An enslaved woman in the household of Victoire Le Sassier, the widow of Lt. Col. Jose Noriega.
Born around 1774. Race is recorded as negra.
Listed in the 1791 Holy Visit to Pensacola by the Bishop of Tricali as having made confession and taken communion in 1791.
Appears in the confirmation records of her children, Manuel and Carlota (Charlotte), confirmed in Pensacola on May 7, 1798, by the Bishop of Louisiana and the Floridas, Rev. Luis Peñalver y Cardenas. She had a third child, Leandro, around 1812.
Appears in the Bill of Complaint for Divorce between Madame Victoire and her second husband, Don Pedro de Alba, Sr. She was listed among the property Mme. Le Sassier owned before her marriage to him in 1813, and Mme. LeSassier specified that Esther and her son, Leandro (of a year and a half old) should remain with her for her personal service.
Esther and her daughter, Charlotte, were freed in the 1833 will of Victoire Le Sassier.
Deed of Manumission: 28 February 1834 – Loring C. Hubbell and Ferdinand Christin, as Executors of the estate of Victoire Le Sassier, freed Esther, described as a Negresse of about 60 years of age. (Escambia Co. [FL] Deeds, B/543[1])
FAMILY:
Children: Manuel Noriega*, Charlotte Noriega*, and Leandro Noriega*
SOURCES:
Coker, William S. and G. Douglas Inglis, “Holy Visit to Pensacola, 1791.” The Spanish Censuses of Pensacola, 1784-1820: A Genealogical Guide to Spanish Pensacola. The Perdido Bay Press, 1980, p. 49.
Coker, William S. and G. Douglas Inglis, “Confirmation Lists for Pensacola and Fort Barrancas, 1798,” The Spanish Censuses of Pensacola, 1784-1820: A Genealogical Guide to Spanish Pensacola. The Perdido Bay Press, 1980, pp. 61-76
Victoire Le Sassier v. Pedro de Alba, Florida State Supreme Court, 11 November 1831. In custody of Special Collections, John C. Pace Library, University of West Florida, Coker Film 102-2. [Transcription by Deborah Beagle Baldock, www.wfgs.org, 1 February 2021.]
Will of Victoire LeSassier, 10? APR 1833. Ancestry.com. Florida, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1827-1950 [accessed 27 FEB 2021]