| 30th November 1872 Last Will of James Conway Husband of Margaret Guilfoyle | From records of Notary Joseph Elzear-C Pelletier No. 425 Quebec Archives Online |
Before us the undersigned Notaries Public, duly commissioned and sworn for the Province of Quebec and residing at the City of Quebec, personally came and appeared James Conway of the Parish of Sainte Catherine de Fossambault, Farmer, who being in good bodily health and of sound and disposing mind, memory, judgment and understanding as appeared to us the said Notaries, by his manner and conversation declared unto us that he was desirous of making and publishing his last will and testament, which he accordingly dictated, named and published word for word to us the said Notaries, as follows, that is to say:
1rstly I recommend my soul to Almighty God humbly supplicating forgiveness of my sins.
2ndly I direct that all my just and lawful debts be paid out of my estate by my Executrix hereinafter named and that my body be interred at his discretion.
3rdly I hereby confirm and ratify the Deed of Gift which I have presented to my beloved son Joseph Conway before Joseph E.C. Pelletier and colleague notary the thirtieth day of November one thousand eight hundred and seventy two.
4ly I hereby give, devise and bequeath unto Joseph Conway, one of my sons, all the property and estate, real and personal, moveable and immoveable, stocks, securities, monies, stock in trade to me belonging and wheresoever situate being and to be found, and in whatever the same may consist, and of which I may die possessed, to be enjoyed by him in full and absolute property from the day of my death and forever.
5ly And for the executing this my last will and testament I hereby nominate, constitute and appoint the said Joseph Conway, my said son, my Executor, in whose hands I hereby divest myself of all my said properties and estate according to law.
And lastly I revoke all other or former wills, testament and codicils which may I have made, these presents alone being my last will and intention.
Thus done, dictated and named word for word by the said James Conway the said Testator to Joseph Elzear Cirille Pelletier one of us the said Notaries, in the presence and hearing of James Walsh his colleague at the office of the said Joseph Elzéar Cirille Pelletier, on this thirtieth day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy two at six o’clock in the afternoon under the number four hundred and twenty five, the present will and testament having been read by the said Joseph Elzéar Cirille Pelletier to the said Testator in the presence of his aforesaid colleague, he declared he understood the same perfectly and persisted herein as containing his last will and intentions. In testimony whereof the said Testator hath hereunto set and subscribed his name and signature in presence of us the said Notaries and of each other hereunto subscribed.
Six words cancelled are null.
James Conway, his signature;
James Walsh, N.P., his signature;
Joseph Elzéar Cirille Pelletier, N.P., his signature
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NOTE: On 5th December 1872, James Conway revoked the above will (Record Number 426 of Notary J.E.C. Pelletier’s Records).
On the same date, James Conway and his wife, Margaret Guilfoyle, give a Gift to their son Joseph Conway (Record Number 427 of Notary J.E.C. Pelletier’s Records) to replace the Will (transcribed below).
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5th December 1872
Gift of James Conway and Margaret Guilfoyle to Joseph Conway
From the records of Notary Joseph-Elzéar-C. Pelletier, Record Number 427
Quebec Archives Online
On this fifth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and seventy two. before me the undersigned Notary Public, duly commissioned and sworn for the Province of Quebec and residing at the City of Quebec, personally came and appeared Mr. James Conway, residing in the Parish of St. Catherine de Fossambault, Farmer, and Margaret Guilfoyle, wife of the aid James Conway, and residing with her aid husband, parties of the first part and Joseph Conway, also residing at the said Parish of Sainte Catherine de Fossambault, Farmer, their son, of the said second part,
Which said parties of the first part and of the second part, in the presence of the said Notary have declared and stipulated between them as follows, that is to say:
The said parties of the first part have voluntarily acknowledged and confessed that for in and consideration of the parental love and affection which they bear and have towards the said party of the second part, and for under the conditions hereinafter stipulated, they do hereby give, assign, transfer, and set over, à titre de donation entre vifs et irrévocable and promise, bind and oblige themselves to warrant and guarantee against all troubles and encumbrances whatsoever, unto the said party of the second part hereunto present and accepting hereof for himself, his heirs and assigns, the following immoveable properties to wit:
1rstly A certain lot of land lying and situated in the Eight Range of the Said Parish of Sainte Catherine de Fossambault near Rivière au Pin, being the number seven of the lots of the said Eight Range, the said lot number seven containing three arpents in front by thirty arpents in depth, more or less, bounded on the front part towards the south by the lands of the Seventh Range, on the rear by unconceded lands, on one side by lot number six and on the other side by lot number eight of the said range, together with all which is on the said lot number seven.
2ndly A certain lot of land situated in the said Eight Range of the aforesaid Parish of Sainte Catherine de Fossambault at la Rivière au Pin, being the lot number eight of the said range containing three arpents in front by thirty arpents in depth, more or less, the said lot bounded in front towards the south by the lands of the Seventh Range and in rear by unconceded lands, on one side by lot number nine and on the other side by lot number seven together with all which may now may be on the said premises.
