Eulalie de Mandéville facts for kids

Eulalie de Mandéville (1774–1848), also known as Cécée Macarty, was an amazing businesswoman from the U.S.. She lived in the Southern U.S. before the Civil War. Many people called her the most successful free businesswoman of color in that time.

Her Early Life and Family

Eulalie de Mandéville was born in 1774. Her father was a French nobleman named Pierre Enguerrand Philippe de Mandéville. Her mother was an enslaved woman. Eulalie was the half-sister of Bernard de Marigny, who was also a well-known figure.

Her father freed her from slavery. He also arranged a special partnership for her with a man named Eugène de Macarty. This kind of arrangement was sometimes called "plaçage." Eulalie and Eugène had five children together.

A Smart Businesswoman

Eulalie de Mandéville was a very skilled and successful businesswoman. Around 1795, she started her own import business. She brought in manufactured goods, which are items made in factories. She stored these goods in New Orleans.

From New Orleans, she sent her goods to stores far away. She used a network of enslaved people to help distribute her products. Her business reached places like Attakapas. This business was very profitable.

Building Her Fortune

Eulalie earned a lot of money from her import business. She was smart with her earnings. She invested her money in different ways. She bought stocks, which are shares in companies. She also bought real estate, like land and buildings.

She also dealt with discounted banknotes. This means she bought money notes for less than their value and then sold them for a profit. She even worked as a banker, helping others with their money.

By 1830, Eulalie de Mandéville had a fortune worth about $155,000. This was a huge amount of money back then. She was listed among the richest Black business owners in the United States between 1820 and 1865. She also owned 32 enslaved people. This made her the largest slaveholder among free people of color in New Orleans.

A Legal Challenge

Eulalie de Mandéville married Eugène de Macarty just before he passed away in 1845. When he died, she inherited about $12,000 from him. However, Eugène's relatives did not agree with his will. One of these relatives was Delphine LaLaurie.

They argued that it was not legal for a white man to leave so much money to a woman of color. They also questioned Eulalie's own large fortune, which was worth about $3 million at that time. They believed Eugène had given her much of his property before he died. They thought this was done to prevent them from inheriting it.

But the court decided that Eugène's will was legal. The court also pointed out that Eulalie de Mandéville was already very rich. She had built her own fortune through her business activities over nearly 50 years. This showed she was wealthy on her own, even before inheriting money from her husband.