Huguenots were French Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who followed the teachings of theologian John Calvin. France and other European counties during this period were seeking to forcibly convert Protestants back to Catholicism. To escape persecution, many members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France and southern Belgium (Wallonia) fled to the United Provinces of the Netherlands. French speaking Protestants from southern Belgium are commonly referred to as Walloons.

The Huguenot merchant referenced in the excerpt above is my 11th great-grandfather Jesse de Forest. Jesse was born in 1576 in France, fled to the Netherlands and died in the Guianas (north-central coast of South America) in 1624. His life was full of hardship, adventure and a quest for religious and economic freedom.

It is very likely that Jesse knew and met with the Pilgrim Fathers (Plymouth Colony) while he was residing in the municipality of Leiden in the Netherlands. He is also recognized as the the force behind the settlement by 30 Huguenot/Walloon families of present-day Manhattan by the West India Company in 1624.

The following excerpts weave an amazing story about the life of Jesse de Forest.

The petition mentioned in the excerpt above is referred to as the ‘Round Robin for Freedom‘. (Translated: “We promise my Lord Ambassador of the Most Serene King of Great Britain to go and inhabit in Virginia, a land under his Majesty’s obedience, as soon as conveniently may be, and this under the conditions to be carried out in the articles we have communicated to the said Ambassador, and not otherwise, on the faith of which we have unanimously signed this present with our sign manual.”

© David R. French and French in Name Only, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

In about 1685-6, my 8th g-grandparents Cornelis and Jannetje Doremus, emigrated to America from Holland, and settled at Acquackanonk (now Paterson), New Jersey.  Below is a brief biography details the life of Cornelis Doremus and his link to my paternal family line.  This is a new branch that has unearthed a number of new names for me to research: Van Voorhees, Romeijn, Lutkens, Berban, Jans, Terhune, Westervelt, Bogart, Van Houten, and Matthyseen. Many of the records that enabled these families to be identified are documented in the Records of the Reformed Dutch Church of Bergen, N. J. (now Jersey City). 

Cornelis Doremus and Jannetje Van Elslant My 8th paternal great-grandparents

7^th great-grandfather – Joris Doremus b. 1693 in Passaic, NJ d. 1733 in Preakness, NJ (Married Marretje Berdan)

6^th great-grandfather – John (Johannes) Doremus b. 1720 in Preakness, NJ d. 1784 NY (Married Maria Lutkens)

5^th great-grandmother – Maritje Doremus b. 1743 in Hackensack, NJ d. 1813 in Red Mills NJ (Married Albert Van Voorhees)

4^th great-grandmother – Ellen Lenah Van Voorhees b. 1784 in Arcola, NJ d. 1857 in New York (Married Lewis L. Conklin 1771-1828)

3rd great-grandmother – Maria Conklin b. 1818 in Bergen County, NJ d. 1899 in Milton, CT (Married Rev. Richard Thompson)

2nd great-grandmother – Ellen Jane Thompson b. 1845 in New Jersey d. 1924 in West Avon, CT (Married Edward G. Fowler)

Great-grandmother – Minnie Fowler b. 1868 in Bloomfield, CT d. 1957 in Bloomfield, CT (Married Samuel Spencer)

Paternal Grandmother  – Gladys Spencer b. 1898 in Bloomfield, CT d. 1984 in Hartford, CT (Married George French)

My Father – John S. French b. 1931 in Hartford, CT d. 2014 in Walnut Creek, CA

Comments, corrections and and suggestions appreciated.

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