Julie Dahey (d. ''after'' 1782), was a French planter of

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...

. Julie Dahey was a member of the class of '' Gens de couleur'' or free colours in Saint-Domingue. In 1767, following a common custom in Saint-Domingue, she became the professional mistress of the wealthy white sugar planter Sieur Thomas Peignanan, with the title ''menagere'' or housekeeper, with whom she had seven children. After the Seven Years' War, it became common from White Frenchmen to move temporarily to the colony of Saint-Domingue to make a fortune before they returned to France; while there, they did not marry within the White French planter aristocracy but instead lived in placage with a free woman of color, to whom they left land, slaves, business and property when they returned to France or died. This created a significant business class of rich free people of colors in Saint-Domingue, among whom Nanette Pincemaille (d. 1784), Anne Laporte (d. 1783) and Julie Dahey belonged to the most notable examples. Julie Dahey managed a coffee plantation from 1779, and a pottery- and brick factory in Croix des Bouquets in companionship with Sieur La Bacheliere. In 1781, she rented land from the crown on favorable terms and founded a sugar plantation with the right to buy it when the contract expired twelve years later. In 1782, Peignanan wrote a will in which Dahey was given his

personal property property is property that is movable. In common law systems, personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In civil law systems, personal property is often called movable property or movables—any property that can be moved fr ...

and his sister Catherine was given the ownership of his plantation on the condition that she rented it to Julie Dahey; she was further granted 12000 ''

livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 gr ...

'' and her seven children three of his slaves each. Julie Dahey, alongside Zabeau Bellanton, thus belonged to the leading figures of '' Gens de couleur'' businesspeople on Saint-Domingue prior to the

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...

References

* Stewart R. King:
Blue Coat Or Powdered Wig: Free People of Color in Pre-revolutionary Saint Domingue
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Dahey, Julie People from Saint-Domingue Year of birth missing Year of death missing 18th-century Haitian people 18th-century French businesspeople French slave owners French planters 18th-century women landowners Women slave owners 18th-century French businesswomen