Jacques Reclus (27 July 1796 – 8 April 1882) was a French Protestant minister.Fleming, Marie (1988). The Geography of Freedom: The Odyssey of Élisée Reclus. Montréal: Black Rose Books. p.27
Life Following studies in Bordeaux, he worked as a librarian at Château de Bonzac, home of Elie Decazes (1780-1860), minister of Louis XVIII. From 1819 he studied theology in Montauban, becoming ordained as pastor at Nimes in December 1821. Afterwards he served as a minister in La Roche-Chalais (1822), then Montcaret (1824). He became the president of the Consistoire de Montcaret (Dordogne).Cadier-Rey, G. (2013). Le pasteur Jacques Reclus (1796-1882) en quelques lettres. Bulletin de La Société de l’Histoire Du Protestantisme Français (1903-2015), 159, 199–212. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24310053
Reclus taught ancient languages at the Protestant college in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande.Cadier-Rey, G. (2013). Le pasteur Jacques Reclus (1796-1882) en quelques lettres. Bulletin de La Société de l’Histoire Du Protestantisme Français (1903-2015), 159, 199–212. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24310053
In June 1831 he resigned as pastor and instructor at the Protestant college in Sainte-Foy-la-Grande in order to head an independent evangelical community in Castétarbe.Cadier-Rey, G. (2013). Le pasteur Jacques Reclus (1796-1882) en quelques lettres. Bulletin de La Société de l’Histoire Du Protestantisme Français (1903-2015), 159, 199–212. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24310053 In 1850 he founded a home for the aged in Orthez.
Family Reclus was the father of fourteen children who survived beyond infancy, including five sons who gained distinction during their careers.Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Reclus, Jean Jacques Elisée". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 957–958. Élie Reclus (1827-1904), journalist and political activist Élisée Reclus (1830-1905), geographer and political activist Onésime Reclus (1837-1916), geographer Armand Reclus (1843-1927), geographer and explorer Paul Reclus (1847-1914), surgeon
Publications Scènes d’une pauvre vie; Pau 1858.
References
Les Protestants by André Encrevé (biography in French) Parts of this article are based on an equivalent article at the French Wikipedia, namely: Bulletin du Centre d’Étude du Protestantisme Béarnais, numéro 40; décembre 2006.