Pierre de La Vallade was the Protestant pastor of the Reformed Church in Fontenay-le-Comte from 1603 until his death in 1633. He might be a relation of our ancestor, Charles Lavalade of Lisburn but this is, as yet, inconclusive. The fact that Pierre de La Vallade was not a nobleman makes it unlikely that Charles Lavalade was a close relative.
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.com/2011/08/more-on-pierre-and-bertrand-de-la.html
Pierre de La Vallade came from the Languedoc and was a protestant pastor in Bergerac. On the 14th September 1603, the Protestants of Fontenay, on the advice of the lawyer, Hilaire Vernede, dispatched Pierre Béreau of la Marchetiere, and Dr.Francois Miziere, to ask him to take over the duties of minister at Fontenay, which request Pierre accepted in 1603.
In 1607, the Third Synod of Rochelle stated that...'Monsieur de la Vallade is confirmed in his ministry unto the Church of Fontinay, unto which he was formerly presented, nor shall the Province of Guyenne or Bergerac claim any right to recall him; and this Decree passed without any opposition from the Deputies of the said Church and Province, who declared they had no Commission to redemand him. So that all Agreements and Covenants betwixt the said Vallade and his Father and the said church are ratified and become perpetual. However, this Assembly doth not approve of that form in which they be drawn up, especially with reference unto the Moneys, which they pretend to have furnished him and in case the Church of Bergerac should demand him, the Provincial Synod of Xaintonge is impowered with Authority to determine finally of him, and all matters between him and them.'
(From 'Syndicon in Gallia Reformata' by John Quick, Minister of the Gospel in London, 1692.)
Benjamin Fillon, who wrote several texts on the history of Fontenay, maintained that Pierre de La Vallade was related to Bertrand de La Vallade, advisor to the King of Navarre, and whose family had followed the Kings of Navarre to their seat in Nerac.
In the ‘Revue, Scientifique et Literaire - 1875’ the writer of ‘Controverses Religieuses - De La Vallade’ added a paragraph to the bottom of the page:
‘This family had come to Poitou following the Princes of Navarre and Condé. One can see a Jean de la Vallade, commissioned by the princes to receive the funds resulting from the sale of the ecclesiastical institutions of Lucon and Maillezais….this Jean de la Vallade was perhaps the father of the pastor (ie:Pierre de la Vallade), and was certainly related to Bertrand de la Vallade.’
Pierre de la Vallade published a number of texts which virulently attacked the local Catholic clerics, including Cardinal Richelieu who was the bishop of Lucon at that time; this book was placed on the Index by the Catholic church. In 1620, at a debate between the Catholic clerics and Pierre de la Vallade in Fontenay, La Vallade worked his supporters up to such a degree that a riot ensued; luckily no one died as a result.
In 1626, Pierre de La Vallade represented Fontenay at the National Synod of the Reformed Church at Castres. It was decided that 'the hand of God having weighed down Vallade, while he was visiting the town of Castres', a quarter of the sum of ten thousand livres, which had been donated to the assemble by the Province of Anjou, would be paid to Mr.Vallade to help him in his illness. The sum donated was not to be entered into the accounts books, and M.Couper was ordered to advance the money to him. (This info from 'Tous Les Synodes Nationaux Des Églises Réformées de France, Vol. 2')
In 1608, Pierre de La Vallade married Louise Billaud, the daughter of Pierre Billaud, of Moulin Billaud, and Francoise Delespée.
The couple had four children - an unnamed child, Renée, Elisée, and Jean.
The Children of Pierre de La Vallade:
Jean de La Vallade of La Merlaudiere who was a lawyer in parliament, and an elder of the church in Fontenay from 1657 - 1663, and who attended the Synod of Chatellerault in 1663. In 1681 he was living on the outskirts of Fontenay at St.Germain de Princay. Jean died at some time between 1681 and 1684; it is known that the descendants of Pierre de La Vallade suffered much at the time of the revocation.
