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The dowry was a custom brought to the United States by
colonists from England and elsewhere in Europe. A dowry is defined as the
money, goods or estate that a woman brings to a marriage.
Dowries were an
incentive for a man to marry a woman. They also provided for the woman should
something happen to her husband. The ability to provide a dowry often meant the
difference between marrying well or not.
Providing dowries for poor women was regarded as a form of
charity by the wealthy. In 1824, a man named Julien Pydras bequeathed $30,000
to the parish of West Baton Rouge as a dowry fund for needy women. Each year
the fund generated interest, and it still exists today.
As a young man in 1760, Julien Poydras was taken captive
from a French ship and sent to an English prison. He escaped and settled in New
Orleans in 1768. At first he was a peddler of cutlery and other household
implements. Eventually he became very wealthy, owning plantations all along the
Mississippi River. He was quite accomplished—a poet, politician, and
philanthropist.
Here’s an excerpt from his will:
The public interest
and common welfare always awoke my attention and solicitude, and if I did some
good and intend doing some more in presently drawing my last will, this is due
to my deep love for my fellow citizens and the country I have adopted as mine.
Poydras died a bachelor. It’s rumored that he left the dowry
fund to the West Baton Rouge parish because he was unable to marry Marie, the
woman he loved in France. She had no dowry, and his family was well to do. By the time he had earned
enough in America to send for her, she had married someone else.
If you want to read more, here’s a link to an article written about Julien Pydras:
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