Isaac Rousseau (December 28, 1672 – May 9, 1747) was a
Genevan master-clockmaker.
Life
He was born in
Geneva, 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 refugee from
Saint-Véran,
Queyras, 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 Revol ...
, 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 onc ...
.
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