Chasing the Perrine 1669-1992 Family and in Channel Across America Islands, La Rochelle, Shooting Star, Staten Island, Perrineville, NJ, Perrine Corners, PA, Hartford, OH, Sharon, PA.

(left) When the Vikings became …

Chasing down details of family history leads to interesting encounters with geography. Most of our ancestors were born on farms or small towns in the hinder lands of America or Europe or Asia or wherever. Although the internet is helpful, most of the time you really need to visit these ancestral places. Often the search for these home places and cemeteries encompasses several years, much unexplainable interest, and substantial gas and cash. Oh, yes and a goodly supply of old maps. My Dad’s ancestors were Norman Huguenots. They originated at least since 1335 from the -- specifically Guernsey and Jersey -- just off the coast between and . But our branch of the family went into The Marches in Brittany, south of Basse- Normandie, and built a chateau, a manor house, called Courbe Joilliere. For several centuries the Perrins of the Channel Island and the Perrins of Brittany developed their lands. The Normans descended from Vikings in the period 900-933 A.D. when Viking leader, Rollo, won so much land that he However during the Protestant was named the first of Normandy and granted large Revolution, leading Perrins in both territories in northern including . The treaty Guernsey and Brittany became with France was signed by King the Simple. The Protestant, following Jean Calvin, and th th Perrin/Perryn/Perine name dates back in church records to in the 16 and 17 centuries were 1335 in the Channel Island of Jersey and Guernsey and to Huguenots persecuted by the French 1440s in Normandy geneologies. crown. Pierre Perrin, born during the expulsion of Huguenots from La Rochelle, in Lyons, found safety in the Channel Islands; his son Daniel, came with Cartaret, the Siegneur of Jersey, Channel Island, to America, and settled in Staten Islands. His elderly father, Pierre, followed Daniel to America in the ship Caladonia and died in Staten Island. Finally, investigating the Perrin/Perrine family history meant chasing them across America for three and a half centuries.

There were many Perrines with all kinds of interesting spellings, but they seemed to cluster in certain recognizable geographic areas and they seemed to like tiny towns, villages, hamlets. A major genealogical study of the Perrines by H. Delano Perrine had been completed in the early 20th century. My Perrine side of the larger family was delineated to my grandfather, Lewis Bierce Perrine, at least as names on a page. In spite of some family genealogists claiming that the Perrin/Perrines were French, they were not part of the Bourbon French history, but rather the Norman/Viking history culminating in 1066 when Duke of Normandy won at the Battle of Hastings and granted lands in Yorkshire, England, to a well-placed Perryn who rendered military service during that war. This oldest Perrin coat of arms has symbols: the shells of St. James, the Maltese cross “pattee” of the , and ivy (strong, lasting friendship) with a phrase “Chasse pour Roi” On top of the helmet is a crown (seigneurial) and a goose head (resourcefulness).

Chasse pour Roi, attributed to the Loire valley region major hunts. The bolted hunting bow and those that wielded it were La Chasse. Suspect this is the Norman version and looks more ancient than the other two.

There is a Perrin English version for those that stayed in England after 1066, and it features three fir tree cones where these shells are located and simplified vegetation. The motto is quite different: “

The French version had three skulls (mortality), three cones (life) on the shield, a more stylized helmet with two feathers (obedience or serenity) rather than a crown, and broader leafed (remembrance) side panels with tassels.

Channel Islands, , Normandie

Records of the Perrin family go back to 1335 in church registers in the Isle of Jersey and Guernsey, Channel Islands. Perrins were landed Normans. Perrins intermarried with the Carterets and apparently also served as clerks, i.e. educated ambassadors and correspondents for the Carteret seigneurs. They were particularly prominent in the 15th and 16th centuries when Comte Edmund du Perrin served as head of Isle Jersey. Like most Norman families, the younger sons of the Perrins would have served in continental military, either land forces for Normandy or naval forces for England. This was not Bourbon France. The Channel Islands would have been controlled primarily by Normandy and thus aligned strongly with England. Although the first Christians in the Channel Islands were Celtic and monastic, they were followed by Roman Catholic bishops and priests, but by 1570 both the Balliwicks of Jersey (Anglican to Methodist) and Guernsey (Presbyterian) had become strongly Protestant, and served as a refuge for fleeing Huguenots and Calvinists. The Roman Catholic settlements today came chiefly as a result of the French emigres of 1790s fleeing the violence of the .

Julia Sallabank, associate professor, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London said that historically the Channel Islands interacted chiefly with Normandy and Britanny and relied upon agriculture and fishing. The famous Guernsey and Jersey cows were developed in their respective balliwicks. The people of the Channel Islands spoke the Norman ; however, each major island developed its own , Jersey (Jèrriais), Guernsey (Guernesiais), and (Serquiais). Over 800 years and particularly since the 20th century, English has become the dominant language and the tongue is endangered.

The documentation on the first Perrin to settle in our family line, Daniel Perrin, who came with Carteret to New Jersey in 1669, is quite substantial, with ship embarkation, marriage certificate, land purchase and observation of a baptism all recorded, There is considerable confusion, however, about the antecedents of Daniel Perrin’s father, Pierre the Huguenot, who came to Staten Island, New , c. 1686 from Isle Jersey in the Channel Islands and the presumed grandfather, Comte du Perrin, administrative head of Isle Jersey. Comte du Perrin on the other hand the famous London diarist, Samuel Pepys, said came to England from Nouère, a statement that makes little sense. Also confusing are references that the Comte du Perrin and the Pierre Perrin were Huguenot military captains at La Rochelle. One suspects typical genealogical conflation of two or more people. The following discussion of Daniel Perrin, the Huguenot’s, father and grandfather requires a map of France laying out the medieval fiefdoms, because location of the Comte du Perrin(s) goes back at least 400 years prior to the 1615 date when Pierre Perrin was born and then raised a family at Isle Jersey in the Channel Islands before he and Daniel came to America in 1686 and 1669 respectively.

