Category Archives: Huguenot

Alençon ancestors

14 Thursday Jul 2022

Posted by in Granger, Huguenot, Normandy

≈ 4 Comments

Alençon is a town in Lower Normandy on the banks of the Sarthe River, 170 kilometers southwest of Paris.

Old town of Alençon.
Photograph taken in 2011 by David Merrett and retrieved through Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

The Protestant Reformation was preached in the Duchy of Alençon from 1524 and the town became a centre of the reform movement. In 1598, with the Edict of Nantes, King Henry IV gave limited protection to French Protestants (Huguenots), but with its revocation in 1685 by Louis XIV, Huguenots were open to persecution in France. Many left Alençon, emigrating to England, the Netherlands, and the Channel Islands.

Among these were my eighth great grandparents Israel Granger and his wife Marie Granger née Billon, their son René and daughters Marthe and Magdalen.

Israel Granger was an apothecary who had lived in Alençon, on the Rue de Sarthe. He was the son of Pierre Granger , Sieur des Noes, bourgeois of Alençon, and Suzanne Granger née Groustel. Israel was baptised on 4 March 1635. He married Marie Billon on 20 December 1662. Israel and Marie had nine children. Two daughters and one son lived to adulthood.

Israel Granger was prosecuted in 1685 for taking part in an illicit assembly in the woods of la Fuie des Vignes near Alençon. He and his family went to Paris and he was imprisoned for religious reasons. His
property was seized: land called La Bouillière and a house on rue de Sarthe. A decree of the King’s Council of March 20, 1789 (or 1790) ordered the release of these assets in favor of a woman named Marie Victory Jacqueline Duval de la Poterie.

On 14 July 1687 his daughters Magdalen, age 20, Marthe age 21, both of Alençon, made their Reconnaisances at the French Church of the Savoy in London. A Reconnaissance was a recognition of fault in attending a Catholic service and the public avowal of faith on admission to communion.

Savoy Chapel London photographed 2007
Image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons, taken by user Neddyseagoon (CC-BY-2.5)

René, son of Israel Granger, was commissioned as Ensign in the English army 1692, appointed on 25 February 1693 as ensign to Captain Taylor of Sir George St George’s Regiment of Foot. By 1698 he had been promoted to Lieutenant. In August 1699 Lieutenant René Granger, one of the officers of Matthew Bridges’s Regiment of Foot, received 2 shillings when the regiment was disbanded.  (Sir George St George’s Regiment of Foot became Sir Matthew Bridges’s Regiment of Foot when Sir Matthew Bridges became colonel. The regiment eventually became the 17th (Leicestershire) Regiment of Foot). In 1701 René was appointed as an ensign in Sir Matthew Bridges’s Regiment. In October he was appointed quartermaster. On 12 February 1702 he was appointed as Lieutenant to Captain George Withers.

Magdalen married Thomas Champion on 12 February 1695 at St Mary Magdalene, Old Fish Street, City of London. They were both of the parish of St Anne, Westminster. Thomas, later known as Thomas Champion Crespigny, was an officer in the English army.

The Church of Saint Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street from The Churches of London by George Godwin (1839) retrieved through Wikimedia Commons

In January 1697 René, Marthe and Magdalen were mentioned in their father’s will. Israel died in 1700 and the will was proved in 1700 at London.

On 8 July 1699 Marthe married Florand Dauteuil at the French Chapel, Savoy, the Strand, London. They were married by licence issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury on 4 July. Florand Dauteuil was an officer in the English army.

In 1699 René was naturalised. He was stated to have been born at Alanson in Normandy, son of Israell Granger by Mary, his wife. He was attested by Isaac Eyme and John Peter DesBordes.

Mary’s will was drawn up in 1711. Her daughter Marthe had died but Mary left half her estate to Marthe’s three children by Florand D’Auteuil. The other half was left to her daughter Magdalen. René was not mentioned. He presumably had also died before 1711. Mary died in 1713.

Magdalen was widowed in 1712. She and Thomas had six children, two of whom died young. Her relatives by marriage, particularly her brother-in-law Pierre Champion de Crespigny, helped her financially.

Magdalen died in London in 1730.

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V is for Vaucelles v. Trévières

26 Tuesday Apr 2022

Posted by in A to Z 2022, Champion de Crespigny, France, Huguenot

≈ 8 Comments

On 13 December 1617 my ninth great-grandfather Richard Champion, eldest son of Jean Champion and his wife Marthe nee du Bourget, was married according to the rites of the Reformed [Protestant] Church at Condé sur Noireau to Marguerite, daughter of Adrian Richard Esquire, Squire of Crespigny in the Parish of St Jean le Blanc near Aunay, Lower Normandy, the marriage contract having been drawn up the week before at the neighbouring town of Vassy.

Portrait of Richard Champion died 1669 from the collection of Kelmarsh Hall

Until then, the Champion family had been Catholic. It seems likely, however, that Adrian Richard, Esquire of Crespigny, was a Huguenot—a Calvinist Protestant—and it is probable that his permission for the marriage of his daughter to Richard Champion was given on condition that his future son-in-law should adopt the creed of his wife’s family.