Jean married Marie Thubin on 22 September 1646. Marie had been born circa 1618 to Charles Thubin of Chandoré, near Xanton outside of Fontenay, and to Marie de Vernede. Charles Thubin was a parliamentary lawyer like his son-in-law.
Jean de La Vallade’s wife, Marie, died on 30th June 1684 aged 66.
Elisee de La Vallade, esquire, married Marie Genays, and had an unnamed child who was baptised on 9th June 1647 and whose godparents were named as the nobleman Isaac Gaudin and Miss Marie LeBloy.
From an official list of people who were condemned as false nobles in 1668 and 1670, we see Elisée de la Vallade and Jean de la Vallade, both of Xanton, and both of them declared to be common peasants. (Roturiers.) Elisée was fined 500 livres, as was his brother’s father-in-law, Pierre Billaud, the lord of Moulin Billaud. Élisée de La Vallade had bought an office - the office of maitre d'hotel du Roi - which brought with it the temporary status of noble; following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, he had probably been excluded from the post because of his religion and had, therefore, lost his noble status as a result.
Jean and Elisée’s sister, Renée de La Vallade, was noted as a godmother to her nephew, Jean, in 1649; nothing is known of the fourth sibling.
The Children of Jean de La Vallade and Marie Thubin:
Jean was born 25th December 1648 and was baptised 24th February 1649 at Fontenay; his godparents were Elie Thubin of Hauteroche and his aunt Renée de La Vallade.
Louise de La Vallade, baptised 6th February 1656; the godparents were Jacques Easmes, esquire, of Lugre, and Miss Marie de Congnac, the wife of Philippe Agroué of La Tourteliere. Louise de La Vallade married the Catholic, Claude Lamoys, sieur de La Grange, on 12th November 1687. Claude Lemoys had been born in about 1653 and died at Pissotte on 22nd May 1692 aged 38. He was the son of Claude Lemoys and Catherine Berland.
Louise de La Vallade, who stayed in France despite the dangers, at the time of the revocation, was close to the Genays family, and the suffering of this part of the family was documented in ‘Histoire des Protestants et des Eglises Reformées du Poitou’ by A.F. Lievre:
Elie Genays du Chail had earlier converted to Catholicism in order to win the hand in marriage of a wealthy heiress, Marie Cardin. He convinced his wife to secretly convert and to rear their children in the Protestant faith. He fell gravely ill in 1673, however, and, wishing to clear his conscience, he declared his faith to both the president of Fontenay and to the local minister, who was duly arrested and thrown in jail in Poitiers for four months. Genays du Chail himself was put under house arrest, and,as he was dying, was contantly persecuted by the monks, the authorities and his own Catholic mother-in-law, who were desperate to bring about his final conversion. He died having declared before two public notaries that he wished to be buried in the Protestant cemetery. The authorities forbid his family to bury him in either a Protestant or a Catholic cemetery; his widow, who was secretly attending communion in La Rochelle from time to time, was allowed to rear their children herself, provided she promised to raise them in the Catholic faith. This she refused to do, and, having been disinherited by her wealthy mother, and having risked losing her children to the Jesuits who threatened to take them from her, she managed to escape to England in 1681 with five of them. The oldest son, Michel-Élie Genays, stayed behind to try and rescue his inheritance, but was thrown into the Bastille in 1711.
Two of the Genay children returned to France a few years later - Jacques-Venant and his sister, Francoise Genays who married the sieur de la Guimeniere, but she was deported again, under pain of death, in 1688. Her property was confiscated and given to the Genay family of Gourdeau, and to her niece, Louise de La Vallade who lived at Pissotte. It was thought that Louise had converted to Catholicism, but police reports suggest that she had done no such thing.
