A Blood Test before Marriage: "Limpieza de Sangre" in Spanish Louisiana

A Blood Test before Marriage: "Limpieza de Sangre" in Spanish LouisianaAuthor(s): Julia C. FrederickSource: Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association, Vol. 43, No. 1(Winter, 2002), pp. 75-85Published by: Louisiana Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4233813 .

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Notes and Documents A BLOOD TEST BEFORE MARRIAGE:

LIMPIEZA DE SANGRE IN SPANISH LOUISIANA

ByJULIA C. FREDERICK*

On a cold winter's day in February 1776, Gov. Luis de Unzaga y Amezaga wrote a letter bearing glad tidings to his friend and benefactor Fray Julian de Arriaga, Spanish Minister of the In- dies. Unzaga's note requested permission for Capt. Jacinto Panis to marry a local woman named Margarita Wiltz. It seemed sim- ple enough. Panis had long been Unzaga's friend, one who had earned the governor's respect. Widow Margarita Wiltz was wealthy, landed, and "well connected." These circumstances, however, were insufficient to secure the Spanish government's approbation. Thirty pages of testimony accompanying the letter bear evidence of an outdated tradition encumbering the couple's wedding proceedings. In order to marry her soldier-fiance, the bride had to submit to the test of limpieza de sangre to assure the crown that her lineage was sufficiently pure to warrant marriage to a Spanish officer.'

The author is currently assistant professor of History and director of Latin American His- tory at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

'Born in Cagliari, Sardinia, Jacinto Panis (Panes) ultimately became a breveted colonel and sergeant major of the Plaza of New Orleans. Jack D. L. Holmes, Honor and Fidelity: The Louisiana Infantry Regiment and the Louisiana Militia Companies, 1766-1821 (Birmingham, Ala., 1965), 160, indicates that no service record is available before his posting to New Or- leans, but he appears as a witness several times for Unzaga in the notary records. See Earl C. Woods and Charles E. Nolan, eds., Archdiocese of New Orleans Sacramental Records, 16 vols. (New Orleans, 1987-89), 3:231 for his birthplace and 303 for marriage. The same records indicate that Margarita, born in New Orleans in 1749, was married to Joseph Millet (Milhet) a merchant from Bayonne, France, and a militia officer in New Orleans on November 4, 1766, but she had become a widow by the time of her betrothal to Jacinto Panes (Panis). Woods and Nolan, eds., Sacramental Records, 2:205-6, 277; 3:303. Her godfather, Joseph Ducros, was a militia captain, and Chief Aide of New Orleans, as well as permanentregidor, general receiver

75



76 LOUISIANA HISTORY

The orgins of limpieza de sangre can be traced to the Christian conquest of the Iberian peninsula. Spain's new kings used limpieza de sangre to assure that only "Old Christians," those of Visigoth heritage, were allowed to hold office or receive titles. The Spanish monarchy identified Spanish nationalism with Christianity. Muslims and Jews, the latter of whom were soon expelled from the country, were viewed as potential subversives. Because Muslims and Jews were authorized to toil in only a lim- ited number of professions, large numbers of these "new minori- ties" converted to Christianity, though the crown remained suspi- cious of their new-found faith. As a consequence, many converts eventually emigrated to the Americas. To ensure loyal, Christian citizens in the Americas, the crown quickly made limpieza de sangre a requirement for passage to the New World.2

Transferring the use of limpieza de sangre to the Americas al- tered its meaning. The only "old Christians" in the New World were natives of the Iberian peninsula. All others, whether Native American, African, casta (mestizo, mulatto, and zambo) or Creole, were essentially "new" Christians.3 Emigres, furthermore, were not all Iberian. Among the immigrants in Spain's New World empire were numerous Frenchmen, Italians, and Germans. After one generation, the customary relationship between Christianity Visigothic heritage became irrelevant.

Two centuries later, new factors emerged, making the limpieza de sangre increasingly obsolete. Many Americans of mixed blood who had become wealthy and powerful found it beneficial to marry their children to Spanish Creoles, thereby "whitening" their grandchildren's blood and bettering their chances of ad- vancement in the Spanish empire. Meanwhile, the crown con- ceded the need to allow mixed marriages and to position those of

of the province, procurator for unclaimed goods and the police lieutenant of the city. Woods and Nolan, Sacramental Records, 2:104.

