1797 The world's first recorded parachute jump was made by Andre-Jacques Garnerin from a hot air balloon 2,300 feet above Parc Monceau in Paris, France. Garnerin first conceived of the possibility of using air resistance to slow an individual's fall from a high altitude while a prisoner during the French Revolution. Although he never employed a parachute to escape from the high ramparts of the Hungarian prison where he spent three years, Garnerin never lost interest in the concept of the parachute. In 1797, Garnerin completed his first parachute, a canopy thirty-five feet in diameter with over thirty suspension lines. On the fateful test day, Garnerin attached himself and the parachute to a hot air balloon, ascended to an altitude of 2,300 feet, and severed the parachute from the balloon. As he failed to include an air vent at the top of the prototype, Garnerin oscillated wildly in his descent. Nevertheless, the jump was a success, and Garnerin landed shaken but unhurt half a mile from the balloon's takeoff site. In 1799, Garnerin's wife, Jeanne-Genevieve, became the first female parachutist, and in 1823, while preparing to test a new parachute, Garnerin died in a balloon accident

This is quite a story and feat. I'd say he and his wife were a bit nuts.