1 Isle Jersey, Isle 1 Guernsey, Channel Islands

2 The Marches of Neustria, Courbe Joillière

3 LaRochelle

2 4 Fouère, Aquitaine

5. Monpellier, 3 Languedoc 4 6. Lyons, Rhone 6

5

In the 1582-1615 period the name Comte de Perrin is associated with at least five different locations, and additionally there was also a Perrin as Seigneur de Isle Jersey (1). It appears that several family geneaologists, especially those listing Perrin/Perrine trees with ancestry.com and heritage.com, have conflated two or more of these people in describing the father of Daniel Perrine, Pierre, and his grandfather, as Comte du Perrin. Recognize that documentation in English is very scarce for this period. And further there is a tendency among Americans jumping the Atlantic to prefer to be linked to royalty or at least to landed aristocracy. And, in a couple of instances the dates don’t align at all; they have an 86-year old Comte du Perrin fathering Pierre with a 24 year old woman. Possible? Not likely.

In a process of elimination, we can start with perhaps the best independent documentation of the period, references to Comte du Perrin in Samuel Pepys diary. Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist of 16th and 17th century London, married Elizabeth Marchant of St. Michel, a Huguenot, and his diary is laced with several references to Huguenot refugees. Pepys describes two separate Comte du Perrins. Pepys also discusses an opera he saw in London based on a play by Pierre Perrin who founded the Academy of Music in Paris in the 1660s.

Elizabeth Pepys father, Alexandre Marchant was a Huguenot and administrative head of Mont St. Michel.

The first Comte du Perrin described by Pepys was a naval officer who is quoted briefy describing a ship battle. This person does not seem to match dates or descriptions of the Daniel Perrin line.

The second Pepys reference is to a Huguenot that Pepys claimed came from Nouère (4) and arrived in London as a refugee from the religious wars. Since Pepys married into a major Huguenot family, he probably was familiar with Huguenots fleeing France. However, Nouère as a location is extremely confusing. Asnières-sur-Nouère, a hamlet is part of the ancient Aquitaine lands that of Aquitaine brought to England with her marriage to II.. Nouère lies south of Brittany and Poitou.

What’s confusing is that there is an important Compte du Perrin who was a distinguished Huguenot, a captaine at La Rochelle, and a military officer who served with Henry of Navarre and with Prince Conde, but he was clearly from Bretagne, the Marches, near Poitou (2). His château was called Courbe Joillière and it was located near Clisson. The father-son Huguenots at La Rochelle were Rene and Pierre Perrin II. Rene died in the 1582 siege of La Rochelle Battle of Janac (3) and Pierre is said to have died in 1615 at the Fall of La Rochelle. This is the story that was attached to the geneaology of Daniel Perrin who arrived in New Jersey in 1669.

Pierre III capitulated three decades later as the Edict of Nantes was revoked, and he accepted Roman Catholicism in order to preserve his position as compte. The entire chateau was destroyed during the French Revolution.

It is clear that the Perrins of the Channel Islands and the Perrins of Britagne, The Marches, were related and that Pierre Perrin, born in Lyons during the Huguenot expulsion from La Rochelle, found safety among his kin in Guernsey, Channel Islands. From all the evidence, I’ve concluded that our line was the Brittany line at Courbe Joilliere, Bretagne, near Clisson.

1351 – Petit Perrin, archer first noted in military reference The Marches 1353 – Jehan Perrin, named Escuyer, Courbe Joilliere, The Marches, Brittany, he clarified that the Compte of Courbe Joilliere was also administrative head of the Ste. Lumine parish at Clisson, and had the right to arms. Son, name unknown 1456 – Pierre Perrin, married Margueritte de Fayet, Corbe Joilliere 1501 – Arthur Perrin, married Jacquette le Normand Puis, Corbe Joilliere c. 1525 – Rene Perrin, first to convert to Protestant, named as Captain at La Rochelle, died 1569 at the Battle of Jarnac. Married Jean Duboys ser de las Houssaye, Seine-Maritime, Haute- Normandy. 1564 – Pierre 2 Perrin served as captain with Henry of Navarre, in the Marches and down to La Rochelle; Henry of Navarre later became King Henry IV of France, authored the Edict of Nantes that protected the right of Protestants to practice their religion. This edict stood until Cardinal Richlieu in 1698 replaced it with the Edict of Fountainblue, essentially forbidding any Protestant religion in France and taking all lands, properties, assets, of any Huguenot that did not convert to Roman Catholicism. Pierre 2 Perrine died in 1597 in the military campaigns in the Marches of Brittany. 1582 – Edmund Perrin fled with the Huguenot expulsion from La Rochelle to Lyons, Rhone-Alpes 1615 – Pierre Perrin, born in Lyons, fled to Guernsey, Channel Islands, married Andrienne Jubril in 1638 in Ardennis, Vendrisse, France. In Guerney they had several children. Some died in France, the eldest son, Daniel came with Cartaret, Siegneur of Jersey, Channel Islands, to New Jersey, and settled on land in Staten Island. Pierre Perrin followed his son via the ship Catalonia. Many of the families on that ship settled in New Tennant, New Jersey, where Pierre’s grandson, Henri (Henry) Perrin/Perrine settled on a farm where part of the Battle of Monmouth was fought during the American Revolutionary War.

