Noisette Family History

Philippe was a member of a distinguished family of horticulturists from France. He moved to Haiti when he was a young man and fell in love with a Haitian woman whose name was Celestine. In the early 1790s, because of the Haitian slave revolution, he and Celestine relocated to Charleston, SC where he was offered a position as Superintendent of the South Carolina Medical Society Botanical Gardens. Philippe became famous for raising the Old Blush Noisette Rose, after he sent the rose to his brother Louis in Paris. Louis planted the rose in his nursery and crossed it to develop a class of roses called the Noisette Roses. The plants were sold all over Europe and sent to America as a fully developed class of roses. Philippe purchased a large tract of land on the outskirts of the city known as the Noisette Farm, which was bordered by King, San Souci, Simons and Hester streets.

Because of the miscegenation laws of South Carolina Philippe was forced to declare Celestine his slave. They had six children who also became his slaves. The 1830 Federal Census recorded him as a single white man owning eight slaves who are believed to be his wife and at least five of his six children. Among his slaves were two adult males between the ages of 55 and 100.

Shortly before his death, in 1835, Philippe petitioned the state of South Carolina for the emancipation of his faithful slave Celestine and their six children. Philippe died without knowing the results of his petition. Philippe’s family was in fact later emancipated and allowed to secure their inheritance and remain in the state of South Carolina. Philippe was buried at St. Mary’s Church, on Hasell Street in downtown Charleston. His head stone was said to have been destroyed by an act of nature and was never replaced. Philippe and Celestine’s children were; Alexander (born in 1808) who married Margaret (Peggy) Washington. They had six children; Louis Philippe who left Charleston and may have gone to Philadelphia; Anna Melanie did not marry; Josephine married John Edwards; and Paul and Joseph, were not married. They were buried in the Humane Friendly Society Cemetery in North Charleston where they share a head stone.

All of the descendents of Philippe and Celestine that remained in SC seem to be the descendants of their first son Alexander and Margaret (Peggy) Washington. Their children were: Philip Noisette born 1833 and married Louisa Dederik; Alexander Jr. born 1835 married Sarah Ann Graves; Louis (Lewis) born in 1841 who is recorded in the 1870 Federal Census as living in Idaho; Celestine Noisette born 1843 married Robert Sutton; Joseph Stanislaus Noisette born in 1848 married Ardeena (Ardene) Holland; John Noisette born 1850 married Charlotte Edwards. (Charlotte died and John moved to Savannah, remarried and had three children). James Noisette was Alexander and Margaret’s youngest child was born in 1854.