King Henry IV of France (1553 – 1610) was a Huguenot, who converted to Catholicism to obtain dominance over his kingdom (reportedly saying, “Paris is well worth a mass”). A pragmatic politician, he promulgated the Edict of Nantes (1598), guaranteeing religious liberties to Protestants, thereby effectively ending the French Wars of Religion.

Over the next 87 years, until 1685, with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by the Edict of Fontainebleau, those religious liberties were steadily eroded.

By 1620 the royal government had embarked upon a deliberate program to break the independent power of the Protestants. Soon after the marriage and his evident conversion to Protestantism at that time, Richard Champion was required to swear an oath of allegiance to the king, with a declaration that he did not adhere to the Protestant rebels of La Rochelle; he did this on 3 July 1621.

Richard’s son Claude Champion (1620-1695) married Marie née de Vierville (1628-1708) at Bayeux on 9 June 1651. Claude and Marie also followed the Reformed Religion. Claude and Marie had eight children:

  • Pierre 1652–1739 
  • Margaret 1654–1741 
  • Mary 1655–1736 
  • Suzanne 1656–1727 
  • Thomas 1664–1712 
  • Gabriel 1666–1722 
  • Renee 1667–1744 
  • Jeanne 1668–1748

In the 1670s Daumont de Crespigny, believed to be the same man as Pierre Champion, was deputy of the congregation of Protestants at Trévières near Bayeux. Between 1678 and 1682 he wrote letters concerning a court case involving the church at Trévières was involved. (The family later took the name Champion de Crespigny after arriving in England.)

Although Protestant churches or “temples” were allowed under the Edict of Nantes in all places where such worship had taken place in the two years before 1598, this clause was interpreted with increasing stringency, so that a number of temples were ordered to be destroyed on the grounds that they had been built since 1598. A prosecution was raised in the Court at Paris against the Temple at Trévières. The proceedings lasted from 1678 to 1681.

The case concerned the dispute between the congregation and church at Trévières, west of Bayeux, and that which had been maintained at Vaucelles near Bayeux. It had been decided by the government that one of the two was in excess of the provisions of the Edict of Nantes, and one must be disestablished. The decision as to which it was to be was left to the Royal Council of State.

Trévières now lies a short distance south of the N13, some twenty kilometres from Bayeux and about ten kilometres south of Vierville-sur-Mer. It was on the direct road between the property at Vierville and the more distant region of Crespigny, and it was evidently the local parish for the family.

The congregation at Trévières claimed that its church had been established before the church at Bayeux, and indeed that the Bayeux church was a colony of the original foundation at Trévières. It appears that the Council was at first inclined to favour Bayeux, presumably, among other reasons, because it was a large and influential city, while Trévières was and is no more than a village.

On 27 January 1681 the Council, meeting at St Germain en Laye, a chateau maintained by Louis XIV north of Versailles, held in favour of the congregation of Trévières. In the statement of settlement, M. de Crespigny is referred to as “Deputy”, agent for the congregation at Trévières, and the Advocate was a M. Soulet, a practitioner of law at Paris.

The case was extremely long-drawn, and must have cost everyone a great deal of money. It seems remarkable that the Royal Council, headed by its president the Duke of Villeroy, and attended by ten other senior officers of state, should spend its time arguing about two heretic congregations. However, the two contesting communities had to find the money to pay for the expenses of their representatives in Paris and at Rouen, and also the legal costs. Some of the correspondence deals with the problems this caused, and there is a sorry collection of letters at the end concerning the delays in paying M. Soulet the advocate his fees. Soulet eventually got his money almost a year later, and in his letter of thanks he remarks to Pierre:

All my regret is for the great trouble and the many useless journeys you have taken on account of so inconsiderable an affair…

It appears an incidental part of the royal policy in fostering these disputes was to make it inconvenient and expensive to be a Huguenot.

Pierre commented when the case was won:

It is true that our joy must be very imperfect, since the same decree that preserves our Church, condemns that of Vaucelles [at Bayeux] to be abolished. 
But that one of the two must fall, was a fatal necessity, and an inevitable misfortune; and it is by far better, both for our private interest, as well as the public good, that the church of Trévières should be preserved, since by its situation it is well adapted for collecting the scattered flocks of the neighbouring Churches.

The triumph of the success in maintaining the right to worship at Trévières was short lived. In 1681 the government commenced a policy of ‘Dragonnades‘, meant to intimidate Huguenot families into returning to Catholicism. The policy, in part, instructed officers in charge of travelling troops to select Huguenot households for their billets and to order the soldiers to behave as badly as they could. Soldiers damaged
the houses, ruined furniture and personal possessions, and attacked the men and abused the women. Huguenots could escape this persecution only by conversion to Catholicism or by fleeing France.

Protestant engraving representing ‘les dragonnades’ in France under Louis XIV From: Musée internationale de la Réforme protestante, Geneva and retrieved through Wikimedia Commons.

When in 1685 Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes with the Edict of Fontainebleau, Huguenot churches were ordered to be destroyed and Protestant schools closed. On 17 January 1686, Louis XIV claimed that out of a Huguenot population of 800,000 to 900,000, only 1,000 to 1,500 had remained in France. It was cynically asserted that Huguenots were so few they no longer needed the protections offered by the Edict of Nantes.

