LAST WILL OF NICHOLAS JARROT:

“In the name of God, Amen; as it is certain that I must die, and that I do not know neither the hour nor the moment when it shall please God to determine my days, I, therefore, being in perfect health, have put order to my affairs in the following manner: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, so be it. I give my body to the worms, and my soul to God, and supplicate his divine goodness to have pity on me. I implore the help of the Holy Virgin to be so good as to intercede for me towards the Divine Son all the days of my life, and at the hour of my death, so be it. I name for my executrix testamentary the person of Julie Beauvais, my wife, to whom I give the enjoying of all my property, as well real as personal that I may have after my death, and at the moment of my dying, for her to enjoy peaceably during her life; on condition that with my said property she will fulfill the conditions hereafter mentioned, that is to say; 1st. I request that my debts be paid by my executrix testamentary mentioned. 2d. I demand that my executrix testamentary get one hundred masses said, and one funeral high mass. 3d. I request that she give to the church the sum of one hundred dollars as soon as she can. 4th. I will that she distribute to the poor, as soon as she can, a sum not exceeding two hundred dollars. 5th. I request also, that she procure the best education which is possible to be had in the United States for my two sons, Francois and Vital. 6th. I also request that she get instructed my two daughters, named Julie and Felicity. 7th, I also request that my executrix testamentary aforesaid give to each of my children a quantity of land not exceeding more than three hundred and twenty acres, and not less than one hundred and sixty acres, to be taken off my said lands, and on the spots and places which the said executrix testamentary aforesaid may think proper to give them; which compensation and distribution, she shall make agreeably to the good behavior and situation of the said children. I will, in that case, her deliberation on this distribution be as if the aforesaid property were her own; and if, in the interim, when she would wish to make this distribution of said lands above mentioned, she was to die without fulfilling the distribution above mentioned, him or her of the children who had not received it, will have to take it in money before any division takes place. 8th. Express clause, which is, if Julie, my wife, and executrix testamentary, has not sufficient from the revenue of my property, as well real as personal, to make her live entirely independent, after all the clauses and conditions mentioned are fulfilled, to these reasons, I desire, and I will, that she sell so much of my property, real or personal, as she may think proper, and as she may want it, so that she may live in the most easy and most independent manner. 9th. It is expressly understood, that the legacies I make to my executrix testamentary are independent of all she has a right to in my estate in community with her, according to our contract of marriage, which part and portion appertaining to her, she may dispose of as appertaining to her in full right. 10th. After the death of said Julie, my executrix testamentary, all the residue of my property, real and personal, will return to my children born, or to be born, to be divided between them in equal shares, except a sum of three thousand five hundred dollars, which my oldest daughter, named Marie Lousie Clayton Tiffin, shall have less than my other children born, or to be born; and that for and because all that I received from the stock of the estate of her deceased mother, I have remitted to said Clayton Tiffin and to her, as appears by their receipt herein enclosed; another reason not less equitable to that, that the sum mentioned less than my other children is, that

I have acquired a great deal of real property since I have been married with the said Julie Beauvais, my wife and executrix testamentary. Yet, another reason which puts the balance of justice in my hands, is, that I received at least two thousand dollars from the stock of the said Julie, my wife and executrix testamentary, coming from the estate of her deceased father, Vital Beauvais. Such

are my wishes and intentions, which I request my executrix testamentary to put into execution, as being my last will and testament and act, revoking all others, etc. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal, in the presence of the subscribers, at Cahokia, county of St. Clair, Illinois Territory, this

6th of February, 1818

N. Jarrot.” [Seal.]

“Witness, Joseph Trotie, Raphael Widen, L. Lagrave.”