The Bangle Files: #18 | The Last Will and Testament of John Bangle

BANQI’ve come upon so many documents concerning John Bangle lately that I can’t wait to share them with you, especially since—as far as I know—most of it is new information. This new documentation proves that John Bangle and Marie-Louise Quevillon (or Couvillon) were still alive and married in 1820, that Mary Bangle who married Private William Hogan in 1810 in Sorel is indeed the daughter of our John Bangle and that, most likely, John was living in Sorel (William Henry at the time) during the first twenty years of the 19th century.

Let me start this week with the last will and testament of John Bangle written by Notary Public Henry Crebassa of Sorel, dated February 7, 1814 [transcribed from the original English version]:

3833 folio 123
7 February 1814
Last will & testament of John Bingle
Minutes

On this day the Seventh of february in the year of our Lord one thousand eight Hundred and fourteen at the request of John Bingle Master Cooper residing at William Henry I Henry Crebassa of the Borough of William Henry County of Richelieu District of Montreal Province of Lower Canada Notary Public Went to the House of above of the said requestant and there and there found the said John Bingle lying in his bed sick and very weak in body but of sound memory mind & understanding as appeared to the Sd Notary and subscribing witnesses called for the effect hereof and who considering the certainty of Death and the uncertainty of the time there of and so that he may be the better prepared to leave this world when it shall please god to call him hence hath made ordained and dictated to me the said Notary in the presence of Godfroy Tibert John Baptiste Lomer witnesses called for this purpose his last will and testament in the manner and form following first and principally he commits his soul to God his Creator through the sole merits of Jesus Christ his Saviour, he Commits his body to the earth to be interned in such decent a manner as the Executors of this his last will & testament may think fit. In the next place he disposes of all his worthy Estate as follows that is to say that all his debts be Justly & truly paid, secondly all that may remain of his property Moveables or Immoveable whatsoever and wheresoever on of what Nature or kind whereon whereof or wherein he shall be any ways possessed or intitled to or intrusted in at the time of his death he gives devises & bequeath
unto […]

No, this is not one of my usual cliffhangers. Could you imagine anything more ironic and dramatic than having the rest of the will lost forever?

will-john-2About a decade ago, one of Jacob Schmidt’s descendants wrote to me explaining that he has asked an archivist at the Montréal Archives if the box where were kept Henry Crebassa’s files could be checked out. Alas, with any telling results. Very recently, one of Josephte Bangle Fontaine’s descendants learned about the will and noticed that the microfilm lacked the concluding pages. He has asked the Montréal Archives to look at the original documents. Well, that’s not a bad idea; who knows, maybe the pages have been retrieved since then. But don’t get your hopes too high.

I suppose you are eager to read those missing pages. Imagine, John naming each and every one of his children! But then again, he might have left everything to his wife as was often the case at that time hence excluding any additional information.

From whatever John was suffering in the month of February 1814, he has recovered from it and I can’t wait to tell you about an event in John’s life I know for the year 1815.

Yes, this is one of my usual cliffhangers.


For related posts about The Bangle Files, please refer to the Introduction Page

2 thoughts on “The Bangle Files: #18 | The Last Will and Testament of John Bangle

  1. I guess you have a pile of cliffhangers beside your desk just for that man….

Comments are closed.