It was illegal for Protestants to leave France. The borders were guarded, and disguise and other stratagems were employed to cross them. Despite the difficulties it is estimated that between 210,000 to 900,000 Protestants left France over the next twenty years; about 50,000 Huguenots fled France to England, others settled in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Brandenburg-Prussia, Ireland, South Africa, and America. The refugees left their land and most of their possessions behind.

Claude, Marie and their children escaped France for England at different times. The two younger sons Thomas and Gabriel travelled to relatives in England when they were about 12 in 1676 and 1678. Claude, Marie, Pierre and three daughters were in London by 1687. The other two daughters had travelled earlier.

Claude Champion de Crespigny 1620 – 1695, my 8th great grandfather. Portrait at Kelmarsh Hall.
Marie, Comtesse de Vierville (1628–1708), Wife of Claudius Champion de Crespigny

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Wikitree:

H is for Huguenot

09 Friday Apr 2021

Posted by in A to Z 2021, Grueber, Huguenot

≈ 5 Comments

It has been estimated that in the early part of the 18th century 10,000 Huguenots – French Protestant refugees from religious oppression – settled in Ireland, about half of them in Dublin. Among these were several of my forebears.

Nicholas Grueber (1671 – before 1743), one of my seventh great grandfathers, was one. Grueber emigrated to Ireland from England, arriving by Michaelmas 1698. He had previously come to England from Lyons in France with his family by 1682. In Dublin he became a Freeman under the terms of a 1661 Act of Parliament, legislation meant to encourage Protestants to settle in Ireland.

Grueber’s occupation on his arrival was recorded as ‘merchant’. In 1717, however, he was awarded a 21-year contract to supply gunpowder to the government, and two years later established Dublin’s first large-scale gunpowder manufacturing factory, at Corkagh in south Dublin. There was a family connection: his father Daniel (1643 – 1692) had operated gunpowder mills at Faversham, Kent.

On 19 May 1703 Nicholas Grueber married Marguerite Moore at L’Eglise Française de St Patrick (part of St Patrick’s Cathedral set aside for the use of Huguenots). Marguerite was the daughter of the Reverend Moore, a minister of the English church.

The Lady Chapel of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland. Special services for Huguenots ceased in 1816, by which time the Huguenots had been fully assimilated into the city population. Photographed in 2015 by David Iliff. License: CC BY-SA 3.0. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

Nicholas Grueber and his wife Marguerite had six children baptised at the Nouvelle Église de Ste Marie:

  • Nicholas Grueber 1704–1705
  • Elizabeth Grueber 1706–
  • Susana Maria Grueber 1707–
  • Nicholas Francis Grueber 1709–
  • Arthur Grueber 1713–1802 (my 6th great grandfather)
  • William Grueber 1720–1782

Of the four sons of Nicholas, one died in infancy, one followed him into business and the other two attended university and became clergymen in the Protestant Church of Ireland.

My sixth great grandfather Arthur Grueber was a pupil of the well-known Anglican divine Thomas Sheridan, a friend of Jonathan Swift. Grueber studied at Trinity College, Dublin, gaining his MA in 1737 and DD in 1757. He was ordained as a deacon in 1736.

In 1754 Dr Arthur Grueber was appointed headmaster of the Royal School Armagh. This flourished under his administration, becoming one of the finest schools in Ireland.

Grueber later abandoned teaching to become a bookseller and publisher, in this venture, however, meeting with less success. By 1793 he was bankrupt. He died in 1802.

A miniature of Reverend Arthur Grueber, one of my sixth great grandfathers, handed down through the generations to my father

William Grueber, Arthur’s brother, also attended Trinity College; he was admitted in 1739, gaining his BA in 1745 and his MA in 1749. He was the rector at Athboy, County Meath in 1759. He became Chancellor of Lismore Cathedral in 1772, then treasurer in 1778, and in 1779 was appointed the cathedral’s Precentor.

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Wikitree:

My gunpowder-manufacturing Huguenot forebears

09 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by in Dublin, Grueber, Huguenot, Kent

≈ 3 Comments

I have quite a number of Huguenot forebears, among them the Champion de Crespignys and Fonnereaus. Recently, pottering about in a different branch of the family, I came across several more, including a group of gunpowder manufacturers.

One of my 3rd great grandmothers was Charlotte Champion Crespigny née Dana. Her great grandfather was an Irish cleric, the Rev. Dr Grueber. Tracing his family led me to Huguenot refugees from Zurich to merchant bankers of Lyons, and from these to gunpowder manufacturers, with factories near London and in Ireland.

Thus through the Dana line, my eighth great grandfather was a Frenchman called Daniel Grueber, the son of Jean Henry Grueber (1585 – 1683), a merchant banker of Lyons and Anne Grueber née Theze. Jean Henry was the son of Jean Grueber, described as ‘Marchand banquier allemand à Lyon, Bourgeois de Zurich’, who married Jeanne Barrian in Lyons on 22 May 1576.

