JOHN ROBERT KEELING, III a Planter and the Courts in Antebellum Louisiana: the Cases of John F

JOHN ROBERT KEELING, III A Planter and the Courts in Antebellum Louisiana: The Cases of John F. Miller (Under the direction of PETER CHARLES HOFFER) This dissertation examines the legal culture of antebellum planters and businessmen in Louisiana through the litigation of one of its number, John F. Miller, and his business associates. Arriving in New Orleans in 1808, Miller earned much of his wealth through his ownership of a sawmill in the city. In the 1830s he became the owner of sugar and cotton plantations in the Attakapas region of southern Louisiana. This dissertation utilizes local court records and conveyances to examine Miller’s business and legal activities, sources seldom used in previous studies of antebellum planters. It also pays attention to how Louisiana’s unique legal system, based on civil, or Roman, law, shaped the course and outcome of Miller’s litigation. Though the volume of Miller’s litigation made him atypical, his legal disputes demonstrate the variety of legal areas that could affect a planter in the course of the operation of a plantation. This dissertation argues that the operation of the law and success before the courts were vital factors that determined the success or failure for antebellum planters. The dissertation considers five varieties of litigation involving Miller. In the first chapter, Miller’s purchase of a sugar plantation shows the effect of Louisiana inheritance law on the administration of estates. The second chapter explores the varieties of property and business litigation that sugar planters encountered in the course of operating their enterprises. The third chapter focuses on Miller’s sawmill in New Orleans and shows the tensions between municipal eminent domain power and private rights during the construction of a wharf in front of the mill. The fourth chapter reveals the strategies of Miller and his business partner to avoid financial failure and their manipulation of legal formalities to fend off creditors. The final chapter analyzes Miller’s most notable case, in which one of his former slaves secured her freedom by claiming that she was a white woman enslaved by Miller. This chapter examines the ambiguities of race in antebellum Louisiana as well as Miller’s fight to preserve his honor and reputation. INDEX WORDS: Louisiana, Planters, Entrepreneurs, Civil Law, Business, Antebellum, Attakapas, Sugar Plantations, Bankruptcy Law, Honor, Eminent Domain, Riparian Law, Land Law, Estate Law, New Orleans, Racial Identity, Legal Culture A PLANTER AND THE COURTS IN ANTEBELLUM LOUISIANA: THE CASES OF JOHN F. MILLER by JOHN ROBERT KEELING, III B. A., University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1989 M. A., University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1992 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2002 2002 John Robert Keeling, III All Rights Reserved A PLANTER AND THE COURTS IN ANTEBELLUM LOUISIANA: THE CASES OF JOHN F. MILLER by JOHN ROBERT KEELING, III Approved: Major Professor: Peter Charles Hoffer Committee: John C. Inscoe Emory M. Thomas Fred Bateman Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2002 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is difficult to compile a list of those to thank for their assistance in the course of conceiving, researching, and writing this dissertation. Nevertheless, I shall try, knowing that there might be omissions. I would like to thank the staffs of the special collections departments at Louisiana State University, Tulane University, and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette for their assistance. One research facility and one individual stand out—the University of New Orleans and the curator of its Supreme Court of Louisiana Collection, Marie Windell. Ms. Windell was the first person who made me realize the possibilities of this project, and for that I owe her special thanks. In addition, I would like to thank John Kelly and Florence Jumonville at UNO for the retrieval of numerous case files in the course of this project. Since I did much of the research for this dissertation in Louisiana courthouses, I would like to thank the clerks of court and staffs in St. Martin, St. Mary, and Iberia Parishes. In particular, I owe much to the generosity of St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court Allen Blanchard, who granted me extraordinary access to his records. I also received valuable help from Wayne Everard and his staff at the New Orleans Public Library and Sally Reeves and her staff at the New Orleans Notarial Archive. Additional assistance and counsel in Louisiana came from the Center for Louisiana Studies at the University of Louisiana—Lafayette. I owe much to both Glenn Conrad and Carl Brasseaux for sharing their knowledge of the history of the Attakapas. While on the subject of my college alma mater, I should mention current and retired iv faculty members who guided me during my undergraduate and graduate study there— James H. Dormon, Amos E. Simpson, Matthew Schott, and Thomas Schoonover. I also owe much to the support, commentary, and hospitality of Judith Kelleher Schafer at Tulane University. At the University of Georgia, I would like to thank the staff of the interlibrary loan department for their assistance in retrieving materials. Wendy Giminski at Campus Graphics and Photography did a superb job in preparing the maps for the dissertation. I also owe much to Karen Newcomb, the history department computer guru, for her help while I suffered from computer difficulties over the summer. For research support, I would like to thank the Graduate School and the Center for Humanities and the Arts. I also received a grant from the Georgia chapter of the Colonial Dames of America, and I appreciate the help of Mrs. Thomas Bragg Van Antwerp in handling my application and inquiries. I also would like to thank the two graduate coordinators in the history department during my stay here—Lester Langley and Michael Winship. Dr. Winship was particularly helpful in securing a dissertation fellowship from the university that allowed me to do most of the research and writing of my dissertation. I have also benefited from the camaraderie and support of my fellow graduate students in the UGA history department over the last five years. Limiting my specific thanks to those who I had the most productive conversations regarding my project, I would like to thank Peter Moore, Doug Mann, and David McGee. This does not denigrate the support of others—I just do not have the space to mention everybody. Finally, without the generosity of Robert Smith in bringing the Sally Muller case to my attention, this project may never have happened. v I also would like to recognize the great support from the readers on my dissertation committee—Emory Thomas, John Inscoe, and Fred Bateman. Dr. Inscoe has always been a valuable supporter of this project, and Dr. Thomas did a fine job in steering me through my comprehensive exams. Alan Kulikoff provided worthy assistance in the formative stages of my proposal. To the director of my dissertation, Peter Hoffer, I owe much. He has been very generous with his time and encouragement, and always a source of good ideas and constructive criticism. In addition, I have also benefited from the counsel of faculty in the department who were not part of my dissertation committee, including Thomas Ganschow, Michael Kwass, Claudio Saunt, and William Holmes. Diane Morrow and Barbara McCaskill provided suggestions in my research on the Sally Muller case. Finally, I would like to thank Michael Gagnon and Judy Houck for their help during stages of the project. Back in Louisiana, I owe much to Roger Busbice and Randy Melancon for their valuable support before I entered graduate school at UGA. Also deserving recognition for their interest and support during my academic career are my late grandparents Eddie and Vivian Fields, my uncle Harvey White, aunts Myra White and Sally Anderson, sister Jennifer, and Otis. Finally, I would like to thank my Mom and Dad for their constant support throughout my years of graduate studies. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1 PRESSING ONE’S ADVANTAGE ON THE TREMBLING PRAIRIE .......18 2 LAND AND LABOR LITIGATION IN THE ATTAKAPAS........................57 3 SAWMILLS AND BATTURES ...................................................................100 4 SURVIVING BANKRUPTCY .....................................................................130 5 CONSTRUCTING BRIDGET WILSON......................................................183 EPILOGUE: LITIGATION BEFORE AND AFTER DEATH......................................206 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................221 vii INTRODUCTION This dissertation examines the legal culture of planters and entrepreneurs in antebellum Louisiana through its concentration on the career of John Fitz Miller. In a recent meditation on the differences between biography and microhistory, Jill Lepore asserts that while a biography focuses on “the singularity and significance of an individual’s life and his contribution to history,” microhistory assumes that the value in examining a person’s life rests “not in its uniqueness, but in its exemplariness,

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