page_title: Elisabeth Samson
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Elisabeth Samson / Career
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Algemeene kaart van de Colonie of Provintie van Suriname. Omdat de bestaande kaarten van de kolonie niet meer toereikend waren zaten de directeuren van de Sociëteit van Suriname al lang verlegen om een goede nieuwe kaart. Plantage-eigenaren stoorden zich namelijk weinig aan de voorschriften ten aanzien van het meten van hun gronden en het registreren ervan. In 1734 liet Alexander de Lavaux - vaandrig in dienst van de Sociëteit en gezworen landmeter van Suriname - de directeuren weten dat hij al twee jaar bezig was met een nieuwe kaart, die bovendien al bijna gereed was. Op hun verzoek werd de kaart in 1737 in Amsterdam gegraveerd. De kaart, waarvan het noorden onder ligt, omvat in het bijzonder het cultuurgebied langs de Suriname- en Commewijne rivieren. Er zijn 436 plantages op aangegeven, die opgenoemd worden in de legenda, vergezeld van opgaven over oppervlakten en eigenaars. Voor het eerst staan alle cultuurgebieden in de omgeving op één kaart ingetekend. In de binnenlanden zien we o.m. 'wegloopers dorpen' die in brand staan en andere getuigenissen van acties tegen de Marrons waarbij De Lavaux betrokken is geweest.
context_page_description: Elisabeth Samson was an Afro-Surinamese coffee plantation owner.
  She was born in 1715 in Paramaribo to a freed slave, known as Mariana. All of her other siblings had been born as slaves and were emancipated by her half-brother Charlo Jansz. Raised in the home of her half-sister Maria Jansz, Samson was taught to read and write by her brothers-in law who also trained her in business. She began acquiring property at the age of 19, but was banished from the colony in 1836 after being convicted of slander. Her appeal, heard by the Dutch Parliament, was successful and she returned to Suriname in 1839.
  After acquiring slaves and two small coffee plantations, Samson entered a relationship with Carl Otto Creutz. Creutz was a soldier who was deeded property in 1749 by the governor for his service in making peace with local maroons. Focused on his military career and colonial politics, he turned his plantation, Clevia, over to Samson's management. She brought her own slaves to work on his plantation and within two years, the couple drew up a document confirming their joint ownership of Clevia, as well as of a cattle ranch and two townhomes in the city of Paramaribo.
context_section_description: Samson began to acquire slaves and purchased the Toevlught and Welgemoed coffee plantations over the next three years. In her mid-twenties, she became involved in a business and personal relationship with Carl Otto Creutz. He was from Emmerich am Rhein in the Duchy of Cleves, had come to Suriname in 1733 as an army cadet, and lived in the home of Samson's sister and brother-in-law. Rising through the ranks to captain and successfully assisting Governor Jan Jacob Mauricius in negotiating peace with the local maroons, Creutz was awarded a 1,000-acre plantation, Clevia, in 1849. To work the plantation, Samson brought her 200 slaves, who had remained her personal property. In 1750, the plantation was registered with local authorities to confirm their cohabitation and in 1751, a legal document was drawn up showing that Samson and Creutz had joint ownership of Clevia; a nearby cattle ranch, La Solitude; and two townhomes in Paramaribo. Creutz became involved in colonial politics, rising to membership in the Court of Policy, leaving Samson in charge of running their estates. 
  Their lavish home in Paramaribo was next door to the governor's house and was fitted with all the finery money could buy, including crystal chandeliers, china, mahogany furnishings, silver, a wine cellar and luxurious fabrics. The 44 house slaves lived in a separate property adjacent to their stables which were across the street from the main home. Above the stables was an apartment and next door was the other townhome the couple owned. Both were rented out to tenants. During his campaigns with the maroons, Creutz contracted malaria and from 1753 suffered from repeated periods of sickness from the disease. He died in November 1762 and Samson then inherited his half of their joint holdings for use during her lifetime, which would pass to his brothers when she died. Unwilling to have merely a life tenancy she prepared a purchase offer for the Creutz brothers which they accepted. Over the next two years, Samson paid the brothers ƒ155,000 (around £1,900,000 in 2020), becoming sole owner of the properties.
  In 1764, Samson wrote to the Council of Policy and the governor, seeking permission to marry. Her fiancé was Christopher Polycarpus Braband, a white man who was the organist of the local Dutch Reformed Church and a tenant in one of her properties. Her request was denied in accordance with the 1685 law of Suriname which prohibited blacks and whites from marrying. Undaunted, she had her legal representatives in the Netherlands ask permission directly from the board of the Society of Suriname, which prompted the local authorities to write to the Society asking them to deny the request. Their appeal stated that the only argument in favor of the union was that her wealth might pass out of black hands and return to white possession after her death. Unable to reach a decision, the directors of the Society forwarded the request to the parliament. It took the States General three years to review the case, but they concluded that the colonial law differed from Dutch law, which did not exclude interracial marriage and that Dutch law overruled local statutes. Though Samson was now allowed to marry a white man, her fiancé had died in January 1766, during the drawn out legal proceedings.
  Samson was not idle, while waiting for the decision on her marriage. Her older sister, Catharina Opperman had died in 1764 and left the plantations Vlaardingen and Catharinasburg to her sisters Elisabeth and Nanette Samson. The sisters then jointly purchased Belwaarde Plantation, the neighboring estate to Clevia and formerly owned by Governor Mauricius and began operating a coffee export business. Samson commissioned a shipyard in Amsterdam to build a frigate, the Miss Nanette and Miss Elisabeth, for their trade goods. The ship was completed and arrived in Suriname in 1767, where bags marked with the initials of the sisters and the plantation where the coffee was grown were loaded and shipped to overseas ports of call. When approval for her marriage to a white man was finally received in A
caption: 1737 Map of Suriname shows Samson family members owning property in the Hoer Helena Creek section
exif: {}