2Muslim converts were "Moriscos" and Jewish converts "Conversos." Many privately practiced their old faiths while proclaiming Christianity for political reasons. See Stanley G. Payne's description of Catholic nationalism in Spanish Catholicism: A Historical Overview (Madison, Wis., 1984), 9-11.

3Casta is a Spanish term denoting a person of mixed blood. The word mestizo denotes a person of Indian and European parentage, while mulatto refers to African and European, and zambo to African and Indian. Creole indicates that the person was of European heritage on both sides but born in the Americas, a condition which made them less worthy of office since they might be more loyal to the locals than the king and, according to early colonial beliefs, their brains were "addled" by the intense sun of the tropics.



A BLOOD TEST BEFORE MARRIAGE 77

mixed ancestry in high offices, as well as in the military. To achieve this objective, the Spanish kings issued cedulas de gracias al sacar which legally erased a persons' mixed lineage and granted them the status of pardo.4 When Louisiana entered the Spanish empire in 1763, pardos where commonly found in the military, and a pardo militia unit was eventually formed in New Orleans.

Spain's enlightened monarch, Carlos III, wished to continue these cedulas primarily to encourage the rise of a middle class in the Americas and to expand the Spanish colonial army. He also hoped to create a more stable economy and enlarge the colonial tax base. Some colonists protested the necessity of such an outdated law, but the system of castas was not dead in the Americas, and the king clung to traditions favoring the elite and the privi- leged classes. He had no intentions of truly undermining the colonial aristocracy's foundations, and therefore anyone marrying a Spanish civil official, a member of the elite, or a Spanish military officer was obliged to submit to an investigation of her lineage and purity.5

For Margarita Wiltz, this requirement must have been in- tensely disquieting. No such requirement had existed under the French regime. Her legitimacy was questioned in a colonial cos- mopolitan capital that was home to large numbers of foreigners, among whom Spaniards constituted a tiny minority. Margarita's parents were both children of German immigrants. While her heritage cleared her of any possibility of Indian or African blood, it did not mitigate the chance of Jewish ancestry.6

Other questions arose because Wiltz had been born in French Louisiana and was technically a French woman who was merely sworn to loyalty as a Spanish citizen. She, therefore, had to submit to an investigation, and, appearing before the governor him- self, she had to declare her loyalty to Spain and affirm her previ-

4See Mark H. Burkholder and Dewitt S. Chandler, From Impotence to Authority: The Span- ish Crown and the American Audiencias, 1687-1808 (Columbia, Mo., 1977) on the need to place Americans in positions of authority previously held by Iberian-born Spaniards; and John K. Chance, Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca (Stanford, Calif., 1978), 174-80, on the need to use cedulas de gracias al sacar and pardos.

5Chance, Race and Class, 179-80.

6Margarita's mother, was Maria Dohl (Dole) whose parents came directly from Francken- dau, Saxony. Her father's parents hailed from Heisensach, Saxony. See the testimony of Nico- las Forstall, February 7, 1776, Archivo General de Indias, Seville, Spain, Audiencia de Santo Domingo, Legajo 2547, folio 10; hereinafter cited as SD 2547.




ous loyalty to France, assert her legitimacy and that of her parents, and her purity of blood in order to marry Jacinto Panis (sometimes rendered Panes). Her status was clouded by the fact that she was a widow, a status obliging her to answer for her behavior after her late husband's demise.

The prospective bride was also obliged to prove that she, her parents, and her grandparents, had never committed a crime. Worse, her testimony alone was not sufficient. She had to produce notables from the community to corroborate her testimony, as well as several priests to confirm her baptism.

A sampling of the documents generated by the widow's marriage application appears in the pages below. First are the ex- tremely formal requests on the part of Panis and the governor, who interceded on his behalf as the colony's civil and military leader. Next are Margarita's sworn statements and those of two of her witnesses who were leading men in the community. These depositions are good examples of the many testaments included in her paperwork. Also included is certification of the widow's good conduct and property holdings that gave her respectability and status in the community. The final documents include the statements by the Catholic clergy which still guided the Spanish crown in matters of social propriety.

