1742–1744 French Notarial Manuscript: Probate and Partition of the Beuze de Vologer Estate
00JT35On offer is an elegant and densely written four-page French notarial manuscript documenting the probate proceedings and eventual partition of the estate of a prominent eighteenth-century French financial official. The document is a certified notarial extract summarizing acts executed between July 1742 and December 1743, with the surviving extract dated January 21, 1744.
Historical Context & Lineage:
The manuscript concerns the estate of Messire Laurent François Beuze de Vologer, first president of the finance office of the Generality of Alençon. Following his death in 1742, his three daughters were identified as universal legatees, each entitled under his will and codicil to one-third of his estate:
- Louise Françoise Beuze de Vologer, wife of Louis Joseph Valboy du Metz, who served as joint testamentary executor.
- Anne Françoise Beuze de Vologer, Comtesse de Bro, widow of Jean Charles, Comte de Bro, King’s lieutenant in the province of Berry, who also served as joint executor.
- Marie Catherine Beuze de Vologer, an unmarried adult daughter represented during part of the proceedings through a special power of attorney.
An act dated December 21, 1742 records that Louise Françoise and her husband renounced Laurent François Beuze de Vologer’s succession. The manuscript subsequently summarizes judicial proceedings involving Charles Roger, a court-appointed curator of the vacant estate. The resulting judgments directed that the will and codicil be executed according to their terms and that the particular and universal legacies be delivered to the three daughters in full ownership.
The final portion records the partition executed on December 23, 1743. It also addresses a life annuity established by a 1723 contract before the Paris notary de Marante and charged upon the King’s revenues. Under the partition agreement, the Comtesse de Bro made the necessary assignments and relinquishments concerning the annuity’s accumulated arrears and future payments in favour of her sister Louise Françoise and brother-in-law Louis Joseph Valboy du Metz.
Physical Condition & Features:
The manuscript concludes with the signatures and paraphs of the certifying Parisian notaries, apparently Dumetz and Bailleul. Its upper-left corner bears a blue archival stamp associated with the Séminaire des Missions Étrangères (the Paris Foreign Missions Seminary) suggesting former institutional custody.
The four-page manuscript remains in good, highly legible condition. A tear to the final leaf does not affect the text.
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