Marie Laveau's Life Aside from VooDoo

Marie Laveau 

As we were having discussions in class this week and as were talking about Marie Laveau I became extremely facinated in the lady that she was, and what she did for the people of New Orleans. I've always been interested in the VooDoo culture of New Orleans and Marie Laveau just drew me in deeper.

I became interested in what she did as the VooDoo queen, but I became more interested in her life before she became queen. We always see people as what they were famous for, or what they are known for, but I wanted to see what Laveau's life was like aside from being the VooDoo queen and what the life of her children may have been like.

She was born in 1801 to two free persons of color who were both mulattos.
Marie Laveau was a Devout Catholic woman who attended mass on a daily basis. She started her life out as a  hair dresser and then became a nurse during the yellow fever epidemic. After her first husband disappeared she got remarried to Christopher Glapion and had about fifteen children with him.

Marie Laveau II 

What I found most interesting was that Marie's daughter, also named Marie, followed exactly in her mothers footsteps. She started off as a hair dresser just like her mother, and then became a healing nurse. Her mother taught her a lot about herbs and healing techniques, that she had used during the yellow fever epidemic. Although Marie Laveau II was highly acclaimed she didn't gain the respect that her mother did. She didn't have the same open and compassionate personality her mother did instead she used fear and subservience.

Some people claimed that Laveau II died in a big storm on Lake Pontchartrain while others claimed she died of a heart attack during one of the quadroon balls.
Either way it is said that if you got to her tomb she accepts money, cigars, white rum and candy as offerings  In order for your question to be answered they must be asked three times with full concentration.