USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Oxford > Memoir of the French Protestants, who settled at Oxford, in Massachusetts, A.D. MDCLXXXVI : with a sketch of the entire history of the Protestants of France > Part 1
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Gc 974. 402 0x2h 1746486
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01145 8186
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MEMOIR
OF THE
FRENCH PROTESTANTS
WHO SETTLED IN OXFORD, MASSACHUSETTS A. D. MDCLXXXVI
By Abiel Holmes
Worcester Magazine and Historical Journal
Vol.2,no.6
7
-
edenti
1746486
WORCESTER MAGAZINE.
AND
HISTORICAL JOURNAL.
VOL. II. OCTOBER, 1826. NO. 6.
MEMOIR OF THE FRENCH PROTESTANTS,
WHO SETTLED IN OXFORD, MASS. A. D. MDCLXXXVI.
BY ABIEL HOLMES, D. D.
WITH the permission of the Reverend and learned author, and through the kindness of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the editors have been permitted to copy the following notices from an interesting and elegant paper contained in the second volume of the third series of the "Historical Collections" now in the press, and still unpublished, entitled "A memoir of the French Protestants who settled at Oxford, Massachusetts, A. D. MDCLXXXVI. with a sketch of the entire history of the Protestants of France ; By ARIEL HOLMES, D. D. Cor. Sec'y Mass. Hist. Society."
The fact of the original settlement of the town of Oxford by the French em- igrants has been scarcely known among our citizens : they will feel much indebted to the ingenious writer, well known as the author of the Amer- ican Annals, for the interesting particulars, he has redeemed from oblivion. On collation of copies of the original MSS. a few alterations have been made in the names, as originally printed, by the direction of the author of the memoir.
After an interesting notice of the history and sufferings of the French Prot- estants in their native land the author proceeds thus :---
M. CLAUDE, a distinguished defender of the Reformed church referring to the " dragoons," who were sent to the Protestants to extort from them an abjuration, says : "They cast some into large fires, and took them out when they were half roasted. They hanged others with large ropes under the armpits, and plunged them several times into wells, till they promised to renounce their religion. They tied them, like criminals, on the rack and poured wine with a funnel into their mouths, till, being intoxicated, they declared that they consented to turn catholics. Some they slash- ed and cut with penknives ; others they took by the nose with red hot tongs, and led them up and down the rooms till they promised to turn catholics."
These tremendous cruelties compelled eight hundred thousand Protestants to quit the kingdom. The Protestants of other states
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FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN OXFORD.
and kingdoms opened their arms to receive them. Abbadie, An- cillon, and others fled to Berlin ; Basnage, Claude, Du Bosc, and many others, to Holland; Allix, with many of his brethren to Eng- land; very many families, to Geneva ; and no inconsiderable num- ber, to America.
It was while the storm was bursting upon them, in the year pre- ceding the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, that the Prostestants of Rochelle looked towards America, for an asylum. At an earlier period, indeed, they had applied to the Massachusetts government for this purpose ; and, although they did not then avail themselves of the liberty given them, they were now encouraged by the re- membrance of it. So early as the year 1662, "John Touton, a French doctor and inhabitant of Rochel in France, made application to the court" of Massachusetts, " in behalf of himself and other Protestants expelled from their habitations on account of their re- ligion, that they might have liberty to inhabit there, which was readily granted to them." Their state, it would seem, was toler- able at that time, and they endured it; but at the time of the rev- ocation, it was evidently insupportable. As they drew nigh that . crisis, there were harbingers of " the windy storm and tempest." A declaration against the Protestants in 1681, was the forerunner of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In 1682, the Assembly of the clergy of France issued a " warning to the pretended Reform- ed," for so they styled the Huguenots, " to return to the bosom of the church." This menace, with the portentous indications ac- companying and following it, must have been sufficient to warn the Protestants of the impending danger, and to incite them to concert measures for escaping it. The asylum which had been solicited and promised twenty years before, was again sought, and a renewed application made for it, in New England.
By a "Letter, written from Rochel, the 1st of October, 1684," to some person in Massachusetts, it appears, that some Protestants in that city were robbed, their temple razed, their ministers banish- ed, their goods confiscated, and a fine imposed ; that they were not allowed to become " masters in any trade or skill ;" that they were in daily expectation to have soldiers put in their houses, and their children taken from them. The writer observes, that this country, New England, was in such high estimation, that many Protestants were intending to come to it; inquires what advan- tage they can have here, and particularly " the boors," who were accustomed to agriculture ; and suggests, that the sending over of
347
FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN OXFORD.
a ship to transport the French Protestants, would be a profitable adventure.
Whether a vessel was sent, or not, we are unable to determine. The difficulty of escaping from the kingdom, by any means what- ever, must have been extreme, and attended with the utmost peril. Every attempt must have been made in the very face of the edict, which prohibited a departure from the realm on the severest penal- ties. One of the articles of the edict of revocation was : " And we do most straitly again repeat our prohibitions unto all our subjects of the pretended Reformed religion, that neither they nor their wives nor children do depart our kingdom, countries, or lands of our dominion, nor transport their goods and effects, on pain, for men so offending, of their being sent to the gallies, and of confisca- tion of bodies and goods for the women."
It is certain, however, that a considerable number of Protestants by some means effected their escape from France, and came over to America ; and authentic papers, in our possession, seem to im- ply, that their transportation and settlement were provided for by men of the first distinction in New England.
By the records of the town of Oxford, it appears, that, in the year 1682, the General Court of Massachusetts granted to Joseph Dudley, afterwards Governor of the province, William Stoughton, afterwards lieutenant governor and commander in chief, Major Robert Thompson, and their associates, a tract of land in the north- westerly part of the province, now known by the name of OXFORD, in the county of Worcester. This tract was " of eight miles square, and situated in the Nipmug country," so called from a tribe of Indi- ans, of that name, in its vicinity. Soon after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the proprietors " brought over thirty French Pro- testant families into this country, and settled them upon the eas- ternmost part or end of the said tract of land."* In an original MS. " Delineation of the town of Oxford," lying before me, it is laid out in lots in the names of the original proprietors. Between eleven and twelve thousand acres, at the east end, were " severed, granted, and set apart for a village called Oxford, for the said families."t
* Oxford Town Records. These Records, reciting the grounds of forfeit- ure in 1713, say : " The said Joseph Dudley and their associates in the year 168- brought over 30 French Protestant families," leaving the year uncer- tain. The Rev. Mr. Whitney, in his History of the County of Worcester, says, it was " in the year 1686."
+ See APPENDIX, B.
348
FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN OXFORD.
These imperfect notices are all that we have been able to dis- cover, of the time and the manner of the transportation of the French Protestants to New England. How long they continued on their plantation, what were their occupations, and what their pro- gress in improvements, we have not been able precisely to ascer- tain. It appears, however, that the united body of settlers continu- ed ten years at least, on the plantation ; that they erected fortifi- cations upon it ; that they sat up a grist mill and a malt mill ; that they planted vineyards and orchards-remains of which are still to be seen ; and that they acquired the right of representation in the provincial legislature. Of this last fact, the public records pre- serve the evidence ; for in the year 1693, an act was passed by the Massachusetts government, empowering Oxford to send a represen- tative to the General Court .*
Every thing concerning this interesting colony of exiles has hith- erto been learnt from tradition, with the illustrations derived from scanty records and original manuscripts. Many of these manuscripts, which are generally written in the French language, were in the possession of Mr. Andrew Sigourney, of Oxford, and the rest were principally procured by Mr. Sigourney for the compilation of this Memoir.t
The oldest Manuscript that I have seen, is an original paper, containing " Articles of Agreement between Caleb Church of Wa- tertown, mill-wright, and Gabriel Bernon of Boston, merchant," concluded in March, 1689, by which the said Church covenants, and agrees to " erect a corn or grist mill, in the village of Oxford." This instrument was sealed and delivered in presence of J. Ber- rand Du Tuffeau. " THO. DUDLEY."
Church's acknowledgment of a receipt " in full following our bargain," is signed at " Boston, 4th Februarii, 168 9_the witness- 90 es of which were Peter Basset and Gabriel Depont. The pa-
* Mr. Whitney, who takes a very slight notice of the French settlement in Oxford, mentions this act, as appearing " by the records in Secretary's of- fice of the Commonwealth."
