The family connections of slaves in Saint-Domingue in the eighteenth century. The Galliffet plantations (1774–1775)

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In 1775, the Galliffet plantations, located in the rich and prosperous colony of Saint-Domingue, assembled more than one thousand slaves on three large sugar plantations in Petite-Anse and two coffee plantations in Grande-Rivière. The Marquis de Galliffett entrusted the management of the plantations to a “procureur-gérant” [prosecuting manager], a scrupulous and skilled administrator who created a detailed inventory indicating matrimonial bonds and the many filial relationships. It appears that the vast majority of slaves shared family ties and that few were isolated individuals or without relatives. In creolized sugar plantations located near a church, marriages were fairly common. However, they were an exception on newly established, isolated, coffee plantations. However, marriage rate did not have a clear impact on birth rate, as couples were formed beforehand, usually around the age of twenty.