The oldest daughter of Jean de la Vallade and Marie Thubin was Suzanne de la Vallade who was born on 22nd December 1646 and was baptised on 26th February 1647 at Fontenay. Her godparents were Etienne Thubin and Suzanne Charrieu. Suzanne de la Vallade married Louis de Gorron, esquire, of La Maison Rouge and of Thénies (at La Chapelle Saint-Laurent); in 1667, they were living at Saint-Germain de Princay.
Suzanne de la Vallade and her husband, Louis Gorron de la Thénies, appear in many records.
In ‘Inventaire analytique des archives du château de La Barre, Volume 1’ by Alfred Richard, Suzanne de la Vallade is mentioned as one of the witnesses to the marriage contract of Louis-Charles Gourjault and one of the Thubin family, Suzanne des Moullins:
‘Louis-Charles Gourjault, chev., sgr de La Grangerie, Cls de Pierre Gourjault, chev., sgr du May, avec Suzanne des Moulins, iille de Daniel des Moullins, sgr de La Tour, et de Françoise Thubin; le futur, de l'avis d'Anne Gourjault, dame de La Maisonrouge, sa tante, de Lucien Gorron, chev., sgr de Thorcy, d'Auguste et de Marc-Antoine de Gorron, ses cousins-germains, et la future de l'avis de Jacques-Charles des Moullins, éc, son frère, de mss. Le Francq, chev., sgr du Plessis, de Philippe Le Francq, chev., sgr des Martinières, ses cousinsgermains , d'Etienne Thubin de Chandoué, chev., sgr de La Bionnière, et de Suzanne de La Vallade, sa cousine-germaine; par suite de ce contrat ladite Gourjault reçoit pour dot sa part de La Guarangerie, la métairie de Darlay,une cabane dans l'île de Maillé, des salines dans l'île de Ré, une borderie à La Lande, etc ; — la copie des lettres de bénéfice d'âge accordées en 1721 à Perside, âgée de 21 ans, et à Charles-Honoré Gourjault, âgé de 18 ans, et la séparation 'de corps et de biens de Suzanne Gourjault, d'avec Jacques Richier-Garnier, son mari.’
Louis de Gorron de la Thénies was the son of Louis Gorron, esquire, who died in 1667. Both Louis and his widowed mother had their noble status confirmed by the local official, Monsieur Barentin, at this time. Louis was given the ‘chatellerie’ of la Thénie by Jacques de Gourjault, and the name ‘Thénies’ or ‘Thénie’ would later be used as his surname instead of ‘Gorron’.
Louis de Gorron de Thénies joined the army of William of Orange and served in Col. Cambon’s Regiment of Foot. The records in London mention him many times:
'Passes and post warrant for Nicholas Domerling to go to Harwich and Holland; for George Carne, ditto; for Matthew Weddell, ditto [S.P. Dom. Warrant Book 37, p. 122]; for Peter Maurin and John his son, ditto; for Capt. la Cherois and Capt. Thenie, ditto; for Stephen Howell, ditto [Ibid., p. 123]; and for Peter Lombart, ditto [Ibid., p. 123]; for Mr Joseph Anthony, Mr. Lawrence Southey, and Samuel Hopping, a servant, to go to Holland; and for Catherine Cumberford and her two children to go to Flanders [Ibid. 38, p. 331].' (Aug 12 1693. Calendars State Papers.)
‘Sept. 25.1693.
Whitehall.Commissions for Gabriel Brocas de la Motte, gentleman, to be lieutenant of the company whereof Capt. Lewis de Garron de Thenie is captain in the regiment of foot lately commanded by BrigadierGeneral Francis du Cambon; for Francis Gilbert de la Motte, gentleman, to be ensign to Capt. Daniel de Virasel in the same regiment [H.O. Military Entry Book 2, p. 385.’
'Nov. 25.1693 (State Papers W & M)
Whitehall.Commissions for Francis Joly de Ternac, gent., to be ensign to Capt. Jeremiah Bancon in the regiment of foot commanded by William Frederick Count de Marlou; and for James de Crosat, gent., to be ensign to Capt. Lewis de Thenie, in the same regiment. [H.O. Military Entry Book 3, p. 137.]'
