Today, descendants of this freed slave (Charles "Charlot" Asmard) go by such appelations as Charlot, Ausmer and Azemar.
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Charlot Tract
Donna Julia de la Brosse was also known as the Widow Asmar. When the Widow died, the disposition of her properties, although set down in her Will of 1797, were not acknowledged. Nevertheless, because she had freed her family slaves, Charles and his wife Madelon and their children, held legal title to a large tract of land which the Widow had given them in a Deed of Gift. (As seen in Yellow Section in Current Day Map)
The Charles Asmard property, approximately 680 acres, fronted the beach and extended from west of Market Avenue to the middle of the 400 Block of East Scenic Drive near Seal Avenue and northward towards Bayou Portage.
This same property now encompasses most of the commercial district of Pass Christian ( as seen in Yellow above). Upon the former Negro slave's death in 1835, the unsold portion of his property was passed on to nine of his heirs.
Since the Widow Asmard's Will was not honored, Bartholomew Pellerin, a Spanish Captain, made claim to the vast remaining area of 17,084 arpents, or approximately 14,500 acres. This expansive area included all of Henderson Point extending eastward to Bear Point near the present day University of Southern Mississippi -- Gulf Park Campus at Long Beach. Pellerin sold his lands to Edward Livingston in 1814, who in turn, sold the balance of that vast property to John Henderson in 1836. John Henderson and his son Elliot are acknowledged for developing Pass Christian as a resort community. John Henderson became well known as an outstanding and well versed United States Senator representing Mississippi on its entry into Statehood in 1817.
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