this post, I just wanted to let you all know the move of the library into our new facility has begun. The 1800 Stubbs Ave. address will close tonight at 7 for the last time. I’m sure you know, moving is no joke and moving an entire library will take time. As a result, the research materials I use to bring you these posts will be boxed and our computers will be disconnected. Give me (and us) time to get moved and settled in, and I promise I will be back on schedule after! Be sure and say hi when we open! The new library will blow you away, I promise! Now, on with today’s post.
This is an interesting one. A few years ago, I found an article in the Missouri Gazette and Public Advertiser (St. Louis, MO), June 7, 1810 about Jean Filhiol’s quest to make the US Government acknowledge his claim to the Arkansas Hot Springs. That is a saga unto itself. One little sentence in it caught my attention:
Mr. Filhiol an inhabitant of the Post of Washita, who told me that he had seen Doctor Davizac relative to the suit which his daughter was prosecuting for a divorce.
Hmm…before this, I never knew Marie Barbe Filhiol tried to divorce her first husband Narcisse. I knew the story of her being insulted by his family and friends about her coming from the backwoods of Louisiana. The people of Pointe Coupee, where her husband lived, called her “the little Indian”, even though her father was a Commandant. She couldn’t take it and, leaving her daughter and husband at the time, went back north to live with her family. Here was a little clue. At this time, you just did NOT divorce. You just about had to be severely abused physically by your spouse or deserted to get one and even then the Louisiana state legislators had to vote to give you permission to do it!
When our department did a colorful characters of Fort Miro program last year, my boss Cyndy played Marie and even included the story in her presentation. You can see it here: https://www.oplib.org/Family-local-history-virtual-programs.
I have posted before about finding the Edward Livingston papers in Princeton University. Included were letters from Jean and his daughter Marie, but in French. I can’t read French, and I couldn’t read the letters well enough to input it into Google translate. I could make out the word divorce though. It seems they may have been trying to get Livingston’s help.
Just a couple of months ago, I found this little tidbit :
This little French notice was published in the Moniteur De La Louisiane (New Orleans) Saturday, March 1, 1806, Page 3. This one I could make out clearly! Google Translate to the rescue!
NOTICE.
Mr. Narcisse Bourgeat, of Pointe Coupee Parish, hereby notifies the public that having separated from his wife Marie Barbe Filhiol, with the intention of divorcing, he will not pay for any account or obligation she may incur or contract in the future.
Pointe Coupee, 10 February 1806.
Narcisse wasn’t playing. A couple of weeks ago, I found that the matter went to the State Legislator for a vote. It didn’t go in Marie’s favor.
Moniteur De La Louisiane (New Orleans) Wednesday, March 9, 1808, Page 2.
Thursday, February 25: A bill to divorce Narcisse Bourgeat and Marie Barbe Filiol was rejected. A vote was taken on the rejection of the bill by ayes and nays. (Then a list of those in favor and those opposed).
It was hard being a woman in the early 1800’s! Fortunately for Marie, Narcisse passed away the next year and Marie would go on to marry three more times, outliving all of them.
Ouachita Parish History Tidbits 
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