At Lyons on 3 December 1657 Daniel Grueber married Suzanne de Montginot. Their children, all born in Lyons, were:

  • Francis Grueber 1658–1730
  • Anne Grueber 1660–
  • Suzanne Grueber 1661– 1737
  • Daniel Grueber 1664–1670
  • Jean Henry Grueber 1666–
  • Francoise Grueber 1669–
  • Marguerite Grueber 1669–
  • Nicholas Grueber 1671–1743 (my seventh great grandfather)

On 21 November 1682 Daniel Grueber, Susanne his wife, their sons Francis, John Henry and Nicholas, and their daughters Susanna, Margarita and Frances, received formal letters of ‘denization‘, conferring on them the status of ‘denizen’. This was similar to present-day permanent residency. A denizen was neither a subject (with nationality) nor an alien, but had the important right to own land. On the same date Philip le Chenevix and his sister Magdaelena Chenevix also received letters of denization; Philip Chenevix married Suzanne Grueber in 1693.

From 1684 Daniel Grueber was leasing both gunpowder and leather mills along Faversham Creek in Kent, 48 miles east of London. Explosives had been manufactured at Faversham since at least the 1570s. There is a connection between gunpowder and leather: considerable quantities of leather were needed to protect the gunpowder from accidental detonation during its production, transportation and storage.

Stonebridge Pond Originally part of Faversham Creek, Stonebridge Pond became a mill pond for a flour mill which was later used in the gunpowder industry. Photograph from geograph.org.

Daniel had possibly gained experience in gunpowder manufacture in Lyons though his immediate relatives, including his father, seem to have been merchants and bankers, not manufacturers.

Daniel had a contract to provide gunpowder to the British government’s Board of Ordnance, in partnership with James Tiphaine, another Huguenot refugee. Besides those at Faversham, Daniel had mills at Ospringe and Preston, both places within a mile of Faversham.

Daniel Grueber was naturalised on 2 July 1685 together with his three sons. Daniel was described as born at Lyons in France, son of John Henry Grueber by Anna These, his wife. ‘Naturalisation’, requiring an act of parliament be passed, granted all the legal rights of English citizenship except political rights (for example, the right to hold political office).

Daniel Grueber died in 1692 and his will was probated 15 February 1693 by his sons Francis and Nicholas. Francis continued the gunpowder business in Kent. In 1745 his son went bankrupt and eventually the mills were purchased by the Ordnance Board in 1759.

Nicholas Grueber emigrated to Ireland and had arrived by Michaelmas 1698 when he became a Freeman of Dublin under the terms of the 1661 Act of Parliament to encourage Protestants to settle in Ireland.

Nicholas Grueber’s occupation on his arrival was merchant. However, in 1717 he was awarded a 21-year contract to supply gunpowder to the government. In 1719 he established Dublin’s first large-scale gunpowder manufacturing business at Corkagh in south Dublin.

On 19 May 1703 Nicholas Grueber (the record has ‘Grubert’) married Marguerite Moore at L’Eglise Française de St Patrick (part of St Patrick’s Cathedral set aside for the use of Huguenots).

Nicholas was a merchant, son of Mr. Grubert and Madle Monginot, Marguerite was the daughter of the Reverend Moore, a minister of the English church.

Nicholas Grueber and his wife Marguerite had six children baptised at the Nouvelle Église de Ste Marie:

  • Nicholas Grueber 1704–1705
  • Elizabeth Grueber 1706–
  • Susana Maria Grueber 1707–
  • Nicholas Francis Grueber 1709–
  • Arthur Grueber 1713–1802 (my 6th great grandfather)
  • William Grueber 1720–

Of the four sons of Nicholas, one died in infancy, one followed him into business and the other two attended university and became clergymen in the Protestant Church of Ireland.

My sixth great grandfather Arthur Grueber was a pupil of the Anglican divine Thomas Sheridan, one of Jonathan Swift’s friends. Grueber studied at Trinity College, Dublin, gaining his MA in 1737 and DD in 1757. He was ordained as a deacon in 1736.

In 1754 Dr Arthur Grueber was appointed headmaster of the Royal School Armagh. The school flourished under his administration, becoming one of the finest schools in Ireland. A notable pupil was the Irish cleric and astronomer James Archibald Hamilton (1747 – 1815).

Grueber later abandoned teaching to become a bookseller and publisher, in this meeting with less success: by 1793 he was bankrupt. Arthur Grueber died in 1802.

Portrait of Rev. Arthur Grueber,  my sixth great grandfather. The miniature, owned by my father, has been handed down through the Dana family.

Sources

R is for refugees

21 Tuesday Apr 2020

Posted by in A to Z 2020, Champion de Crespigny, Huguenot

≈ 10 Comments

Eight of my eighth great grandparents were Huguenots, French Calvinists, members of the Reformed Church of France.

(This is about 1.5% of my 8th great grandparents; everyone has up to 512 ancestors at this level of their family tree).

British (English) School; Marie, Comtesse de Vierville (1628-1708), Wife of Claudius Champion de Crespigny

Marie, Comtesse de Vierville (1628–1708), wife of Claudius Champion de Crespigny, one of my 8th great grandmothers. Portrait hanging in Kelmarsh Hall, image retrieved through artuk.org

CdeC huguenot forebears fan a
All four grandparents and seven of the eight great grandparents of Philip Champion de Crespigny were Huguenot refugees. Philip was my 5th great grandfather. His Huguenot forebears are highlighted in purple on this fan chart. His great grandparents are some of my 8th great grandparents.

 

From 1598 the Edict of Nantes had granted the Huguenots the right to practice their religion in France without persecution from the state. When in 1685 the Edict of Nantes – the law of toleration toward Protestants – was revoked, my Huguenot forebears abandoned their homes and property and fled to England.