Marguerita's testimony reflects the prevailing opinion that persons of Spanish blood were inherently superior to natives of the colonies, and consequently colonists continuously had to prove their "worthiness." The Spanish belief that nobility should be reflected in personal conduct extended into a requirement that colonists wishing to be considered worthy of elite status must lead exemplary lives. Exemplary behavior included holding "good" white-collar professions consistent with feudal ideals prohibiting the use of one's "hands" to make a living.

Proof of exemplary behavior underscored the dichotomy between the ideal women who mirrored the Virgin Mary and the male who lived a different, more public, and intrinsically less per- fect life. The prospective bride had to be a moral guide for her husband and children. But conduct was not enough to confirm worthiness. Women also had to produce suitable dowries, pref- erably including land and slaves, which were considered the bases of wealth in colonial society. Marguerita's slaves thus affirmed her elite status.

By perpetuating the practice of limpieza de sangre, the Spanish government guaranteed that bachelors in Louisiana's small mili-




tary garrison would marry suitable colonial partners who would be "appropriate" anywhere in the empire. Spain constantly ro- tated its troops among the colonies, and officers expected to be moved to other locations by means of promotions, hoping ultimately to return to Spain at the conclusion of a successful career. Spain's strict requirements for marriage ultimately meant that military personnel also tied themselves firmly to the local elite, ensuring loyal support by important colonial settlers. Margue- rita's brief "trial," reflects the complex consequences of the over- lay of Spanish culture on Francophone Louisiana during the era of the Bourbon reforms.

Folio 37

[Marginal notation] Excellency:

The governor of Louisiana remits the following application, by which the captain and adjutant major of this plaza, Don Jacinto Panis intends to marry Donia Marga- rita Wiltz.

I remit to Your Excellency the following diligences by which the captain and adjutant major of this plaza Don Jacinto Panis intends to wed Donta Margarita Wiltz, widow of a settler, who has always been respected for the good conduct she has always exhibited; and [to ask] that Your Majesty deign to give your royal permission [to marry].

God our lord keep the busy presence of Your Excellency well.

New Orleans, February 16, 1776

Excellency, your most humble subject, Luis de Un- zaga y Amezaga

7AII of the following folios-numbers 3 through 23-are from SD 2547.




Folio 4

[Marginal notation]

Sir: I certify that the interested

party has conducted herself respectably, maintaining the best conduct throughout her widowhood, that she is of limpieza de sangre, and that she has a house with twenty- five Negroes as the following documents clearly explain.

New Orleans February 16, 1776

Luis de Unzaga y Amezaga

Excellency, Don Julian de Arriaga:

Don Jacinto Panis, infantry captain and first major of the plaza of New Orleans, province of Louisiana, requests of His Majesty, with deepest respect, [permission] to wed Donia Margarita Wiltz, the natural and legitimate daughter of Don Juan Luis Wiltz, deceased, and Donta Maria Dohl, landowners and inhabitants of the above-mentioned city. [The proposed wedding will take place] on a date con- forming with the rules of Monte-Pia8 as verified by the enclosed documents. I hum- bly beg His Majesty to grant permission [for this marriage] as an act of kindness reflecting His Majesty's.

New Orleans, February 15, 1776

Jacinto Panis

8Monte-Pia refers to Montes-Piatatis, an ecclesiastical term indicating he had paid the church both for the expense of the wedding and the priest's services and that a formal date for the wedding had been set.




Folios 5-7

I, Donta Margarita Wiltz, resident of this city, present myself before Your Highness, with the best [intent] to say that it is my wish to affirm my purity of blood (limpie:a de sangre) and good behavior, and by which I intend to prove, oy means of my witness pursuant to the law, and by being the holder of these following pages, that I am the legitimate daughter of a legitimate marriage between Don Juan Luis Wiltz and Donta Maria Dohl and that I was born of their union in keeping with the ways of our Holy Mother, the Church, and that I was raised and fed in their house and company, treated [by them] as a daughter, and I treated them as my parents.

