The Mondou Family.

Paul (the son) took up his father's trade becoming a cooper. He married Céleste Saint-Aubin dit Benjamin in 1836. He and his wife moved to Burlington, Vermont where they are found in the 1840 US census. His life would take some interesting turns.

Paul and Marie's daughter Edesse married Narcisse Petelle in 1850. The 1851 Canada Directory discloses Narcisse was a shoemaker on Saint-George Street in LaPrairie where many tradesmen plied their wares. The young couple, our ancestors, is found living with her parents in the 1851 Canadian census. Paul was 58 and Marie Poupard 59. In addition to Edesse and her new husband, Matilda, 19, Hermine, 16, Flavienne, 13, and Simon, 10, lived in the family's two-story wood home. Paul, called Alexis in this record, claims to be the bédeau, or sexton, for the church. Duties included acting as bell ringer and caring for the interior of the facility. Paul's name is found as witness to many baptisms and burials. In some records his sons Alexis and Simon also tended to the needs of the church. The 1857-58 Canada Directory covering Laprairie, Canada East continues to list Paul as a cooper.

The Mondous had lost several of their children, little Emérentiena died at age 3 of cholera in 1834, Sophie was just a babe when she died in 1833. Their son Alexis, who became a cooper like his father, was 30 when he died in 1855 leaving a widow and several children. Adélaide had married and started a family herself when she died at age 34 in 1857. Edesse and Narcisse stood as godparents to their niece Mathilda Edesse Charbonneau on 21 June 1860 in Montréal. The child's mother, Mathilda Mondou, died a few short weeks after the birth.

1861 Recensement.

Still a cooper, Paul, 67, lived in a wood home with his wife Marie Poupart, 68, their 19-year-old son Simon and daughter Flavienne, 22. An 87-year-old widow, Catherine Racine, was also in the home. Edesse and her husband were living in Montréal.

When Paul died later that year on 19 May 1861 his son-in-law Narcisse Petelle was present as a witness in the church record. Paul's daughter Hermine left behind a husband a four children when she passed away in 1864 in Montréal.

Marie Geneviève then lived at 54 Rue Saint-Joseph. Her land was 124 toises, 16 pieds (a toise is equal to 6 pieds or feet). As censitaire she was dunned 4 shillings for the area of land she occupied. She moved to St-Jean-sur-Richelieu where she died 2 August 1876 and was laid to rest two days later.