André Rigaud was born at Les Cayes, the son of a white father from Provence and an Arada Black mother.

Rigaud (André), legitimate son of M. Rigaud, a white man native of Provence, bailiff at the sénéchaussée of Saint-Louis, and of the lady Rose Bossy, an Arada *négresse*, was born at Les Cayes on 17 January 1761. He died in the same town on 18 September 1811, at the age of fifty years, eight months, one day. He was of medium height; his face was among the most gracious. M. Madiou, vol. 1, page 318 of his Histoire d’Haïti, seems to believe that Rigaud deliberately concealed his woolly hair. M. Madiou doubtless forgets that the wig was the fashion and that Toussaint also decked himself in one.