Pierre Gaspard Napoléon René de Cassagnes de Beaufort, Marquis de Miramon

Minority Knight of Malta. Being without news of his first three sons engaged in the Napoleonic armies, his mother defers her affection on him. She made him enter the Lycée de Nacy by entrusting him to her brother-in-law, the Count of Ligniville.

In 1814, during the Restoration of the royalty, she obtained that Guillaume-Louis, although just 16 years old, entered the Gardes du Corps in the Company of the Duke of Luxembourg, one of his parents. After a "mishap" which results in a duel where he injures one of his comrades, his mentor demands his resignation. But, family protection obliges, the Duke of Luxembourg makes him join as Captain in the Royal Volunteers which one formed to oppose the return of Napoleon Ist. Napoleon's return is quicker and much easier than expected, and the Volunteer regiment is disbanded. He left in the south to join the Duke of Angoulême. In 1815, after the Hundred Days, burning the desire to stand out vis-à-vis Louis XVIII, with about twenty National Guards he arrested the “pro-Napoleonic” Marshal Soult and took him to prison in Mende. But in 1819, the old Marshal, who held a grudge against him, was one of the King's favorites. Having become Minister, he opposed the advancement of Guillaume-Louis for a time. In the National Guards, he took the rank of Lieutenant and became an Ordinary Officer of General de Bourmont and acquired the rank of Captain during the Spanish campaign of 1823.

But the Spanish soil is decidedly inhospitable for Cassagnes de Beaufort. Wounded in the arm then victim of an epidemic, on the verge of death, he was sent back to France before the end of hostilities.

During her marriage, her mother is still domiciled in Gizaguet and does not attend the ceremony.

To respect the marriage clauses, he resigned from the Army and benefited from the situation left by his stepfather. In turn, he became City Councilor and Hospital Administrator.

He entered the business world, in particular at the head of companies for the construction of suspension bridges and for the navigation of steamboats on the Rhône.

Barely finished the reconstruction work of the castle of Arnas (69, north of Villefranche-sur-Saône) which comes to him from his wife, he returns to Haute-Auvergne and launches into the rehabilitation of the castle of Fargues in Vitrac ( 15).

He became Mayor of Vitrac from 1850 and remained in the affairs of the municipality until his death on February 13, 1867. (Raymond Caremier)

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• Reference: Geneanet Genealogy - SmartCopy: Nov 18 2019, 21:44:51 UTC