What do estate inventories tell us about life in French Illinois?

Estate inventories are lists of everything found in a household after the owner has died. From this information we know that elegant household items and clothing were part of some people's lives in the frontier Illinois colony. Crystal and silver goblets, taffeta petticoats, and silver shoe buckles are among the items on Marie Catherine Baron's inventory. This inventory also shows how much this Indian woman had adopted a French lifestyle.

You can read:

• English translation of Marie Catherine Baron's estate inventory
  
  
• English translation of Marie Rouensa's estate inventory

For an activity involving objects from Marie Catherine Baron's inventory -- see Livre's Worth