Last updated: September 22, 2021
Person
Charles Baptiste
Quick Facts
Significance:
Louisiana Homesteader
Place of Birth:
St. Helena Parish, Louisiana
Date of Birth:
About 1857
Place of Death:
Maurepas, Louisiana
Date of Death:
About 1934
Charles Baptiste was born around 1857 in Maurepas, Louisiana to John and Matilda Baptiste. Baptiste had five siblings Joseph Colbert (half-sibling), Peter Baptiste, Jane (Baptiste) Russell Doughty, and Delphine (Baptiste) Vidal. His half-brother Joseph was a stevedore in New Orleans, his sister Delphine was a school teacher, and his brother Peter Baptiste became a homesteader.
When he was 35 years old, on August 11, 1887, Charles Baptiste filed application #9844 for 120.44 acres of land in Livingston Parish, Louisiana. His house was on “his original farm that was built 20 years earlier.” The house consisted of two rooms, and a kitchen. The homestead had one well, fencing, a chicken house, crib, fruit trees, garden and “about seven to eight acres fenced on his original and adjoining farm" valued at $500.
Baptiste named Ovide Alexis, M.F. Bradford, Mark Harris, and Adrien Vidal as witnesses to his claim. Baptiste received his land patent #5274 for his 120.44 acres of land on January 22, 1895.
Baptiste never married, but his mother was dependent on him and resided on the homestead with him. Baptiste lived on this land for 20 years.
In 1911, Baptiste sold six acres of his land for $150 to the School Board of Livingston Parish for the purpose of creating a schoolhouse and furthering the quality of the public education in the area.
Baptiste was a part of a community of African American homesteaders in Livingston Parish, Louisiana. He served as one of the final witnesses for other homesteaders such as Peter Clark. He was also a witness at the wedding of Rebecca Watson, Peter Clark’s granddaughter (whom became grandmother of Bernice Alexander Bennett) in 1913. Furthermore, Baptiste’s nephew, Clovis Russell, married Peter Clark’s daughter, Dollie Clark.
~ Contributed by: Friend of the family – Bernice Alexander Bennett
Bernice Alexander Bennett is the great-great granddaughter of Louisiana homesteader Peter Clark and has researched other African American Homesteaders from Livingston Parish. She is also an award-winning author, genealogist, nationally recognized guest speaker, storyteller, producer-host of the popular Research at the National Archives and Beyond BlogTalkRadio program, Citizen’s Archivist with the National Archives, and on the Board of Directors for the National Genealogical Society. Bennett, a New Orleans native and current resident in Maryland--enjoyed a 35-year career in domestic and international public health. She received an undergraduate degree from Grambling State University and a graduate degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan. Her genealogical research centers on Southeast Louisiana, and also Edgefield and Greenwood Counties, South Carolina.