User:M.davis26/Louisa Piquet

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Louisa Picquet (c. 1828, Columbia, South Carolina – June 11, 1896, New Richmond, Ohio) was an African American octoroon whose history in slavery was published in 1861.

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Louisa Piquet was born in Columbia, South Carolina, to an enslaved mother and her master. Her mother, Elizabeth Ramsey, had been raped by John Randolph, her owner, when she was 15 years old. Mrs. Randolph took notice of the similarities between her newborn child and Louisa, and was unhappy with this revelation. Randolph later sold Picquet and Elizabeth to David R. Cook, who then moved to Mobile, Alabama.

In Mobile, Louisa performed domestic duties in Alabama for Thomas M. English, who owned the house where Cook was boarding.

When Cook defaulted on his debts, Picquet was sold at auction to John Williams in New Orleans, separating her from her mother and infant brother. Williams forced Picquet to be his concubine. During this time, Piquet birthed four children, all of which were fathered by Mr. Williams. Only two of her four children survived enslavement. After Williams' death in the 1840s, Picquet and her children obtained their freedom. She remained in the Williams household until Williams's brother informed her that he was selling the house. She then moved in with Helen Hopkins. She began to sell some of the William's furniture, which allowed her to raise enough money to move with her children to Cincinnati, Ohio.

In Cincinnati, Picquet assumed the name of Louisa Williams. Shortly after her arrival, one of her two remaining children died. After meeting Henry Picquet, of Augusta, Georgia, the couple married in 1850 and had two children.