AVERY FAMILY PAPERS, #3289, 1796-1951.
Correspondence and financial and legal records of the Avery and Marsh families of Petite
Anse Island Plantation (later Avery Island) near New Iberia in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, and
of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Included are slave bills of sale, some of which include a form,
signed by the slave, agreeing to move to Louisiana (1817-1827, 1836-1843); bills for
the medical treatment of slaves; records of a jail fee paid for a runaway slave; and a
document freeing mulatto slaves (1856). Correspondence covers
various topics including runaway slaves (1814, 1846-1847); the desertion by former slaves of plantations
(1863); supplies and work contracts for former slaves (1866); and African-American voting (1866-67, 1890). The collection also contains a ledger
recording anecdotes about family servants before and after slavery. Microfilm available.