Pierre Vieusseux

• General Notes
  • Pierre fugge a Ginevra nel 1688 per non essersi voluto sottomettere all'abiura del calvinismo, cui si erano invece adeguati i genitori.  Con pochi soldi, ma con il genio del commercio, aveva iniziato a lavorare a Ginevra e da commesso era ben presto arrivato a mettersi in propr io e ad essere iscritto nel 1702 alla borghesia di Ginevra per 4500 fiorin i.  Per 4500 fiorini.  "Pierre est un réfugié de Saint Antonin en Rouergue." SHPF-BUL58 pg. 479  SHD: Fortunately we are left with a record by Pierre Vieusseux of his early life in his own words.   BEGINNING OF PIERRE VIEUSSEUX* LIFE STORY, THE FIRST PERSON UNDER THISNAME TO COME TO GENEVA ON MAY 13TH. 1688.   My dear children, The favors God has given me from the day of my birth until now are so great that I thought I should write them to commit you to give proof of your gratitude and induce you to fear him, love him and do nothing that might offend him as the favors he did to me and the properties he gave me for your own good, to instruct you and place you in such a position that you have an easy life during the rest of your days. The properties I will leave after my death do not come from my inheritance. God gave them to m e, as I came to Geneva with nothing. I was born in St. Antonin en Rouergue on 30 October, 1668, Jean Vieusseux' son, who was son of Abel Vieusseux, goldsmith and of Jeanne Dufaure, daughter of Dufaure, an apothecary. My father was a cloth merchant (toiles et de draperies) in St. Antonin, and was a good and esteemed man. He was very fond of me as I was the eldest. I was much inclined to reading and writing and for knowledge of religion. I even thought of studying to be a minister. But my father did not want to meet me on this matter, as he told me he wanted me to be a merchant. I improved my writing and arithmetic, and when I was ten years old, my father who had been elected a consul, asked me t o check the registers of the tax imposed by the King on the inhabitants of the area of St. Antonin, with himself and his colleagues . I did it to their satisfaction and they gave me four livres for my efforts. And even young as I was, my father asked me to stand in his shop so that at 12 years old, I was selling like him and I was in charge of the cash for all the money received. This was carried on until 1685. Then the King sent troops to St. Anton in to persecute the Calvinist people (la Religion Réformée) and compelled them to embrace the Roman religion. See also "La Famille Rivier - La Persecution" pp 22-27 The inhabitants of our city refused for several months but lacked courage and changed on the example of the cowardice shown by the inhabitants of Montauban. It was not enough to have the mothers and fathers change. The children had to change as well. I refused for some time. But my relations and my father begged me in order to protect themselves against persecution. I had the misfortune to succumb thinking to myself that I would not be asked anything else than to go to Church to say that I renounced Calvin's errors. But after this first step, we were obliged to go to Mass and to receive Holy Communion at Easter (1686 or 1687). (It seems odd that he cannot remember if he took one or two years to abjure). I still had the weakness to succumb to temptation. I received the Holy Communion but then I resolved upon going out of the Kingdom to remote Geneva. But my father and my mother were very fond of me and my father needed me in his business. He had entrusted me with the buying and he was to send to buy cloth at the Bordeaux fair. I thought I had better not tell them what my aim was. Therefore, I left on April 1688 on my own, walking from St. Antonin with 40 livres and eight silver sols which I had taken from the cash box. I did not want to take more than that as I thought that if I was arrested on my way (the passages were guarded), the money would be lost. I went to Castres to join one of my friends who had the same aim. We both happily set out, on foot, for Geneva on May 13th, 1688.  We were a bit scared in the Dauphine, as when going through Tournon, we met Mr. Devillettes, governor of our city of St. Antonin in the middle of t he street. When he saw we both had small bags on our backs, in which we h ad our belongings, he asked us where we were going? I said that I was going to Lyons to help Mr. Loches' in his business and my friend said to him that he was going to Paris, to farm, with one of his uncles'. But he didn't trust us. He said that if we were going where we said upon our father s' agreement, we would not be walking; he continued, "I know what you intend to do, you are leaving the Kingdom" and he drove us to Mr. de Naves, his uncle, who was lieutenant general of the troops of Languedoc. They both came from our city and had the same religion. We had to admit our project and promise that we would go back. They gave us a letter for our father s. We left Tournon very sorry to have had such an encounter and to have agreed to go back; we thought that if we were arrested by the troops who guarded the passages, we would be taken back to these gentlemen. We left Tour non to go back, but after approximately one hour walk along the Rhone, we found a bridge across which we could go to Dauphine. We crossed over the Rhone determined to continue our trip to Geneva. When we were near Thain, in front of Tournon, we feared to be seen by these gentlemen, this obliged us to stay in a field of hay until the next day. We left at the beginning of the day for Vienne where we set down that night. . The next day: Lyons - from Lyons to Geneva through the Savoye without any problems. Then, we were filled with joy as we sighted Geneva and offered thanks to God.
