Illinois Connections in the Royal Marines!

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I was looking through Jackie Vidrine’s book, Love’s Legacy: the Mobile Marriages and saw this record of Louis Marie de Populus, Escuyer de St. Protais’ second marriage in June of 1758 at the Fort at Mobile. Then I saw one of his witnesses was Francois de Mazellieres. It’s difficult for us to realize how small the colony of LA was at the time and especially how close-knit those in service of the King in the Royal Marines were! Like Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines, they were both natives of France. And he was also an Officer under the Command of both Populus and de Mazellieres while serving at the Fort de Chartres in IL in the preceeding years. In September through November 1753, he was an Officer (Enseigne en Second) in a detachment of troops under Francois de Mazellieres at IL…and in 1757 (a year before this marriage), he was an Officer (Enseigne en Second) in a detachment of troops under Louis Marie de Populus, Escuyer de St. Protais, at Cahokia, IL. While this marriage was taking place in Mobile, Jean Baptiste Lapaise de Védrines himself was preparing for marriage to Elisabeth de Moncharvaux back in IL, which he would celebrate a few months later in October of 1758 at the chapel of St. Anne at Fort Chartres, IL.