Louis Lucien Pessou

Louis Lucien Pessou
Born(1824-05-14)May 14, 1824
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
DiedDecember 18, 1886(1886-12-18) (aged 62)
Orleans Parish, Louisiana, U.S.
OccupationsLithographer, press owner
SpouseAmelie "Amelia" Henriette Colin (m. 1865)
Children2

Louis Lucien Pessou (May 14, 1824 – December 18, 1886) was an American lithographer, and "free man of color" in New Orleans, Louisiana.[1][2] He co-owned the press Pessou & Simon (1853–1867), and Pessou & Krauss (1868).

Life and career

Louis Lucien Pessou was born May 14, 1824, in New Orleans, Louisiana.[3][4][5] His parents Maria Magdalene Hernandez and Joseph Alphonse "Antoine" Pessou were free Saint-Domingue Creoles, who had immigrated from Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) during the St. Domingue Revolution.[3][4][5] His father was a gunsmith.[3]

Pessou was married to Amelie "Amelia" Henriette Colin in 1865.[6] Together they had two children.

He co-owned the lithography printing press Pessou & Simon (1853–1867), with German immigrant Benedict Simon; and Pessou & Krauss (1868), with German immigrant William Krauss.[3][7][8] Pessou & Simon were the first in the city to develop color lithography, which was used for maps, architectural plans, book illustrations, city views, and business papers.[4]

In 1868, Pessou was named the Orleans Parish recorder of births and deaths, and later marriages too.[3]

Pessou died on December 18, 1886, in Orleans Parish, Louisiana.

References

  1. ^ Kein, Sybil (August 1, 2000). Creole: The History and Legacy of Louisiana's Free People of Color. LSU Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-8071-4243-1.
  2. ^ Brady, Patricia (1991). "Black Artists in Antebellum New Orleans". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 32 (1): 5–28. ISSN 0024-6816.
  3. ^ a b c d e Brady, Patricia (February 3, 2011). "Louis Lucien Pessou". 64 Parishes. Retrieved March 5, 2026.
  4. ^ a b c Brady, Patricia (April 28, 2011). "Free Black Artists in Antebellum New Orleans". 64 Parishes. Retrieved March 5, 2026.
  5. ^ a b The International Review of African American Art. Museum of African American Art. 1995. p. 54. Louis Lucien Pessou, a lithographer of considerable talent, was born in New Orleans May 14 , 1824. His parents were free people of color who had come to New Orleans in 1808 among the great wave of emigrants...
  6. ^ "Succession Notices". New Orleans Republican. March 4, 1873. p. 5. Retrieved March 5, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Collections - Marie Adrien Persac". Louisiana State Museums. Retrieved March 5, 2026.
  8. ^ Last, Jay T. (2005). The Color Explosion: Nineteenth-century American Lithography. Hillcrest Press. p. 218. ISBN 978-0-914589-11-2.