When Louis XIV revoked the Edict he claimed it was no longer needed because there were no Huguenots left in his kingdom and so their special privileges had become unnecessary. He had been persecuting Huguenots for some time, but in 1681 the campaign against them entered a new phase. Louis instituted a policy of ‘Dragonnades‘, meant to intimidate Huguenot families into either leaving France or returning to Catholicism. The policy, in part, instructed officers in charge of travelling troops to select Huguenot households for their billets and to order the soldiers to behave as badly as they could. Soldiers damaged the houses, ruined furniture and personal possessions, and attacked the men and abused the women. Huguenots could escape this persecution only by conversion or by fleeing France.

Dragonnades430

Protestant engraving representing ‘les dragonnades’ in France under Louis XIV From: Musée internationale de la Réforme protestante, Geneva and retrieved through Wikimedia Commons.

It is estimated that some 50,000 Huguenots fled France to England. Others settled in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Brandenburg-Prussia, Ireland, and America. It was illegal for Protestants to leave France. The borders were guarded, and disguise and other stratagems were employed to get across.

The majority of the refugees established themselves both as members of the French community in England and also as British subjects. There were three stages to the process: reception by a church in England, grant of denization or permanent residence by the British government, and formal naturalisation. Denization and naturalization required an Act of Parliament, and those seeking naturalization had to present a certificate confirming that they had received the sacraments according to the rites of the Church of England.

When they arrived in London, many Huguenot refugees presented their credentials, ‘Témoignages‘, which were documents from a previous congregation witnessing that the holder was a member of the Reformed Religion, Calvinist Protestantism. With this they could be received into a new congregation. The document gave an indication of when the family had arrived and from where.

Four_Times_of_the_Day_-_Noon_-_Hogarth

Noon: Plate II from Four Times of the Day by William Hogarth 1736. The scene takes place in Hog Lane, part of the slum district of St Giles with the church of St Giles in the Fields in the background. The picture shows Huguenots leaving the French Church in what is now Soho. Hogarth contrasts the fussiness and high fashion of the Huguenots with the slovenliness of the group on the other side of the road. The older members of the congregation wear traditional dress, while the younger members wear the fashions of the day. Retrieved from Wikipedia.

The de Crespigny family presented their témoignages credentials at various times. Claude Champion Crespigny (1620-1695) and his wife Marie née de Vierville (1628-1708), my eighth great grandparents, and four of their children: Pierre, Suzanne, Renee and Jeanne, registered their témoignages on 30 June 1687 at the Savoy Church in the West End of London. The two elder daughters Marguerite and Marie were already married and travelled separately. My 7th great grandfather Thomas Champion de Crespigny and his brother Gabriel had been sent separately to England by their parents when they were about 12 years old; Thomas in 1676 and Gabriel in 1678.

Savoy French Church 1746 map

from Rocque’s 1746 Map of London showing the French Church, the Savoy Church, marked with an orange arrow

The next step was to obtain denization. A denizen was neither a subject (with nationality) nor an alien, but had a status akin to permanent residency today. A denizen had the important right to hold land.

All eight children of Claude and Marie became denizens of England by an Act of 5 March 1691. Their parents, however – Claude and Marie Champion de Crespigny – did not find it necessary it necessary to take that step.

Gabriel was naturalized on 12 March 1699, but Peter and Thomas waited until 1706. It is clear that this final step was not considered urgent: by 1706 Pierre had been in England for twenty years, Thomas and Gabriel perhaps ten years longer; and both held full commissions in the army. There is no mention of any women of the family being naturalised.

When Huguenot refugees first arrived in England they relied on private charity, but in 1689 the joint monarchs William and Mary inaugurated the Royal Bounty with funds from the Civil List – money allocated by Parliament for personal expenses of the royal family. The Bounty was later maintained by Acts of Parliament. During the reign of Queen Anne from 1702 to 1714 the program was known as the Queen’s Bounty. The list of recipients is held in the library at Lambeth Palace, and an extract copy was provided to our cousin Stephen Champion de Crespigny in 1986. In 1707 Marie and Renée – with the surname Champion de Crespigny – were living at 37 Wardour Street, Soho, and the amount of the pension was £18.

Claude and Marie died in London, Claude in 1695 and Marie in 1708. They are buried at Marylebone. Their gravestone indicates that they were refugees from France. Many other members of the family were buried at Marylebone in the family vault. The vault as not survived, but a copy of the headstone is in a garden of remembrance near the site of the old church.

