Creator: Miltenberger, Christian, 1764-1829.
Collection number: 513
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Abstract: Christian Miltenberger, physician, was married to Marie Aim? Mersier (fl. 1803-1841), whose family owned coffee plantations in Saint Domingue on the island of Hispaniola. After their marriage in 1803, the Miltenbergers moved first to Cuba, where they owned property and slaves, and eventually to Louisiana. Miltenberger practiced medicine in New Orleans from about 1809 until his death. Business papers, estate papers, records of medical observations, and family correspondence of Christian Miltenberger and his family. Most are financial and legal papers relating to Miltenberger’s medical practice and to the estate of his father-in-law, Antoine Mersier (d. ca. 1795). In addition to his medical practice, Miltenberger also owned real estate, slaves, and other property in New Orleans and neighboring parishes. Included are bills, accounts, contracts, inventories, leases, receipts for the sale of property, and baptismal and marriage certificates. The small amount of correspondence relates chiefly to family affairs and includes letters from Miltenberger’s French relatives in Bordeaux, Mirambeau, and Alsace, who also discussed economic and political conditions in France. Some letters after 1825 relate to the question of indemnity for property losses of French residents of Saint-Domingue, which became Haiti in 1804. Also included are notes and observations on yellow fever and other diseases, accounts with patients in New Orleans, and some data on individual medical cases that Miltenberger treated.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: Business papers, estate papers, records of medical observations, and family correspondence of physician Miltenberger of Louisiana, Santo Domingo, and Cuba. The majority of the material relates to Miltenberger’s medical practice and to the estate of his father-in-law, Antoine Mersier, who owned coffee plantations and slaves in Santo Domingo. Included are slave lists and records of slave sales between 1739-1794, 1802-1809, and through 1827 (folders 1-12; 29-30) ; records of rentals of slaves (folder 43); records of slave illnesses and deaths (folder 43, 44); and undated letters concerning the treatment of an ill female slave (folder 39).