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Appendix Four N O T A R I Z E D SALE C O N T R A C T FOR A H O U S E The following is a notarized act of sale for a house in Port-au-Prince. The contract is quite typical of the sources used for this book and contains several important features that have been indicated by footnotes.The text used is the "second minute," the copy kept by the notary and sent to the national archives.It is reproduced in a large folio volume and was probably written at the time the contract was made, although this copy was not signed by the principals as was the case with some second minutes. This contract was copied out by the notary, an educated man. By this time, French grammar, spelling, word usage, and handwriting had been standardized among the educated elite, so translation posed little difficulty . Some notarized actswere written out by the principals and merelyformalizedand archived by the notary, and these offer a greater challenge to the non-Francophone reader. Before the notary general ofthe Conseil Superieur ofPort au Prince, island and French coast of Saint Domingue, and his colleague, notary in the senechausee of the said town, undersigned Were present: the nominee1 Elisabeth Douge, wife of Daguin, marchande2 living in this town, parish Notre Dame de TAssomption, in the name of and acting with the ad hoc power of the nomme Daguin, her son, habitantin Nippes, dated last March i2th, which she showed us and which we attached to the first minute of this act,3 for the record, after we certified it as true and correctly signed. The said [Douge] in this capacity declares that this day she has sold, ceded, given up, let go, and transported in full property, in perpetuity, and for ever, with promise and all guarantees of law, to the nommee Luce, known as Rasteau, free quarteronne, living in this town, here present and accepting in her own name, for her own, and for her creditors,4 To wit: half of a lot located in the new town of Port-au-Prince, number 274on the plan [of the redeveloped section of town], containing, the half sold, 60 feet wide by 120 deep, bordered on the east by Sieur Chatele, on the south by the rue de Provence, on the west by Sieur Gaude, and on the north by Sieur Pierroux.5 On the said half of a lot there is a case,6 composed of two chambers, equipped with doors and windows that latch, roofed in shingles, in the courtyard of which is a small building, also of two chambers, of which one is used as a kitchen, and a well to be shared with the seller, and the nommee Marie Therese, free black, owner of the other half of the lot; the whole in the state in which it is found, with its circumstances and dependencies. The lot belonging to the said Daguin for having acquired it from the 283 284 •Appendix Four said Luce Rasteau, purchaser here present, in an act made before Maitre Poul and his colleague, notaries in this jurisdiction, the 23rd of March, 1776, the said Luce having acquired it from the nominee Marthe known asMarthonne, free black, by act made before Maitre Poul and his colleague, notaries in thisjurisdiction, the 9th of August, 1774, who had it from Sieur Augustin Etienne, Royal Surveyor,by act passed before Maitre Fillegue, notary in this jurisdiction, the 3Oth ofJuly, 1763, to whom the entire lot belonged byvirtue of a concession accorded by MM. Bart and [indecipherable] General and Commisaire Ordonnateurofthis colony to Sieur Alemand, the5th of February, 1760, who transferred the concession to the said Sieur Augustin Etienne byprivate act ofsale written on the back of the said concession and dated the i4th of August, 1761. The said Louis Daguin sold the property in an act before us on the 25th of March, 1776, to Sieur Perotte, negotiant1 in this town, who returned the property to Daguin this day in an act before us in return for the sum of 3300 /ivres, which was counted out to him before us, the said notaries.8 All ofwhich the buyerdeclaresthat she knows well, and is content and satisfied with the said portion of a lot, buildings, circumstances, and dependencies, from having seen, visited, and examined them, and being this day in good and real possession and tenancy. The present sale is thus made at the...

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