 | Old churches, ministers and families of Virginia |  |
THE FONTAINE AND MAURY FAMILIES.
In connection with these notices of the Manakin settlement,
some account of the Fontaines and Maurys may very properly
come in, not merely because they were descendants of the Huguenots,
but because one of them—the Rev. Francis Fontaine—was at
one time its minister. Whoever would see a full and most interesting
account of the ancestors of these families must examine
that deeply-touching history of them, entitled "The Huguenot
Family," prepared by the Rev. Dr. Hawks and Miss Ann Maury,
of New York. I can only briefly refer to some of the children
and grandchildren of those remarkable persons, James Fontaine
and his wife, who were so signally rescued from destruction on the
coast of Ireland. Their five sons and two daughters were well
educated. John entered the army, and came over to this country
to explore it for his brother. He returned, and with Morris remained
in England. Peter, Francis, and James settled in Virginia.
Peter became minister first, for one year, at Weynoake, Martins
Brandon, and Jamestown, then settled in Westover parish. Francis
lived for one year at Manakintown, then settled in York-Hampton.
Their sister, Anne Fontaine, married Strother Maury,
from Gascony, in England. They came to Virginia, and settled in
King William. Their son, James Maury, was ordained in 1742,
and was for one year minister in King William county, then went
to Louisa to Fredericksville parish, which was afterward added in
part to Albemarle. He married a daughter of Mr. Walker, of
Albemarle. He had numerous sons and daughters, of whom more
hereafter. His son Matthew succeeded his father as minister.
I will now speak more particularly of those Huguenots who settled
in Virginia. As early as the year 1660 some few came over,
fleeing from the earlier persecutions. They were sufficient in
number to induce an Act of the Assembly granting them the privilege
of citizens. Toward the close of the century we read of some
settling themselves on the Rappahannock. In the year 1790, so
many had settled on the south side of James River, in Henrico
county, (which was then on both sides of the river,) that the Assembly
passed an act giving them a large tract of land along the
river as their possession, exempting them from all county and
State taxes for seven years, and then extending the privilege indefinitely.
They were required to support their own minister in
their own way. Accordingly, in dividing the grant into farms, all
running down to the river in narrow slips, a portion of the most
valuable was set apart for the minister, and continued for a long
time to be in possession and use of the minister, while one was
resident in the parish, and after that to be rented out, and the
proceeds paid for such occasional services as were rendered by
neighbouring ministers. At length, as it could not be seized and
alienated by the act for selling the glebes, it got into private hands,
and has been thus held for many years. As service is now regularly
held in the old church in Manakintown settlement, it is believed
that the glebe originally consecrated to the support of a
minister will be restored to its first design and long use. The
service of the Episcopal Church was used, and sermons preached
for some time in both French and English, as some of both nations
attended the church at Manakin.[127]
In the year 1714 a list of the
little Colony was sent to England of men, women, and children,
amounting to nearly three hundred. The list is before me. The
minister was the Rev. Jean Caison. In the year 1728 the Rev.
Mr. Niern, who had been their minister for a year or two, left them
and took with him to London a letter showing that there had never
been more than thirty tithables in the parish, and that they could
not support a minister by themselves. Dr. Hawks speaks of a body
of six hundred coming over with their minister, Philippe de Richebourg,
and settling there. It may be that these are the same of
whom we read as first settling at Manakin and then moving to
South Carolina. I have the old register of baptisms, &c. of this
continuing to 1753, from which it would appear that a Rev. Mr.
Fontaine was minister in 1720 and 1721, baptizing a child by the
name of Morris, establishing that to be a Huguenot name. In
the year 1726 a Mr. Murdock, minister of St. James Northam,
Goochland, officiated by baptizing at Manakin. In the year 1727
the Rev. Mr. Brooke, of Hanover, did the same. In that same
year and the next Mr. Niern was the minister. In the year during
which Mr. Niern went to England Mr. Massamm was minister. In
the years 1728 and 1729 the Revs. Mr. Swift and Deter baptized.
In the years 1731 and 1732 the Rev. Mr. Marye was minister. In
the year 1739 the Rev. Mr. Gavin baptized in the parish. From
the year 1750 to 1780 the Rev. Mr. Douglass, of Goochland, and
other ministers around, occasionally served it. After this the Rev.
