Jesse Batey, alternately Jesse Beatty, was an American planter and one of the primary beneficiaries of the

1838 Jesuit slave sale On June 19, 1838, the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus agreed to sell 272 slaves to two Louisiana planters, Henry Johnson and Jesse Batey, for $115,000 (equivalent to approximately $ in ). This sale was the culmination of a contenti ...

, in which the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus agreed to sell 272 slaves to Batey and Henry Johnson.

Biography

Batey owned a 2800-acre plantation in

Maringouin Maringouin is a town in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,098 at the 2010 census, down from 1,262 at the 2000 census. At the 2020 population estimates program, its population was 966. It is part of the Baton Rouge ...

Iberville Parish Iberville Parish (french: Paroisse d'Iberville) is a List of parishes in Louisiana, parish located south of Baton Rouge in the U.S. state of Louisiana, formed in 1807. The parish seat is Plaquemine, Louisiana, Plaquemine. At the 2010 U.S. census, ...

, Louisiana, along with additional landholdings in Pointe Coupée and Fordoche. At the time of the 1838 sale, he was a resident of

Terrebonne Parish Terrebonne Parish ( ; French: ''Paroisse de Terrebonne'') is a parish located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2010 census, the population was 111,860, and 110,461 in 2019. In 2020, its population declined to 109,58 ...

. Three weeks prior to the 1838 slave sale, Batey traveled north to Washington, D.C. in order to list the Maringouin plantation for sale in The Washington Globe, seeking either payment in slaves or a business partnership with another slaveowner. On June 19, 1838, the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus agreed to sell 272 slaves to Batey and Henry Johnson. Mulledy finalized the sale of 64 slaves to Batey on November 10 of the same year. The enslaved persons ranged in age from 65 years to 18 months, with over half being children under the age of 18. Following Batey's death in 1852, the majority of the slaves sold in the agreement were purchased along with Batey's estate by John S. Barrow. The plantation was ultimately renamed West Oak and fell into the possession of Emily Woolfolk, the widow of notorious slave trader

Austin Woolfolk Austin Woolfolk (1796–1847) was an American slave trader. Among the busiest slave traders in Maryland, he trafficked more than 2,000 enslaved people through the port of Baltimore to the port of New Orleans, and became notorious in time for selli ...

, in 1856. Many of the enslaved persons working on the plantation at the time of emancipation in 1865 were either sold in 1838 or were descendants of those slaves.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batey, Jesse Year of birth unknown 1852 deaths American slave owners People from Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana