Famille Reumont
This family, originally from Hainaut, takes its name from the village of Reumont, from where it emigrated in the middle of the 12th century to settle not far from there in the town of Le Quesnoy.
This migration took place when the town was founded in 1150 by Baudoin IV, Count of Hainaut, who brought together the inhabitants of the surrounding area by offering them benefits (exemption from tithing, etc.):
These important privileges were guaranteed by a charter.
Baudouin, known as ‘l'Édifieur’, surrounded the town of Quercy with moats and ramparts and built a large castle, which became the centre of the town's fortifications.
It was dominated by a high tower and together it formed a veritable fortress.
The Reumonts were one of the town's earliest bourgeois-merchants. Their coat of arms is a reminder of the importance of this tower, as well as the symbol of the oak leaves from which the town takes its etymology (Quesnoy = place where oaks grow).
Charles Reumont, born around 1620, is believed to be the 1st squire in this family.
His grandson Pierre I Reumont (1657 - 1748) married Elisabeth Bouloigne, a direct descendant of the Lords of Quiévy.
In 1714, Pierre II (1694-1771) was offered a position as Piqueur du Roy. The Dutch, who had occupied the town behind its ramparts since 1712, carried out the initial project of the famous military architect Vauban and built a hornwork at the Fauroeulx gate as well as several redoubts.
Pierre II married Catherine du Château around 1717
From 1720, further improvements were made under his supervision.
His son Constant François Reumont (1731-1813) was a socialite, more interested in aesthetics than the massive ramparts of his town.
Inspired by the success of a first cousin, he went to Valenciennes to learn the trade of Master Wigmaker.
This guild originated from that of the ‘barbers’, which was subdivided after originally being confused with that of the surgeon, who ‘shed blood’, which was forbidden to the clerics who formed the bulk of the medical profession.
He would therefore become a ‘barber’.
He found his first position as a wigmaker's assistant in Saint-Quentin in the Vermandois region with Denis Remy, a young widower of 28, ‘Maître Perruquier’, who had just married Marie-Thérèse Minette for the second time on 21 April 1761.
It seems that Constant François moved into the Master's house.
The latter died 6 months later for an unknown reason.
Without a moment's hesitation, Marie Thérèse married Constant, her late husband's assistant, on 27 November 1762.
At the same time, Thérèse Minette passed on the business to her new husband.
Constant Reumont thus became a ‘Maitre perruquier’ and prospered, setting the tone for the rest of the family saga in Saint-Quentin.
The days of wigs were over when his son François Nicolas Joseph Reumont (1779-1853) was old enough to work.
He embarked on a booming textile business in Saint Quentin.
In 1815, he married Marie Legrand.
François was an ambitious man who did everything he could to make his business a success.
He travelled extensively to Paris, and became a member of the town council of Saint Quentin, a prosperous town in the hands of merchants like its mayor. In the end, he amassed a veritable fortune.
His son Louis Adolphe Reumont (1800-1883) successfully continued his father's trading business in Saint Quentin. He also successfully invested heavily in the region's beet sugar industry and on the Paris stock market.
He married his first cousin Emilie Constance Reumont in 1820.
He left Saint Quentin around 1854 to move to Paris, where the country's economic life was taking shape, and chose to settle in one of the very first Haussmann-style buildings at no. 23 rue Tronchet.
A great art collector (as attested by two auctions held after his death), he developed a passion for Renaissance painting and became a specialist in the works of Andrea del Sarto (16th century).
His son Adolphe Constant Reumont (1841 - 1914), who was still living with his parents at the age of 46 before deciding to marry, never needed to work.
He married Zoé Quentin de Poligny in 1886.
He was an annuitant for the rest of his life and became known as Reumont de Poligny.
Porte du Quesnoy
François Reumont (1779 - 1853)
Louis Adolphe Reumont (1800 - 1883)
Emilie Constance Reumont (1801 - 1878)
Adolphe Constant Reumont (1841 - 1914)
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