| 15th June 1874 Last Will of Margaret Cassin Wife of Daniel Loughren | From records of Notary Paul T. Picard No. 167 Quebec Archives Online |
On this the fifteenth of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & seventy four;
Before the undersigned Notary Public for the Province of Quebec, in the Dominion of Canada, residing in the Parish of St. Ambroise of La Jeune Lorette and the witnesses hereinafter named and subscribed,
Personally came and appeared & was present Margaret Cassin, widow of the late Daniel Loughren, farmer, of the parish of St. Gabriel of Valcartier, who being in weak bodily health, but of sound mind, memory, and understanding as to us appeared by her manner & conversation hath requested of us the said Notary to receive & reduce into writing this her Last Will & Testament which we the said Notary in the presence of the said witnesses have taken down as dictated to us by the said Margaret Cassin, as aforesaid, word for word and as follows, that is to say:
I wish and direct that my internment & the manner thereof said be according to directions of my executors hereinafter named.
I give, devise, and bequeath unto my four children, namely: Thomas, Elizabeth, Ellen and Denis Loughren, issued of my marriage with the said late Daniel Loughren, my husband, the sum of two hundred and eighty dollars currency being the amount of a sale granted this day by me, said Margaret Cassin aforesaid to Michael McClory, which said sum aforesaid to be divided between my said four children in the manner following as is to say, eighty dollars currency to Ellen Loughren; eighty dollars currency to Denis Loughren; the sum of seventy dollars currency to Elizabeth Loughren, and fifty dollars currency to Thomas Loughren which said sums to be to them once paid and satisfied by my said Executors hereinafter named and appointed when and as soon as each shall have obtained the age of majority with all the interest therein accrued.
And for the executors of the present my Last Will & Testament, I do hereby nominate and appoint James Loughren, farmer of the parish of Stoneham, farmer, and Thomas Loughren of the parish of St. Gabriel of Valcartier in favor of whom I do in conformity to the Law & Custom of this Province hereby disseize & divest myself of all my property for the ends hereof, hereby revoking all other Wills & Testaments & codicils that I may have made prior to the present my true instructions & Last Will.
Thus done and dictated word for word & published and declared by the said Testator, Margaret Cassin aforesaid for and as her Last Will & Testament to and in the presence of the said Notary and Alexander McNicoll, farmer, and Robert Kerr, farmer, both of the parish of St. Gabriel of Valcartier, witnesses expressly called for the effect hereof, at the residence of the said Margaret Cassin, aforesaid on the day and year first above written under the number one hundred and sixty nine of the original deed of the Notary. In faith & testimony whereof the said Margaret Cassin, testatrix having declared not to know how to write or sign her name when requested so to do as to these presents first duly read according to the law, but set and made her ordinary mark of cross in the presence of the said Notary & of the said witnesses who have hereunto set & subscribed their respective names & signatures.
Seventy three words erased as null. Three marginal notes approved as good.
Margaret Cassin, her mark
Robert Kerr, his signature
Alexander McNicoll, his signature
P. Picard, Notary, his signature
Transcribed by Gerald Neville, February, 2010
Notes by Patricia Balkcom: Margaret and Daniel had five children. Daniel died when Margaret was only thirty-three and at the time the children were all under ten years of age. The eldest child, Mary, died at sixteen years of age in 1872. Margaret, died ten days after writing this will, sadly at the age of forty-two. The four children were left orphans – Elizabeth, age 16; Thomas, 14; Ellen, 11; and Denis, 8 years. The executors, Thomas and James Loughren were uncles to the children, brother to their father, Daniel Loughren.