Born in Baltimore to Anne Marie Maxis, a free woman of color, Almaide was raised by her mother’s guardians, the Duchemin family. She received an education uncommon to most women of the time. At age 19, she became a founding member of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first Roman Catholic society for women of color in the United States, taking the name Marie Therese Duchemin. The Oblate Sisters soon opened St. Frances Academy, this nation’s first Catholic school for children of color. While there, she met Rev. Louis Florent Gillet, who decided to establish a teaching community in Monroe, Michigan. In 1845, she moved there with Father Gillet and established Saint Mary’s Academy. Headed by Sister Marie Therese, the school attracted the daughters of the French Canadian fur trade community.

Flavia Maria Barbeau was the daughter of Archange LaLonde and Peter Barbeau, an entrepreneurial figure from La Pointe Quebec who began his career with the Hudson Bay Company. Barbeau, a student at the academy, worked this sampler. Stitched with merino wool and silk on linen, the sampler is executed in cross, satin, outline and chain stitches. The central composition consists of three lines of alphabet sets followed by the inscription “Flavia Barbeau. Monroe December 16th 1846.” Beneath the notation is a landscape with a willow tree, a pair of grazing sheep, and a house. 

It seems highly likely that both Mary J. Greenfield Smith (B.2011.8) and Barbeau were taught by Sister Marie Therese. Smith was a student at the Oblate Sisters of Providence School while Marie Therese was there.