Château de Targé: The Ferry Family
Charles Ferry had gone into the family business, in other words he was a banker. As seems to have been the case with many in the Allain-Targé family, however, he was also politically active, holding the offices of député des Vosges, préfet de Saône-et-Loire, and préfet de la Haute-Garonne at one time or another. He was also a member of the Ordre du Grand Orient de France, an ancient masonic order. It appears that he was not very involved in the running of the château and vineyards in Saumur himself, and instead he seems to have trusted it to his brother, Jules Ferry (1832 – 1893). At first glance this seems very plausible, until we realise that Jules was no less politically accomplished than his brother. He held some of the same offices his brother did, but he was also mayor of Paris for a while, and from 1883 until 1885 he was French minister for foreign affairs. He is universally derided by all French schoolchildren because, during his time in government, he was instrumental in making education in France free for all, and compulsory.
Although it is not clear to me whether Charles or Jules had most say in the running of the domaine (they may well have had a régisseur, or some similar arrangement), the inheritance seems to have been in Charles’ favour. He had a son called Abel Ferry (1881 – 1918) who married Hélène Berger on November 20th 1913. They had a daughter on June 22nd 1918; she was named Fresnette, after Fresnes-sur-Woëvre, a town in Lorraine, which in 1915 was the location of a battle in which Abel had fought. Tragically a few months later Abel was killed by an exploding shell near Aisne.
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