Mary Francois Navarre (Lootman)

From "Pioneer Called Report of Pioneer and Historical Society of Michigan, Vol. VIII, Lansing, 1886.
MARRIAGE CONTRACT BETWEEN MR. ROBERT NAVARRE AND MISS MARIE L'HOTEMONT-BARROIS, ETC.

Before the undersigned, Jacques Pean, Esquire, Seigneur de Livandiere, Knight of the Military Order of St. Louis, Major of town and government of Quebec, commanding for the King in the Fort Pontchartrain du Detroit Erie, and the Reverend Father Bonaventure, Franciscan friar, missionary at the said post. Were present Robert Navarre, son of Marie Francois Navarre and of Jeanne Pluyette, his father and mother, born in the parish of Villeroy, diocese of Meaux, in France, And Mr. Francois L'Hotemont, called Barrois, and Demoiselle Marie Anne Sauvage, his wife, residents at the said post at Detroit, who stipulate for Marie L'Hotemont-Barrois, their daughter, who is present and accepts.

And the said Robert Navarrre and Marie L'Hotemont-Barrois, with the agreement of their parents and the following friends, on the part of the said Robert Navarre: of the above said Esquire Pean, of Mr. Duburont, Second Commander at Detroit, and of Mr. Duyveux, on the part of Marie L'Hotemont-Barrois: of her father and her mother, of Mr. and Mrs. De Roquetaittade, her grandparents on her mother's side, of Mr. Joseph Lequin de Laderoute, her uncle, on account of Francois Sauvage, her aunt on her mother's side, and of Charles Chesne, her uncle, on account of Catherine Sauvage, her aunt on her mother's side, and of the aforesaid Rev. Bonaventure, have promised and promise to take each other
for husband and wife, by laws of marriage, and to have the same celebrated as soon as it may be done, and as shall be determined upon between them and their parents.

The said couple shall be married in face of Our Mother, the Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church, and have everything in common, personal property, earnings and real estate, according to the custom of Paris, which is followed in this country, and to which they refer and submit. In case they should live or acquire property in countries where custom should be contrary, the said future wife shall be endowed by the said future husband in the sum of three thousand livres, which shall bot be deducted from her dower proper.

The surviving party shall in either case have in preferred claim upon the estate of their future common property up to the sum of two thousand livres, according to an inventory to be taken by them and to an estimate to be made before the division and without auction, or in ready cash, at the choice of the survivor.

The said future husband, with his present and future rights and titles, takes the said future wife, and they have agreed with each other that in the case the pre-decease of one of them shall arrive without their having any children, the share which they shall have in the said common property, shall remain and properly belong to the survivor, without his being obliged to render account of said share to the parents or heirs of the pre-deceased, they making each other a present in fee simple, in the best form in which a donation can legally be make; and in case the dissolution of the future marriage shall take place, by the decease of the future husband, the future wife shall have the choice of accepting the said future common property or rejecting and renouncing the same, to take away frank and free, all that she shall have brought in, as her dower, as well as her preferred claim, together with her clothing, linen and other things for her use, with her furniture; and in general all that which shall have come to her, or been left her, during the said future marriage, be it by succession, donation or otherwise. All this shall be
reciprocal to the future husband, in case of the decease of the said future wife; and for the execution of these presents at he said future married couple have made and constituted the bearer of this their procurator, to whom they gave power for them and in their name, to have the said donation recorded in the Royal Court, at Montreal.

For such has been agreed and stipulated by the said parties, each promising legally and obliging and renouncing, and made and delivered at the Fort Pont Chartrain du Detroit, Erie, in the house of the said Mr. Pean, the tenth day of the month of February, one thousand seven hundred and thirty-four, at which day they have signed, the persons who are hereafter named: Mr. and Mrs. Barrois and Madame Seguin de Laderoute, having declared that they cannot write with their own hands, and having made their ordinary mark, after this document had been read
to them.

(Signed) Marie L'Hotemont, Robert Navarre, Pean de Livandiere, J. Bte. Laderoute (led), C. Sauvage, Duburont, Francois Bonaventure, Duyneaux, F.L.Raimbault.