Isaac Rousseau (December 28, 1672 – May 9, 1747) was a

Genevan , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

master-clockmaker.

Life

He was born in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, the son of Suzanne Cartier (1645–1705) and the master-clockmaker David Rousseau (October 2, 1641–July 17, 1738), who was himself the son of the clockmaker Jean Rousseau (March 29, 1606–May 26, 1684) and his wife Lydie Mussard (1613–1678). He had eleven siblings – one of his sisters, Clermonde Rousseau (1674–1747) married Antoine Fazy (1681–1731), son of Daniel Fazy, a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

refugee from

Saint-Véran Saint-Véran (; oc, Sent Veran �sã vˈʀã is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France in the Queyras Regional Natural Park. Geography Saint-Véran, located in the French Alps, is the most elevated commune in France an ...

Queyras The Queyras ( oc, Cairàs) is a valley located in the French Hautes-Alpes, of which the geographical extent is the basin of the river Guil, a tributary of the Durance. The Queyras is one of the oldest mountain ranges of the Alps, and it was one of ...

, who settled in Geneva and there set up the first Indian cotton factory in Europe. He married Suzanne Bernard (1673, Geneva – 1712, Geneva) – she was the daughter of yet another clockmaker, Jacques Bernard. They had two sons, François Rousseau and the writer and philosopher

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

, though Suzanne died only nine days after Jean-Jacques's birth. An educated man and a patriot, Isaac seems to have been very attached to his son and educated him himself until he was aged ten, though he became more distant in the years that followed. In 1722 he was almost imprisoned thanks to a quarrel and he went into exile from Geneva, leaving his son in the care of Isaac's brother-in-law Gabriel Bernard. Isaac settled in Nyon, slightly to the north-east of Geneva, and remarried. He then became one of the Genevan clockmakers who settled in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, where he was put in charge of regulating the pendulums in the Topkapi Palace – an important role, since these clocks regulated the exact time for Islamic prayers. Swiss clockmakers had been trading with the Ottomans via the French since the end of the 16th century, with a community in Galata, reserved for westerners since the time of

Francis I of France Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin on ...

. He was widowed again in the 1720s but he does not seem to have been overly worried by his eldest son François Rousseau's flight from Geneva. Isaac and Jean-Jacques only met again four more times (July 1730, June 1732, July 1737 and September 1737, according to the ''Confessions''), though Jean-Jacques still stated that he had been raised better than "kings' children".Annales de la Société Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Volume 39 – Société Jean-Jacques Rousseau -- Isaac Rousseau died in Nyon.

Références

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rousseau, Isaac 18th-century people from the Republic of Geneva 1672 births 1747 deaths Clockmakers from the Republic of Geneva Jean-Jacques Rousseau