Mr. Hopkins, of Goochland, was their minister. Since the revival
of the Church in Virginia, it has been partially supplied by various
other ministers to the present time, when the Rev. Mr. Tizzard, of
Chesterfield, is the pastor, in connection with the Church in Chesterfield.
One thing is worthy of remark in relation to the baptisms
in this parish,—that those of the negro children are far more in
number than those of the whites. Their names are regularly registered.
This shows their sense of duty as to the religious dedication
of the children of Africa. To the foregoing brief statistics I cannot
forbear adding the following extract from a letter received
from one of the descendants of the family of Dupuys. She writes:—
"From notes written at the base of our ancestral tree I copy the following:—`Bartholomew
Dupuy (my paternal Huguenot ancestor) in 1650
or 1653. At eighteen years of age he entered the army, where his intelligence
and fidelity soon won him the confidence of the King, Louis
XIV., who promoted him at an early age to be an officer in his household
guard. He so far trusted and honoured him as often to select him to
perform duties so important as to require his own signature to some of the
orders. One of these papers was the means under God of saving this
officer and his wife from arrest and most probably from death. But a
short time before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he married a
Countess (Susannah Lavillon) and retired to his villa for a short respite
from his military duties. Very soon after his retirement, they were called
on by one of the King's messengers, who communicated the startling intelligence
that the revocation of the Edict of Nantes was to take immediate
effect, and that he had been sent by the King from motives of esteem to
save him and his wife from the impending fate of all heretics. He urged
their submission (that is, their renunciation of the Protestant faith) with
all his eloquence, and with all his promises of great benefits from the King
if they would show them fidelity by obeying their orders. Dupuy replied
that the demand was so sudden and important that he would beg a few
and he would grant it cheerfully. As soon as he had retired, Dupuy sent
for the village tailor, and asked whether he could have a suit of livery
made for his page in six hours. He replied in the affirmative, and at
midnight they were completed and delivered. In this suit he immediately
disguised his wife as his page, and putting on his best uniform, and girding
on his sword, took what money and jewels they had, together with a
few clothes and their Bibles and Psalm-Books, and, mounting two good
horses, set out for the frontier of the kingdom. They travelled either fourteen
or eighteen days, and, though stopped almost daily, always escaped
by saying that he was the King's officer, until near the line, when he was
arrested. He showed the officer the paper with the King's signature; and,
immediately snatching it back, he drew his sword and fiercely asked by
what authority he was thus insulted, and demanding an escort for his protection
to the line, which was immediately granted. On their safe arrival
the guard was dismissed, and, crossing over into Germany, they there
sang the praises of God in the fortieth Psalm, and offered up prayers and
thanksgivings to their great Deliverer for their escape from a cruel death.
They remained in Germany fourteen years, then stayed two years in England,
from whence they came to America in the year 1700, and settled at
Manakintown, on James River, in King William parish. The sword
used by Bartholomew Dupuy while in France is now in possession of Dr.
John James Dupuy, of Prince George, and was used by his grandfather,
James Dupuy, Sr., of Nottoway, at the battle of Guilford, where he signalized
himself.' "
From the family of Dupuys I have gotten the old church register,
which, though rotten and torn and in fragments, has been kept
so as to enable me to obtain the statistics given in this article.
The foregoing account of the escape of Bartholomew Dupuy and
his wife is a true picture of the methods resorted to by the persecuted
Huguenots to fly from the kingdom. Nothing now remains
but that I mention the names of those families still remaining in
Virginia who derive their descent from the Huguenots. From
information coming through books and individuals they are as
follows:—Marye, Fontaine, Dupuy, Harris, Sublett, Watkins,
Markam, Sully, Chasteen, Duvall, Bondurant, Flournoy, Potter,
Michaux, Pemberton, Munford, Hatcher, Jaqueline, Bernard,
Barraud, Latane, Moncure, Agie, Amouet, Chadouin, Dibrell,
Farrar, Fuqua, Jeter, Jordan, Jouette, Le Grand, Ligon, Maupin,
Maxey, Pasteur, Perrou, Thweatt, Maury, Boisseau, Fouche, Lanier,
Le Neve. Concerning a few of these it may be questioned whether
they be not of Welsh descent, while there are doubtless others who
might be added.
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