This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

New Evidence - Jean Blanque
.. .with emphasis on his status as a merchant
Two previous postings, “Who Built the Pirate House?’ and “Blanque/Blake” were intended to show what information was available to me regarding Jean Baptiste Blanque at the time these articles were offered. The first does not represent a conclusive decision as to the owner/builder of that beautiful house, but only a suggestion as to what personage most closely “fit the bill” of the legend surrounding the Pirate House. The second, which is simply a compiling of notes leading to the first, I will leave standing alone.
Meanwhile, however, new evidence about the man Jean Blanque has been uncovered. Before going further, I must acknowledge the use of Dr. Gwendoyln Midlo Hall’s wonderful data base of Louisiana slavery. That source does much to flesh out the person of Blanque.
What I have found is that Blanque, who did not arrive in Louisiana until 1803 and who died in 1816, managed to participate in no less than 335 slave transfers in a period of thirteen years. While that number is remarkable for a man who purported to be a lawyer, legislator, merchant, and upstanding member of the community, and for whom there is scant evidence that he ever owned a plantation, a more astounding find is that the great majority of the transactions were sales, and only a relative few were purchases.
The obvious question is, how did he acquire them if he did not buy them?
For more exact figures, I offer the following: of the total of 335, in only 71 did Blanque appear as the buyer. This leaves 264 unaccounted for as to source. For what it may be worth, of the grand total, 226 were males, and only 99 were females, leaving ten unidentified. Noteworthy is the fact that many of sales are listed as being sold by his creditors or by his estate, in years 1815 and 1816.
Blanque made his home in the city, at 400 Royal St. There is mention of a “country place” called “Villa Blanque,” just downriver from New Orleans, but there is no suggestion in what we know that he owned a large plantation.
It is curious that he would have retained ownership of so many slaves until his death. A cursory study indicates that approximately 70% were sold within the year before and the year of his death.
It may be that he was in a business of renting or leasing slaves, an occupation not unknown. Often, a daily rate was calculated and entered into a written agreement between owner and renter; however, such business on a large scale would be new to me.