Louveste, Mary (Abt. 1812-1883)

By Troy Valos, SMC Special Collections Librarian, February 2021.

 

Mary Louveste (nee Ogilvie) was born about 1812 in Norfolk City (nee Norfolk Borough) to Lewis and Sukey Ogilvie.  Lewis was a free mulatto from French San Domingo and Sukey was a free African American woman from York County, Virginia.  It is unknown if Sukey was black or biracial. (1)

Mary grew up in Norfolk Borough and was most likely raised in the Catholic faith.  On 24 September 1834, Mary went before Norfolk City’s Hustings and Corporation Court to register as a free mulatto adult for the first time.  Her mother, Sukey, first registered Mary with the City on 29 October 1828 as a free mulatto and claimed her as her daughter. (2)

Mary starting in 1838 started securing an annual business license with the City to either run a private entertainment establishment (like a restaurant or bar) or a boarding house.  In April 1839, she purchased a 10-year-old enslaved mulatto boy, Mark Rene DeMortie (De Mortie), from the estate of Dr. Robert B. Stark.   Mark has roots in San Domingo like Mary and is a member of the DeMortier family who settled in Norfolk from San Domingo.  The reason(s) for Mary to purchase is unknown; however, she freed him on 25 March 1850 a few weeks before his 21st birthday. (3)

Mary met and later married Michael Louveste on 1 June 1844 at Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church in Norfolk, VA.  It appears their marriage was not recognized by civil authorities because the officials kept referring to Mary by her maiden name in the records until 1860. (4)

Michael Louveste was a French free mulatto from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.  He arrived in Norfolk about 1837.  Their union produced at least three children: two daughters, Susan and Ophelia, and one son, Robert.   Unfortunately, they lost both Robert and Ophelia during the yellow fever epidemic on 1 September 1855.  Susan made it to adulthood and married Robert Francis, who was a mulatto and a butcher, on 7 October 1869 at her parent’s house on Nivison Street in Norfolk, Virginia.  They had one son, Robert before losing both another child and Susan at childbirth on 4 April 1873.  Robert Francis senior died a few years later and Robert junior went to live with the Louvestes. (5)

After Michael and Mary married in 1844, Mary continued to secure the business licenses (typically ordinary licenses) until 1847 when Michael became one securing the licenses.  Mary probably continued to operate the boarding houses when her husband started working at Gosport Shipyard in the early 1850s.  On 22 February 1854, Michael and Mary were able to secure a lease from Jonathan Dodd to use the building at Nivison Street (later listed as 8 Nivison Street).  They used the building as their boarding house. (6)

Michael Louveste was working at the shipyard at the outbreak of the Civil War and Confederate forces seized the yard.  In later documentation, Michael was a tool keeper in the steam engineering department at the yard.  William H. Lyons, a known Union sympathizer and spy, also worked in the steam engineering department during the conversion of the screw frigate USS Merrimack into the steam ironclad CSS Virginia.  It is highly probable that Lyons and the Louvestes worked together to send updates and plans to the Union.   Mary in February 1862 was smuggled across to the Union lines and personally met Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells; where she gave him the blueprints of the CSS Virginia and other intelligence about the ship. (7)

After making it home, Mary and Michael continued to live in Norfolk during and after the war.  In the late 1860s, the Louvestes were able secure the ownership of the property on Nivison Street.   They continued to operate either a bar, restaurant, or boarding house through the 1870s. (8)

Michael died on 4 January 1880 from phthisis pus or known today as tuberculosis.  Mary died on 31 October 1883 at her home.  It is unknown where they are buried; however, it is probable they were laid to rest at one of the city’s Catholic cemeteries. (9)

Sources:

Variations of Surname found in Transcriptions, Abstracts, or Original sources:

Louveste | Lowveste | Lauvest | Louvest | Louresta | Louvestre | Lowresle | Louvest | Lonvest | Touvestre | Louvests

Ogilvie | Ogbivie | O'Gilsie | Ogleby | O'Giloy | Ogilby

Primary Sources:

 

 1.    Books:

               City Directories:

Link to digitized Norfolk and Portsmouth city directories from 1851-1931 at https://cdm15987.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15987coll2

 

2.     Documents/Collections:

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3.     Governmental Records:

 Censuses:

Free Negro Registration:

Land Records:

Licensing:

 Slave Sales/Manumission:

Vital Records:

Wills and Probate:

 

4.     Maps/Plats/Surveys:

 

5.     Newspaper/Magazines/Journals:

 

Collections at Other Institutions:

 

    Esther Wilson Room, Portsmouth Public Library (VA):

 

   Houghton Library, Harvard University (MA):

 

  Library of Congress (Washington DC):


Secondary Sources:

 

1.  Artwork:

 

2.  Books and Pamphlets:

Fiction:

Non-Fiction:

 

3.     Newspaper/Magazines/Journals:

 

4.     Sound and Video Recordings:

 

5.     Websites, Blogs, etc.: