Photos & Family History

John Hewlett, of Celtic origin, arrived in New Orleans in 1804. He was an entrepreneur, a promoter, an adventurer of sorts. His entrance onto the New Orleans business scene coincided with the transfer of New Orleans from France to the United States under the Louisiana Purchase.

New Orleans, at the time, was home to the largest community of free people of color throughout the continent and the Caribbean. The Afro Creoles of New Orleans, with French and African ancestry, had been free since the early settlement of the area. It was from this community that John Hewlett took Adele Madeleine Liotau, the daughter of the renowned Afro Creole furniture maker, Ferdinand Liotau, into an arranged liaison. Their union marks the beginning of our Hewlett Family Line. They had ten children. The Hewlett children lived, studied and prospered between two worlds – New Orleans and Paris.

The family had significant involvement in the War of 1812 and the Civil War. Four Hewlett family members signed a petition that was sent to Abraham Lincoln in 1865 insisting that free men of color be allowed to vote. The family’s relationships, business and personal, stretched from New Orleans to France, to the free black colony of Tampico, Mexico, to eventually the migration of Afro Creoles to Chicago, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area.

Their history is as varied as their colors. Their family saga is rich. Their legacy is memorable. The Hewlett Family Reunion 2021 marks the first time the family has had a reunion in New Orleans, ground zero, since the 1800s. A historical narrative along with a list of recommended historical sites will be distributed to all those participating in the reunion. You have much to discover about who we are.

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In 1863 African American men in New Orleans, free men of color, called for the right to vote in the new loyal government being organized under Union Army protection. However, when President Lincoln announced his new reconstruction policy for Louisiana on December 8, 1863, he restricted the vote to white men. Black political leaders refused to accept the decision and on January 5, 1864 drew up a petition to extend the franchise to “all citizens of Louisiana of African descent, born free before the rebellion.” The petition signed by more than one thousand men, INCLUDING MEMBERS OF THE HEWLETT FAMILY, was taken to Washington by Jean Baptiste Roudanez and E. Arnold Betronneau (who had originally fought for the Confederacy). Once in Washington, Roudanez and Bertonneau were persuaded to transform their petition into an appeal for universal suffrage, extending the franchise to freed persons. They presented their revised petition to Lincoln on March 12th, and it was introduced in the Senate on March 15th.