Château Bellevue: Mathieu Gaston Lacaze
Like his father, the young Mathieu Gaston Lacaze worked out of Libourne as a négociant. With several generations of wealth-making behind them, and more than a drop of blue blood in their veins, the rank and file of the family included not only moneyed merchants both also judges, lawyers and mayors. It was perhaps unsurprising therefore that Mathieu seems to have been incarcerated during the Revolution. The evidence for this comes from the marriage records, which indicate that the venue for his wedding in 1793 was the prison in Libourne (either that or this was a very ‘alternative’ wedding reception).
His wife was Marie-Anne Victoire Fournier (1769 – 1818) and happily neither of them seem to have had an unpleasant encounter with Dr Joseph-Ignace Guillotin’s invention. They presumably went on to leave prison, ultimately having four children together. It does seem as though they later separated, however, as Mathieu subsequently married again, to Sophie Thérèse Lafaye, and she bore him another two children. Mathieu’s time in prison seems to have done his reputation no harm; it was only a few years later, in 1800, that he was elected to the mayoral office in Libourne, which he held for 15 years.
Please log in to continue reading: