Testament II: François Menard

              23
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
APRIL 1994
TESTAMENT II: FRANCOIS MENARD
by
Morris S. Arnold
Proceedings Undertaken on Account of Death of Dan Francisco Menard
(Spanish Judicial Records, Feb. 14, 1793, Louisiana History Center,
Louisiana Museum, New Orleans)
Today, the twenty-seventh day of July, 1791, at four o'clock in
the morning, Monsieur Francois Menard, merchant of this post, asked
us to come. Having gone to him at his request, we found him to be
of sound mind; and he swore to us, in the presence of the
undersignd witnesses, that he wanted to make a testament, as he did
in the following manner.
/S/ Ignace Delino, Commandant Manuel Reyes, Witness
Duchassin, Witness Francois Vaugine, Witness
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
First. He commends his soul to God its creator and remits his
body to the ground from which it was created. He believes in all
the mysteries of faith and other matters ordained by our Holy
Mother Church, and disposes of his goods in the following form.
Second. He declares that he is married in lawful matrimony to
Madelaine Enselmy Billiet.
Third. I [The testament abruptly changes here from the third
person to the first person.] declare that I have no children by my
said wife and do not believe that she is pregnant.
Fourth. I declare that my property consists of six black males,
who are Hector, Ignace, Pierre, Joseph, Jacques and Leveille, and
five black females, who are Quitte, Rose, Mannette, Maria Marte and
Victoria.
Fifth. I declare that I have three runaway slaves, who are Bobe,
Marianne, and their daughter. All three are said to be living
among the Choctaws.
I declare that all the effects, merchandise, and liquor
that are located in my house belong to me, as do all the notes and
obligations that are locked in my writing desk.
Sixth. I declare that I have a quantity of horses and animals
in this post.
Seventh. I declare that I have a house in town [New Orleans,
situated in the Rue de la Madame Boisclare, which house ought to
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
APRIL 1994
24
be repaired according to what is agreed to in an act that I passed
at the office of Monsieur Broutin, notary at New Orleans. I cannot
recall the name of the carpenter.
Eighth. I name my wife my universal heir, after executing legacies
in accordance with what follows:
First, she shall support my natural daughter named Constance
and shall give her two hundred dollars [piastres] a year until she
is settled; and as soon as she is married, the said pension shall
cease, on condition that my said wife shall give her two thousand
dollars absolutely.
Ninth. I declare that I owe the following to the following
persons: To Messieurs Petit and Cavalier, six hundred and some
dollars, which is shown by bills and orders.
Tenth. I declare that I owe Monsieur Sarpy 150 and some dollars,
which is shown by a bill and order.
Eleventh. T declare that I owe Monsieur Fortier 158 dollars by
my bill.
Twelfth. To Monsieur Broutin, the notary, six dollars by my
note.
Thirteenth. To Monsieur Loubier, nine dollars by my note.
Fourteenth. To the carpenter mentioned above who is supposed to
repair my house, 600 dollars, according to my contract passed with
him at the office of Monsieur Broutin.
Fifteenth. I declare on my conscience that I do not recall owing
sums other than those mentioned above.
Sixteenth. I make a gift of five hundred dollars to the deserving
poor, which gift my wife shall execute at her convenience.
Seventeenth. I give to Pitre everything that he owes me by bill
or account.
Eighteenth. I remit to my godsons Batiste Dardenne and Joseph
Dardenne what they owe me, with the exception of their last account
with Bayonne.
Nineteenth. To all my Imbeau relatives I remit what they owe me,
with the exception of a recent bill of 200 and some dollars that
Baptiste Imbeau owes me by his recent bill, and he will also pay his
most recent account with Bayonne.
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
APRIL 1994
25
Twentieth. I remit to Gim Terik and to Potain all he [sic] owes
me, with the exception of a small which sum he [sic] owes to Mr.
Delino by his [sic] bill.
Twenty-first. I remit to Michael Bonne all that he owes me, with
the exception of his last account with Bayonne.
