DUTOIT:
A family from Moudon, Switzerland

Occasional essays and documents.

Some of our essays and transcriptions can be accessed separately:

1. Document in the hand of Isaac Dutoit, notary at Moudon, part of ACV DO 33/1, approximately 1715-1725. Contains a list of this notary's properties and details about his family, as well as information about property owners at Chavannes-sur-Moudon. He recorded this information in the unused portion of the "protocol" or notarial register of another notary, so this document is not catalogued under the proper name at the Archives Cantonales Vaudoises.
2. Revolutionary War pension file of John Baird, Private, from Somerset and Morris Counties, New Jersey.
3. Régie des biens des Sieurs Gélieu, frères, ministres fugitifs, 1715-1722.
4. True Grit and Tall Tales: How Mary Ettie Coray (1827-1867) Got Her Man. We have uncovered the story behind the notorious tell-all history, Fifteen Years Among the Mormons (Nelson Winch Green, 1858), purporting to be the true story of Mary Ettie Coray Smith and her husband Reuben Peace Smith. Mary Ettie's account of dark deeds among the Mormon hierarchy, from their arrival at Nauvoo until about 1856, is emphatically not what it seems. It is unfortunate that those who cite Mary Ettie today as an authentic first-hand account of history have not imagined how real events can be manipulated in the hands of a talented story-teller to serve ends other than the truth. The motive for the deception is not what it seems: Mary Ettie was simply manipulating Reuben Smith's affections. This will not come as a surprise to any fan of Desperate Housewives! Mary Ettie was a desperate Mormon housewife who turned out to have a unexpected flair for narrative fiction. Were it not for the fact that Reuben P. Smith's brother Hugh Darius Smith inscribed a copy of this book to his McCoy cousins in Brown Co., IL, we would have had no knowledge of this intriguing chapter in Mormon history, nor would we have had the means to determine the actual course of events. It was the way the book came into our family that gave us the imperative to discover the truth.
5. Notes sur la famille Chavannes (1882) by Ernest Chavannes (1821-1895), kindly transcribed and prepared for this site through the efforts of Arnaud Desmazières, Catherine Minck, and Jean-Jacques Eggler.
6. August, 1679: Bears in the Maison de Ville of Moudon!. A bizarre story found in the records of the Cour de Justice of Moudon. A traveling entertainer offended the notables of Moudon by beating his dancing bears with sticks. The crowd jumped in to defend the bears. A brawl ensued, spilling out onto the street. The Baillif de Moudon (the appointed overseer from Bern) heard about it at his residence (the Château de Lucens) and requested an inquiry. The entertainer wanted compensation for his injuries, and he wanted his trumpet back!
7. The wife of the notary François Forestey is accused of eating a cow. The notary heard a rumor to the effect that his wife had eaten a cow that belonged to Gabriel Dumartherey. After claims and counterclaims, the parties made peace and agreed never to speak of the matter again (19 mar 1588).