His name appears in ‘English Army Lists and Commission Registers, 1661-1714, Vol 3.’
Lewis de Garron de Thenie, to be Capt. Vice de Feron.in Col.Cambon’s Regt. Of Foot.
Footnote stated that Thenie was out of the regiment in Nov. 1693.
A later entry from 1693 states that Gabriel Brocas de la Motte was to be lieutenant to Thenie and that Thenie would be vice.captain to Thos..St. Leger de Bacalan.
Capt. De la Cherroy (Cherois) was also named in the regiment.
It is interesting to see Louis de Gorron de la Thénie travelling from London to Holland in the company of Daniel de la Cherois in 1693. In 1699, Daniel de la Cherois married into the Crommelin family when he wed Marie-Angelique Crommelin in the French Church of Swallow Street in London; Marie-Angelique was the daughter of Marie-Angelique Crommelin, who was herself the daughter of Abraham Crommelin of Saint Quentin and Marie Boileau of Paris.
Daniel de la Cherois served alongside Louis de Gorron de la Thénies in Colonel Cambon’s Regiment of Foot; his brothers, Nicholas and Bourjonval, served with him.
In 1689, William, Prince of Orange, being called to the throne of Great Britain, formed two regiments of the French Huguenots, of which Nicholas de la Cherois was appointed major, Daniel captain, and Bourjonval lieutenant. Bourjonval was killed in the war, but both Nicholas and Daniel later settled in Lisburn.
Of course, this Crommelin connection is interesting, since the sister of the Lisburn pastor, Charles Lavalade, Madeleine, had also married into the same family when she married Alexander Crommelin, and had moved likewise to Lisburn.
I also came across Louis de Gorron de la Thénie’s name in the snippets of a Dutch book - in Dutch - called ‘Nederlands archief voor kerkgeschiedenis Volumes 57-58’ which details the archives of the church in the Netherlands from this time; a date of 1692 appears in one snippet. The name of Louis de Gorron de la Thénie appears along with other French names -the noble Louis Lévesque de la Boisliniere, Jean Valat, Louis Rigaud and a Francois Hélies who had represented Fontenay at the provincial synod at Thouars in 1682. Also present was a M.De La Valade, who was most likely a relation of Louis's wife, Suzanne.
Both Suzanne and her husband, Louis, moved to Ireland - but no address is noted - where Louis was in receipt of a pension for a year or two, but Suzanne is later noted as being in receipt of a widow’s pension:
‘List of Persons to be Pensioned [In Ireland]. These persons to be paid monthly or quarterly on appearance or sending certificates to shew they are alive, and not otherwise employed. Pensions to commence from 24 June, 1702.
Thenie….5d per day.’
(From Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Anne 1702)
Pensioners who have not served and Officers' widows on the foot of Charity:
Susanna Thenie….£45 12s 6d. (Treasury Books 1717)
The Treasury Book of 1718 mentions that Susanne Thenie was in receipt of a pension in Ireland:
‘A List of French Pensioners: to be paid monthly upon their personal appearance; or, if absent, to be paid quarterly upon authentic certificates of their being alive and in no employment.
Susan Thenie ….£45 per annum (From Treasury Books 1714 -1715)
Showing posts with label La Valade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label La Valade. Show all posts
Jacques Dubourdieu - A Red Herring!
The sister of the pastor of Lisburn, Charles de la Valade, had been married to Jacques Dubourdieu who was killed in France at the time of the Revocation. This was the woman who had escaped from France disguised as a peasant carrying her infant son, Jean, with her.
I've repeatedly said that this Jacques Dubourdieu had been living in Blaye north of Bordeaux at the time of his death but I think William J. Dubourdieu, who wrote the definitive book on the Dubourdieu family, may have been mistaken here. He was using information from the Ulster Journal of 1854, which had wrongly interpreted information from the 3rd Synod of Charenton, reading Jacques' parish church incorrectly as, firstly 'Blangar', then, secondly, as 'Blangee', neither of which actually exist. William Dubourdieu then surmised that this was actually a reference to 'Blaye'.
