A good many of our ancestors strived daily to survive.  Those that married and lost a spouse knew that a widower with children needed a wife, not only for companionship, but to help raise those children and in the same manner a widow would need a husband to support her and her children.  Such was the case, multiple times, for Marc Antoine Hus Paul dit Lemoine my 6^th great-grandfather on the Vadnais side of the family.

Marc Antoine was born to Louis Hus and Angelique Niquet at Sorel, Monteregie Region, Quebec on January 1, 1701.¹  His future wife, Marie Anne Binet was born to the late Joseph Francois Binet and Marie Francoise Vachon at Beauport, a borough of Quebec City, on February 7, 1704.²  Marie Anne never knew her father; he had died suddenly in an accident about 7 months before her birth.³

Marc Antoine was 25 years old and Marie Anne Binet, my 6^th great-grandmother, was 22 years old when they married on August 5, 1726 at Notre Dame de Quebec.⁴

Marc Antoine and Marie Anne went on to have 5 children: 3 boys and 2 girls.  Marie Anne gave birth to their last child, Joseph on January 8, 1734.⁵  I assume some complication occurred because Marie Anne died on February 16, 1734 at 29 years old and Joseph passed away 4 days later, on February 20, 1734, at 6 weeks old.⁶  Marc Antoine at 33 years old was a widower with 4 young children to raise: 6 year old Louis (my 5^th great-grandfather), 4 year old Marc Antoine, 3 year old Marie Jeanne and 2 year old Marie Anne.

Not that many months later, the date is not known, Marc Antoine married 26 year old Marie Anne Bissonnet Lafaverie; it was his second marriage and her first.⁷  Their first child Joseph was born the next year on April 21, 1735.  He was followed by Jean Baptiste on June 10, 1737, Marie Angelique on May 6, 1739 and Pierre on February 1, 1741.⁸  On April 30, 1743 Marc Antoine lost Marie Anne, she was only 34 years old.⁹  Marc Antoine, once again a widower, now had 8 children to raise, 4 by his first wife and 4 by his second wife: Louis was 15, Marc Antoine was 14, Marie Jeanne was 12, Marie Anne was 9, Joseph was 8, Jean Baptiste was 5, Marie Angelique was 3 and Pierre was 2.

Marc Antoine did not remarry until over a year later on July 6, 1744 when he married 36 year old Marie Ursule Dubeau, a recent widow with 3 surviving children: 10 year old Louis, 7 year old Marie Catherine and 6 year old Marie.¹⁰  Although they would not have any children together, I am sure their house and their hearts were filled with the 11 children they now called a family.

Tragedy struck once again when at 46 years old Marie Ursule passed away on December 28, 1754.¹²  Marc Antoine now had 8 children and 3 step-children.  His 2 oldest daughters were married, but all the other children were still single: Louis at 27, Marc Antoine at 25, Joseph at 19, Jean Baptiste at 17, Marie Angelique at 15, Pierre at 14, Louis at 20, Marie Catherine at 19 and Marie at 17.  Louis, Marie Catherine and Marie, the last 3 listed, are his step-children.

None of Marc Antoine’s children or step-children were all that young when Marc Antoine, at 54 years old, married for the 4^th time on April 8, 1755.¹³  This marriage is quite interesting for a number of reasons.  First, the woman he married, 51 year old Marie Anne Saint-Yves was also a 6^th great-grandmother of mine on the Vadnais side of the family.  Her first marriage had been to Antoine Desrosiers dit Dutremble (also a 6^th great-grandfather) and from that marriage there were 14 children.¹⁴  When Marie Anne married Marc Antoine, 5 of her children had already passed away and 2 had already married.  An additional marriage occured the same day as her and Marc Antoine’s marriage when her oldest son Antoine got married to Marc Antoine’s youngest daughter Marie Anne.¹⁵  Their marriage record is documented right after the marriage record for Marc Antoine and Marie Anne.¹⁶  To confuse things even further, about 3 years later on February 6, 1758, Marc Antoine’s oldest son Louis married Marie Anne’s youngest surviving daughter Marie Josephe; they are my 5^th great-grandparents.¹⁷

The relationships are hard to comprehend.  The offspring from the marriages of the brother and sister from Marie Anne Saint-Yves’ family with the sister and brother from Marc Antoine’s family are double 1^st cousins (some of my 1^st cousins are also double 1^st cousins, you know who you are).  Additionally, each of these couples are step-siblings to one another.  Furthermore, since these 4 children married between 2 families where the surviving parent from each family married each other, each parent is not only a step-parent, but also an in-law of the child from the other family.

Marc Antoine passed away sometime before Marie Anne.  No record has been found.  Marie Anne died November 30, 1763 and was buried the following day.¹⁸

It would be wrong to judge Marc Antoine’s 4 marriages by today’s standards.  Not only was each marriage a way of surviving, but I like to think that with each marriage he also found love, friendship and family. 

Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cindy

© 2023 Copyright by Cynthia Vadnais, All Rights Reserved

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Footnotes for Love, Love, Love, Love post