And, it is true that the aforementioned Don Juan Luis Wiltz, my father, was the legitimate son of the legitimate marriage of Don Juan Teodoro Wiltz and Donta Cristina Sofia Francken and that he was born of this marriage and was also raised, educated, and fed in their home and company. They treated him as a son, and my father treated my grandparents as his parents. It is true that Doina Maria Dohl, my mother, is the legitimate daughter of Don Andres Dohl and of Donta Ana Barbara Fiergonin, that she was conceived by their union in keeping with our Holy Mother, the Church. She was raised, educated, and fed in their home and company, treated as a daughter, and my mother called my now deceased grandparents, parents, and so forth. My descendents on my mother's and father's side are all Christians from olden times and unadulterated by any inferior race, including Arabs, Jews, mulattos, Indians, or people recently converted to the religion, nor are they wanted or have they been prosecuted or convicted of crime, nor have they been sent to jail. On the contrary, we have always been of good reputation, good manners, and pure lineage.

The above has been stated before, and witnessed by, the notary public. So I beg Your Highness to accept this information and also to give me the original documents to use as I believe appropriate, as I promise to do in good faith.

Doina Margarita Wiltz

This information received, offered and given by Don Luis de Unzaga y Amezaga, brigadier of the royal army and governor general of this province. This information signed in the city of New Orleans on February 7, 1776.




Andres Almonester y Rojas, public notary. On the aforementioned day I read the contents to Donia Margarita Wiltz, who was in attendance-[rubric] Almonester, public scribe.

Folios 8-10

In the city of New Orleans on February 8, 1776, Dofia Margarita Wiltz brought Don Nicolas Forstall, her neighbor and perpetual regidor of the municipal Cabildo, as a required witness to [verify] the above information. He swore to me by God and the Cross to be true and not lie to me, the scribe. He averred his truthfulness and was sworn in by the designated scribe below,

Amecerente Acasa (Scribe)

To the questions he replied as follows: First of all, he said that he knows and recognizes Donta Margarita Wiltz as an inhabitant of this city and as the legitimate daughter of the legitimate marriage of Don Juan Luis Wiltz and Donia Maria Dohl. [He verifies that] their marriage conformed to the laws of Our Holy Mother Church and that he saw the lady (who brought him as a witness) grow up in her parents' house. She was raised there and fed and given the title of daughter, and she called them parents. He said that it is true that the said Don Juan Luis Wiltz, father of said lady, was a legitimate son of the legitimate marriage of Don Juan Teodoro Wiltz and Doina Cristina Sofia Francken and that he was raised and fed in their home with the title of son and that he called them parents and received the [proper] response.

To the third question he said that it is also true, and he testifies that Donia Maria Dohl, mother of said lady, is the legitimate daughter of a legitimate marriage of Don Andres Dohl and Donia Ana Barbara Feningenin and in the same way she was raised and fed in their house and company, treated as a daughter, and she treated them as parents. He also certifies that the aforementioned Don Juan Luis and Don Juan Teodoro Wiltz and Donia Cristina Sofia Francken were landowners and natives of Heisen- ack in Saxony. Donia Maria and Don Andres Dohl and Donia Bar- bara Feningenin are landowners originally from Franckendau, while the lady who brought him as a witness was also born in this city.

9This term indicates that Forstall was a permanent councilor in the Cabildo.




He also states that the aforementioned were inhabitants and landowners of the city and [that they were] loyal to the king at the time of the French occupation. He answers to the fourth question that he knows and certifies that Donia Margarita Wiltz's lineage was distinguished for its quality and regarded as pure of all corrupt races: Jews, Indians, mulattoes, or people recently converted to our faith, containing no one wanted or convicted [of a crime] on either her father's or mother's side. That they [her parents] had always worked in honorable professions and that there was no stain on their reputations. [He also affirms that] her grandparents were never convicted [of a crime] and [that they] pursued jobs occupied by people of quality and [that they] were distinguished citizens. To the fifth question he says that all he said is public knowledge, [that it was] deposed before the notary public, and that he was chosen as a witness because of the confidence placed in him by the Wiltz family. [He] swears that all said is the truth, and [he] dutifully signs. [He is] fifty years of age.

Nicolas Forstall, before me, Andres Almonester y Rojas, notary public in the city of New Orleans.