1646 – Pierre 3 Perrin born at Courbe Joilliere, declared noble d’extraction via the rolle de Nantes, thus reclaiming Roman Catholicism in order to save Courbe Joilliere for the family that remained in Brittany. The chateau was rebuilt but was then destroyed during the French Revolution which was quite vicious in the Clisson region. But by that time the Perrine Huguenots had settled in America or in the Channel Islands where Protestants were protected by the English crown, as crown colonies.

There were clusters of Perrin families outside the Channel Islands. A distinguished family from Britanny, were seigneurs of Courbe Joillière, a chateau located in the Marches, near the Brittany-Poitou border. These Perrins first came to attention in 1351 and married into landed families around Clisson. One Rene Perrin, c. 1560 first embraced Jean Calvin’s teachings as a protestant. He was a captaine at La Rochelle and served under Prince Condé and died in 1569 defending the walled city. His son Pierre II Perrin, who served with Henry of Navarre, later to become French King Henry IV that issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598, permitting Huguenots to worship and build churches while at the same time observing major Roman Catholic feasts. Pierre also died at La Rochelle serving as military captaine. The family chateau was pillaged and burned by the Royalist duc de Mercoeur during the Wars of Religion. The chateau was rebuilt by the Perrin family when they were protected by the Edict of Nantes (1598).

Pierre Perrin, Brittany, seigneur, Chateau Courbe Joillière. Huguenot, served with Henry of Navarre (Henry IV) and Prince Condé.

In 1688, Pierre III Perrin, then seigneur of Coure Joillière, capitulated to the French king and was declared noble d’extraction from the rolle de Nantes. From then on this Perrin family served the royal military until the French Revolution when the chateau was destroyed. It was rennovated in the first quarter of the 19th century.

Our particular branch of the Perrin family, by 1582 was in La Rochelle, a Huguenot walled city, i.e. Protestant, at the time of the French Wars of Religion. La Rochelle, a major trading port, received its original 1199 charter from Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, who was famous in history as the consort of both Louis VII king of France and Henry II, king of England and later she proceeded to take part in a Crusade. In 1219 La Rochelle was exposed as harboring the Albigensian, a heretical group which was being extirpated by the Roman Catholic Church. For the next 100 years the region witnessed nearly constant war between France and England with taking part every now and then. Areas controlled by Huguenots are marked purple, those contested by Huguenots are marked livid, and those controlled by Lutherans are marked in on this map of modern France. .

By 1560 La Rochelle was a Huguenot city, strongly supporting Jean Calvin’s protestant teachings. “Huguenots were French Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who followed the teachings of theologian John Calvin. Persecuted by the French Catholic government during a violent period, Huguenots fled the in the 17th century, creating Huguenot settlements all over Europe, in the United States and Africa.” (history.com) It is estimated that by 1560 there were 200,000 Huguenots (Protestants) living in the western and southern parts of today’s France. At the end of 1615, after the St. Bartholomew massacre in Paris and the fall of La Rochelle, 80,000 Huguenots had been killed or fled France. They took refuge in Normandy, Holland, , England, Switzerland, and parts of Germany.

According to the ancestry.com files, the earliest Norman ancestor in the tree is the Comte’ du Perrine, born 1582 in La Rochelle, -Maritime, Poitou-, France. He died in 1615 in La Rochelle, Manche, Basse-Normandie, France. * That is the official date of “The Fall of La Rochelle” when Cardinal Richelieu’s forces took the city, and proceeded to force all Huguenots to convert to Roman Catholicism or abandon their homes and belongings and leave France. The references to Comte’ du Perrin do not say if he died defending the city.

However, his son, Pierre Perrin is referenced as born in Lyons in 1615, so either Comte’ du Perrin visited Lyons and left his pregnant wife there in safety and returned to La Rochelle, or the place of death is wrong.

• Note: The place appellation is wrong and refers to modern France, not the 1582-1615 period. Prior to that time, La Rochelle had the original “communal charter” given by Eleanor of Aquitaine. In 1694 La Rochelle was given a “Generalitie” of France, and it was not until 1790 that La Rochelle was officially named Charente-Maritime, Poitou- Charentes, France. By that time our Perrin family was well established in the United States.

Pierre Perrin’s children were born in Isle Jersey, Channel Islands, so it is apparent that sometime between 1615 and 1640 Pierre returned to the . Julia Sallabank gives us a picture of the Channel Islands during the religious wars of the 17th and 18th century.

“For at least 500 years there has been a small community of speakers. In Jersey many came as agricultural workers (Kelleher, 1928; Monteil, 2000); others arrived in both Jersey and Guernsey as religious exiles in the late 17th and early 20th centuries. In the 17th Century religious Puritanism dominated the Channel Islands’ religious and political life, and penalties were imposed for ‘ungodly’ behaviour such as dancing, skittle-playing and gossiping on Sundays (Marr, 2001). These rules almost wiped out traditional songs and dances (although more remain in Guernsey than in Jersey). Francophone Protestant preachers were welcomed, and De Garis (1977: 260; p.c., November 2002) claimed that Standard French speakers thus gained positions of influence and introduced negative attitudes towards the indigenous .”

Julia Sallabank. “ of the Channel Islands,” The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures Volume 5 Number 2 201, p 25.

For more details on the Huguenots and their flight into the United States, I strongly recommend the Huguenot Society of New York’s library and archives. The Perrin/Perrine family is prominently cited among the refugees to America. There are many documents relating to the Perrins in Staten Island, New Jersey, the Hudson River area, and Florida. The Virginia Perrins, who came as early as Jamestown, were from the Norman/English side of the Perrins.

Daniel Perrin, the Huguenot 1669

According to this family history, the progenitor, Daniel the Huguenot, had entered the colonies in 1669, arriving with Governor Philip Cartaret on the ship, Philip, settling first in the Amerindian “Smoking Point,” that became Cartaret, New Jersey. He met and married Marie Thorel of Rouen, who also came on that same ship. They apparently worked off the passage fare, and then purchased an 80-acre farm on Staten Island.

From the Perrin/Perrine/Prine web site In 1664 James II of England granted patent to territory "New Caesarea" (the present state of New Jersey) to Sir George Carteret, John Lord Berkley, and Lord Stratton. Setting out on the ship "Philip," Philip Carteret, representing his cousin Sir George, set out as appointed first governor of this territory in April 1665. The "Philip" eventually arrived in New York harbor on July 29, 1665, after first landing at Chesapeake Bay for repairs following a very difficult crossing. A painting of the landing was done by Howard Pyle and now rests in the Circuit Court in Newark, New Jersey.

The thirty French and English passengers on the "Philip" included the emigres Daniel Perrin, probably an administrator for the governor, and Maria Thorel. Both of them are in the painting by Pyle.

Daniel was from the Isle of Jersey and "was of gentle birth, of Norman descent, and a Huguenot." (H.D.Perrine) The Perrins, originally from the French mainland, (SIC Normandy not part of Bourbon France) had apparently lived in Jersey a long time as an ancient tower on the island bears the name. The family name appears as early as 1440 in old pedigree charts of families on the Isles of Jersey and Guernsey. These islands have at various times been in the possession of both France and England, finally coming under English rule about 1500, where they have since remained (though Jersey has retained its Norman influence and culture). However, Daniel's father, Pierre, seems to have come from La Rochelle, France. It is not documented where either were born. [sic] Note: Dominique Perrin was the Seur de Guernsey after Rosel and before Cartaret and Perrins married into both these landed and titled families. The baptismal records for the Perrtins go back to 1335. It was common, among Norman families to have the sons serve in various European armies and even as far as the Norman strongholds in the south of Italy. LaRochelle was a walled coastal city that held out against imposition of a Bourbon governor 1572-73. The second siege, known as The Fall of LaRochelle, took place during the Counter Reformation after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1625-27 by Cardinal Richelieu who confiscated Huguenot property and businesses if they would not covert to Catholicism. Pierre Perrin, Daniel’s father originally was said to have been born in LaRochelle; however later genealogists have said Pierre was born in Rouen, Lyons, another of the walled Huguenot cities and could well have returned to the family holdings in Guernsey as thousands of Huguenots throughout France sought refuge in England, Amsterdam, and to Virginia, Florida, Boston and New Jersey in the Americas. Maria Thorel's family was originally from Rouen, France. [Another Huguenot city] Whether Daniel and Maria knew each other before the voyage is unknown. They were married the year following the landing, on February 18, 1666, in what is believed to be the first marriage licensed by Governor Carteret in the new settlement. Daniel and Maria were granted an 80-acre tract on the western shore of what is now Staten Island, called Smoking Point (later included in the boundaries of the current area of Rossville). Their stone house, built in 1688 on Richmond Road, still exists.

On this farm, Daniel and Maria raised six children - five sons and a daughter. Maria died some time before 1687. Daniel later remarried a woman named Elizabeth, with whom he had three daughters.

Though it is unknown where Daniel and Maria are buried, the most likely spot was the French Huguenot cemetery which is now under millions of tons of NYC garbage. However, a bronze tablet commemorates them in the French Episcopal Church in New York City: "Ile de Jersey - 1665 - Nova Caesarea Pour Honorer la memoire de DANIEL PERRIN et de MARIE THOREL son epouse Refugies pour motif de conscience Maries a Elizabethtowne la 18 Fevrier 1666 Certains de leurs descendants

ont places ici cette Marriage License of Daniel Perrine and Maria Thorel inscriptions A.D. 1903" "Whereas I have recd Information of a mutual Interest and agreement betwene DANIEL PERRIN of Elizabeth Towne in the of New Jarsey and MARIA THOREL of the same Towne Spinster to solemize Mariage together for which they have Requested my Lycense and there appearing no Lawfull Impediment for ye Obstruction thereof These are to Require You or Eyther of you to Joyne the said Daniel Perrin and Marie Thorel in Matrimony and them to pronounce man and Wife, and to make record thereof accoding to the Lawes in that behalfe provided, for the doing Whereof this shall be to you or Eyther of you a sufficient Warrant. Given under my hand and seale the Twelft day of february Ano 1665 and in the 18th Yeare of his Maties Raign King Charles the Second.To any of the Justices of the Peace or Ministers wthin the Government of the Province of New Jersey. These Couple Where Joyned together in Matrimony the 18 feb 1665 by me. Ph Carterett Many years later a friend and I visited Daniel Perrin’s 80-acre homestead (1692) on Staten Island near a place called Blazing Star, which in the 18th century changed to Old Blazing Star named for the ferry that once ran regularly to New Jersey across Prince’s Sound. By 1990 when I visited and took photographs, the nearby town was called Rossville. On the southern edge of contemporary Rossville, lay the historic early African American community of Sandy Ground which had both Underground Railroad antecedents and also a rich history of oystering off the southern Staten Island shoreline. Along the western river shoreline, on part of Daniel’s old farm, stood a large number of nautical wrecks rusting in the mud flats, part of a sizeable scrap iron yard. The historic Rossville had been ruined by a devastating fire in 1963 that took out most of the town. How ironic that Smoaking and Blazing were prior names for the area!

