As soon as it was known in Québec that the war had ended, Thomas left the Army and, as the enemies of yesterday were now friends, there was nothing to prevent the lovers from marrying. Therefore, 07 January 1764, Thomas Handfield, native of Port Royal in Acadia, son of "Sieur" Jean Handfield and of "Demoiselle" Elizabeth Winniet, married at Québec Marianne Poulin, daughter of "Sieur" Jean Poulin, blacksmith of Charlesbourg, and of "Demoiselle" Marie Louise Renaud. The bride resided in the city of Québec.
The marriage was celebrated in the presence of Louis Rousseau and Michel Larus, friends of the groom; Jean Poulin, father of the bride; Marie and Charlotte Poulin, sisters of the bride; Henri Monjon and Pierre Beaupré, brothers-in-law. The newly weds immediately proceeded to legitimatize their son, born 07 May 1761. All of these events were registered by the priest, Felix Récher of Notre-Dame Parish, Québec.
One fact to point out here is that the friends and witnesses of Thomas are all French-Canadians, and he declared that his father's name was Jean, and not John. Being bilingual, Thomas Handfield was well aware of the difference in spelling and pronunciation. Since the maternal grand-parents of Thomas were Acadian-French and French, I am sure that the two languages were spoken by his family.
September 16, 1764, a daughter, named Marianne, like her mother, came to add to the joy of the newlyweds. Unfortunately, the two children died in 1765.
October 4, 1766, by an official document signed before Me. Panet, royal notary, (but whose writing had nothing royal about it) Thomas bought from the widow Mrs. Jacques St. Hubert, a house on Saint Charles Street, at the back of the hospital, l'Hôtel-Dieu . This street is now the continuation of Rue Saint Vallier in Québec City. The site is in the land grant made to the hospital by the Government of Québec.
The house was 20 feet at the front and 30 feet in depth. It was constructed of stone and had but one storey. The purchase price was 275 piastres, 120 in cash and the balance of 155 payable in two months. The piastre was worth 6 pounds. At that time a house of 1,650 livres must have been more than passable. In those years, a farm with house and farm buildings was sold for about 2,000 livres. The house was built before 1739. The lot was bought from the Sisters of l'Hôtel-Dieu by Jean Pépin, 03 May 1721 for the sum of 300 livres. The contract was signed in presence of Me. La Cetière, Notary.
The family moved into this house in June 1767, as shown in an entry in an Account Book. At the date of May 1767, there is this note: "Widow St. Hubert five months' payments, it is an Englishman who has acquired the property from the said Widow St. Hubert and who owes seven payments for 1767, 17 livres 10 sols."
In this house were born the only two children of the couple who reached the age of majority and married: Alexis, born 26 August 1767, who I will talk about later; and Elizabeth, born 23 March 1769, who at the age of 22, married Amable Martel, a neighbour, at Verchères QC. She was buried in St. Charles on the Richelieu 25 December 1834. The family occupied the house until the summer of 1769. In October of that year Louis Corbin made the payments for Mr. "Intfil". The husband and wife passed the winter of 1769-70 at Verchères in a house rented from Guillaume Lasserre, where, on the 26 February, a fifth child was born, baptized at Verchères and named Charles.
Perhaps it was loneliness, but certainly the sickness of the wife induced the family to return to Québec in the summer of 1770. Marianne died there 22 August and was buried the next day in Notre-Dame Cemetery.Recently, in 2003 I learned that Marianne died of smallpox. She was reunited there with her two first children. Their last born child died the following spring, 06 March 1771. He was buried at Verchères where Thomas had established permanently. When he bought his house in Québec, Thomas showed his profession as a trader. Trader in what? I do not know.
1. Thomas -- born at Québec City 08 May 1761, died at Québec 18 April 1765.
2. Marianne -- born at Québec City 16 September 1764, buried at Québec City 07 August 1765.
3. Alexis -- born at Québec City 26 August 1767; married at Beloeil 23 July 1787 to Brigitte Remy; buried between 1788 and 1794.
4. Elizabeth -- born at Québec City 23 March 1769; married at Verchères 07 October 1791 to Amable Martel, died 23 December 1834, buried at Saint Charles 25 December under the name of "Barbe" Handfield.
5. Charles -- born at Verchères 26 February 1770, buried at Verchères 06 March 1771.
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