Chapter 7 - Building the Family Firm: Marriage and Succession

Summary

The Vollée family chose a wedding day in early February 1745, just at the end of the working season; Master Butcher Pierre Louis Vollée, the father of the groom, had many reasons to be proud. Not only was it the fourth wedding over which he was to preside, but each of his children's marriages built upon two generations of merchant butcher businesses. As a purveyor to the royal household of Madame la Dauphine and the guild's syndic from 1745 to 1749, Pierre Louis Vollée benefited from his family's prominence in the trade to gain access to the most privileged clientele and the most powerful position within the guild. Through his financial and commercial assets, he saw to it that each of his children establish their own households and positions within the guild community. Today was François Alexandre's day to secure his future with Marie Geneviève Crespy, a young girl who had lost her mother as a child. Her father, a prominent roast meat seller, had strong ties with Vollée through their affiliation as the princess' provisioners. The list of attendees (as they appear in the marriage contract) reflects an extensive social network: both the bride and the bridegroom's large extended families included guild merchants and skilled artisans from related trades (grocers, cooks-caterers, roast meat sellers) and petty officials and members of the educated professions (a notary, an architect).