Editing Joseph Marie Jacquard (section)

== Life ==
In his grandfather's generation, several branches of the Charles family lived in Lyon's Couzon-Au-Mont d’Or suburb (on Lyon's north side, along the [[Saône]] River).  To distinguish the various branches, the community gave them nicknames; Joseph's branch was called "Jacquard" Charles.  Thus, Joseph's grandfather was Bartholomew Charles ''dit'' [called] Jacquard.<ref>Delve, Janet. "Joseph Marie Jacquard: Inventor of the Jacquard Loom," ''[[IEEE]] Annals of the History of Computing'', vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 98–102 (October–December 2007); see p. 98.</ref><ref>Huchard, Jean. "Entre la engender rt la reality: La faille DE Joseph Marie Charles dit Jacquard" [Between legend and reality:  The family of Joseph Marie Charles known as Jacquard], part 1, ''Bulletin Municipal Official ed la Villa DE Lyon''.</ref>

Joseph Marie Charles ''dit'' Jacquard was born into a conservative Catholic family in [[Lyon]], France, on 7 July 1752.  He was one of nine children of Jean Charles ''dit'' Jacquard, a master weaver of Lyon, and his wife, Antoinette Rive.  However, only Joseph and his sister Clémence (born 7 November 1747) survived to adulthood.  Although his father was a man of property, Joseph received no formal schooling and remained illiterate until he was 13.  He was finally taught by his brother-in-law, Jean-Marie Barret, who ran a printing and book selling business.  Barret also introduced Joseph to learned societies and scholars.<ref name=Delve98>Delve (2007), p. 98.</ref> Joseph initially helped his father operate his loom, but the work proved too arduous, so Jacquard was placed first with a bookbinder and then with a maker of printers' type.<ref>Ballot, Charles. "L’Évolution du Métier Lyonnais" in ''Revue d'histoire de Lyon: Études, Documents, Bibliographie'', Lyon, France: A. Rey et Co., 1913, vol. 2, p. 39.</ref>

His mother died in 1762, and when his father died in 1772, Joseph inherited his father's house, looms and workshop as well as a vineyard and quarry in Couzon-au-Mont d’Or.  Joseph then dabbled in real estate.  In 1778, he listed his occupations as master weaver and silk merchant.<ref name=Delve98 />  Jacquard's occupation at this time is problematic because by 1780 most silk weavers did not work independently; instead, they worked for wages from silk merchants, and Jacquard was not registered as a silk merchant in Lyon.<ref name=Delve99>Delve (2007), p. 99.</ref>

There is some confusion about Jacquard's early work history.  British economist Sir [[John Bowring]] met Jacquard, who told Bowring that at one time he had been a maker of straw hats.<ref>Barlow, Alfred. [https://archive.org/details/historyandprinc00barlgoog/page/n15 <!-- pg=140 --> ''The History and Principles of Weaving by Hand and by Power''], London:  Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1878, p. 144.</ref> Eymard claimed that before becoming involved in the weaving of silk, Jacquard was a type-founder (a maker of printers' type), a soldier, a bleacher (''blanchisseur'') of straw hats, and a lime burner (a maker of [[Lime (material)|lime]] for mortar).<ref>Eymard, Paul. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k108292v.image.f1.pagination ''Historique du Métier Jacquard''], Lyon, France:  Imprimerie de Barret, 1863, p. 9.  Reprinted in ''Annales des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles d'Agriculture et d'Industrie'', Lyon, France, 3rd series, vol. 7, 1863, pp. 34–56.  However, Eymard does not cite his source for this information.</ref> Barlow claims that before marrying, Jacquard had worked for a bookbinder, a type-founder, and a maker of cutlery. After marrying, Jacquard tried cutlery making, type-founding, and weaving.<ref name= Barlow140>Barlow (1878), p. 140.</ref> However, Barlow does not cite any sources for that information.

On 26 July 1778, Joseph married Claudine Boichon.  She was a middle-class widow from Lyon who owned property and had a substantial dowry.  However, Joseph soon fell deeply into debt and was brought to court. Barlow claims that after Jacquard's father died, Jacquard started a figure-weaving business but failed and lost all his wealth. However, Barlow cites no sources to support his claim.<ref name= Barlow140 />  To settle his debts, he was obliged to sell his inheritance and to appropriate his wife's dowry.  His wife retained a house in Oullins (on Lyon's south side, along the Rhone River), where the couple resided.  On 19 April 1779, the couple had their only child, a son, Jean Marie.<ref name=Delve98 />  Charles Ballot stated that after the [[Revolt of Lyon against the National Convention|rebellion of Lyon in 1793]] was suppressed, Joseph and his son escaped from the city by joining the revolutionary army.  They fought together in the [[Rhine Campaign of 1795|Rhine campaign of 1795]], serving in the Rhone-and-Loire battalion under General [[Jean-Charles Pichegru|Jean Charles Pichegru]].  Joseph's son was killed outside of [[Heidelberg]].  However, Ballot repeated rumors and was a sloppy historian. For example, he stated that Jacquard's wife Claudette Boichon was the daughter of Antoine-Hélon Boichon, a master swordsmith, whereas Claudette was a widow who had been married to a Mr. Boichon before she married Jacquard.<ref>Ballot (1913), p. 40.</ref>

By 1800, Joseph began inventing various devices.  He invented a treadle loom in 1800, a loom to weave fishing nets in 1803, and starting in 1804, the "Jacquard" loom, which would weave patterned silk automatically.  However, these early inventions did not operate well and thus were unsuccessful.<ref name=Delve99 />

In 1801, Jacquard exhibited his invention at the [[Exposition des produits de l'industrie française]] in Paris, where he was awarded a bronze medal.<ref>{{citation|title=The Napoleonic Expositions |last=Chandler |first=Arthur |url=http://www.arthurchandler.com/napoleonic-expositions|access-date=12 October 2017}}</ref>
In 1803 he was summoned to [[Paris]] and attached to the [[Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers]]. A loom by [[Jacques de Vaucanson]] on display there suggested various improvements in his own, which he gradually perfected to its final state. The loom was declared public property in 1805, and Jacquard was rewarded with a pension and a royalty on each machine. Although his invention was fiercely opposed by the silk-weavers, who feared that its introduction, owing to the saving of labour, would deprive them of their livelihood, its advantages secured its general adoption, and by 1812 there were 11,000 Jacquard looms in use in France. This claim has been challenged:  Initially few Jacquard looms were sold because of problems with the [[punch card|punched card]] mechanism.  Only after 1815 — once Jean Antoine Breton had solved the problems with the punched card mechanism — did sales of looms increase.<ref>Huchard, Jean. "Entre la légende et la réalité: Les tribulations de la mécanique de Joseph Marie Jacquard" [Between legend and reality: The problems of the Joseph Marie Jacquard mechanism], ''Bulletin Municipal de la Ville de Lyon'', No. 5219, 3 May 1998.
</ref><ref>Huchard, Jean. "Entre la légende et la réalité:  Le véritable inventeur de la mécanique dite à la Jacquard" [Between legend and reality: The true inventor of the so-called Jacquard mechanism], ''Bulletin Municipal de la Ville de Lyon'', No. 5220, 10 May 1998.</ref><ref name=Delve100>Delve (2007), p. 100.</ref>

Jacquard died at [[Oullins]] (Rhône), 7 August 1834.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 11th Edition</ref> Six years later, a statue was erected to him in Lyon, on the site where his 1801 exhibit loom was destroyed.