Jean Chanorier
[3] His grandfather Eustache Chanorier, who had renounced the right of bourgeoisie in Lyon in 1702,[4] was judge and mayor of Cluny, lieutenant of the election and representative of the Third estate,[5] as well as procurator for the abbot at the Hôtel-Dieu de Tournus in 1704.
[14] Chanorier's flock was considered of public importance, so much that in 1795, when he was forced to emigrate to Switzerland to escape the Terror, his sheep were protected by veterinarian François-Hilaire Gilbert,[15] who had them transferred to the national sheepfold in Rambouillet, under the care of its director, Henri-Alexandre Tessier.
[16] The Committee of Public Safety decreed Chanorier's estate and flock of "rural establishment", preventing their sale after confiscation, and placed them under the control of the Agriculture and Arts Commission.
[15] The support of the greatest names in veterinary medicine at the time is explained by the economic and scientific stakes involved in acclimatizing Merino sheep in France.
Chanorier's agronomic experimentation did not stop at breeding: he set up a hand-cranked watering system to irrigate the market garden crops; he had his estate fenced off to protect it from animal pests, notably the rabbits that abounded on the neighboring lands of the Count of Artois; he had mulberry trees planted to breed silkworms; he installed a Vaucanson weaving loom; and finally, in 1788, he had a school opened in the main street of the village.
[19] At a time when the potato was still a novelty in France, Chanorier demonstrated through experimentation that it was possible to grow this tuber on arid, siliceous soils by postponing planting until spring.
Mayor of Croissy, it was he who paid for the creation of the National Guard and made his pastures available for the celebration of the Mass for the Federation on 14 July 1790, during which he renewed his oath of allegiance.
On his return, Chanorier took the oath of equality and liberty, reaffirmed his attachment to the Revolution, approved the confiscations, and donated his silverware to the Paris mint as proof of his good faith.
[29] On 1 August 1797 (Thermidor 19, V), he was appointed property tax assessor for the commune of Croissy, and on 26 November (Frimaire 6), a member of the department's equity commission, from which he was immediately disbarred as an ex-noble.
[32] Thanks to this friendship, under the Consulate, he was appointed one of the three directors of the Caisse d'Amortissement, along with Mollien, Napoleon's future finance minister, and Jean-Baptiste Decrétot, by a decree dated Frimaire 8, An VIII (29 November 1799).
On Germinal 27, Year vii, he was elected deputy to the Conseil des Cinq-Cents[34] (Council of Five Hundred) by the assembly of electors of Seine-et-Oise, by 181 votes out of 355 cast, without his nobility being held against him.
Then, by decree of the First Consul dated 1 Prairial, Year vii, he was appointed member of the General Council of Seine-et-Oise, where he dealt with land issues.
On his instructions, opticians Zougan and Richer designed a micrometer for analyzing the fibers of his wools, which he compared with Spanish samples brought back to him by merchant Delon.
He was a member of the commission headed by Huzard, which included Parmentier, Cuvier, Hallé and Tessier, charged with examining sheep suffering from "tournis".
[41] Because of his links with his former colleague Mollien, now Minister of Finance, he was asked to solve the problem posed by the collection sent by Chevalier Blanks being held in customs at Calais.
[42] Concerned with the spread of Merino sheep, he provided training for breeders, offering buyers of his flock's products two decades' worth of boarding for their shepherds.
[36] In a will dated 9 Frimaire, Year ix,[43] he created an annuity of 300 francs to provide food for poor elderly people in the commune of Croissy-sur-Seine.