+Mr. Andrew Sigourney is a descendant from the first of that name who was among the original French settlers of Oxford. To his kindness I am in- debted for nearly all my materials for this part of the Memoir. After giving me every facility at Oxford, in aid of my inquiries and researches, he made a journey to Providence for the sole purpose of procuring for me the Bernon pa- pers, which he brought to me at Cambridge. These papers were in the pos- session of Philip Allen, Esq. of Providence, who married into the Bernon fami- ly ; and who has since indulged me with the MSS. to the extent of my wishes.
349
FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN OXFORD.
per is endorsed, " Contract de Mr. Church pour le Moulin de New Oxford."
We can clearly trace the French plantation down to the year 1696 ; at which time it was broken up by an incursion of the Indi- ans. By original manuscripts, dated that year and at subsequent periods, it appears, that Gabriel Bernon, a merchant, of an ancient and respectable family in Rochelle, was undertaker for the Planta tion, and expended large sums for its accommodation and improve- ment. An original paper in French, signed at Boston, in 1696, by the principal settlers, certifies this fact in behalf of Mr. Bernon ; and subjoins a declaration, that the massacre of Mr. Johnson, and of his three children by the Indians was the melancholy cause of his losses, and of the abandonment of the place .*
Upon the dispersion of the French settlers from Oxford, it ap- pears, that many, if not most of them, came to Boston. From the distinction which many of the families attained in the metropolis it may be fairly inferred, that they approved themselves to the citizens, whose hospitality they experienced, and to whose encour- agement and patronage they must have been greatly indebted for their subsequent prosperity. They appear to have adhered to the principles, and, so far as they were able, to have maintained the institutions of religion, according to the Reformed church in France. It was for their religion that they suffered in their native country ; and to enjoy its privileges, unmolested, they fied into the wilderness. While at Oxford, they enjoyed the ministrations of a French Protestant minister.t Of their religious affairs, however, we have no distinct account, until their settlement in Boston, after the Indian Massacre in 1696.
It is well known that the French refugees had a church of their own in Boston, where they, for many years, attended divine service. The Rev. Peter Daille was their first minister; and he was highly esteemed. He was succeeded by the Rev. Andrew Le Mercier, who is described as " a worthy character." He was the author of " The Church History of Geneva, and a Political and Geographi- cal Account of that Republic," printed at Boston, in 1732. By in- termarriages and otherwise, it appears that, in process of time, the French families became so blended with the other inhabitants of the town, as to render a separate and distinct religious service ei- ther unnecessary, or impracticable ; for, in the life time of Mr.
* See APPENDIX, C.
1See APPENDIX, D.
350
FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN OXFORD.
Le Merceir, their church was, for some years, unoccupied, and at length, sold for the use of a new Congregational church .*
Whether the French exiles never dared to return to the plan- tation from which they fled in such terror and dismay, or whether they became so advantageously settled in Boston as not to wish to return, or whatever were the cause, they never did, as a body re- turn to Oxford. Permanent inhabitance, it may be presumed, had been a condition of the grant; for the lands of that township re- verted to the original proprietors. By the Records of the town, under the date of 1713, it appears that the French settlers had " many years since wholly left and deserted their settlements in the said village ;" that, upon public proclamation, they had refused to return; and that most of them had voluntarily surrendered their lands. The proprietors having recited these facts, and farther stat- ed, that " there were sundry good families of her majesty's subjects within this province, who offer themselves to go'and resettle the said village, whereby they may be serviceable to the province, and the end and design of the original grant aforesaid be answered and attained," proceed to grant and convey these lands to several persons and others, their associates, " so as their number amount to thirty at least." The instrument of this conditional grant is dated the 8th of July, 1713. The requisite number of associates was ob- tained; and, about a year and a half after the above date, a distri- bution was made by lot among the thirty families.1
There are but few relicks, or memorials, of the French settle- ment, now to be found in Oxford. Of these the most interesting are to be seen on a very high hill which lies in the southwest part of the town, and commands a beautiful and extensive prospect. The village of Oxford beneath, and the rural scenery around, are delightful. The hill is about a mile south of that part of the vii- lage, at which is the junction of two great roads leading from Bos- ton, one through Westborough and Sutton, and the other through Marlborough and Worcester; and, after uniting in one at Oxford, passing through Dudley, Woodstock, Brooklyn, and other towns, to Norwich, in Connecticut. It is called Mayo's Hill, and sometimes Fort Hill, from a fort, built on its summit by the French Pro- testants. The farm, on which the remains of the fort are, is owned by Mr. John Mayo, whose grandfather, of Roxbury, was the original purchaser. The fort is a few rods from the dwelling house. It was evidently constructed in the regular form, with bas- * See APPENDIX, E. t See APPENDIX, F.
