Note 120 — Chapter IV · A RÊVERIE
Reading edition
In 1786 “Charpentier” is mentioned as an ouvrier terrassier, having to clear up sticks and leaves, plant flowers, and rake (Arch. Nat. O1, 1878).
Charpentier seems to have been the “Jean de l’eau,” so called from his daily duty of fetching water from Ville d’Avray for the Queen’s table. He even tried to get it to her when she was in the Conciergerie, August, 1792. He was afterwards wounded at Marengo and became a captain, and in 1805 was appointed by Napoleon jardinier en chef at the Petit Trianon, and married Marion (Légendes de Trianon, p. 97).
The marriage certificate of Alexandre Charpentier, in 1823 (at that time chef d’atelier aux Pepinières Royales de Trianon, and, later, for many years jardinier en chef at Trianon), shows that he was the son of Louis Toussaint Charpentier, pensionnaire, and Marie Anne Lemaignan (Mairie de Versailles).