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Peel 476

Connolly, John (plaintiff) [info]; Woolrich, Julia (d.1865) (defendant) [info]; Johnson, Thomas R.. John Connolly, plaintiff vs. Julia Woolrich, defendant and Thomas R. Johnson, et al., executors and defendants par reprise d'instance. Montreal: Printed by the Montreal Printing & Publishing Co, [1867].
Physical description: 86, [2] p.; 22 cm.
Language: French; English
At head of title: "Superior court. Montreal. No.902." John Connolly was the son of chief trader William Connolly ( c. 1786-1849) and Suzanne, daughter of a Cree chief. They were married in 1803, according to the "custom of the country." In 1832, after six children together, William sent Suzanne to a convent in the Red River Settlement so he could marry his second cousin, Julia Woolrich. When William died he left all his property to Julia and his two children with her. After Suzanne's death in 1862, John, the eldest of the six children, sued Julia Woolrich for a "sixth portion of one half of the estate in defendant's possession." The Quebec Superior Court ruling in 1867 that the Cree marriage was valid was the first time Canadian courts recognized "custom" marriages as legal and the children of those marriages as "legitimate." See also Peel 478.
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