Wandering around somewhat aimlessly, we fell across a very, very tiny one-road residue of old Rossville tucked away off the main road. It had a few lovely Victorian houses, all far too modern for my 1669 ancestors. The rest of Rossville was character-less suburban tract houses. Worse yet, the Huguenot graveyard where Daniel and Marie Perrine were supposed to be buried seemed in fact to be really buried deep beneath millions of tons of New York City garbage, the largest landfill in America.

• History of Union Co., N.. 1664-1923, Vol 1 Chapter III • The New England settlers had barely become settled in their new home when an event in England took place, that led to a contention in regard to their land titles that was to be the source of endless controversy and dispute for over a century. The Duke of York, under his patent received from his brother Charles II, conveyed to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, two of the royal favorites at the Court of England, a tract of land to be called Nova Caesarea, or New Jersey. This conveyance was dated June 23rd and 24th, 1664, and was totally unknown by Governor Nicolls at the time of his giving the patent for what was commonly called the Elizabeth Town grant. Under the patent thus granted to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Cartaret, a nephew of the latter, Sir Philip Cartaret, was appointed governor. The newly appointed governor sailed on the ship "Philip" from England with about thirty emigrants, of whom eighteen were male servants belonging to Sir George and himself, a portion of them Frenchmen from the Island of Jersey. These servants were John Dejardin, Doctor Rowland, Claude Vallot, Pewtinger, Richard Michell, Richard Skinner, William Hill, Henry Hill, Eramus House, John Taylor, John Clarck, William ___, Claude Barbour, Charles Seggin, Daniel Perrin, John Mittins, Wallis and John, alias Peter. Of these Claude Vallot and William Hill were subsequently admitted as associates, while Richard Michell had land given him by the governor but was not admitted as an associate. There were also on shipboard several females among whom were Mariah Thorell, Susannah Poulan, and Ellen Prou, all French, also a French gentleman, Robert Vauguellin, a surveyor by profession, and his wife, and Captain James Bollen. From sharonpalmer778 • Daniel Perrin (1642–1719) was one of the first permanent European inhabitants of Staten Island, New York. Known as "The Huguenot", he arrived in New York Harbor from the Isle of Jersey on July 29, 1665 aboard the ship Philip, under the command of Philip Carteret. He lived in Elizabethtown, part of the Elizabethtown Tract (now Elizabeth, New Jersey), for a while before moving across the Arthur Kill and settling on Staten Island. In 1692 he was granted 80 acres (320,000 m2) of land by Governor Benjamin Fletcher in an area along the south shore of Staten Island then known as Smoking Point. During the American Revolutionary War this area was known as Blazing Star, and is now known as Rossville.

The Perrin Homestead Staten Island Antiquarian Society 1692 – 1710 - 1764

The Perrin house on Richmond Road in New Dorp is the oldest house in Staten Island and the second oldest in New York City. Actually built by a Dutch immigrant, Billeau, in 1692 (stone on right) it was added on to by an English émigré, Stillwell, in 1710. Stillwell married Billeau’s daughter and built adjacently; there was no door inside between the two buildings. The property was then willed by Capt. Thomas Stillwell to Joseph Holmes, who in turn in 1764 willed the property to Edward Perrin who had married Ann Holmes and the Perrins added on to the property extensively. The national historic marker gives credit to the Perrin family, the Billeaus and the Stilwells as early settlers of Staten Island. Although this is known as the Perrin Homestead, our side of the family, through Daniel Perrin’s son Another marker giving credit to Daniel Perrin, Henri Perrin, had long since moved to New Jersey the Huguenot, is in the English Church in New to Machaponix Brook, Jamesburg, Middlesex York City. County. So this house belonged to cousins, Edward and his family who stayed on Staten Island. Genealogy:

Pierre Perrin, born 1615 Lyons, France, died in 1698 in Richmond County, Staten Island, NY Married1638 in Isle Jersey, Channel Islands Andrienne Jubril, daughter of Jean Jubril and Juvine Lombard, born 25Jan1619 Ardennis Vendrisse, France, died 1698 in Richmond Co, Staten Island, NY Children: 1. Jean Perrin, born 1638 in Isle Jersey, Channel Islands, died 1720 in France 2. Daniel Perrin, born 1642 in Isle Jersey, Channel Islands, died 06Sep1719 in Richmond County, Staten Island, NY 3. Pierre Perrin, born 1644 in Isle Jersey, Channel Islands, died 1730 in France 4. Poncette Perrin, born 1644 in Isle Jersey, Channel Islands, died 1730 in France 5. Elizabeth Perrin, born 1646 in Isle Jersey, Channel Islands, died 1730 in France

Note: Death dates and place for the children who remained in Europe are highly suspicious. In 1730 it would have been dangerous for these Huguenot children to go to France at a time of heightened Counter Reformation. So either they stayed in the Channel Islands or went to Normandy. Also why three of the children died in 1730 requires much further analysis. What is clear, however, is that only Daniel Perrin went to America. We know he was alone in 1669 on the ship Philip with Cartaret. Therefore he must have sent for his parents to come to America at a later date.

