Rousseau lived for 30 years with an uneducated seamstress named
Thérèse Lavasseur, whom he met in 1745. They had five children, all of
whom Rousseau had sent to foundling homes in infancy. Conditions being
very poor at orphanages in the 18th century, it is unlikely any of them
survived. Late in life Rousseau came to regret his actions and tried to
track his children down in the hopes of contacting them or at least
knowing their final fates, but had no success.