I represent Gertrude, an enslaved negra woman in the household of Adelaide Petit, a free woman of color. I was noted as being 30 years old in an 1829 deed of manumission from Adelaide Petit, which means I would have been about 22 years old in 1821. I had four children by Adelaide’s son, Jean Baptiste Bernard, all of whom were freed (along with me) in early childhood at their father’s request. My children were Eusebia Angela Bernard, Dominga Mariana Bernard, Valerio Baptiste Bernard, and Adelaide Bernard (though only the oldest two had been born by 1821).