Tessé, Adrienne-Catherine de Noailles, comtesse de

Adrienne-Catherine de Noailles (1741-1814) was the daughter of Louis de Noailles, 4th Duke of Noailles and a Marshall of France, and Catherine-Françoise-Charlotte de Cossé-Brissac. In 1755 she married René de Froulay, Comte de Tessé; the couple had no children. She first met Thomas Jefferson through her nephew, the Marquis de Lafayette, while Jefferson served as Minister Plenipotentiary to France. The two bonded over many shared intellectual pursuits, though most notably, they discussed at length their shared interest of horticulture. In 1766 King Louis XV ordered a new chateau to be built for the de Tessés in Paris, the garden for which Madame de Tessé ordered many plants from Jefferson. The de Tessés fled Paris amidst the French Revolution and were even invited by Jefferson to seek refuge in Virginia, but Madame de Tessé declined due to her fear of the sea. After a brief hiatus of correspondence during Jefferson's presidency, the two resumed contact before Madame de Tessé's death in 1814.