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Memorials of the Huguenots in America

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Memorials of the Huguenots in America ' I I I fi 'll i' I r IBTAPLETON J': lit''-'' , -, > 111 f' m f 1 ' 'i; fit ^j'i '^ ; , I' 'i .'.! Pl 'K I '!, i I ,1 i"'.'i I , I , h ,1,, '.'Kifl .•A >' / \0 . K3S73 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF The Willers Family Date Due Mk'i i: ::4 iia r—*^ MAD 3jL««?lST llUMiiii**'— ^mjE w^/^/' i\IQ\L*aB gggj'Tf 1" y =^-^ S^ !rffi — ' , , .-, -^ J Cornell University Library F 160H8 S79 America Memorials of the Huguenots in 3 1924 028 864 457 olin Date Due SEP "l^_ :-i35-5ii^y \ The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://archive.org/details/cu31924028864457 THE MORNING DAWNS. HUGUENOT DESCENDANTS-DAUGHTERS OF THE AUTHOR. , WitK -SjDecia) !^efer^K(^e to tl\elr En\igratior\ to Pel^^^ylVa^ia, -BY- Rev. A. Stapleton. A. M., M. S. Life Member of the Pennsylvania Historical Society—Member of the Pennsylvania German Society, —Author of "Natural History of the Bible,"— Compend of Church History,"—and "Evangelical Annals." " Sir, it is the part of the Church of God to endure blows and not to deal them; but your Majesty will please remember that it is an anvil which has already worn out many a hammer." Tkto. <fe Beta to the Kint of Navarre. HnGUENOT PUBLISHING COMPANY, CARLISI^E, PA. 1901 '(, D 160 Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1901, BY REV. A. STAPLETON, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 3T must be apparent to the reader that the gathering of material for this work was immeasurably difificult because of the scanty and scattered sources of information. With the ex- ception of the excellent work of Prof. Charles W. Baird (i) and several monograms by the American Huguenot Society, no work on the Huguenot emigration to America has hitherto appeared. True, the Virginia Historical Society has published a small volume on the emigration to that Province, and chapters devoted to the settlements in New England and South Carolina are to be found. Still the reader will find that, with the exception of a few newspa- per articles, the history of the Huguenot emigration to Pennsylva- nia has hitherto remained unwritten. It is chiefly on this account that our resources have been specially devoted to their emigration to this Province. The question may be pertinently asked why so much pains have been taken to gather particulars concerning so small a por- portion of our Colonial immigrants as the French Protestants ? The answer is found in their character. The Huguenots were something more than immigrants seeking a home in a new land. They were refugees, stripped of all human rights, both civil and religious, by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, and not until the Edict of Toleration, in 1787, could they claim a right to full lib- erty of conscience in their home land. In the industrial arts, learning and religious thought the Huguenots were of the most advanced and enterprising type of civ- ilization, and the impressions they have made on the institutions and character of the lands of their exile were more profound and far reaching in proportion to their numbers than that of any other class of immigrants. This is pre-eminently true of America, as we believe this work will abundantly demonstrate, and we believe that the study of this element of our Colonial population will be pursued with greater interest by future historians as their mighty influence in shaping the character and destinies of our country is more fully recognized, (i). " The Huguenot Emigration to America." Ill MEMORIALS OF THE HUGUENOTS. With the passing years they disclose the original virility of their character by continually adding new names to America's roll of honor. To such imperishable names as Jay, Boudinot, Bowdoin, Marion and Laurens, of the Provincial period, they have added others of equal greatness, and whose force of character and sterling worth is in no small degree attributable to their Huguenot ancestry. In later years Presidents Tyler (i), Garfield {2) and Roosevelt, Alexander Hamilton, the Bayards of Delaware, Commodores Ste- phen Decatur and W. S. Schley, and Admiral George Dewey, then also the poets Whittier (3), Thoreau, Lanier and Emily Bouton, have all contributed largely to make America great. Although, as already indicated, the literature pertaining to the subject of this work is very scanty, we may state that considerable data was found in county histories, especially in the works of Prof. I. Daniel Rupp and General W. H. M. Davis. The Pennsylvania Archives, " Notes and Queries" by Dr. Egle, " Documentary His- tory of New York" " Baird's Huguenot Emigration to Arherica," besides the publications of the Pennsylvania Historical and