Marie Laveau
(1794 - 1881)
She is famous even today as one of the most powerful Voodoo priestesses who ever lived. Unfortunately few hard facts are known about her life. details of her exact parentage and origin are uncertain. She moved to New Orleans in her youth and was raised a devout Catholic - later becoming friends with Pere Antoine, the chaplain at St. Louis Cathedral. At the age of twenty-five, Marie joined a local freeman Jacques Paris in what was by all accounts a happy marriage. Later after his disappearance and presumed death, she lived with Cristophe Glapion. Between the two men, Marie bore fifteen children including her daughter Marie who bore a striking resemblance to her mother and eventually became a Voodoo priestess as well.
She worked as a hairdresser and built up a network of informants and spies. With this information she could wield her power and influence.
