The Haitians always commented on my name with fascination. They liked it. “Are you French?”, they would ask. Well, yes, I do have some French mixed into what my mother calls the League-of-Nations heritage on her side of the lineage, but the truth is my name is more from the strong Irish heritage on my father’s side. I was named after my Great Aunt Claire, a woman my mother said was the “most generous and kind person I’ve met”. As a young child, I took pride and responsibility knowing that story of my namesake.
It was not until I returned stateside that I learned why my name so fascinated the Haitians. It turns out Marie-Claire Heureuse Felicite was the first empress of Haiti in the early 19th century. Her husband, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, was one of the founding father’s of Haiti. Slave for over 30 years, he was leader of the slave revolution against French rule and became the first ruler of an independent Haiti. He called himself Jacques I of Haiti. Today he is considered an icon of Haitian nationalism.
But, back to Marie-Claire. A nurse and educator, her life, too, was a revolution against injustices, though from a different angle. During the 1800 siege of Jacmel, she became known for her work with the wounded and starving. She even managed to convince Dessalines, who was one of the parties besieging the city, to allow some roads to the city to be opened, so that the wounded could receive help. She led a possession of women and children with food, clothes and medicine back to the city.
She was a contrast to her spouse, also, in her way of showing indiscriminate kindness to people of all colours, disregarding their ethnicity. A great opponent to the policy of her spouse toward the white French of Haiti, she saw to the needs of the prisoners, and despite the ire of Dessalines, saved many of them from his massacre on the French.
Jacques I of Haiti had a short-lived rule. He was assassinated after just two years in power. Marie-Claire lived in poverty from then on, first as consequence of her husband’s property being confiscated, and later by choice. Decades after her husband’s death she was offered a handsome pension by Emperor Faustin I of Haiti who wanted to demonstrate his admiration for her late husband. Having no admiration of her own for many of the ruthless tactics of Dessalines’ rule, she declined the money and lived in poverty to her death at the age of 110.
My parents I’m sure did not know of Empress Marie-Claire when contemplating baby names. However if they had, I’d be equally proud to have her as inspiration for my name.
~Mc
It was not until I returned stateside that I learned why my name so fascinated the Haitians. It turns out Marie-Claire Heureuse Felicite was the first empress of Haiti in the early 19th century. Her husband, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, was one of the founding father’s of Haiti. Slave for over 30 years, he was leader of the slave revolution against French rule and became the first ruler of an independent Haiti. He called himself Jacques I of Haiti. Today he is considered an icon of Haitian nationalism.
But, back to Marie-Claire. A nurse and educator, her life, too, was a revolution against injustices, though from a different angle. During the 1800 siege of Jacmel, she became known for her work with the wounded and starving. She even managed to convince Dessalines, who was one of the parties besieging the city, to allow some roads to the city to be opened, so that the wounded could receive help. She led a possession of women and children with food, clothes and medicine back to the city.
She was a contrast to her spouse, also, in her way of showing indiscriminate kindness to people of all colours, disregarding their ethnicity. A great opponent to the policy of her spouse toward the white French of Haiti, she saw to the needs of the prisoners, and despite the ire of Dessalines, saved many of them from his massacre on the French.
Jacques I of Haiti had a short-lived rule. He was assassinated after just two years in power. Marie-Claire lived in poverty from then on, first as consequence of her husband’s property being confiscated, and later by choice. Decades after her husband’s death she was offered a handsome pension by Emperor Faustin I of Haiti who wanted to demonstrate his admiration for her late husband. Having no admiration of her own for many of the ruthless tactics of Dessalines’ rule, she declined the money and lived in poverty to her death at the age of 110.
My parents I’m sure did not know of Empress Marie-Claire when contemplating baby names. However if they had, I’d be equally proud to have her as inspiration for my name.
~Mc
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