On 26 July 1778, Joseph married Claudine Boichon. She was a middle-class widow from Lyon who owned property and had a substantial dowry. However, Joseph soon fell deeply into debt and was brought to court. Barlow claims that after Jacquard's father died, Jacquard started a figure-weaving business but failed and lost all his wealth. However, Barlow cites no sources to support his claim. To settle his debts, he was obliged to sell his inheritance and to appropriate his wife's dowry. His wife retained a house in Oullins (on Lyon's south side, along the Rhone River), where the couple resided. On 19 April 1779, the couple had their only child, a son, Jean Marie. Charles Ballot stated that after the rebellion of Lyon in 1793 was suppressed, Joseph and his son escaped from the city by joining the revolutionary army. They fought together in the Rhine campaign of 1795, serving in the Rhone-and-Loire battalion under General Jean Charles Pichegru. Joseph's son was killed outside of Heidelberg. However, Ballot repeated rumors and was a sloppy historian. For example, he stated that Jacquard's wife Claudette Boichon was the daughter of Antoine-Hélon Boichon, a master swordsmith, whereas Claudette was a widow who had been married to a Mr. Boichon before she married Jacquard.