By clicking on the links at the bottom of this page, you will be able to access the four pages that comprise the March 1782 petition by Marguerite (in Spanish) .

Following is the description of this document that appeared in the Louisiana Historical Quarterly in January 1935:

		The next, or page 7, is Margarita's petition, saying it is evident from 
		the act of emancipation, which she duly presents, that her four children 
		should enjoy their freedom just as she does, but instead they suffer under 
		the power of the Guillory heirs, who are unwilling to free them.  Considering 
		that the defendents have petitioned for an opportune occasion to alienate them
		and to remove them, secretly, beyond the limits of the Colony, she prays the
		Alcade to order the Commander of Opelousas, Alexandro De Clouet, to notify the
		Guillory heirs, at their cost, to present themselves in this Tribunal so as to
		defend their rights, or else appoint an attorney, duly instructed, to represent
		them, and if they do not appear within four months their defense will not be
		admitted in Court, and they will be held as usurpers of the freedom of her
		children, who should now be enjoying it.  Permitting her to proceed against
		them, when the said time has passed, for the damages and prejudices which have
		been occasioned to her and to them.  In a second petition she states that, in
		order that the foregoing may have effect, she prays to have a despatch issued
		and sent to Commander Alexandro De Clouet with an enclosure of a written copy
		of her act of emancipation, of this petition, and of Alcade Panis' decree.  The
		Court rules:  In the principal petition the instrument presented by this party
		is accepted, and in the secondary one let a despatch be issued in due form to
		Commander at Opelousas, Alexandro De Clouet, with an enclosure of the said 
		instrument, the petition, and this decree, so that upon the sight of it he may
		be pleased to send to this Tribunal, the four sons of Margarita, the free negress.
 		For this purpose, let him request the help of the Governor of this Province.

Please note that Pages 1-3 are legal-sized pages. Therefore, you might want to save the image to a file (right mouse button - "Save image as.."). Anyone wishing to obtain a copy of entire case (No. 3440) can do so by contacting the Louisiana State Museum, 751 Chartres Street, P.O. Box 2448, New Orleans, LA 70176. Please be warned, however, that the case is 71 pages long and, in 1993, cost almost $25 to copy. You will need to contact the Museum to obtain the current copying costs. Note that this does not include the 1781 case filed by Claude Guillory (No. 3494).

UPDATE 2019: Two of the primary documents related to the Margarita case are now on-line: Document # 1781-01-20-01 ... and ... Document # 1782-03-09-01