Daniel Perrin, born 1642 in Isle Jersey, Channel Islands, died 06Sep1719 in Richmond County, Staten Island, New York married 20Feb1669, Elizabeth Plantations, Cartaret, New Jersey (1) Marie Thorel, daughter of Samuel Thorel and Marie de la Rive, born 16Jan1639 in Rouen, Perdy, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France died 1687, Richmond County, Staten Island, New York Children of Daniel and Marie Perrin: 1. Joshua Perrine 2. Pierre (Peter) Perrin, born 1667 Smoaking Point, Richmond County, Staten Island, NY Died 1741 3. Henri (Henry) Perrin, born 1669 Smoaking Point, Richmond County, Staten Island, NY Died 1765 Middlesex County, New Jersey 4. Jacques (James) Perrin, born 1670 in Smoaking Point, Richmond Co, S.I., NY Died 1745 5. Daniel Perrin, born 1671 Smoaking Point, Richmond Co, S.I., NY Died 1745 6. Guilliame (William) Perrin, born 1673 Smoaking Point, Richmond Co, S.I., NY 7. Francyntje Perrin, born 1675 Smoaking Point, Richmond Co, S.I., NY

(2) Elizabeth, marriage to Daniel Perrin, 1687 in Richmond Co, S.I., NY Children of Daniel and Elizabeth Perrin: 1. Sara Perrin 2. Elizabet 3. Mary

Henri Perrine to New Jersey….

In 1711, the second son, Henri Perrin purchased land from Cornelius Longfield of Somerset County, New Jersey, and moved to Machaponix, which was then in Monmouth County but later became Middlesex County, New Jersey. Henry, made a fortune cutting timber out of a very large swampy area, married a Dutch lady named Mary or perhaps Catherine or perhaps Mary Catherine; he changed the spelling of his name to Henry Perrine, and switched denominations from French Huguenot to become Presbyterian. The Perrines were then associated with Old Tennent Presbyterian Church (built 1692) and Catherine is buried there. A plat of the church shows his pew up near the pulpit.

Revolutionary War soldiers – John, Lewis and Matthew Perrine – killed at the Battle of Monmouth, are buried at Old Tennent Church.

Henry then purchased property in Monmouth County that included an orchard which was located just to the west and adjacent to where the famous Battle of Monmouth occurred in the year 1778. Henry’s apple orchard apparently was damaged by British cannon fire during the Battle of Monmouth. Henry Perrine entered a claim with the American Continental Congress to recover his orchard damages. Since the New Jersey militia was paid not in cash but rather in land grants for extreme western Pennsylvania, there was fat chance that Henry got any cash from Congress.

Old Tennent Church, Henry Perrine’s 100 acres lay about half a mile further east along the old post road from Englishtown to Monmouth Courthouse at Freehold, N.J. The early skirmishes of the Battle of Monmouth were fought on the Perrine ridge. Seven

British cannon balls tore through Henry’s apple orchard and damaged 12 of his trees.

Battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778

Map showing the disposition of Patriot and British forces at the Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey. Three Perrine men – John, Lewis, and Matthew – were killed in this historic turning point of the Revolutionary War. And Henry Perrine’s apple orchard was damaged in the British cannon shelling.

Henry’s grandson, William, served in the New Jersey militia and was awarded a tract of land in far northwestern Pennsylvania for his service. Henry Perrine’s farm

Old Tennent Church pews, 1790 showing Henry Prine (Perrine) News Transcript, Freehold, Colts Neck, etc.

Staff Writer By dave benjamin

Paint job restores look of house on battlefield land

DAVE BENJAMIN Exterior painting has been completed at the Conover-Perrine 1832 farmhouse, Route 522, Manalapan, which will serve as the new administrative offices for Monmouth Battlefield State Park. MANALAPAN — There will be a new look to an old farmhouse that stands in the area of Monmouth Battlefield State Park and that will serve as the park’s new administrative offices. The Conover-Perrine home, an 1832 farmhouse on Freehold-Englishtown Road (Route 522) adjacent to the Old Tennent Church cemetery, is being repainted yellow-ocher with trim and dark reddish-brown for the window sash, in the Victorian tradition. During most of the 20th century, the home was painted in Colonial Revival colors, white with green shutters, according to Garry Stone, the park’s historian. The Victorian colors were identified by Frank Welsh, an architectural color researcher from Bryn Mawr, Pa., who used a microscope to decipher the entire paint color history of the building.

Historically, the structure marks the site of Henry Perrine’s 18th century home. During the afternoon of the June 28, 1778 Battle of Monmouth, the Continental Army took up positions on the north-south ridge just east of the farmhouse. Perrine’s descendants remember that the battle was fought in their ancestors’ rye field and that British cannonballs punched several holes in the house and cut down a dozen trees in the adjacent orchard.

Four doors from the 18th-century house were reused in the 1832 dwelling. Perrine’s children sold the 514-acre farm to John I. Conover in 1818. Sheriff John M. Perrine repurchased the property in 1844 and it remained in the Perrine family until 1892. In more recent times, the building was used as a residence for two park rangers.

Eric Doeler, painting contractor with Spectra Painting Inc., Hazlet, completed the makeover. His team of painters gave the outside of the building a power wash, a scraping to remove the old flaking paint and a sanding to smooth out the wrinkles. Three coats of paint were applied to the outside of the building, and windows were recalked. Doeler and his crew of three completed the job last weekend. "We’ve graveled the parking lot behind the building, and we’re constructing a handicapped access ramp," said Stone. "(Inside), we will only be using the downstairs at this time because of code problems with the second floor." Stone said the first floor of the former residence will have an administrative support office, the front parlor will contain the superintendent’s office, the dining room will be the chief ranger’s office and the kitchen will be the staff lounge. "The most important (renovation) will be the mid-20th century mud room on the back of the building, which is being rebuilt as restrooms for staff and for the public," said Stone. "There will be a separate entrance for the public." Stone explained that the new public restroom facility will be the first in that portion of the park.

