Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#M-3066
WILLIAM CONRAD SCHUTTE PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Papers of William Conrad Schutte (1737-1806), a
Haitian planter who emigrated to Portsmouth, Va., ca.
1793, including eight family letters exchanged between
France and the West Indies, 1741-1753; Schutte's
bills, accounts, deeds, miscellaneous legal papers,
and correspondence in Haiti, 1769-1789; and papers,
1825-1832, of Schutte's widow, chiefly concerning her
attempt to secure compensation from France for
property losses in the Haitian revolt in the 1790s.
Online Catalog Terms:
Family--Haiti--Social life and customs--18th century.
Haiti--Economic conditions--18th century.
Haiti--Emigration and immigration--History--18th century.
Haiti--History--Revolution, 1791-1804--Claims.
Plantation owners--Haiti.
Schutte, William Conrad, 1737-1806.
Virginia--Emigration and immigration--History--18th century.
Size: About 150 items.
Provenance: Lent for filming by John Vermillion, Jr., of
Portsmouth, Va., in September 1954.
Access: No restrictions.
Processing Note: This collection was processed with support
from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers,
or their descendants, as stipulated by United
States copyright law.
Table of Contents:
Biographical Note
Description
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
These papers consist of correspondence, deeds, extensive
accounts, promissory notes, receipts, baptismal and marriage
records, wills, and other items, pertaining to William Conrad
Schutte (1737-1806), physician and planter of Haiti, who came to
Portsmouth, Va., in the 1790s. It was in that decade that he
lost his property in Haiti during the confusion of the Haitian
revolt.
Schutte was the son of Girard (or Gerret) Jean Schutte and
Anne Vanborskerk Schutte and a brother of Dr. Jodocus Schutte.
He had relatives at Leogane, Vache Island, and other places in
Haiti, and in New York and the Netherlands. In 1789, he married
Anne Elizabeth Bernadine Louise Perrot, evidently a much younger
woman who lived for many years after his death. They had at
least five children: William Schutte (1789-1833), Jeanne (or
Jane) J. J. L. Schutte Webb (b. 1791), Johanna G. Elizabeth
Schutte Spratley (b. 1795 in Virginia), Louisa Therese Bernadine
Elizabeth Schutte Webb (b. 1800 in Virginia), and Elizabeth
Schutte Vermillion (b. 1803 in Virginia).
DESCRIPTION
The earliest papers, 1741-1753, are eight letters of the
Girard Jean Schutte family at Leogane from unidentified relatives
and friends. Papers from 1769 concern accounts of William Conrad
Schutte, doctor of medicine. Also included are an itemized
account with Prudhomme, Rourke, and Heurtelou of Leogane, 1765-
1769 and three petitions from shipowners to the officials of Port
au Prince regarding collecting from Schutte amounts due for a
cargo of slaves received in 1767 with promissory notes, receipts,
and endorsements attached.
In 1770, papers pertain to Schutte's accounts in Leogane,
primarily relating to the will of Anne Vanboskerk, widow of
Girard Jean Schutte. These papers include instructions dictated
from her deathbed, depositions regarding the substance of these
instructions, statements of the lawyer and notary J. B. Bugaret,
an inventory of her effects and summary of the case, and other
estate papers. Her eldest son, Jodocus Schutte, was named
executor and a beneficiary while William C. Schutte and others
were witness to the dictated will at Cayes.
Papers, 1772-1782, are almost entirely business papers of
William Conrad Schutte and consist of bills, accounts, and notes
with Prudhomme & Heurtelou, 1772, and Sheridan & Co., 1782; a
letter to his creditors, 1776, about postponement of payment
until after the harvesting of his coffee; business papers with
his partner, the surgeon Masson, 1882; and other bills and
receipts, possibly of his father or brother. There are also
materials relating to the will of W. C. Schutte's mother and his
paternal aunt, chiefly about affairs at Port au Prince, Leogane,
Cayes, and elsewhere.
From 1783 to 1787, papers include a receipt, 1783, showing
provisions and supplies sold to Schutte; a letter, 1783, to
Schutte referring to the African-American man who was carrying
the letter; a letter, 1785, from de Maille-laour-landry in Anjou
to Schutte at Vache Island saying that he and Madame de Maille
were delighted to have Schutte's two children and planned to
escort them to college the following month; an agreement between
Schutte with Joseph Wade Sheridan and Francois Courtard in which
Schutte sold a large piece of property at Grand Goave with a
house, land, coffee plantation, woods, garden, slaves (listed by
name and age), and animals with payments filed in 1787; and bills
and accounts settled by Schutte, 1785 and 1786, including
shipowners claims for slaves and general accounts.
