ferred, now and forever, and in perpetuity under title of a simple and irrevocable sale to Jno. Joseph Motard, merchant of the town, here present and accepting, a four-story house, such as it stands, situated in the City of Marseilles, in the quarter of St. John on the harbour, being at the corner of the street, Notre Dame de la Nativité (our lady of the nativity), bounded east by the Port, south by the house of Francis Ronstant, north by "Notre Dame" Street, and to the west by "la place St. Jean" (St. John's Square), the said house being at present occupied by John Baptist Ferret and his wife, father and mother of the vendor, the said property having been given to him by the will of Rose, widow of Antoine Dominique, his maternal grandmother; this house thus sold, is released and free of all rights, seignories and other incumbrances whatever.

"The said sale is made for the consideration of the sum of twenty thousand livres, which the vendor acknowledges to have received from the purchaser in current money of this place, for which he is released and discharged; and in virtue thereof the said Ferrehas abandoned the said house in favour of the said Motard, transferring to him all his rights of property and possession, maintaining it to him against all persons; and as guarantie for the said sale, the said Ferret binds all his goods actual and future, as the parties have agreed. Done and executed in my government, in presence of Don Antoine Bonnemain, merchant, and Jean Pierre Pourcelly, master baker, in the said place, who with the parties and myself the Lieut.-Governor above named have signed. "JNO. B. FERRET, J. MOTARD, BONNEMAIN, JEAN P. POURCElly, FRANC'O CRUZAT.

A fatality appears to have attended the families of our three first Spanish governors while in the place:

Gov. Piernas, the first, lost two children in his five years.

Gov. Cruzat, second, three children and wife.

Gov. De Leyba, third, his wife and himself.

In the year 1783 the old Laclede mansion, the upper part of which had been occupied by the successive governors as their private residence and government hall, from its ruinous condition being no longer tenantable, Governor Cruzat purchased from Jno. B. Martigny his stone house diagonally opposite, at the southeast corner of Main and Walnut, for his residence and government business. It was a large, well-built house for the times, 40 feet front on Main Street by 25 deep, and divided into four rooms.

This house he occupied for the last four years of his residence here, disposing of it to Auguste Chouteau when about to leave the country at the close of his administration, November 27, 1787. After which it continued to be occupied as the Government Mansion during the remaining portion of the Spanish Domination.

CAPT. EMANUEL PEREZ

Succeeded Francisco Cruzat as lieutenant-governor of this upper part of the province on November 27, 1787, appointed by Governor-General Miro. Of his personal history we find nothing more in our archives than that he was a captain in the stationary regiment of Louisiana when appointed, and after his return to New Orleans at the close of his governorship in 1792, he was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Col.-Major of New Orleans for his Majesty. His administration of four years and eight months was an uneventful one in our annals, furnishing us but little, if anything, of sufficient general interest to require any especial notice.

LIEUT. DE ORO.

In 1774, Lieut. Antonio de Oro was ordered from St. Louis to Ste. Genevieve, where and around about he was stationed for some twelve or thirteen years, until he had risen to the rank of captain. He died in August, 1787. An inventory of his effects was taken by order of the lieutenant-governor, Perez, by Henry Peyroux de la Coudrenaire, commandant at Ste. Genevieve, viz. :