"Personally, I’m just delighted to see the building used again and rehabilitated," said Stone. "I’m pleased with all the hard work my co-workers have put in." In addition to the exterior work on the farmhouse, Stone said the park staff did a lot of work restoring and painting the ground floor interior. The historian praised the efforts of the staff of Monmouth Battlefield State Park and several of his friends with whom he works. "The Friends of Monmouth Battlefield are very pleased to see the early 19th-century building being restored and rehabilitated for use as the park’s administrative office," said Rich Walling, historian and spokesman for the Friends. "By adaptively reusing historic buildings, they remain useful and alive," he added. "All too often, old buildings are neglected, which in turn leads to eventual demolition, because costs for repair become too prohibitive. In this case, the Conover-Perrine House will be given a new use and will remain a vital part of the battlefield landscape."

Genealogy:

Henri (Henry) Perrin(e) born 1669 Smoaking Point, Richmond Co, Staten Island, New York, Died Middlesex Co, New Jersey in 1765. He married Marie Martin in 1694 in Staten Island. Marie was born in Staten Island, Richmond County, Staten Island, New York. Children: 1. John Perine, born 1695 in Smoking Point, Richmond Co, Staten Island, New York died 1779 Perrineville, Millstone Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey 2. Maria Payrn born c. 1696, married Jan Van Pelt in 1709 3. Peter Perrin born c. 1703.

Perrineville, NJ

One lovely summer day, probably about 1972, my daughter Alison and I went on a long bike hike starting at our apartment in East Windsor and winding up as a major surprise at Perrineville, New Jersey. “That’s our name,” I stated staring at the large sign on the Post Office. About two years later my Mom and Dad were visiting New Jersey and we took them over to Perrineville where my Dad, George Bierce Perrine, M.D., was dutifully impressed. However, in those days we did not know that our family actually had migrated to Pennsylvania from this very spot about 1790. We just thought it was odd. As we wandered around the cemetery, we noted a number of raised tombstones almost like those in New Orleans, and many of them were cited as Perrines.

John Perrine comes to the Millstone River and founds the town of Perrineville, New Jersey

Henry’s son John Perrine, settled just south and west of his father’s farm along the Millstone River where he and his son William planted apple and peach trees that later became a lucrative apple jack and peach brandy business with bottles of these concoctions sold in Philadelphia. John named his village Perrineville, New Jersey. The village surrounded a Presbyterian Church which was distinguished chiefly by a number of raised horizontal tombstones in its cemetery much like those you see in New Orleans. John’s eldest son, William Perrine, cashed in his Revolutionary War militia land grant and headed way west to Mercer County, Pennsylvania, almost to the Ohio border. There he settled in a tiny hamlet he called Perrine Corners. I was beginning to see that the early Perrines had a compulsion to name towns after themselves. That made it somewhat easier to trace them.

What was hilarious, was that on my Mom’s side of the family, her Dutch ancestors, the Hoaglands, settled along the Millstone River in New Jersey just a few miles from the Perrines, my Dad’s ancestors. Both families were patriots serving in the New Jersey militia and both were there during the Revolutionary War and immediate aftermath.

Then both the William Perrine and the Cornelius Hoagland families headed west to take up lands in Pennsylvania and Kentucky respectively.

Perrine Corners, Mercer Co, Pa

William and Annie Vance Perrine (left) pioneers at Perrine Corners, Worth Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania.

Map of Mercer Co, Perrine Corners located south of Sandy Lake where the Bierce family resided. Oliver Perry Perrine (O.P.) from Perrine Corners married Sophia Bierce from Sandy Lake.

Daniel Perrine, son of William and Annie Vance Perrine, fought at Put in Bay, Battle of Erie, War of 1812.

A year or two later, I headed west to trace the Mercer County sites, and found that William’s son Daniel Perrine made a small fortune like his great grandfather cutting timber; he was paid $1 per acre of cut wood. Daniel and his brother Enoch were members of the James W. McClintlock Pennsylvania militia that rushed to the defense of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. The story goes that the men stocked their guns just inside the church door. A messenger brought news for the militia to head north. Daniel Perrine and his cohorts picked up their guns and marched quickly to Put-in-Bay, near Sandusky, Ohio, where the American fleet was under attack by the British and Canadians. The area the Pennsylvia militia guarded was critical to the shipbuilding that Commander Perry needed so desperately during the naval battles on Lake Erie. Daniel was so impressed by the American fleet commander that he named one of his sons, Oliver Perry Perrine. That O.P. Perrine was the next ancestor I followed across America.

Oliver Perry Perrine married Sarah Sophia Bierce, a substantive force of nature who was so influential in the family circles that from 1870 onward, all the Perrine first sons in our family line had a middle name of Bierce, including my brother. Then O.P. and Sarah Sophia settled in Hartford, Trumbull County, Ohio, just across the Pennsylvania border from Sharon, PA and the Shenango River where Dad and his cousins learned to swim. The Perrine farm was on the edge of Hartford. O. P. and his son George Bierce Perrine farmed in Hartford, raised and shoed horses, and became clerks in the local Presbyterian Church. Sarah Sophia apparently ran much of the social and cultural events in the area, while George’s wife, Ella Clark from Brookfield, Ohio, was a quiet, docile person. From what was written in local newspapers, the Perrines were perfect Victorians, although quite rural. For example, they apparently drove a carriage the half mile from their house to the church.

George Bierce Perrine, 1843-1916

Born Hartford, Trumbull Co, Ohio

Son of Oliver Perry Perrine and Sophia Bierce Perrine

Married Ella Clark of Brookhaven,Ohio

Farmed and horseshoed in Hartford, Ohio, Trumbull County.