3rdly A certain lot of land situated on the Eight Range of the said Parish of Sainte Catherine de Fossambault, at la Rivière au Pin aforesaid, being the number six of the said Eight Range containing three arpents in front by thirty arpents in depth, more or less, the said lot bounded in front towards the south by the lands of the Seventh Range and on the rear by unconceded lands, on one side by lot number seven and on the other side by lot number five together with the house, barns, and other buildings thereon erected, as the whole now is and without any reserve whatsoever, the said party of the second part hereby declaring to be well acquainted with the above described properties. The said lots number seven, number eight and number six belonging to the said parties of the first part in virtue of titles which they declare to be good and valid.
The present assignment and gift so made in consideration of the said Joseph Conway, party of the second part, paying and acquitting every year for the future to the seigneur of St. Catherine, all and every the seigniorial dues and duties thereon, as well as every year these payments which may be now due at the moment of the execution of these presents.
And the present assignment and gift is further made under the following conditions:
1. That the said party of the second part shall pay at the moment of the execution of these presents to his brother Francis Conway the sum of one hundred and forty dollars which said sum of one hundred and forty dollars the said Francis Conway hereunto present and accepting hereof doth hereby acknowledge to have received from the said party of the second part at the execution of these presents in the presence of us the said Notaries et dont quittance générales finales.
2. On the first of May the said party of the second party shall give and deliver to his said brother Francis Conway one mare with harness, three milk cows, one pig, thirty bushels of seed oats and thirty bushels of potatoes.
3. The said party of the second part shall remain, dwell, and live on the said premises and support, feed, and maintain the said parties of the first part, at his own expense, and in the same manner as they used to live before the present day until the death of the last one of the two donors, and after the death of the said James Conway and of the said Margaret Guilfoyle the said party of the second part shall cause every of them to be buried in a descent and Christian manner.
4. And, that if, at any time after the execution of these presents, the said party of the second part do not fulfill all and every one of the aforesaid conditions, or if he leaves the aforesaid premises, and ceases to reside on the aforesaid premises, for any period longer than one month without the written consent of or order of his said father and mother, during the life of his said father and mother, then it is expressly agreed by the said parties that from the said moment, the said parties of the first part will and shall be entitled to take possession of the aforesaid premises from then and for ever, and that the said parties of the first part shall recover also the enjoyment of the said premises as proprietors in the same way and in the same manner they had and enjoyed the same previous to the execution of these presents, this being the express intention and wish and will of the said parties of the first and of the second part.
5. And in the case the said Joseph Conway should die before his said father and his said mother, if in such as case, the heirs of the said party of the second part do not continue to fulfill all and every the above conditions, then, it is expressly agreed that the said parties of the first part shall be entitled to the same right expressly reserved in the fourth paragraph of the aforesaid conditions.
6. It is further agreed between the said appearers that the said donee shall and will have no right to sell or transfer or assign the properties now given to him during the life of his said father and mother so long as they shall be living or any one of them shall live, and that he shall have no right to hypothecate the said premises except for the sum of thirty five pounds which he is now going to borrow from his first cousin Francis Conway, this being a condition without which these presents would not have taken place.
And for the full effect hereof the said parties of the first part voluntarily transfer and assign unto the said party of the second part all right of property, claims, title, interest and demand which they can have, pretend to or demand upon the aforesaid premises or lots number seven, eight, and six, consenting that the said Joseph Conway do use, possess and enjoy the above described from henceforth and for ever in full and absolute property under the aforesaid conditions and also under the conditions that the aid above described lots shall not be subject to any seizure for the debts of the said Joseph Conway during the life of his said father and mother. It is agreed between the said appearers that a certain deed of gift by the said James Conway to his son the said Joseph Conway on the thirtieth day of November last signed before the said J.E.C. Pelletier, the undersigned Notary is hereby expressly hereafter annulled and void.
And for the due execution of these presents, the said parties of the first and of the second part do elect their domicile in the said parish of Sainte Catherine.
Thus done and executed at the said City of Quebec, in the office of Joseph Elzear Cirille Pelletier, the undersigned Notary, on the day, month and year first above written, under the number four hundred and twenty seven recorded in my office, in the presence of James Walsh, of the said City of Quebec, Notary, expressly requested for the due execution of these presents and these presents being first duly read according to Law, the said James Conway hath to these presents set and subscribed his name and signature, the said Joseph Conway, Margaret Guilfoyle, and Francis Conway the brother of Joseph Conway having declared not to know how to sign their name and signature when requested so to do.
One hundred and twenty six words cancelled are null, eight marginal notes approved are good.
James Conway, his signature;
James Walsh, N.P., his signature;
Joseph Elzear Cirille Pelletier, N.P., his signature
Michael Fogarty, his signature,
Ls. S. LaRoche, N.P., his signature
Translated and transcribed by Gerry Neville
Notes by Patricia Balkcom: James and Margaret had 3 sons and 6 daughters. One son, Edmund, died in childhood. The other two sons are mentioned in this will – Joseph, the older son, received three lots of lands, while the younger son, Francis received some money to be paid to him by his brother. James died 11 years after this will and land gift was written – in 1883 at the reported age of 81. Margaret lived until 1886. The two brothers, Joseph and Francis, married two sisters – Bridget and Catherine Buggy.