Ouachita-Morehouse County Louisiana Archives Biographies.....Roi, Charlot 1790 - 1855


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shirley Marks Whitmore shirleyroot2@yahoo.com June 15, 2005, 10:19 am

Author: Shirley Marks Whitmore

Charlot Roi, recorded as Charls, Charlon, Charlow, Sharlow and Charles Roy, was 
one of the earliest documented African Americans of the Ouachita area. Roi's 
exact age is not known, but in testimony presented during the Senate Land 
Hearings in 1851, on behalf of Randal D. Livingston, Charlot claimed to have 
been 23 years old in 1803. 1Charlot is first noted in the 1793 Commandant's 
Report as he was freed by Auguste Roi, an early Ouachita Valley settler and New 
Orleans native. Charlot was apparently re-enslaved at some point after 1793 and 
before November 6, 1806, when he purchased his second freedom from the estate 
of Auguste Roi. Charlot paid for his second freedom with money borrowed or 
given to him by area slave traders John Francois Girod and his partner Jean 
Chol.2Charlot's wife is indentified as Darcus in a brief "release from bondage" 
document,  penned and recorded by William Burney Sr., on February 26, 1810. 
Charlot and Darcus Roi were the parents of seven children, most of who were 
gone from the area before 1850. 

Mention of Charlot Roi is most commonly found in the depositions recorded 
during the Senate Land Hearings of the early 1850's. He testified to the 
validity of claims involving numerous early Ouachita settlers including: 
3Nicholas Merriwether, Randal D. Livingston, John Blanton, Jeptha Bowen, James 
C. Cooper, Mathias Doherty, Alexander D. Peck, Hannibal Faulk, A.D. Crossman, 
Moses Floyd, Levi Guice, Bernard Hemken, David Hudson, Archibald Griffin, 
William Johnson, Squire Black, David Stewart, John McMahon, and John Hughes. 
Charlot Roi's testimonies allowed many original Bastrop grantees and their 
descendants to prove and maintain their land claims on the Ouachita.

Charlot, contributed greatly to the Ouachita community, where he lived his 
entire life. According to his own statements, he worked for Abraham Morehouse 
for ten years as a chain-bearer, surveying the lands of the Bastrop/Morehouse 
grants. Charlot most often spoke of himself as a hunter, and was recognized as 
such in the community. 4On February 19, 1859, Isaac T. Naff, Recorder and Ex-
Officio Notary for Morehouse Parish, identified Charlot Roi as "Charles Roy or 
Old Sharlow, the celebrated bear hunter."

Little is known of Charlot's children and grandchildren. Most of his 
descendants, and most other free blacks that lived on the Ouachita in early 
years, disappeared from the area by 1860. 5In 1850 Charlot's younger son Louis 
Roi lived with his father, but can not be documented after the census 
enumeration for that year. Auguste Roi, Charlot's oldest son and his wife 
Mahala Piles were present on the Ouachita (then living in Morehouse Parish) 
with their children in 1850. 6Auguste died previous to 1857 when Mahala sold 
their land to Joseph Boyd. Mahala Pile Roi was dead, and her children declared 
orphans, by February of 1859 when the younger children, James, Susan, William 
and Frank were apprenticed to Emanuel Gross, a recent Bavarian immigrant then 
living in Union Parish. By late 1860 only Frank Roi (aka Frances M. Piles) 
remained in the Ouachita/Morehouse area. Charlot's other children and 
grandchildren were gone from the area, and never returned. Charlot's known 
descendants are the progeny of his grandson, Frank Roi, commonly known as Frank 
Shiloh. Frank was born in 1848 and died in Mer Rouge, Morehouse, Louisiana in 
1914. A substantial number of Charlot's descendants reside in Morehouse Parish, 
the others are scattered around the world. 
1 Yventario del Archivo de la Commandancia del Puesto de Ouachita, 1804
2 Ouachita Parish Clerk of Court Records, William Burney "Freedom" to Darcus, 
wife of Charlow
3 The Report of the U.S. Senate on the Bastrop Grants, pp. 23, 24, 101,156, 
165, 201,234, 473, 489, 545, 610, 650, 654, 750, 753, 785, 
4 Ouachita Parish Clerk of Court Conveyance Records, Augustus Roy, Indenture of 
Heirs to Emanuel Gross
5 1850 Federal Census, Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, p. 399
6 Morehouse Parish, Conveyance Records


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