The next generation to be born in the tiny town of Hartford, Ohio, was Lewis Bierce Perrine, my grandfather. Lewis was a horse of a different color. Although he certainly learned farming and even horse-shoeing as a young man, he was aiming for a different kind of career. He studied to become an accountant. In my earliest memories of grandfather, he was a bookkeeper for Westinghouse in Sharon, Pennsylvania. When I was about four years old, he took me down to the Westinghouse switching yards and let me ride in the huge black steam engine up to the turntable and back out into the yard. I always remember that my grandfather Perrine had lots of unusual friends in low places, including locomotive engineers!

Lewis Bierce Perrine married a formidable lady named Lucretia Hawk, whose ancestors were early settlers in Westmoreland and Armstrong counties in far western Pennsylvania. One of her ancestors, Conrad Hawk drove the first Conestoga wagon across the Alleghenies because he had been stiffed by typical pack-horse teams during an earlier trip. I guess that side of the family was very frugal. Lucretia was an educated lady; she had attended a teachers college, and taught high school in Youngstown, Ohio, and in Farrell, Pennsylvania, before and after her marriage to L.B. Perrine.

The other unusual thing about Katherine Lucretia Hawk Perrine was that on giving birth to my Dad, George Bierce Perrine II, at home in Hartford, Ohio, she gave him a Native American name, “Burning Bush,” and told him he had perpetual fishing rights in Lake Erie. The burning bush came from the first thing Lucretia saw through the open window, Lewis was – you got it – burning brush. It took me 12 years to find that Native American connection in the Hawk family line through a baptismal record in the Jordon Lutheran Church just eight miles from where I then lived in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania. Naomi was a Lenae Lenape of the Delaware nation and resided in America’s first Indian Reservation in Northumberland County at a place called Indianlands. It had been set up by Thomas Penn, the oldest son of William Penn. Thomas was also associated with the nefarious “Walking Purchase” the first major cheat by our ancestors of the Native American tribal leaders. Naomi met and married Thomas Willems (Williams), an émigré from the Palatine, caught up in the religious wars and economic disasters of Europe. It was their daughter that married Conrad Hawk. Since Dad was the fourth generation Perrine to come from Hartford, Ohio, I decided to visit there. Dad was George Bierce Perrine II, later to become M.D.; he was born in Hartford on November 14, 1912. A friend and I drove over from Schnecksville, Pennsylvania. We got out of the car and looked around. Hartford seemed to have only one main road and one cross road. There was a small town square. Everything was kind of dusty, with the sunshine coming through a dust haze. There was a Presbyterian Church, a school, and several houses with acres of farmland pressing closely all around us. We found the graves of O.P. and Sarah Sophia Perrine but never found George Bierce and Ella. They have to be buried somewhere!!!

1941 Hartford, Trumbull County, Ohio: Four Generations of Perrines (left to right) George Bierce Perrine, M.D., Diane Elizabeth Perrine, Ollie Conway Perrine, George Bierce Perrine, Ella Clark Perrine, Lewis Bierce Perrine, Katherine Lucretia Hawk Perrine.

Oliver Perry Perrine and his wife Sarah Sophia Bierce Perrine settled on a farm quite near the center of Hartford, Trumbull County, Ohio. Their son, George Bierce Perrine and his wife Ella Clark Perrine, remained on the farm into the late 20th century. Their son, Lewis Bierce Perrine became a cost accountant at the main Westinghouse plant in Sharon, Pennsylvania. His wife, Katherine Lucretia Hawk Perrine, was educated at a two year teacher’s college, and taught high school at Farrell, Pennsylvania. Their house sat high on the hill overlooking Sharon and the Westinghouse plant. When it was time for their son, George Bierce Perrine, to go to college they had lost their savings in the Stock Market Crash; so George had to work his way through college at Marietta, Ohio, and then at Medical School at the University of Pennsylvania. He met Ollie Marie Conway who was in Medical School at University of Cincinnati, and George was instructor.

I was using a 19th century plat map to locate the Perrine home-stead. Since there were only eight houses on each side of the main road, it was not too difficult to locate the right place. It was a large white frame farmhouse set back from the road. I asked the resident if he knew if that was the George Perrine farmhouse, and he claimed not to know anything. But since my plat map was pretty accurate and this house was the only house that fit, Last week, I put Hartford, Ohio, up on the Google Earth search map, and was shocked to see that 15 years after finding a sleepy 19th century small town, the suburbs have taken it over. No matter how hard I tried, I could not find the Perrine farmhouse on Google Earth. Nor could I find the farm. Only tract houses, jammed together like Rossville, Staten Island, New York. Now I am chasing my Mom and Dad through the 1940 census. Good grief! Dad may have been in Philadelphia finishing Medical School at U Penn, Mom might have been with his mother, Katherine Lucretia, ill with cancer, in Farrell, Pennsylvania, or she could have been nursing in Philadelphia or in Cincinnati. I at age two might have been living with my Conway grandparents outside Cincinnati on Boomer Road, or….. A year later, I had a baby brother, the last of the George Bierce Perrines, (he’s the III), born in October 1941 in Cincinnati, Ohio. And if you want to chase him across America, you will have to go to Cedar Park, Texas. George died in 2012 and his ashes, by his request, have been scattered 1) in the Ohio River to float by the Yum Center in honor of his beloved Louisville Cardinal basketball team 2) on the grounds of Lexington Seminary in Lexington, Kentucky and 3) near Buchanan Dam in Texas where George lived when he was minister at First Christian Church, Burnet, Texas just before retiring.

I can’t find any of our Perrines that made it to California or to any gold rush. Mom’s family, on the other hand, had a pirate!