 Jean de la Fontaine, son of Gilles de la Fontaine and Wife, Gilles de la Fontaine.BORN_SHORT 1500 Maine Providence, Normandy, France, DIED_SHORT 1563 in Maine Prov., France, 62 or 63 years From the Fontaine book I have a copy of.... He was born in the province of Maine, about the year 1500, and as soon as he was old enough to bear arms, his father procured him a commission in what was then called Les ordonnances du Roi in the household of Francis I of France. It was in the tenth or twelfth year of this monarch’s reign that he entered his service, and he conducted himself so honourably and uprightly, that even after his father and himself had embraced Protestantism at its first preaching in 1535, he remained in the same situation, and continued there during the reigns of Henry II of France, Francis II of France, and until the second year of Charles IX. He married, and had at least four sons, when he retired from a service in which he had remained so long, only as a sort of safe-guard from persecution. The king’s officers were protected by right of their office; and our ancestor, it would appear, was much beloved by all his Juniors in the service, which made the Roman Catholic party afraid to meddle with him, though at the same time they thirsted for his blood, not only on account of his exemplary piety, but of the exercise of a power his office conferred upon him, and which he had freely used, of assisting the poor Protestants, many of whom he had shielded from persecution. Resigned his commission about 1562 and retired to his estate in Maine where he actively supported the Protestant Church. In 1563, he, his wife, one son, and a faithful valet were assassinated by a group of ruffians from the city of Le Mans who had been dispatched by members of the Catholic Church. Marriage/ Related to:  Wife, Jean de la FontaineChildren: | |||
1) son FontaineBORN_SHORT 1545 in Maine Prov., France, DIED_SHORT 1563 in Maine Prov., France, 17 or 18 years | |||
2) Jacques de la FontaineBORN_SHORT 1549/1550 Maine, Charente, Poitou-Charentes, France , DIED_SHORT 1633 Rochelle, Poitou Provence, France , approximately 84 years A shoemaker took them in and taught Jacques II how to mend and to make shoes. He not only supported himself and his brothers on his meager wages, but soon was able to establish his own business, in which he prosperred. He married in the early part of 1603 and his first son Jacques III was born the same year. Left property at Rochelle amounting to 9,000 livre. Married twice and had several children but only three lived to be married - one son and two daughters. After the death of his first wife, Jacques remarried but had no children. His second wife, a mean woman, tired of him and tried to poison him without succeeding. This being too notorious to keep quiet, she was taken to prison, tried and condemned to death. Upon learning that King Henry IV was visiting at la Rochelle, Jacques applied to him for a pardon for his wife. King Henry IV "wanting to judge from the man's appearance whether there was an excuse for the wife's act", demanded that Jacques appear before him. When he saw him, he shouted, "Let her be hanged, let her be hanged. He is the handsomest man in my Kingdom". | |||
3) Abraham FontaineBORN_SHORT 1551, DIED_SHORT Rochelle, Poitou Provence, France | |||
4) Son, FontaineBORN_SHORT 1554 in Maine Prov., France, DIED_SHORT Rochelle, Poitou Provence, France | |||
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