Courier-Citizen, Thursday, November 22, 1906, Lowell, Massachusetts

WEDDING BELLS RING FOR MIDGET WEDDING

Tiny Rose Dufresne Becomes the Bride of Diminutive Manchester Man

Mr. and Mrs. Philippe Nicole

The wedding bells of Lilliput rang out merrily yesterday for the most remarkable wedding ever celebrated in all of Lowell’s matrimonial history.

This diminutive union was that of two dwarfs, both French Americans, whose combined height is 6 feet 4 inches, and whose combined weight - 157 pounds - is but that of the average woman of fair size.

The heroes of the tiny romance culminating are Philippe Nicole of Manchester, NH, 25 years old, and Rose Dufresne, of 28 Franklin street, this city, 19 years of age.

Mr Nicole is exactly 36 inches tall. He says he is sure he is the smallest man in the world. He has traveled a lot but has never seen anything which “amounted to so little” as himself, he says. His bride is appreciably taller, being 40 inches, and he says he will never be able to exact that this “tall woman” should obey him. He is quite a joker, is little Monsieur Nicole.

The wedding took place at 7 o’clock at the private chapel of St. Joseph’s rectory. Though every effort had been made to avoid notoriety, the news of the “grand mariage” had spread somehow, and the sidewalk was packed with spectators in front of the rectory to see the wedding party alight. Promptly at 7 o’clock the carriage arrived and both little people were lifted bodily out of it by their attendants and deposited on the steps which they proudly mounted arm in arm.

The bridegroom is the biggest little swell ever, and on his wedding day he was more resplendent than ever. He wore a long black frock coat, almost reaching to his heels, black trousers, a tall hat, the regulation white tie and a white carnation buttonhole bouquet.

The bride wore a white lansdowne gown, with net lace yoke and trimmings of white satin baby ribbon, white shoes and stockings and a long veil caught with orange blossoms over her dark hair. She carried a beautiful bouquet of white roses and maidenhair, almost as big as herself. She made an especially charming and childlike little bride, looking more like a little maiden of 10 making her first communion, than like a woman mature enough for marriage.

Rev. Fr. Amyot, O.M.I., performed this unique marriage ceremony, in the presence of about a score of relatives of the two midgets. The chapel had been prettily decorated with large bunches of flowers for the occasion, and for each of the little people, a special little prie-dieu, and a special little chair, of a size fit for little children of four or five, had been provided. The ceremony went off smoothly, both pronouncing the traditional “oui” in a high, clear voice. After the mass Rev. Fr. Amyout made a short allocution, extending his best wishes to the little couple, who looked all radiant happiness during it all.

Mr. Nicole’s father, Mr. Alexandre Nicole of Manchester, was his witness, and the bride’s grandfather, Mr. Pierre Gagnon, with whom she makes her home, gave her away. The bridegroom’s father is a tall man, standing nearly 5 feet 11, while two of his brothers, Joseph and Henry Nicole, of Manchester, who were also present, are men near the six-foot mark.

When the little couple reappeared at the rectory door after the ceremony, all smiles, the crowd could not contain its enthusiasm, and gave them an ovation, all commencing to clap hands. They were lifted bodily again into the hack, and taken by Amedee Archambault, who had the honor to drive them around, to Fontaine’s studio to have their pictures taken.

After the taking of their image, they returned to the bride’s home in Franklin street, where

A Wedding Breakfast

Was served. The two heroes of the day were seated at the head of the table in ordinary high chairs, this permitting them to be on the level with the rest of the merrymakers and within reach of the many good things. There never was a merrier breakfast party, and the little couple were showered with such a mountain of good wishes that it is a wonder they were not forever engulfed by them.

Tonight a reception will take place at the bride’s home to the families on both sides. The bride’s aunt, Mrs. Antoine Dufresne, and her sister, Miss Alice Dufresne, a pretty girl of normal size, assist Mr. and Mrs. Nicole in doing the honors.