London 1746

from Rocque’s 1746 map of London. The orange arrow shows the Savoy Church. In the north west the pink arrow shows the church of St Mary le bone. The green arrow shows Wardour Street, the home of Marie and her daughter Renee and also Marie’s son Pierre. The blue arrow to the east shows Doctor’s Commons near St Paul’s Cathedral. John Rocque’s 1746 map of London can be explored at https://www.locatinglondon.org

Sources

  • Minet, William, and Susan Minet, Livre des conversions et reconnaisances faites à l’église françoise de la Savoye 1684-1702, transcribed and edited, Huguenot Society of London Publications XXII, 1914 [archive.org]
  • Shaw, William A, Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England and Ireland 1603-1700, Huguenot Society of London Publications XVIII, 1911 [archive.org]
  • Shaw, William A, Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England and Ireland 1701-1800, Huguenot Society of London Publications XXVII, 1923 [archive.org]
  • de Crespigny, Rafe Champions from Normandy : an essay on the early history of the Champion de Crespigny family 1350-1800 AD. Lilli Pilli, New South Wales Richard Rafe Champion de Crespigny, 2017. Can be viewed at Champions from Normandy

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Z is for Zacharie

30 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by in A to Z 2018, Fonnereau, France, Huguenot, London

≈ 11 Comments

One of my eighth great grandfathers, born on 10 February 1636 at La Rochelle, was a Huguenot linen merchant named Zacharie Fonnereau (also known as ‘Zacharia or ‘Zachary’ Fonnereau).

In 1674 he married Marguerite Chateigner, and in 1677 they had a son, Claude.

British (English) School; Possibly Zacharie Fonnereau (b.1636)

Possibly Zacharie Fonnereau (b.1636) Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service: Ipswich Borough Council Collection Retrieved from https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/possibly-zacharie-fonnereau-b-1636-11563

Denner, Balthasar, 1685-1749; Possibly Marguerite Fonnereau as an Elderly Lady

Possibly Marguerite Fonnereau as an Elderly Lady by Balthasar Denner (1685–1749) (circle of) Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service: Ipswich Borough Council Collection retrieved from https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/possibly-marguerite-fonnereau-as-an-elderly-lady-11562

La Rochelle is a seaport on the French Atlantic coast. From 1568, La Rochelle became a centre for the Huguenots, and the city declared itself an independent Reformed Republic on the model of Geneva. La Rochelle suffered religious wars and rebellions including the Siege of La Rochelle in 1627-8 (which resulted in a victory for King Louis XIII and the Catholics), the expulsion of 300 Protestant families in November 1661, and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis XIV who claimed to be entitled to do so because there were no more Huguenots in his kingdom and their special privileges were no longer needed.

Siege_of_La_Rochelle_1881_Henri_Motte

Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle, by Henri Motte, 1881

 

In 1689 Claude, 12 years old, was sent to England. In 1693 he received his certificate of denization (granting permanent resident status and the right to own land) and was naturalised in 1698.

In 1698 Claude Fonnereau married Elizabeth Bureau (1670-1735), who was also from La Rochelle. Claude and Elizabeth had eight children, among them Anne Fonnereau (1704-1782), who married Phillip Champion de Crespigny (1704-1765). Anne Fonnereau was my sixth great grandmother.

British (English) School; Claude Fonnereau (1677-1740)

Claude Fonnereau (1677-1740) Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service: Ipswich Borough Council Collection retrieved from https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/claude-fonnereau-16771740-11776

 

Claude’s mother Marguerite Fonnereau née Chateigner died in England on 1 October 1720 and is buried in St Stephen Walbrook in the City of London.

I do not know when Zacharie died. There is no record of the death of Zacharie in England. It may be that the record has not survived or that he never emigrated there. There is also no record of his denization nor can I find a record of him in an English Huguenot church. It would be useful to have témoignages credentials, for example, which were certificates of sound doctrine and good behaviour from his previous congregation presented by a person moving to a new church.

While I have been able to find records which refer to Claude Fonnereau as the son of Zacharie, I have not been able to find records of Zacharie’s parents. I have found family trees which suggest that Zacharie was the son of a Zacharie. The earlier Zacharie may have been a notable watchmaker but at present I feel unable on the evidence to claim Zacharie Fonnereau watchmaker of La Rochelle as my direct forebear.

 

Fonnereau watch

A pre-balance spring gilt-metal and rock crystal crucifix watch signed by Fonnereau a la Rochelle in 1650 and sold by Sothebys at auction on 11 May 2008 for CHF133,000 ($Au177,688).

 

Sotheby’s gives a biography of Zaccharie Fonnereau the watchmaker: “Originally from Geneva, he was apprenticed in Lyon in 1618 and then became Compagnon in 1622. As a master watchmaker in 1641, he settled in La Rochelle.”

The watch auctioned by Sotheby’s in 2008 was displayed in an exhibition of watchmaking in Geneva in 2011-2012.

a watch made by the watchmaker Zacharie Fonnereau will also be displayed. Circumventing the ban on crosses decreed by the goldsmiths’ guild in 1566, he created, like other Genevan masterwatchmakers, this cross-shaped timepiece. Dating from 1620 and worn around the neck at the time, the watch is more a piece of jewellery than a precision instrument. The valuable case is carved from rock crystal.

Sources

Related posts

Champions from Normandy

13 Wednesday Dec 2017

Posted by in Champion de Crespigny, England, France, Huguenot, Rafe de Crespigny

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Announcing the publication of Champions from Normandy: An essay on the early history of the Champion de Crespigny family 1350-1800 AD by Rafe de Crespigny.

The Champion de Crespigny family of Normandy were Huguenot refugees who settled in England following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. This is the story of a long-lived but essentially minor family in France, just within the fringes of the gentry, whose lineage can be traced in the male line back to the mid-fourteenth century, who prospered from their Huguenot connection but acquired their greatest good fortune when they were forced into exile in England.

