Anne-Catherine de Ligniville, Madame Helvétius Anne-Catherine de Ligniville, Madame Helvétius Anne-Catherine de Ligniville, Madame Helvétius (23 July 1722 – 12 August 1800), also Anne-Catherine de Ligniville d'Autricourt, nicknamed "Minette", maintained a renowned salon in France in the eighteenth century. One of the twenty-one children of Jean-Jacques de Ligniville and his wife Charlotte de Saureau, Anne-Catherine de Ligniville, the niece of Madame de Graffigny, married the philosopher Helvétius in 1751. By the time he died twenty years later, the couple had amassed a vast fortune, and with it Madame Helvetius maintained her salon which featured the greatest figures of the Enlightenment for over five decades. Among
Anne Jane Thornton himself emigrated to America, although her sister still lived there and was glad to hear news of Anne Jane. The Lord Mayor booked Thornton a seat on the London to Liverpool coach, and she left for Ireland on 2 April 1835. On 13 April, a newspaper in Ballyshannon reported her arrival in Donegal. Thornton's story became even better known after she wrote an autobiographical book, "The Interesting Life and Wonderful Adventures of that Extraordinary Woman Anne Jane Thornton, the Female Sailor". King William IV granted Thornton a pension of £10 a year, while a Mr Andrew Murray gave her the