Marie-Louise  DESGRANGES

NOTRE-DAME-DE-QUEBEC

LOUYS, SON OF CHARLES DE LISLE AND MARGUERITE PETIT

LOUYSE, DAUGHTER OF DENYS DES GRANGES AND MARGUERITE GOUANNE

"At that time marriageable girls, under government supervision and protected by the king, were arriving in New France. In 1669, Quebec received 113 of them; Trois-Rivieres, 11; and Montreal, 11. They did not all arrive together. However, at the end of each summer, during apple season, there were gentle zephyrs of love, sometimes even squalls, in the vicinity of the capital."

"Recently introduced couples hurried to the notaries in order to have marriage contracts drawn up. At times there seemed to be an untimely haste indeed!"

"For example, on 29 September 1669, Saint Michel's Day, Louis Delisle promised in the presence of Pierre Duquet to marry Marie-Therese Petit, daughter of the late Pierre and of Marguerite Blondeau. The contract was annulled the next day. Why? Please do not feel sorry for the bride. She resigned herself to find another prince charming elsewhere. A month later to the day, she accepted as her husband Christophe Laurent dit Champagne, a former soldier of the Carignan Regiment."

"What arrow from Cupid's quiver had stung Louis Delisle? We may note that on the same day, before the same notary, Louise Desranges, daughter of the late Denis and the late Marguerite Jouanne, was promising to marry Robert Senat, also a resident of Dombourg. On the occasion when these contarcts were being signed in the house of Madame Bourdon, Louis Delisle and Louise Desranges must have been exchanging amorous glances, and surely a whisper or two."

"For these two orphans, this had to have been love at first sight, suddenly and with lightning. The next day, Louis and Louise met with Duquet at the Bourdon house. The lovebirds of one day promised to marry each other the next."

Thomas J. Laforest

Our French-Canadian Ancestors : Volume XVI, Pages 81-82