The little couple will leave today for Manchester, where a rousing reception awaits them. A delegation will go to the station with a brass band to meet them, and will serenade them all the way up to their home. A big reception, with several hundreds of guests, will take place at the Nicole residence. The little bride, who is timid and retiring, is a little afraid of all this fuss, and would rather have had a very quiet affair. Her husband, who is a jolly and vivacious little man, would have preferred to have a high mass here right in the big St. Jean Baptiste church, with lots of singing and everybody welcome, but she would have none of it, only a very quiet low mass at an early hour, with no noise about it.

The meeting of the two dwarfs took place last June in quite a romantic manner, through J.O. Champagne of this city, who wanted them to go jointly upon the vauderville stage under his management. Mr. Champagne said to Mr. Nicole one day: “Philippe, I have found a wife for you. Come to my house next Sunday and you will meet her.” The next Sunday the little man accordingly went to Mr. Champagne’s home, 472 Moody street, and there met Miss Dufresne. The attraction was immediate and mutual, and the courtship soon began, first by letter, then by frequent visits interchanged between Lowell and Manchester.

Mr. Nicole had been for some time looking for a bride, but had not before found a French-American girl who was a dwarf like himself. He wanted no other. When he had found her and had commenced to court her it was understood at once that they would soon be married, “for little people like us, you understand,” he says, “don’t go around flirting without meaning business.”

As betrothal gifts little Mademoiselle Dufresne received from her fiance a beautiful diamond ring and a diamond studded watch and gold chain, both very valuable.

The bridegroom is very well off, and owns a prosperous variety store in Manchester, as well as a large tenement block property. He runs his store himself and is as quick as a bird attending to his sales. He has a platform built all around back of his counter, upon which he stands to wait on people. His size is a mine for him in a business way, hundreds of people being attracted to the store through curiosity. He says there isn’t a soul among Manchester’s 60,000 who doesn’t know him. He says his store is always full.

He has always strenuously refused, strange to say, to appear in shows, though offers by the score have been made him, with salaries of several hundred dollars a week. It may be that now, however, with the added attraction of there being a couple of them instead of one, such large sums may be offered Mr. and Mrs. Nicole that they will finally consent to go on the stage.

Neither of them has ever had a sick day, and they are normally constituted in spite of their tiny size. The bride is perfect as to form, while her little husband’s only defect is his feet, which are wrong side out, as it were. In the picture you would think his feet had been cut off, but such is not the case. They are turned in with the side in view. This fault in the muscle of his ankle is what has prevented him from growing to normal size. Mr. Nicole says the doctors have told him, as he weighed 14 pounds and was of normal height when born. Thirteen children were born to his parents, all normal. His bride, on the other hand, weighed only three pounds at birth.

The little man was born at Levis, Que., and came to Manchester 20 years ago. He was then as large as he is now, never having grown from that time. He is exactly three feet tall, and his arms and legs are like those of a child of four. He weighs 80 pounds, which is very stout in proportion, and measures 32 inches around the waist, which is probably coming as near being as broad as he is long as any man ever did.

He is in the habit of carrying a cane when he goes out dressed up, this “big stick” measuring exactly 18 inches, half his height.

Mrs. Nicole was born in Lowell. Two other children born to her parents were of normal size. Her father and mother, now dead, were also normal. She is 40 inches tall, and weighs 77 pounds. Her arms are 12 inches long and everything abut her is on this diminutive scale, though perfectly formed. Like her husband, she is well educated, both speaking and writing good French and English. She went to St. Joseph’s convent and also to the public schools here. Her friends till lately were young children of abut 12 or 14, as owing to her size she was always petted like a child in spite of her age, and also felt timid with older people. She is very strong and is an excellent housekeeper and cook, and her General Tom Thumb of a husband feels that he has secured a great prize of the kind coming in small packages, of course.

All of Franklin street was astir yesterday, calling on the little bride to offer congratulations, and gifts in quantity were offered the little people by Lowell friends, while there is no end to the offerings awaiting them from Manchester friends. Their home there will be at 449 North Main street, above the store kept by Mr. Nicole in the Queen City’s chief business thoroughfare.