Victorine
(1834-1855)
African American woman, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing right, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.
Victorine was a privately owned domestic slave of Lezin Becnel and his wife Josephine. It is likely that her mother Maria was Josephine’s personal slave, attending to her needs, helping her dress and bathe, and cleaning the house. Victorine was baptized at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church on May 31, 1835, when she was nine months old. The identity of Victorine’s father remains unknown, but as she was described as a mulatresse, half African and half European, her father must have been white.
From Edward Edmonds aka Ned Edwards Pension File, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
She gave birth to her first child, Fréderic, when she was 18 years old. Fredéric’s birth was recorded in both Lezin Becnel’s accounts and the church records to the very hour: “born 12 December 1852 at 5 a.m.” At his baptism on April 7, 1853, Lezin Becnel declared him free. Two years later, Victorine had a daughter whom she named Catherine. Like her brother, Catherine was considered free, and when she died on November 20, 1856, at just nineteen months old, she was living in Lezin Becnel’s home as a free person. The father of Victorine’s children was Charles Baconnais, the plantation’s overseer. He was also the brother of Lezin Becnel’s second wife, Fanny.
Victoria Barconey Herbert and her son
Victorine did not live to see freedom. She died on July 20, 1855, just one month before her 21st birthday. Cholera raged across the plantations of the west bank of St. John the Baptist parish that summer, claiming the lives of hundreds of slaves. It is likely that Victorine fell victim to the disease.
Fréderic adopted his father’s surname as his own and was listed as white in the 1880 census. At the time, he was a stablekeeper. Later he was employed as a laborer and harnessmaker. Fréderic had received an education and could read, write, and sign his name. He and his wife Caroline had many children. Though he was not even three years old when his mother died, Fréderic never forgot her. He named one of his daughters Victoria in her honor. His surname evolved over time, and today descendants typically go by Barconey.
Fréderic died on January 15, 1941. His death certificate lists the names of his parents as Victorine and Charles Baconnais.
“My age is 62 years; post office address, Wallace, La. I am a field laborer and have resided in this vicinity all my life. I was born on Evergreen plantation in St. John the Baptist Parish, La. I knew the soldier, Edward Edmonds, all my life up to his death. We belonged to the same owner in slavery, Lesin Becknaile (Becnel) [Lezin Becnel], and I lived on said plantation until 1891.”