Source note

BONFONS (Cruchot de), nephew of Cruchot the notary and Abbe Cruchot; born in 1786; president of the Court of First Instance of Saumur in 1819. The Cruchot trio backed by a goodly number of cousins and allied to twenty families in the city, formed a party similar to that of the olden-time Medicis at Florence; and also, like the Medicis, the Cruchots had their Pazzis in the persons of the Grassins. The prize contested for between the Cruchots and the Grassins was the hand of the rich heiress, Eugenie Grandet. In 1827, after nine years of suing, the President Cruchot de Bonfons married the young woman, now left an orphan. Previous to this he had been commissioned by her to settle in full, both principal and interest, with the creditors of Charles Grandet's father. Six months after his marriage, Bonfons was elected councillor to the Royal Court of Angers. Then after some years signalized by devoted service he became first president. Finally chosen deputy for Saumur in 1832, he died within a week, leaving his widow in possession of an immense fortune, still further augmented by the bequests of the Abbe and the notary Cruchot. Bonfons was the name of an estate of the magistrate. He married Eugenie only through cupidity. He looked like "a big, rusty nail." [Eugenie Grandet.]