J1 :Jehan Chappuzeau : born around 1515? Married 1540 and 1545, died 10/5/1571

Jehan is the first member of the family of whom we have any information. Much of what we know about Jehan and his first few generations of descendants comes from a 1973 article in French by Jeanne Leroy-Fournier in a journal. (Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de l'Ouest, Publisher: La Société, 1975 pp 121-133). This is partially viewable online, and the full text has been obtained from a library copy. As it is under copyright, it cannot be posted here, but can be requested. See snippets from the article here

In the 13th century, Jehan and Guillaume Le Chapuiseur were recorded in Poitiers, but we don't know if they were related.

Jehan Chappuzeau is first mentioned in 1540, when a charge of 12 sols was levied upon him for the support of soldiers. Livres, Sols and Deniers were very similar to pounds, shillings and pence, with 20 sols to 1 livre and 12 denier to a sol) In 1540, he married Marie Petit, niece of the Cure of St Opportune, who probably secured for him the job of "messager ordinaire", a private postal service transporting letters and documents from the Univerity of Poitiers to the University of Paris.

At this time, there were five messagers serving various destinations, and in December 1543, the five men formed a company. This company was still in existence in 1600, with the posts having been passed from father to son as needed.

In 1552, there was a much heavier levy of 11 livres, 10 sols. Jehan was probably regarded as a wealthy man by then, as the average levey on the whole parish was only 53 sols (i.e. 2 livres 13 sols). In 1568 he paid 70 sols (3 livres and 10 sols). He owned his own house, in rue des Feuillants as well as hemp fields, probably for rope-making, and with his second wife, he bought a house in the "rue des Quatre Vents" in the parish of St Michel. He also bought land in the parish of Gizay. His occupation in later life was given "fabricant".

We cannot be sure whether Claude was a son of his first or second wife. One possible indicator is that his first daughter was named Marguerite, and Jehan's second wife was Marie Marguerite.

Jean-Michel Duday has also provided a description in French here in his geneanet pages