The earliest recorded marriages

The archives of Rieumes reveals to us that in 1643, Guilhem (Guillaume in contemporary French language) Bessanère, worker in Savères, married his son Pierre with Peyrone Marsolette, daughter of Gaspard Marsolet and of Isabeau Ducassé and, in 1650, his other son Jean, with Gabrielle (illegible), daughter of Casemayou: this Guilhem Bessanère would have been born around 1620; then, in 1649, another marriage, this time Pierre Bessanère of Savères with Marguerite Du(illegible).

The contracts of these marriages were drawn up by Master Lavaur in La Bastide; La Bastide des Feuillants under the ancient regime, today Labastide Clermont. The parties to the contracts did not know how to sign their names. These documents are in themselves barely legible. All that we can deduce is that today's Besners are probably their descendants.

A deed dated 1720 mentions another named Guilhem Bézanère, one hundred years after his namesake, and probably his descendant.

The city of Rieumes today; they have been building with brick and tiles made from the clay soil of the area. See the beautiful colors!

The city of Rieumes has a web site

http://www.ville-rieumes.fr/

We have found the marriage contract of our Canadian ancestor's parents, namely of Jean Bézanère, ploughman, of Savères, and of Jeanette Nougaro, under the practice of Master Villars in September 1730. But the civil statement of Savères, held by the parish until the Revolution, is only available from 1740. Why is the mother named Jeanette, when another source calls her Marie-Anne Nougaro, daughter of Jean Nougaro and of Jeanette Nougaro, of Lautignac?- A simple legal oversight?-No doubt, it's hard to see Jeanette Nougaro, daughter of Jean Nougaro and Bertrande Labatut, born in 1703, married in 1730, having had about seven children (the last born in 1747), being the grand-mother of a young man presumed born in 1728. Another questionable observation: this marriage in front of the lawyer is two years after the presumed date of our ancestors' birthday. If there was an error, it would have been in the death certificate that we find at Vaudreuil in Québec: at his death he would have been 65 years old instead of 68.

Rural scenery near Rieumes.	The baptismal tub of the church of St-Barthélémy de Savères, where the Besner ancestor of French origin was baptized.

The public market of Rieumes was already reputed in the Canadian ancestor's time; it still is, as this photo speaks for itself.	A wayside cross near Rieumes; notice the forms of the extremities and compare with the logo of the region of Midi-Pyrénées.

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