However, thanks to the internet, the original information is now online. I scrolled through 'Tous Les Synodes Nationaux de l'Eglise Réformée de France, Volume 2' to take a good look at the entry for the Third Synod of Charenton (which took place in 1644) and this is the entry which caused all the confusion....
'Pour la Province de Bas Languedoc, les Sieurs Jean de Croi, Pasteur de l'Eglise de Beziers; Abraham de Lare, Pasteur de l'Eglise de Canvisson; Messire Marc Dardouin, Seigneur de la Calmette, Ancien de l'Eglise de Nimes; & Messire Jacques de Brueis, Seigneur de Bourdie, Ancien de l'Eglise de Blanzac.'
Furthermore, although Jacques de Brueis, seigneur de Bourdie sounds as if it's an archaic spelling of Jacques Dubourdieu, it seems that this is a completely different individual altogether!
I browsed through 'Dictionnaire de la Noblesse' by Aubert de la Chesnaye-Desbois and Francois Alexandre, 1699 - 1784, and read the following:
'Jean de Banne, seigneur de Montgros, sole heir if his mother in 1632, and of his father in 1636. He made his will on 18th February 1654, wished to be buried in the Protestant cemetery, and died at BLAUZAC on the 24th of February 1654. He married, firstly, Suzanne de Rosel, who died without children; and, secondly, on the 14th of August 1649, Gabrielle de Chabas, the daughter of the nobleman, Daniel, and of his wife, Diane de Brueis.'
Blauzac can be found just north of the Provencal town of Nimes, and the records show the name 'de Brueis' to be plentiful there.
The genealogy of the de Brueis family can be seen in 'Pieces Fugitives Pour Servir a l'Histoire de France' which also shines a spotlight on Jacques de Brueis himself.
'Denis de Brueis, Sgr de BOURDIC, married Alexandrine Borde, and they had Jacques de Brueis, Seigneur de Bourdic.'
The town of Bourdic - which had been misspelled as 'Bourdie' in the synod records - is 3kms away from Blauzac, the town which had caused so much confusion.
I also stumbled across the same Jacques de Brueis, along with one of the de Chievres de la Valade family, living in Holland and participating in one of the Protestant Walloon churches there following the Revocation of 1685. Did I write down the name of the book I discovered this information in? Eh, no....
Sadly, this all means that there is no reference to our Jacques Dubourdieu, nor to the area he was living in at the time of his death in the 1680s.
We do, however, know a lot about his sister, Andree le Valet, who had been born circa 1622 to Isaac Duboudieu and his first wide, and who married Jean Boybellaud (or Boisbellaud) on 7th August 1672 in the Temple of Charenton, the same town near Paris where the Protestants had held several of their synods. The marriage promises had been made a few months earlier on 14th June 1672, by the couple at La Rochelle.
Following their wedding, the couple returned to Jean Boybellaud's property at Ozillac north of Bordeaux, where Jean had to borrow money to tide them over. Andree's first husband, Jean Vachon, sieur de la Barauderie, had been a bankrupt, so she had no dowry to bring to the marriage. Jean Boybellaud had also experienced severe financial problems following the drainage of bog on his lands.
Interesting, both the name 'Le Valet' and the town of La Berauderie which was associated with Andree's first husband, Jean Vachon, are found in Normandy. Was Isaac Dubourdieu's first wife a member of the Le Valet family of Normandy, and did they raise their granddaughter following the death of their daughter? Anyone any ideas on this one?
