Anna Heegaard mistress of Peter von Scholten and slavery reform advocate reinterred at Orange Grove

ST. CROIX — The remains of one of the most influential women of the former Danish West Indies who advocated for the freedom of enslaved Africans in the 1800s were returned to her family burial ground at Aldershvile during a reinterment ceremony held Wednesday for Anna Heegaard in what is now known as Estate Orange Grove.

Heegaard, who was born on January 25, 1790 in Christiansted to Susanna Uytendahl, a formerly enslaved woman, and Jacob Heegaard, a Danish official, had a relationship with Governor-General Peter von Scholten prior to her death at the age of 68 on January 1, 1859. She died 10 and a half years after von Scholten emancipated all those enslaved in the former Danish West Indies on July 3, 1848. Some historians, however, argue that he had no alternative given the well-planned rebellion of the slaves led by General John Moses “Buddhoe” Gottlieb.

Heegaard is credited with improving conditions for the enslaved African and “free colored” population of the Danish West Indies in the 19th century because of her 20-year relationship with von Scholten. She “undeniably influenced the movement for legal and social equality for free Black men and women in the Danish West Indies,” according to the Encyclopedia of Antislavery & Abolition. She is believed to have helped von Scholten prepare a list of social reforms that he presented to the Danish king, who appointed a commission to study and carry out new rules for social justice for non-whites in the DWI. Reforms for the “unfree” eventually included a regulated length of workday, curtail of corporal punishment, banning of public slave auctions, a reprieve for pregnant women, establishment of schools, and housing improvements.