Louise Marie Madeleine Fontaine
Louise de Fontaine was born in Paris, in the parish of Saint-Roch, on 28 October 1706. Her baptism act was as follows:
Louise d'Épinay
Louise d'Épinay was born at the fortress of Valenciennes, where her father, Tardieu d'Esclavelles, a brigadier of infantry, was commanding officer. After her father was killed in battle when she was ten, she was sent to Paris in the care of an aunt who was married to Louis-Denis de La Live de Bellegarde, an immensely wealthy "fermier-général", a collector-general of taxes; treated to the stultifying education that was a girl's lot, in 1745 she married her cousin Denis Joseph de La Live d'Épinay, who was made a "fermier-général". The marriage was at once an unhappy one; and the prodigality, dissipation and infidelities of her husband justified her in obtaining a formal separation of assets in May 1749. She settled in the Château of La Chevrette in the valley of Montmorency, a few miles north of Paris, and there received a number of distinguished visitors.