Dawn's Light Woman & Nicolas Franchomme: Marriage and Law in the Illinois Country

Kaskaskia, Illinois, was once the home to a couple who helped transform the region in the 1720s from a frontier missionary outpost to a diverse civil society. In the heart of France's North American empire, the village was a community of fur traders and Native Americans who not only lived together but often intermarried. These Indigenous and French intermarriages were central to colonial Illinois society, and the marriage of Marguerite 8assecam8c8e (Dawn's Light Woman) and Nicolas Franchomm...