Twenty-second. My wife shall remit to the persons who follow
their bills, without exacting payment: St. Hander, Trudo, Leclair,
Bertran, Pierre Nantay, Poltier, and also my two brothers-in-law,
Enselmy and Louison.
Twenty-third. I acquit Madame Dianne of all that she owes me,
with the exception of the last expenditures that I made for her in
town [New Orleans].
Twenty-fourth. I ask Monsieur Delino to settle my account with
Bayonne.
Twenty-fifth. My wife shall execute with exactitude all my
wishes expressed above. I declare that I am in perfect knowledge,
and I revoke by the present testament any other testaments that I
may have made in the course of my life, and I declare the clauses
set out here to be my last will.
At the Arkansas, this 27th of July, 1791.
Twenty-sixth. After having signed his testament, he declared
that he forgave the sums which are due him, whether by bill or
account, from those named Charbonneau, Cousette [and] Berthelemy.
Twenty-seventh. I declare that I do not have any inherited
property: all that I possess was acquired. And since I never had
any help from my family, I cut them off entirely from what I
possess.
At the Arkansas, this 27 July 1791.
/S/ Francois Vaugine
Ignace Delino Duchassin
Commandant Witness
Francois Menard
As Witness
Manuel Reyes
Ignace Delino As Witness Francois Menard
Commandant Manuel Reyes
Francois Vaugine, Witness Duchassin, Witness

26
OORE COMMENTS
Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN
APRIL 1994
When Francois Menard made his "Testament" of 6 June 1789, a
translation of which is found 20 GPHSB (Apr 1977) 23-25, it was
only a month after Joseph Valliere, "Captain of the Infantry of
Louisiana and Commandant of the Post and District of Carlos III of
Arkansas", had been petitioned by "people of the Arkansas" to
obtain permission from the governor general at New Orleans for them
to go to war against the Osage. This tribe was belligerent to both
whites and other Indians and had been particularly agressive in
1789, ambushing, robbing and killing, so that the habitants amd
hunters "could not support their families or pay their debts".
(Arnold & Core, ARKANSAS COLONIALS: 1686-1804, Grand Prairie Historical Society (1986) 39)
In anticipation that a foray into Osage territory was imminent
and aware of the danger inherent therein, two of the principal
merchant-habitants of the Arkansas, Francois Menard and Jean
Baptiste DuChassin dit Bayonne, filed last wills and testaments
with New Orleans notaries, recognizing and making provisions for
their natural children. In addition, Menard at the same time
executed a deed of gift of a black slave named Maria who was
sixteen years old "on account of the great love and affection which
I hold for Constance Menard my natural daughter by Susana Bonne".
(This deed of gift and Menard's 1789 will are in 17 Notary Pedro
Pedesclaux 605 and 608, Notarial Archives, New Orleans.)
This 1791 testament of Francois Menard could be a "death-bed"
instrument since the Commandant and three friends were summoned at
4:00 AM. His death would have taken place, if not immediately,
before 8 Oct 1792 when his wife, Madelaine Enselmy Billiet,
[daughter of Anselme Billette dit LaJeunesse] is listed as "Widow
Menard" in the Catholic register of the Arkansas parish.
Since the Menards had no children and Francois had accumulated
considerable property, he may have felt the 1789 will inadequate.
Whatever the reason, it further enhances our body of knowledge about
Arkansas in the 1790s. The Menard succession file reveals that
Constance was living in the Ursulines Convent in New 'Orleans in
January 1792 and that she was seventeen years old in 1793. Because
Menard named his wife his universal heir (there being no legitimate
children), there was no inventory taken and no appraisal made as no
division of the property was necessary, thus denying us greater
insight into life at Arkansas Post a couple of centuries ago.
Constance Menard was married in New Orleans to Manuel Ximenez,
a native of Havana, Cuba, 1 January 1799. In the sacramental
records of the Archdiocese she is identified when married as
"daughter of Francois Menard and wife Magdalene LaJeunesse, a native
of the Post of Arkansas." However, records there of baptisms
1800-1803 of children of the couple name the maternal grandparents
as "Francisco Menard and Susana Bon". Without these testaments it
would be difficult to reconcile this data.