As was the custom, Elie Poulin gave his first son, Denis, a farm in the hamlet of Saint Joseph de Beauce. As Denis builds a solid farming life for his growing family, the economy of Quebec plunged into a decades-long depression that robbed every forward-step that Denis takes.
Everyone in Quebec is affected as thousands of Quebecois slowly flee for the rising Industrial Revolution in the U.S. In one month, new immigrants earn the equivalent of one years’ wages back in Canada. The population decreases caused a talent drain that Quebec had not recovered from for more than 3 decades.
Many families who remained starved while others broken apart – the very fabric of French-Canadian culture was ripped in two.
Today in the village of Saint Joseph of Beauce, one beautifully restored farm still retains the POULIN boundary stone at the mouth of the driveway.