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Marie-Cessette Dumas was a female slave in the French colony of Saint Domingue. She was the mother of General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, the grandmother of novelist Alexandre Dumas, and the great-grandmother of playwright Alexandre Dumas, fils, and has been called a "great matriarch to a saga of distinguished men".[1] She was a slave of African descent kept by the Marquis Alexandre Antoine Davy de La Pailleterie. They lived at a plantation called La Guinaudée[2] (or Guinodée[3]) near Jérémie of the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), until Antoine's departure in 1775.
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Two primary source documents show that Marie-Cessette Dumas was enslaved. One is a 1776 letter from a retired royal prosecutor in Jérémie to the Count de Maulde, the son-in-law of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas's uncle, Charles Davy de la Pailleterie. The letter states that Dumas's father (Alexandre-Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, then known as Antoine de l’Isle) "bought from a certain Monsieur de Mirribielle a negress named Cesette at an exorbitant price," then, after living with her for some years, "sold ... the negress Cezette" along with her two daughters "to a ... baron from Nantes."[4] The second is a legal judgment signed by Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, then known as Thomas Retoré or Rethoré, and his recently widowed step-mother Marie Retou Davy de la Pailleterie, which attests officially that Retou gave up her property rights over Marie-Cessette Dumas and her two daughters.[5]
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The only source for her full name with the spelling "Marie-Cessette Dumas," is General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas's marriage certificate and contract.[3] The name Marie is given in some sources as Louise.[6] Cessette is also spelled Cecette[7] and Cezette in one primary source[8] and given in others as Cécile.[9] There has been some speculation that the family name "Dumas," rather than representing a family name for Marie-Cessette, instead means "of the farm" (du mas) and constitutes a descriptive addition to her first names meant to signify that she belonged to the property.[10] Others have proposed that the name Cessette may have originated in Gabon, where Marie-Cessette might have been captured by slave traders. According to Francophone novelist Calixthe Beyala, the name "Dumas" was initially "Dûma," of Fang origin, meaning "dignity."[11] Hans Werner Debrunner has written that she would have been Yoruba or Dahomeyan.[12]
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The two extant primary documents that state a racial identity for Marie-Cessette Dumas refer to her as a "négresse" (a black female)—as opposed to a "mulâtresse" (a mixed-race female with half black and half white ancestry). The first is a June 3, 1776, letter from the retired royal prosecutor Chauvinault, who was hired by the Count de Maulde (son-in-law of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas’ uncle Charles Davy de la Pailleterie). It states that Dumas’ father (Alexandre-Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, then known as Antoine de l’Isle) "bought ... a negress named Cesette," then, after living with her for some years, "sold ... the negress Cezette" (the spelling of her name varies in the letter itself). While describing her as a "negress," of entirely Black African descent, the letter classifies the four children she had with Antoine (including Thomas-Alexandre Dumas) as "mulattos."[13]
The second document is a legal judgment signed before "the Counselors of King, Notary Publics in the Châtelet of Paris" on November 22, 1786, which settled property ownership issues between Thomas-Alexandre Dumas (then known as Thomas Rethoré) and his step-mother, Marie Françoise Elisabeth Retou (widow of his father, Alexandre-Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie). In it, Marie-Cesette Dumas is mentioned as "Marie Cezette, negress, mother of Mr. Rethoré" ("Marie Cezette negresse mere dud. [dudit] S. Rethoré").[14] Secondary sources on General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, dating back to 1822, almost always describe his mother as a black African ("femme africaine,"[15] "négresse,"[16] "négresse africaine,"[17][18] "noire,"[19] or "pure black African"[20]).
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Sources differ on the date and circumstance of her death. Two documents signed by Alex Dumas—his contract and certificate of marriage to Marie-Louise Labouret—state that Marie-Cessette died in La Guinaudée, near Trou Jérémie, Saint-Domingue, in 1772.[3] Based on this death date, Victor Emmanuel Roberto Wilson speculates that she may have died in the mass outbreak of dysentery following a devastating hurricane that struck principally the Grand'Anse region of Saint-Domingue that year.[21] There is good reason, however, to believe that she did not die in 1772. Two other documents say Marie-Cessette remained alive after that year. The 1776 letter from Chauvinault to the Count de Maulde, cited above, states that Dumas's father Antoine sold Marie-Cessette in 1775 before returning to France.[22] A second document, this one signed by Dumas in 1801, states "Marie-Cezette" will be in charge of General Dumas's properties in Saint-Domingue.[23] This evidence makes it unlikely that Marie-Cessette Dumas died in 1772.[citation needed]
According to the writer Claude Ribbe, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas may have deliberately entered a false death date on the marriage certificate. He had urgent reason to claim she was dead at the moment of his marriage in Villers-Cotterêts, France, in 1792, since he would have been required to consult her opinion on the marital union if she were living.[24]
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