Château d’Epiré: Louis Bizard
Louis Bizard married twice, the first time on September 30th 1754 to Louise Maitre (c.1736 – 1766), the second time on July 1st 1766 to Elisabeth Chebrou (1742 – 1798). Both marriages produced enough children (or certainly close to it) to field a football team, and of these it was the eldest son born to Elisabeth, Jean Bizard (1769 – 1831) who appears to have inherited the vineyards. He was a wine merchant and innkeeper, so having a good supply of wine from his own vineyards no doubt came in very handy. Like his father he also married twice, the first union on February 10th 1793 to Louise Marie Loudun (died 1803) being a childless one, but with Marie Catherine Coumeau (born 1776) who he married on August 29th 1804 he had one son and one daughter.
It was as you might expect the former, Jacques Victor Bizard (1805 – 1865), who inherited the family’s property in Épiré. He followed his father into the wine trade, and clearly prosperous it was undoubtedly Jacques who was responsible for the construction of the extremely grand Château d’Epiré, which replaced the pre-existing mansion house, in 1850. Jacques married Marie Sophie Morillon (1807 – 1882) on June 1st 1829 and it was their eldest son, Jean Baptiste Théophile Bizard (1831 – 1902) who inherited the estate. Clearly an educated man, he worked as a notaire first in Niort and then later in life in Angers, and so it seems unlikely that he had much time for viticulture and winemaking. It seems to me that he would have entrusted the running of his estate to an employee, or perhaps to other members of his extended family.
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