Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - (Page 28)

racing his boat, The Secret, as a member of the Southern Yacht Club, and riding his prize mare, “Fashion,” through the streets of New Orleans. In confidential documents he recorded his own worth in 1860 at $112,000 (about $2.5 million at present-day value). New Orleans society regarded Edmund, now in his early 40s, as one of its most eligible bachelors. His name appeared in the locally published booklet Bliss of Marriage, or How to Get a Rich Wife, which despite its title listed both the region’s unmarried ladies and gentlemen with their estimated individual wealth. Family tradition explains why Edmund christened his yacht The Secret. The “secret” was that by 1853, 38-year-old Edmund had fallen in love with 15-year-old Mary Eliza Avery, daughter of his closest friend, prominent Louisiana attorney and planter Daniel Dudley Avery. Judge Avery, as he was later known, resided in Baton Rouge and through his wife’s family owned a sugar plantation deep in the Teche country at a place called Petite Anse Island, known today as Avery Island. Edmund’s love for Mary Eliza grew. After she turned 20, in 1858, Edmund wrote to Judge Avery: “My long and intimate intercourse with your family has resulted in an honest and devoted love for your daughter, Mary. Save by inference from my attention, she is unaware of my feelings. I respectfully ask your permission to make them known to her.” Judge Avery refused to answer the entreaty, disapproving of a prospective son-in-law only five years his junior. He finally consented, however, when Mary Eliza — who knew of Edmund’s feelings and his letter to her father — threatened to elope. The couple wed on June 30, 1859, at St. James Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge. Edmund and Mary Eliza honeymooned at Bay St. Louis for several months and then took up residence on Rampart Street in New Orleans. Around December 1859, Mary Eliza became pregnant, and she and Edmund traveled to Avery Island in May 1860 to await the birth. Sara, nicknamed “Sadie,” arrived in September at Marsh House, the Avery homestead on the Island. She would be the first of eight children, two of whom would die as infants. above: Daniel Dudley Avery, father-in-law of Edmund McIlhenny and original owner of a sugar plantation (left) called Petite Anse Island, known today as Avery Island, the headquarters for the Tabasco corporation. 28 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES\Fall 2005

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 Contents Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Louisiana State Museum After Katrina and Rita Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce Historic New Orleans Collection Louisiana Association of Museums New Orleans’ Coffee Connection No Man’s Land Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism Bookstand (Book Review by Thomas Uskali) Sound Advice (Music Review by Ben Sandmel) Forum (Commentary by Roy Blount, Jr. )

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005

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