Penn- sylvania-German Societies, have all yielded valuable materials. We are under very great obligations to a large number of local historians and private individuals for clues and suggestions that in many in- stances led to important results. We are specially indebted to the following gentlemen for valuable assistance : The late Hon. John Blair Linn, of Bellefonte ; Mrs. Cora Weber Lindsey, of Pittsburg ; Henry S. Dodderer, Editor of "The Perkiomen Regeon," Prof. Julius F. Sachse, author of several works of great value on the emi- gration to Pennsylvania, John W. Jordan, of the Pennsylvania His- torical Society, all of Philadelphia ; d.eB. Randolph Keim, of Read- ing, and Editor of "The Keim and Allied Families ;" James B. Laux, of New York ; Rev. P. C. Croll, Editor of the Pennsylvania German, and lastly, the lamented Dr. W. H. Egle, of Harrisburg, late State Librarian, and Editor of the Pennsylvania Archives, to whose valuable assistance we are deeply indebted. As a matter of mournful interest we may state that one of the last acts of his busy life was to furnish the introduction to this work a few days before his death. If we have in a measure succeeded in rescuing from oblivion the memory of a people who have been such a potent factor in shap- (i). President Tyler descended from Dr. Louis Contesse, an eminent physi- cian, who fled from France to Virginia after the Revocation (Va. Hist. Col5. (2). President Garfield descended from Maturia Ballou, a refugee to New Eng- land. ° ancestor (3). The of Whittier was a refugee named Fouillevert, who fled to England from Brittagne in the early stages of the persecution (vide Am. Meth 111. Monthly, vol 11, p. 229). MEMORIALS OF THE HUGUENOTS. ing the character and destinies of our land, and preserved to pos- terity the names of many from whom it is an honor to claim descent, we shall consider ourselves well rewarded for our many years of toil. REV. A. STAPLETON. Carlisle, Pa. INTRODUCTION. By Dr. W. H. Eglc, M. D., M. S., Late State Librarian of Pennsylvania, Etc. " Sii at thefeet ofHistory—through night Ofyears the steps of virtue she shall trace, And show the earlier ages, where her sight Can pierce the eternal shadows o'er herface." —Bryant. ^T HE Huguenot emigration to America is a subject of abiding in- well as general I terest to the historian, as to the reader. The Frenchman's love for his home-land exceeds that of any other nationality, and the causes leading to the extirpation of any considerable number of them must be dire in the extreme. These causes, and their far-reaching consequences, are brought out in a remarkable manner in these "Memorials of the Huguenots." There is a peculiar charm clustering around the relations of France with the American Colonies during their struggle for freedom in the dark days of the Revolution. The Colonies were intensely Protestant in faith, and France just then awakening from her stu- por, brought on by ages of priestcraft and misgovernment, sprang to the rescue of the Colonies at the period of their darkest peril. Many of her noble sons enriched the soil of freedom with their blood, for which America will always be grateful ; and many of her chief ' citizens to-day are proud to wear the insignia of ' The Society of the Cincinnati" (i) as a memorial of the time when the infant Re- public of the New World and the future Republic of the Old World, together, lit the torch of freedom that still shines with increasing lustre across the dark waters of time. Thus has France, the pio- neer Republic of Europe, derived hope and inspiration in her lofty aims from the new Nation, which her exiled sons assisted to build ! The Huguenot emigrants as a class, we may safely say without fear of successful contradiction, have furnished a larger number of (i). A patriotic and benevolent society, organized by the American and French officers in 1783 to perpetuate their friendship and raise a fund for relieving the widows and orphans of those who had fallen during the war. The noted French Colonel LeEnfant designed the badge of the order. General Washington was for many years its President. VII VIII MEMORIALS OF THE HUGUENOTS. men of eminence, in proportion to their number, than any other nationality. So strongly marked were their characteristics that neither time nor amalgamation with other races has as yet extin- guished the traces of their high moral sentiments and love of liberty from the character of their descendants. This character is still a dominating force in our national life. The extremes of Huguenot theology may be modified by modern criticism. Its mistaken no- tions of a religio-civic government may give way to broader views, but its lofty spirit and high ideals can never perish because they are the basic elements of human progress.
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