Antoine Crozat, 1st Marquis of Châtel

They moved to Paris around 1700 and rose from obscurity to become two of the wealthiest financiers of France.

[2] By way of lending money to the government, Antoine was ennobled as the Marquis du Châtel, a title he transmitted to his eldest son Louis-François.

As Crozat left, he claimed that tobacco could be grown in Louisiana.

The monopoly was transferred to the Scottish economist and businessman John Law in 1717 under a group called the Company of the West (Compagnie d'Occident).

In 1708 Antoine Crozat built a notable hôtel particulier on the Place Vendôme to the designs of the architect Pierre Bullet.