Champions from Normandy 2017 :PDF version available for download

Champions from Normandy at DropboxA PDF version of Champions from Normandy can be downloaded from Dropbox

Cover of the PDF version of Champions from Normandy

ISBN

  • 9780648191704 (hardback) Deposit copy held by the National Library of Australia
  • 9780648191728 (paperback)
  • 9780648191711 (ebook) Can be downloaded through this link: Champions from Normandy 2017

Libraries Australia ID 61026835

F is for fleeing from France

06 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by in A to Z 2016, Champion de Crespigny, France, Huguenot, immigration

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Claude Champion Crespigny (1620-1695) and his wife Marie née de Vierville (1628-1708), my eighth great grandparents, were Huguenots, French Calvinists. After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, the family fled France leaving virtually all their property behind.

Claudius Champion de Crespigny (1620–1695) in the collection of Kelmarsh Hall
Marie, Comtesse de Vierville (1628–1708), Wife of Claudius Champion de Crespigny in the collection of Kelmarsh Hall

In the 1670s Claude Champion Crespigny had income from two estates: Crépigny, 40 kilometres south of Bayeux near Saint-Jean-le-Blanc, the other at Vierville, 20 kilometers north-west of Bayeux, near what is now known as Omaha Beach, one site of the landings by American Allied forces on D-Day.

Claude and Marie had eight children:

  • Pierre 1652–1739
  • Margaret 1654–1741
  • Mary 1655–1736
  • Suzanne-Reně 1656–1727
  • Renee 1661–1744
  • Thomas 1664–1712
  • Gabriel 1666–1722
  • Jeanne 1668–1749

The oldest son, Pierre, a lawyer, became involved in a dispute on behalf of the congregation at Trévières, nine kilometers south of Viervillesur-Mer, and west of Bayeaux. As part of the harassment of Huguenots, it had been decided that one of the two churches at either Trévières or Bayeux was in excess of the provisions of the Edict of Nantes, which formally granted Huguenots a degree of religious tolerance. One was to be disestablished. The congregation at Trévières claimed to have been established before the one at Bayeux; Bayeux, however, was a much larger community. The case was initiated in 1673 and resolved only in 1681, in favour of the congregation at Trévières. The legal battle would have been costly; perhaps it was an incidental part of the royal policy in fostering such disputes to make it inconvenient and expensive to be a Huguenot.

From 1681 the persecution of the Huguenots entered a new phase. Louis XIV instituted a policy of “Dragonnades” meant to intimidate Huguenot families into either leaving France or returning to Catholicism. The policy, in part, instructed officers in charge of travelling troops to select Huguenot households to billet them and to order the soldiers to behave as badly as they could. Soldiers damaged the houses, ruined furniture and personal possessions, attacked the men and abused the women. One could escape this persecution only by conversion or by fleeing France.

When Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685 he claimed to be entitled to do so because there were no more Huguenots in his kingdom and their special privileges were no longer needed.

It is estimated that 40-50,000 Huguenots fled France to England. Others fled to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Brandenburg-Prussia, Ireland and America. It was illegal for Protestants to leave France, and disguise and smuggling were necessary to get across the borders, which were guarded.

There is no record of the de Crespigny family’s emigration or flight apart from a tale of two children being concealed in baskets, but that story seems to have no basis.

Témoignages were documents from a previous congregation endorsing a holder as a member of the Reformed Religion so that they could be received into a new congregation.The document gives an indication of when the family arrived and from where.The de Crespigny family presented their témoignages credentials at various times. Claude, his wife and four children: Pierre, Suzanne, Renee and Jeanne, registered their témoignages on 30 June 1687 at the Savoy Church in the West End of London. The two elder daughters Marguerite/ Margaret and Marie/Mary were already married and travelled separately.

Thomas and Gabriel had travelled to England earlier aged 12; Thomas arrived in London in 1676 and  Gabriel arrived in London in 1678. The two boys were probably sent to England for their education: although Protestant schools were guaranteed under the Edict of Nantes there were moves to forbid certain subjects from being taught in those schools.

Marie had a sister Judith who married Antoine de Pierrepont. It seems likely that the Pierrepont family who migrated successfully to London helped the de Crespigny family.

Claude and Marie died in London and are buried at Marylebone. Their gravestone indicates that they were refugees from France.

Claude died on 10 April 1695. His eldest son Pierre, then 42, held a position of respect among the French Protestant community in London; he never married. Thomas and Gabriel were both army officers in the English army on service in the Netherlands. Thomas was a Captain-Lieutenant in Colonel Cunningham’s Regiment of Scots Dragoons and Gabriel was a Lieutenant in the First Foot Guards.

In the first years of the eighteenth century Marie and her daughter Renee were listed as gentlefolk in receipt of pensions from the Queen’s Bounty for French Protestants. In 1708, the year Marie died, they were living at 37 Wardour Street, and the amount of the pension was £18.

Further reading

52 ancestors: Whitehall June 15 1727

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by in 52 ancestors, Champion de Crespigny, Granger, Huguenot, lawyer, Royal family, South Sea Company

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I thought I would look at the earliest record in the London Gazette of someone named de Crespigny. I assumed it would be the record of a military appointment.