    A few days later, I beseeched some friends that I knew to look for a job for me to earn my livelihood. I succeeded. I was employed by Mr. David de la Corbiere to assist him in the his cloth business. This was ten or twelve days after my arrival in Geneva. I was on a trial until h is son's return (Andre) who was away purchasing in Dauphine. When he came back, after having watched me, asked me I if I wished to stay and how much I would give for my boarding. I replied that I thought that my work w as sufficient. The father, who was quite fond of me, did not wait for h is son to answer. He said that he intended to employ me for three years. The first year ............I accepted immediately as I was only too glad to have a livelihood. I was so devoted to my work that everyone of t he business was fond of me. In the following February, they sent me to Switzerland to receive the stores, in preference to other members of the staff who were older than me and were also in the business. After the three y ears were up, they renewed my employment for another three years at 50 ecus per year, and three years later at 200 livres per year. Although my salary was small, it was sufficient for my upkeep and for my sister, who came to Geneva not very long after me, but the money that our father was sent us was not sufficient for her maintenance. (It was not Anne, therefore it was either Marie or Catherine, who died unmarried, the first one in 1724, the second in 1737. The youngest brother, Jean-François, born in 1677, emigrated also to Geneva, also a cloth merchant, who died unmarried in 1748.)  A few months before the end of my nineteenth year, I begged Mr. de la Corbiere to give me 300 livres instead of 200. He refused although he needed me. Therefore, I gave notice which he accepted with regret. I decided to go to St. Antonin to ask my father to give me a small amount to be able to negotiate in Geneva, but he was short of money. I stayed about three months in St. Antonin but it was useless. During this time I made an inventory of all his effects which amounted to approximately 25.000 livres, 13 to 14 thousand livres were in debts or rents letter s, the rest in properties or merchandise.  As he saw I was urging him to give me something, he allowed me to choose the equivalent of L1500 from his debtors, which he gave to Sr. Solomilac, h is pretended son-in-law providing he would give me the proceeds. I did not receive one thing. I left St. Antonin to go back to Geneva, annoyed at not having received anything from my father.  Back in Geneva I was full of courage and willing to work but without any money (all I possessed was less than 400 l. in savings). Mr. Isaac Lect offered to create a company which I accepted as he promised to bring a fund of 8000 l. As for me, I promised a fund of 3000 l. with my friends' help. Once the conditions were established, we worked for six months with success; during which time, I sold ten to eleven thousand ecus of merchandise, I say I because the so-called Sr Lect did not get involved in the trade. I complained about it and I informed him that if he wanted to take advantage of benefits, he had to take part in the work. He said if I was not happy, I was quite free to leave. I accepted his proposition right away and said the goods and debts should be shared. This was done and we found we had approx. 800 l. profit. From then on, I worked on my own. One year later, after the inventory was done, I found approx. 3000 l. left, and all my debts were paid. This gave me some encouragement and made me push more sales. During the first six months, I sold 36,000 I, of goods, which is hard to believe from a small business of 3000 l. How can 36,000 l. of goods can be sold is six months ? Here i s the answer. God who governs everything gave me Mrs. Saladin and others' affection, and who had entire confidence in me. They were known and esteemed by several merchants around, and when they needed some items, they asked me and I used to take the goods from these gentlemen and then send then to the people who had committed me. These merchants used to come to Geneva to purchase. I was meeting them to ask what items they wanted to buy. Then, with this information, I used to go myself to these gentlemen to choose the items which I thought were the required articles and had them sent to my shop. Then, I had an extended choice of goods from others and when I had sold, I had the rest returned to these gentlemen. So with a few funds, I was making considerable profits, thanks to the credit I had.   The manuscript ends there unfortunately. We will always wonder what sort of disgrace our grandfather had to go through in approximately 1698. As well as many things which could be important. Would it be that Mr M. Saladin and others had enough with his clever way to get an extended choice of goods from others ? Judging from what he said, Pierre Vieusseux had a talent in business. Maybe also he over-estimated his own value; and we would not recommend to our children the way he chose to run away from his home, to take money in his father's cashbox or to escape the marshal sea by way of a lie. But let us not forget that his parents had given him examples of lies which were more culpable, with no scruples and that it is because of his remorse to have been involved himself that he decided to stake his all to find a country in accordance with the needs of his conscience.   What more I know about him is very little. He was qualified as a linen draper in Geneva. He was admitted in the habitat on October 27th, 1696 and in the middle class on December 20th, 1702 for 4500 florins, two assortments and for 100 florins to the library. He owned a block of land in Jargonnant which his widow and his sons sold in 1739. On June 23rd, 1716, at t he respectable age of 46 years old, he allied to several of the best and most famous families of the republic by his marriage to Elisabeth Leger, daughter of noble and respectable Antoine Leger, citizen, pastor and professor in theology, and of Marie Trembley. She gave him twelve children. When Pierre Vieusseux died on March 1733 at the age of 69, after half a century of Geneva adaptation, the oldest was not yet 20 and youngest not yet 9. But they had a fairly good fortune and they had an extended and well located kinship. They did not therefore have to worry too much about their future.".[Robert Vieusseux]   Fortunately we are left with a record by Pierre Vieusseux of his early life in his own words.

Details of Pierre's family with Elisabeth Leger