Delphine Macarty Lalaurie was the daughter of Louis Barthelemy de Macarty, an officer of the French army.
She belonged to the Creole class of people, descended from French and Spanish colonists who had arrived in the United States in the 1700’s.
Both she and her family benefitted from the exploitation of enslaved people on their sugar and cotton plantation.
Delphine was also wealthy in her own right; following her mother’s death she received a sizable inheritance including a plantation on the Mississippi River, livestock, and farm equipment.
Indeed, Delphine was much admired; it was said that the Queen of Spain deemed LaLaurie so beautiful that she granted a pardon to her Spanish first husband, who had married without the permission of the Crown.