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Joseph-Gaspard de Tascher de La Pagerie

Martinique, 5 Jul 1735 – Martinique, 6 Jun 1790

6 facts1 source

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 5 Jul 1735

    Born in Martinique

  2. 1763

    A daughter is born

  3. 6 Jun 1790

    Dies in Martinique, aged 54

Family

See the tree

Partner

Children · 1

During his lifetime

He lived through 7 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Martinique.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1730s · Joseph-Gaspard is born in Martinique

In the news1738

Introduction of road labor corvee

In 1738, the crown introduced the corvee, a system of forced labor requiring peasants to build and maintain the royal roads.

At the table

Scarcity and Alternative Food Sources

Ordinary families consumed very little meat, typically limited to pork, lard, or sheep tripe. During harsh times or shortages, the rural poor were forced to supplement their diet with wild plants like ferns, acorns, or grass.

What people wore

Carefully Patched Clothing

Respectable poor individuals often wore carefully patched cast-off clothing, where the patches were chosen to match the original faded fabric.

Getting around

Travel by mule

A trip between San Remo and Genoa over 90 miles could take three days on muleback due to narrow, rugged mountain paths.

What it cost

High cost of basic food

Meat was a luxury item; a single kilogram of beef, veal, or mutton could cost two days of labor for an ordinary worker. In 1725, due to shortages, the price of bread rose significantly, sometimes costing up to four days of work to afford a kilogram.

Music

Public concert series started in Paris

Starting in 1725, Parisians could attend public concerts organized by the Concert Spirituel society, which performed in the Tuileries Gardens when the Opéra was closed for religious festivals.

Daily life

Modest housing for common people

Most ordinary people lived in simple houses built of mud, known as wattle and daub, and covered with thatched roofs. These homes typically consisted of a single room that functioned as living, working, and sleeping space for the entire family.