Before the king's notaries of the city and royal jurisdiction
of Montreal, resident and undersigned, were present, Srs
Jean Baptiste Lavoye, widower, resident, living at côte St Laurent
being here today in the city of said Montreal, son of Jean-Baptiste
Lavoie and Barbe Lhomme, his father and mother, resident of St Augustin near Quebec
stipulating in this part for him and in his name of one part,
and lady Thérèse Couvret, widow of René Ménard, daughter of the late Victor
Couvret and Thérèse Desmoulins, today ..... living in the said
Côte St Laurent, her father and mother, stipulating also for her and in her name
of another part.

Which parties, of their own free will, and with the advice and consent
from their parents and friends here assembled for this purpose
; that is to say, on the part of the said Jean Baptiste Lavoye, Srs.
Antoine Lacoste, of Jacques Ferrain? dit L'infortuné, his friends; And on the
part of the said Thérèse Couvret, the said Sr Jean Baptiste Couvret her brother
and Jacques Varin? her friend, have made together the accords, treaties,
and marriage conventions which follow;

That is to say that the said Sr Jean
Baptiste Lavoye and the said lady Thérèse Couvret have promised and promise
mutually to take one another as husband and wife
in name and legal marriage, to be celebrated and solemnized before
and in view of Our Mother the Holy Church, Catholic, and apostolic and Roman
as soon as one party requires it of the other;

To be, as will become the said future couple, one and in common
in all property movables and immovables, according to the custom of Paris
and in conformity to which their community shall be regulated, even if
living and acquiring property in other countries whose laws and customs
are contrary to these, and to which laws and customs, they have by these presents
expressely renounced and departed from.

The said future couple shall not be held responsible for the debts of one another
made and created before their engagement, and if any exist
they shall be payed and acquitted by whoever has made and created them and against
his/her property, without the other nor his property being held in any way accountable.
The property of the said future husband consists of all that may come into his possession
from the property of the community between him and his deceased wife marie catherine
aubry, and which an inventory has been made and which community is now legally
being dissolved.

That of the said future wife consists also on what she will receive from
the property of the community that existed between herself and the said late
René Ménard her husband, for which no inventory was made because
they both were devoid of any property, having presently but a milking cow,
a buffet, a bed with posts, a mattress of straw, two drapes, and a blanket
of green wool, this being all that she brings to the future community
and which shall remain as her personal belonging for herself and
heirs having cause on her side.

The said future husband has dowered and dowers the said lady future wife
of the customary dowry or of the said sum of three hundred livres dowry
, prefix, and once paid, it will be her choice and option
to take the said dowry, when dowry takes place, against all of
the said future husband's property, movables or immovables, present and
future, for which he has obligated and mortgaged ... so that the said
dowry shall have full value, as per the custom of Paris, and without
having to demand if in court.

The survivor of the said future couple shall have and take his/her preciput
against the community property, before any of it is shared among the heirs,
for the sum of three hundred livres in movables, following the inventory
that will be made, or in ready cash, this being his/her choice and option
for the clothes, linens, of daily use, furnished bed, ....
........
Will be the choice of the said future wife and her children that may
be born from the future marriage, to accept the said community or
to renounce it; And in case of renunciation, to retake all
that she may have brought to the said marriage, and all that she may have acquired
either by inheritance, donation, gift, or otherwise, in addition to,
if she survives the husband, her dowry and preciput as described above
, without her or the said children being responsible for any debts,
mortgages of the said community, even if she is told to
or obligated, or was condemned, in which case, she and
the said children will be acquitted and indemnified by the heirs and on
the property of the said future husband, for which reason and for all the clauses
of this present agreement, he has presently mortgaged all of his property.

In consideration of the said future marriage, and for the friendship
that the said future husband has for the said future wife, he has by
these presents, given and donated, in case she
survives the said future husband, a lifetime allowance
consisting of a dozen bushels of wheat oats, and forty pounds
of pork, each year until her death
on which day, the allowance shall cease;
as is permitted by ... in second marriages. This said pension
shall exist however, only by suppressing the said dowry and preciput,
and which the said future wife, in case she survives the said future husband,
shall not be able to request them, such is their convention.

And to have these presents entered into the minutes
of the said royal jurisdiction of Montreal, and everywhere else
where the need arises, the said parties have elected as legal representative
the bearer of these, and giving him power to do so.

For such was ageed and convened by the said parties
in ... these presents, promising &c., obliging &c., renouncing
&c., made and contracted in the said Montreal, in the study of Hodiesme ... said
notaries, in the year seventeen hundred and sixty, the thirteenth day of
September, before noon, and have the said friends
with the said notaries signed, the said future couple having declared
being unable to write nor sign after being asked to do so following its reading,
according to the ordinance.


Antoine Lacostes

Jacques Fervant .... G hodiesme

Jacque varin .... Feuste?