351
FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN OXFORD.
tions, and had a well within its enclosure. Grape vines, in 1819, were growing luxuriantly along the line of the fort; and these, to- gether with currant bushes, roses, and other shrubbery, nearly formed a hedge around it. There were some remains of an apple orchard. The current and asparagus were still growing there. These, with the peach, were of spontaneous growth from the French plantation ; but the last of the peach trees were destroyed by the memorable gale of 1815.
Of the French refugees, who settled in the other American colonies, we have but imperfect accounts. It is well known that many of them, at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and after- wards, settled in New York, Virginia, and Carolina .*
New Rochelle, in the state of New York, was settled by French Protestant emigrants from Rochelle, in France. A French Protes- tant Episcopal church was founded in the city of New York by the French Huguenots, soon after the Revocation. Between these re- fugees and those who came to Massachusetts, it appears by the Bernon papers, there was some correspondence. The historian of New York, about the middle of the last century, says, " The French church, by the contentions in 1724, and the disuse of the lauguage, is now reduced to an inconsiderable handful. The build- ing, which is of stone, nearly a square, plain both within and with- out. It is fenced from the street, has a steeple and a bell, the lat- ter of which was the gift of Sir Henry Ashurst of London."t M. Pierre Antonie Albert was a rector of this church in our day. He died in 1806, in the forty first year of his age.
In 1690, king William sent a large body of French Protestants to Virginia ; to whom were assigned lands on the banks of James river, which they soon improved into excellent estates.
Among the colonies in America, which reaped advantage from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Carolina had a large share. Many of the French refugees, having purchased lands from the proprietors, embarked with their families for that colony, and proved to be some of its best and most industrious inhabitants. *See NOTE V.
tSmith's New York. On the front of the church is the following inserp- tion :
ÆDES SACRA GALLOR. PROT. REFORM. FVNDA. 1704. PENITVS REPAR. 1741,
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FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN OXFORD.
These purchasers made a settlement on Santec river; others, who were merchants and mechanics, took up their residence in Charles- ton, and followed their different occupations. Carolina had be- gun to be settled but fifteen years before the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes; and these new settlers were a great acquisition io that colony.f It is worthy of remark, that. more than a century before, Admiral Coligny had attempted a settlement of French Pro- testants in the territory now called Carolina, then Florida; and that, at length, under the auspices of the English, this same country became an asylum for them, as it had been originally intended by Coligny.
It should heighten our respect for the French emigrants, and our interest in their history, to be reminded of the distinguished services, which their descendants have rendered to our country, and to the cause of civil and religious liberty. Gabriel Manigault, of South Carolina, assisted this country, which had been the asylum of his parents, with a loan of $220,000 for carrying on its revolu- tionary struggle for liberty and independence, This was done at an early period of the contest, when no man was certain, whether it would terminate in a revolution or rebellion." Of the nine presidents of the old congress, which conducted the United States through the revolutionary war, three were descendants of French Protestant refugees, who had emigrated to America in consequence of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. These were, Henry Laurens, of South Carolina, John Jay, of New York, and Elias Boudinot, of New Jersey.
ADDITIONAL NOTICES.
The lapse of a century since the resettlement of Oxford, by the ancestors of its present inhabitants, has nearly obliterated the re- membrance of the fact of its original settlement by the French. A river, which runs through the town, does indeed bear up their name; but why it was so called, if known there, is scarcely known in the vicinity. The river runs about three quarters of a mile west of the great road that leads over Oxford plain, and falls into the Quinebaug in the town of Thompson, in Connecticut. The Quinebaug I had known from early life, as passing through Ox- ford, and Thompson, and joining the Shetucket at Norwich; but
*Smith Hist. New York. Allen's Biog. Dict. Art. ALBERT. Beverly's Hist. of Virginia. Hewatt's S. Carolina, i. 94. Ramsay's Hist. S. Carolina, i. 10.
