The formalization of their relationship in this way was practical as much as it was spiritual or sentimental: in a society increasingly organized around European legal conventions, formal marriage provided certain protections and recognitions that informal partnership did not.

Marie navigated this transition as she had navigated the other transitions of her life: pragmatically, with attention to the practical implications of changing circumstances, and with a consistent focus on the well-being of the people around her.

The Death And The Fire

Marie Aioe Dorion died on September 3, 1850.

The location of her burial was in a Catholic church in the Willamette Valley.

That church later burned.