Background
Thérèse Le Vasseur came from a respected family that had fallen on hard times. Her father was a local official in Orléans, and her mother was a merchant.
Thérèse Le Vasseur came from a respected family that had fallen on hard times. Her father was a local official in Orléans, and her mother was a merchant.
Thérèse and her mother moved to Paris to find work, and were later joined by her father. Le Vasseur met Rousseau in Paris in 1745. Le Vasseur was working as a laundress and chambermaid at the Hotel Saint-Quentin in the rue des Cordiers, where Rousseau took his meals.
She was 24 years old at the time, he was 33.
They went through a legally invalid marriage ceremony at Bourgoin on August 29, 1768. Therese provided Rousseau with support and care, and when he died, she was the sole inheritor of his belongings, including manuscripts and royalties.
They lived together in Le Plessis-Belleville until her death in 1801. Mount Lavasseur, Alaska, is named after her, for its proximity to Rousseau Peak.
