Manumission document recorded by John Askin, for Manette (alternately spelled Mannette or Monette) in the Detroit Notarial Records. The introduction to the John Askin papers, volume I : 1747-1795 (Detroit Library Commission, 1928), references the following on pages 12-13: "Askin was the father of a numerous family of children. The three elder children, John Jr., Catherine, and Madelaine, were by an Indian mother, concerning whom we have no certain knowledge. Nor do we know the definite dates of birth of her children. It is a matter of record that John Askin, Jr. was born at L'Arbre Croche, probably about the year 1762. L'Arbre Croche was an Ottawa town, and this fact would favor the presumption that Askin's consort was a member of this tribe. On September 9, 1766, Askin manumitted, at Detroit, Manette (or Monette), a slave woman whom he had purchased from M. Bourassa at Mackinac. We have no further record of this woman, but the act of manumission, taken in connection with the chronological relation between the act and the births of Askin's children, suggests that she may have been their mother."
