Paul Mondou (III).

Marriage to Marie-Geneviève Poupart.

The banns were published three consecutive Sundays to alert parishioners to the impending marriage of Paul Mondou and Marie-Geneviève Poupart scheduled for 14 September 1812 in the Roman Catholic church in LaPrairie. The practice allowed the community to weigh in if they were aware of any reason why the wedding should not take place.

Both Paul and Geneviève were minors, he was just 17 and she was 18 years old, and thus the bride and groom had to obtain the permission of their parents to marry. Witnesses included their fathers, Paul's cousin Joseph Surprenant and Geneviève's brother Joseph Poupart.

The War of 1812 had commenced three months earlier, pitting the British Empire against its upstart former colony, the United States of America. Skirmishes around Lake Champlain put the Mondou's in close proximity to the fighting. Paul would likely have served in the militia as all young men were expected to report for training. He was well aware of the execution of five deserters by the British Army in LaPrairie on 2 November 1813.

Their first child, Paul, was born 11 August 1813. The boy was the fourth generation given the name of Paul Mondou first conferred upon his great-grandfather in 1738.

The couple would have fourteen children including a set of twins over the course of their 49 year marriage. Their seventh child was our ancestor Marie Edesse Geneviève who was born and baptized on 31 January 1829 in La Nativité-de-la-Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie-de-La Prairie. Marie Geneviève was 48 at the birth of her last child, a son named Siméon, in 1842.