Who was the Marquis du Pontet ?

In Valloire, as in many small villages, everybody knows each other and hall have nicknames.

If Thelcyde and Sixte built the house in 1901, the nickname of the Marquis came from Lucien Gilloz who married Alexia, daughter of Sixte and Thelcyde in February 1904.
Lucien got this nickname because of his mother Jeanne Gilloz, called the Marquise who lived at la Borgé.
This nickname was given to Jeanne because of her well-off family could allow her to pay for her 4 children’s education. Jean-Baptiste and François became priests and Symphorose, the only girl married a brewer near Dijon.
Lucien became accountant at the Pechiney factory in Saint-Jean de Maurienne. During WW1, he was officer and fought at Verdun and the Aisne battlefields. He died in 1920 a victim of mustard gas during the War.
His daughter Hélène inherited this nickname. Her husband Vincent wasn’t called the Marquis but was called « Vincent the Tall » because of his height (1,85 m), impressive at that time !
The nickname of the Marquis was given to later generation and was associated with this familial home. Lucien, son of « Vincent the Tall » and then his son Jean-François, one of the last occupants of the house and owner of the Hotel l’Aiguille Noire were called “the Marquis”.