[Editor's note: Folios 11 through 19 contain depositions by fifty- five-year-old Francisco Maria Reggio, also perpetual regidor in New Orleans, and by sixty-five-year-old Carlos Federico Darens- bourg, written by scribes and notarized by Almonester y Rojas. These depositions repeat much of the information contained above. There follows in folios 20 through 21 confirmation by New Or- leans' officials that Margarita had passed the test.]

Folios 20-21

Given and notarized in the city of New Orleans on February 13, 1776, by Don Luis Unzaga y Amezaga, brigadier of the royal army and governor general of this province-Andres Almonester y Ro- jas, public scribe and on that day I made it known to Donia Mar- garita Wiltz in person, to which I can attest-Almonester, scribe.

As a result of the verification of pure blood vita e moribus10 given by Doina Margarita Wiltz and shown to the attorney general, it [her application] was approved, and she is authorized to receive the originals of the depositions, paying what is legally re-

l0"Your character proves who you are."




quired.-Unzaga paid it [the fee]," Don Luis Unzaga y Amezaga, brigadier of the royal army and governor general of this province gave it and signed it [the receipt] in the city of New Orleans on February 15, 1776.

Andres Almonester y Rojas, public scribe. This conforms ex- actly to the original that for now will be kept in my power and archive. In conformity with the present petition I have rendered this [application] on seventeen pages of common paper because sealing is practiced in the city of New Orleans, on the April 12, 1776.

As witness of truth, Andres Almonester y Rojas,

Public Scribe

[Editor's note: There must be proof, of course, that Margarita was a landowner and as wealthy as she claimed to be.]

Folio 22

I certify and affirm that in the archives under my charge it is stipulated that Donia Margarita Wiltz is a resident of this town, that she has a house and a bedroom on her property holdings with [land measuring] six arpents of frontage by forty arpents of depth, with twenty-five Negro slaves. All of it is her property and was bought in full with 8,000 gold pesos. In addition, I certify that her name is clear of mortgages or debts. This is made by petition of the interested party, in the city of New Orleans, on Feb- ruary 10, 1776.

Juan Bautista Garic, Public Scribe Don Luis de Unzaga y Amezaga, brigadier of the royal army

and governor and general inspector of this province of Louisiana. I certify that Don Juan Bautista Garic, the above-signed, is a

public scribe in this city as he has indicated, that he is loyal and certified, and that he has full faith and confidence in all of his col- leagues. And I consequently sign with my own hand this as legal and seal it with my family seal, with the support of the New Or- leans municipal government on February 16. Unzaga.

In your service, Joseph Foucher, scribe.

l 'Apparently the governor paid the cost of the legalities for his captain and bride.




[Editor's note: The next folio is by the priests who verified Mar- garita's baptism in the Christian faith at birth.]

Folio 23

I, Fray Francisco of Caldas, a religious man in the Order of the Capuchins, apostolic missionary and priest of the battalion of Louisiana, certify that in one of the registers of the only chapel of Saint Louis of this city of New Orleans, that starts in the year 1744 and ends in 1753, is written on page 164:

In the year 1749, September 7, I being a Capuchin missionary and apostolic vicar of New Orleans have baptized with the ordi- nary ceremonies of the church, Margarita, legitimate daughter of Jean Louis Wiltz and of Maria Dole (Dohl), who are married. She has as godfather ship captain Jean Pettez.

Done on the above mentioned day and year. L. Charles, Capuchin

This is an exact copy of the original in the cited book and to prove it I affix my signature in this mission of the city of New Or- leans on February 16, 1777.

Fray Francisco de Calas

[Editor's note: Written on the same folio is confirmation by the renowned French Priest, Father Dagobert who verifies that Father Francisco de Calas was the vicar of New Orleans.]

By late April 1776, Margarita's friends, family, and priest had given ample evidence of her limpieza de sangre and her good conduct. The testimonies were archived and copies were sent with the governor's letter of recommendation to the Minister of the In- dies for submission to the Spanish court. 12 The king approved the wedding, and the happy couple was wed that same year at St. Louis Catholic Church [now Cathedral] in New Orleans. Extant sacramental records, however, do not indicate the date.

12The author has presented only twenty-three folios for the sake of space. The others fol- low the same pattern of questions which Margarita and her representatives had to answer.

