To be or not to be a slave...is that's my question?

So I was feeling guilty about neglecting my father's side of the family, and frankly tired of mother's side. So I began searching around where I had been stuck before. My father's family is from Louisiana, and I have been able to get just to and maybe a little past the Civil War due to my uncle's past research.

I have not been able to locate my father's mother Etalia Reese prior to the 1920 census. She married Henry L. Antoine and dies prior to the 1930 census. I was mucking around trying to find her in the 1910 census but no luck... when I discover her husband Henry's parents Paul and Courine's Antoine's marriage record which listed his mother's maiden name as Lorence.

Now Courine Lorence was born in 1869 in Louisiana. So I began searching for one that matches the age of my ancestor. Turns out there were two. A Corinne Llorens from Natchitoches and a Corinne Lorinse from St. Martinville (which is the family hometown so I'm going with this one). Courine's father is listed as Hyppolite Lorinse, born 1842 (Lorins, Lorince, Lorence...yep, multiple spellings driving me crazy).

Also on the same census was his father, Hyppolite Sr. who was born in 1805 in France. I have not been able to find Courine's mother's name. Hyppolite Jr's mother's name, though may be Belzire. I have not been able to locate her or the children living with Hyppolite Sr. in previous census records and I imagined it was not ok until after the Civil war. I found Hyppolite sr living at a school in 1850. There is someone I think might be his brother by the name of So.B. Dest Laurent and his wife Rose, both born in France. There was a ship passenger record for a Hyppolite from France in 1839, who's last name is very difficult to read who was listed as a Professor of Music.

So this is where I was when I started searching this evening and this is what I discovered.

I followed up on the lead regarding the school. On the 1850 , Hyppolite is living next to the private school and his possible relation S.R.D.A. Laurant aka SO. B. Laurant. It does have that Mr. Laurant is a teacher at a private school, and I assume it is for a girls since there are three girls living there. In 1850 there were quite a bit more students than in 1860. In 1860 census, Hyppolite is living a few houses away and can be found on the following page.

At both these times there should be a record of his children but there is not. So then I began to look on the slave census and I found that Mr. Laurant owned 8 slaves in 1860. Then I looked to see how many he owned in 1850 and I found my Hypolite Lorins listed directly above Mr. Laurant. Hyppolite owned six slaves which match his wife, four sons and a daughter that are found in the 1880 census record. The ages seem to fit his children; however, he has them all listed as female. I did not find a record of him owning slaves in 1860 but it may be that he sold them to his brother (Laurant) or that I have just not been able to figure out which spelling of his name he is using. Anyway, that's all I have for now. Peace out