[113] For the full text of these two documents, which are so interesting for our story, see [Appendix I, Documents Nos. 9] and [10]; and for translations, Documents Nos. 9a and 10a. For the privilege of examining and reproducing the first of these papers I am indebted to Mr. Charles A. Rozier, of St. Louis, and for the second, as well as the power of attorney of 1805 (see [Document No. 8]), referred to earlier, to Mr. Tom J. Rozier, of Sainte Geneviève, Missouri. In the case of this second warrant it will be noticed that the grantors signed only the minute which was filed with the notaries, who, with the judge of the Court of the First Instance, affixed their names to the document itself. No better illustration could be given of the dignity which the French attach to the office of notary, to the honored incumbents of which their private affairs are unreservedly entrusted, than this elaborate judicial document.
[114] In the register of the Central Committee of Nantes it is noted, under date of October 4, 1793, that "owing to the friendly relations then existing between France and the citizens of the United States, and to the good feeling evinced by them in sending to us for food, four American ships are accordingly permitted to leave the port of Nantes, with cargoes of wine, sugar, and coffee, and also to take enough biscuit for the voyage."
[115] The receipt which the captain handed the young men, and which the methodical Rozier preserved, remains as a souvenir of this voyage (in the Tom J. Rozier MSS); it reads as follows:
Recvd. from Mr. John Audubon & ferdinand Rozier the sum of five Hundred and twenty five Livers being in full for their passage from Nantes to New York in the Ship Polly........................... S. Sammis
[In Rozier's (?) handwriting] New York May 28, 1806
[Indorsed by Rozier on back] Payé le 11 avril 1806
[116] The total population of Couëron, as given in the official directory for 1913, was 2,035, but the total working population is probably three times as great.
[117] There is also the grand calvaire, which stands on an eminence in the village. This was erected in 1825 on the foundations of the chateau of the dukes of Brittany, the last of whom, Francis II, died at Couëron in 1488. His tomb is in the nave of the cathedral at Nantes; the grand calvaire was restored by two Couëron families in 1873, and is a very elaborate structure.
[118] Mr. William Beer, who paid a visit to "La Gerbetière" with Dr. Louis Bureau in 1910, writes me that the woodwork was poor in quality, and that all the rooms had been altered in size and appearance.
[119] But not related to M. L. Lavigne, to whom I am indebted for extracts from the deed, a translation of which is given below, as well as for many other references.