Paul Pinsonneau.

Paul Pinsonneau and Marie-Charlotte Lériger dit LaPlante.

Charlotte Pinsonneau's parents were Paul Pinsonneau and Marie-Charlotte Lériger dit LaPlante, whose families had been in Canada for over 100 years. Paul Pinsonneau was born in Saint-Philippe on 19 April 1763 and Marie-Charlotte Lériger dit LaPlante was born in Saint-Constant on 19 May 1769. The two villages, separated by about seven miles, are located on the south shore of the Saint-Lawrence River across from Montréal. As second cousins (their grandmothers were sisters) they were too closely related, so a dispensation was required in order for them to marry. This was granted, and they wed on 26 January 1789 in Saint-Constant where Paul was a cultivateur (farmer).

The couple had six children. Their first born, a boy named Paul lived only a few months in 1791. Charlotte, our ancestor, was born 4 September 1792 in Saint-Philippe. Another son was born two years later, also named Paul. (He served with the British in the War of 1812, and in 1875 at the age of 81 was awarded a gratuity of about 20 dollars for this service.) Their other children were Marie-Josephe in 1796, Jérèmie in 1798, and Marie-Angelique in 1802.

Passing.

Marie-Charlotte Lériger died on 8 August 1805 at the age of 36 in Saint-Constant, leaving Paul with five youngsters, including our ancestor Charlotte Pinsonneau who was 13 years old.

In 1809 on the 6th of November Paul remarried. His second wife was Marie-Anne Provost. They had one child, Louis, on 23 July 1810.

Charlotte, the daughter of Paul and his first wife, married Joseph Petel two years later.

There was an accident on 14 May 1819 in Varennes, a village about 30 miles east. The record does not reveal whether a bridge collapsed or perhaps a barge overturned but Paul, 54, and three others including Marie Provost, Basile Girouard and Jean-Baptiste Boisdemar drowned. He was not buried until the 4th of June to give time for an official report, the procés-verbal, to be completed by the captain of the militia, Joseph Ainse. His widow Marie-Anne Provost remarried two years later to Noel Charbonneau.