Scattered papers from 1788-1806 include more business papers;
three personal letters; and a passport, 1796. Letters, 1788 and
1789, are from de Maille to Madame Schutte reporting on her
children at school in France and from a Mr. Robert at Mol to
Schutte at Portsmouth, Va., discussing his recent illness, news
about the condition of Schutte's house and property in Santo
Domingo, news of Leogane, and inquiries about Schutte's plans.
There is also a copy of a news story regarding a court order of 8
July 1793 at Norfolk, Va., admitting French refugees from
Hispaniola. There is no direct information about the revolution
of 1789, the slave insurrection of 1791, the emancipation of
slaves in 1793, or activities of British or French armies in the
1790s. The family apparently moved to Portsmouth, Va., in 1792
or 1793, and later claims indicate that they lost their property
in 1797-1798 and 1802-1803.
Papers after 1806, the year Schutte died, are of his widow,
Anne P. Schutte, relating chiefly to property matters and the
heirs' attempts to recover property lost in Haiti following the
revolution of 1789. These claims were presented by his widow to
the French government in Paris following France's recognition of
Haiti in 1825. There is a short biography of Schutte by his wife
after his death which is followed by letters: 1810, from William
Berson of Salem, Mass., writing friends of his parents asking
advice in recovering his inheritance from Santo Domingo; 1818,
Benjamin Spratley to S. Whitehead saying he would not be present
at the division of slaves in Mrs. Schutte's house and that
whatever the commissioners decide would be fine; and 1819, to
Anne Schutte from her son-in-law, Richard Webb, of Richmond about
taking a shipload of tobacco to City Point and Norfolk. In 1822,
William Schutte deeded his share of slaves from his father's
estate to his mother, Anne P. Schutte. In 1824, there is a
letter from Anne Schutte to her daughter, Elizabeth Schutte
Vermillion, regarding the disposition of the former's property; a
remedy for lockjaw copied from a newspaper, 1824; a letter, 1825,
from Mrs. L. B. Pellion to Anne Schutte about the selling of some
slaves Mrs. Schutte sent to them in New Orleans; and a letter,
1826, to Anne P. Schutte from Eliza R. Togath, Petersburg.
By a French law in 1826, the result of a treaty between France
and Haiti, indemnity claims could be made against the French
government by emigres from Santo Domingo who had lost their
property at the time of the revolution. Anne P. Schutte and her
children entered a claim as the heirs of William Conrad Schutte.
Most of the documents from 1827 pertain to the collection of
material to support the claim and have been separated into three
parts. The first consists of a letter, January 1827, from
Messrs. Welles & Co., Paris, to R. Saunders at Rome acknowledging
the receipt of letters to be forwarded to the United States and
instructing him as to a method of getting remittances from the
United States to France. The second part, seven items, 1761-
1827, consists of copies of baptism records, marriage
certificates, birth certificates, and registration as doctor of
medicine. The third part, 1786-1827, consists of copies of
bills, accounts, receipts, deeds, leases, and rents, gathered by
Anne P. Schutte to establish the ownership and value of the
property formerly owned by her husband.
Letters, 1829-1832, are mainly from Mr. Mejan, Anne Schutte's
agent in Paris and consul of Sweden and Norway, who handled
claims of the Santo Domingo colonists to the French government.
In the five letters from Mejan, he explained at length the
difficulties, delays, and slowness of procedure; asked for
additional documents concerning the Schutte property; notified
her of the commissioners' decisions in her case; and informed her
that nothing could be paid to her until all the counter-claims
against the Schutte estate had been settled.
The remaining papers, 1833-1844, include a receipt, 1833,
relating to burying William Schutte and receipt, 1834, relating
to an indemnity Anne Schutte and her sister Annette received for
the property of her uncle, Louis Bardette. There are two
letters, 1835 and 1837, to Anne Schutte from her grandchildren in
Washington, D.C. There is a deed, 1838, of Anne P. Schutte to
her grandson William Webb for her slaves; two receipts, 1839,
from Spratley and Vermillion heirs relating to the Schutte
estate; and two copies of the will of Anne P. Schutte. Twelve
undated items follow the will and include letters, poems,
receipts, recipes, and other items.