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FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN OXFORD.
this smaller stream, the bridge over which is at a considerable distance below the village of Oxford, had not attracted my particu- lar notice. In passing it, nine years ago, seeing a boy near the bridge, I asked him, What is the name of this river? "French river," he replied. Why, I asked, is it called French river ? "I believe," said he, " there was some French people once here"- pointing up the stream. On my arrival at the village, I inquired of Mr. Campbell, the innkeeper, who gave me sufficient information on the subject to excite farther inquiry, and to render all the sub- sequent labor of investigation delightful. Mr. Campbell was of the family of the Rev. Mr. Campbell, formerly a respectable minister of Oxford. Having married a daughter of Mrs. Butler, who was a descendant of one of the French settlers, he referred me for in- formation to his wife, who after telling me all that she knew, refer- red me to her mother. I waited upon Mrs. Butler, who obligingly told me all that she could recollect concerning the French emigrants.
Mrs. Butler was the wife of Mr. James Butler, who lives near the first church in Oxford; and, when I saw her, was in the seven- ty-fifth year of her age. Her original name was Mary Sigourney. She was a granddaughter of Mr. Andrew Sigourney, who came over when young, with his father, from Rochelle. Her grand- mother's mother died on the voyage, leaving an infant of only six months (who was the grandmother of Mrs. Butler,) and another daughter, Mary Cazneau, who was then six years of age. The in- formation which Mrs. Butler gave me, she received from her grandmother, who lived to about the age of eighty-three, and from her grandmother's sister, who lived to the age of ninety-five or ninety six years.
Mrs. Butler's Reminiscences.
The refugees left France, in 1684, or 1685,* with the utmost trepidation and precipitancy. The great grandfather of Mrs. But- ler, Mr. Germaine, gave the family notice that they must go. They came off with secrecy, with whatever clothes they could put upon the children, and left the pot boiling over the fire. When they arrived at Boston, they went directly to Fort Hill, where they were provided for ; and there they continued until they went to Oxford. They built one fort on Mayo's hill, on the east side of French river; and, tradition says, another fort on the west side, Mrs. Butler believed, they had a minister with them.
* Mrs. Butler's account was entirely verbal, according to her recollection. Mrs. Butler died in 1823, Ætat. LXXXI.
VOL. II. 44
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FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN OXFORD.
Mrs. Johnson, the wife of Mr. Johnson who was killed by the Indians in 1696, was a sister of the first Andrew Sigourney. Her husband, returning home from Woodstock while the Indians were massacring his family, was shot down at his own door. Mr. Sig- ourney, hearing the report of the guns, ran to the house, and seiz- ing his sister, pulled her out at a back door, and took her over French river, which they waded through, and fled towards Wood- stock, where there was a garrison. The Indians killed the chil- dren, dashing them against the jambs of the fire-place.
Mrs. Butler thinks, the French were at Oxford eighteen or nineteen years. Her grandmother who was brought over an infant, was married, and had a child, while at Oxford. This fact would lead us to believe that the Sigourney family returned to Oxford after the fear of the Indians had subsided. It is believed in Oxford, that a few families did return. These families may have returned again to Boston in about nineteen years from the time of their first set tlement in Oxford, agreeably to Mrs. Butler's opinion ; in which case, the time coincides with that of the erection of the first French church in Boston, 1704-5. Mr. Andrew Sigourney, who furnished the written materials for this Memoir, still lives on or near the place that was occupied by his ancestors.
Mrs. Butler lived in Boston until the American revolution, and soon afterwards removed to Oxford. Her residence in both places rendered her more familiar with the history of the emigrants than she would have been, had she resided exclusively in either. She says, they prospered in Boston, after they were broken up at Ox- ford. Of the memorials of the primitive plantation of ber ances- tors she had been very observant, and still cherished a reverence. for them. Mrs. Shumway, of French extraction, living near the Johnson house, showed her the spot where the house stood, and some of its remains. Col. Jeremiah Kingsbury, about fifty-five years of age [1817,] has seen the chimney and other remains of that house. His mother, aged about eighty-four years, told Mrs. Butler that there was a burying place, called " The French Bury- ing Ground," not far from the fort at Mayo's Hill. She herself re- members to have seen many graves there.
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