Philip Crespigny (1704-1765)
Attributed to Jean-Baptiste Van Loo – Date unknown … Owner/Location: Kelmarsh Hall retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/philip-champion-de-crespigny-17041765-49144

I was surprised to find that this de Crespigny was my sixth great grandfather, Philip Crespigny (1704-1765), who had been present at the proclamation of King George II (1683-1760) on 14 June 1727.1

King George II by Charles Jervas painted about 1727. Photograph retrieved from Wikipedia.

I realised I knew very little about my sixth great grandfather.

Philip was the fifth of six children of Thomas Champion Crespigny (1664-1712) and Magdalen née Granger (1664-1730).

Thomas, who had been born in France, came as a boy to England as a Huguenot refugee. He served in the English military. From 1689 he was a cornet in Lord Cardross‘ Scottish Regiment of Dragoons, a Lieutenant of Colonel Richard Cunningham’s Regiment of Scots Dragoons in 1695, and Captain Lieutenant of the Marquis of Lothian‘s Regiment of Dragoons at Jedburgh in 1703.2 This regiment later became the 7th Queen’s Own Hussars.

Thomas married Magdalen, daughter of Israel Granger of Alencon in 1695 at St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, London.3 Magdalen had also been born in France and her family were also Huguenot refugees.4

They had six children:5

  • William (1698-1721)
  • Marie (1699-1700)
  • Jeanne (1700-1773), who married Gilbert Allix (1694-1767)
  • Claude (1701-1703)
  • Philip (1704-1765)
  • Claude (1706-1782)

Thomas died on 17 July 1712. He was buried at St Marylebone, London.  His will, dated 1704, left all his goods to his wife Magdalen.6

The surviving children at the time of Thomas’s death were aged 14, 12, 8 and 6.

I wonder who helped Magdalen bring up her children? Was the family helped by her Granger relatives or by Magdalen’s de Crespigny in-laws?

Magdalen’s mother, Marie Granger, was a widow when she made her will in 1711.7 Magdalen’s father, Israel Granger, had died in 1700.8 Marie Granger left her estate between Magdalen and the children of another daughter, Marthe. Marthe had married Florand Dauteuil in 1699, at the Savoy Church in the Strand. Marthe had died before 1711 when her mother made her will. Mary Granger’s will was proved in 1713. It appears that Magdalen had no adult relatives on the Granger side of her family to support her.

Thomas’s older brother Pierre (1662-1739) was a lawyer. In her will, Magdalen leaves Pierre 200 pounds.9 In his will Pierre makes Philip and Claude his executors and leaves them one hundred pounds each.10 Pierre was the godfather of Claude, Magdalen and Thomas’s youngest son. Pierre did not marry and had no children. I think it very likely that Pierre helped Magdalen to raise her children.

Although we do not have the details, it would seem that the education of Claude and Philip enabled them to be successful: Claude as secretary of the South Sea Company, a major British trading company; Philip as a lawyer, who eventually became a proctor to the Lord Admiral, in addition to holding several directorships.

Philip and Claude had very successful careers despite the untimely death of their father and the fact that both their parents were Huguenot refugees.

……….

Notes
1. The London Gazette Publication date: 13 June 1727 Issue: 6590 Page: 1 retrieved from https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/6590/page/1 ↩
2. from page 22 of Huguenot and Scots Links, 1575-1775 Author David Dobson Publisher Genealogical Publishing Com, 2010 ISBN 0806352841, 9780806352848 Length 92 pages retrieved from http://books.google.com.au/books?id=sN1nOOPKqKsC&pg=PA22 3 February 2012 ↩
3. Name: Magdalen Granger Marriage Date: Feb 1695 Parish: St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street County: Surrey Borough: City of London Spouse: Thomas Champion Record Type: Marriage Register Type: Parish Register from London Metropolitan Archives, St Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street, Composite register: baptisms, 1664 – 1717, marriages, 1664 – 1712 and burials, 1664 – 1717, P69/MRY10/A/002/MS010221 retrieved from ancestry.com.au↩
4. de la Pinsonnais, Amaury. “La Famille Granger.” Histoire Et Généalogie. Amaury de la Pinsonnais, 13 June 2010. Web. 14 Jan. 2015. http://pinsonnais.free.fr/genea/?id=granger&page=2. ↩
5. de Crespigny, Rafe Champions in Normandy : being some remarks on the early history of the Champion de Crespigny family. R. de Crespigny, Canberra, 1988. page 9. ↩
6. Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills (PCC): Thomas Champion De Crespigny Date of Probate July 1712 Date of Will 24th June 1704 Reference PROB11/527 retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk ↩
7. PCC: Mary Granger Place of Abode St James Westminster, London Date of Probate March 1713 Date of Will 18th February 1711 Reference PROB11/532 retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk ↩
8. London, England, Wills and Probate. Israel Granger, Middlesex, Probate date 1700. London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section, Clerkenwell, London, England; Reference Number: AM/PW/1700/031 ↩
9. PCC: Magdalen Champion de Crespigny Profession Widow Date of Probate 9th October 1730 Date of Will 19th February 1730 Reference PROB11/640 retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk ↩
10. PCC: Peter Champion de Crespigny Place of Abode St James Westminster, Middlesex Date of Probate 1st August 1740 Date of Will 10th August 1736 Reference PROB11/704 retrieved from thegenealogist.co.uk ↩