I've repeatedly said that this Jacques Dubourdieu had been living in Blaye north of Bordeaux at the time of his death but I think William J. Dubourdieu, who wrote the definitive book on the Dubourdieu family, may have been mistaken here. He was using information from the Ulster Journal of 1854, which had wrongly interpreted information from the 3rd Synod of Charenton, reading Jacques' parish church incorrectly as, firstly 'Blangar', then, secondly, as 'Blangee', neither of which actually exist. William Dubourdieu then surmised that this was actually a reference to 'Blaye'.
However, thanks to the internet, the original information is now online. I scrolled through 'Tous Les Synodes Nationaux de l'Eglise Réformée de France, Volume 2' to take a good look at the entry for the Third Synod of Charenton (which took place in 1644) and this is the entry which caused all the confusion....
'Pour la Province de Bas Languedoc, les Sieurs Jean de Croi, Pasteur de l'Eglise de Beziers; Abraham de Lare, Pasteur de l'Eglise de Canvisson; Messire Marc Dardouin, Seigneur de la Calmette, Ancien de l'Eglise de Nimes; & Messire Jacques de Brueis, Seigneur de Bourdie, Ancien de l'Eglise de Blanzac.'
Furthermore, although Jacques de Brueis, seigneur de Bourdie sounds as if it's an archaic spelling of Jacques Dubourdieu, it seems that this is a completely different individual altogether!
I browsed through 'Dictionnaire de la Noblesse' by Aubert de la Chesnaye-Desbois and Francois Alexandre, 1699 - 1784, and read the following:
'Jean de Banne, seigneur de Montgros, sole heir if his mother in 1632, and of his father in 1636. He made his will on 18th February 1654, wished to be buried in the Protestant cemetery, and died at BLAUZAC on the 24th of February 1654. He married, firstly, Suzanne de Rosel, who died without children; and, secondly, on the 14th of August 1649, Gabrielle de Chabas, the daughter of the nobleman, Daniel, and of his wife, Diane de Brueis.'
Blauzac can be found just north of the Provencal town of Nimes, and the records show the name 'de Brueis' to be plentiful there.
The genealogy of the de Brueis family can be seen in 'Pieces Fugitives Pour Servir a l'Histoire de France' which also shines a spotlight on Jacques de Brueis himself.
'Denis de Brueis, Sgr de BOURDIC, married Alexandrine Borde, and they had Jacques de Brueis, Seigneur de Bourdic.'
The town of Bourdic - which had been misspelled as 'Bourdie' in the synod records - is 3kms away from Blauzac, the town which had caused so much confusion.
I also stumbled across the same Jacques de Brueis, along with one of the de Chievres de la Valade family, living in Holland and participating in one of the Protestant Walloon churches there following the Revocation of 1685. Did I write down the name of the book I discovered this information in? Eh, no....
Sadly, this all means that there is no reference to our Jacques Dubourdieu, nor to the area he was living in at the time of his death in the 1680s.
We do, however, know a lot about his sister, Andree le Valet, who had been born circa 1622 to Isaac Duboudieu and his first wide, and who married Jean Boybellaud (or Boisbellaud) on 7th August 1672 in the Temple of Charenton, the same town near Paris where the Protestants had held several of their synods. The marriage promises had been made a few months earlier on 14th June 1672, by the couple at La Rochelle.
Following their wedding, the couple returned to Jean Boybellaud's property at Ozillac north of Bordeaux, where Jean had to borrow money to tide them over. Andree's first husband, Jean Vachon, sieur de la Barauderie, had been a bankrupt, so she had no dowry to bring to the marriage. Jean Boybellaud had also experienced severe financial problems following the drainage of bog on his lands.
Interesting, both the name 'Le Valet' and the town of La Berauderie which was associated with Andree's first husband, Jean Vachon, are found in Normandy. Was Isaac Dubourdieu's first wife a member of the Le Valet family of Normandy, and did they raise their granddaughter following the death of their daughter? Anyone any ideas on this one?
The Lavallade family of Nerac and Bordeaux
I received an email from a member of the Lavallade family of the Angouleme/Limousin region of France, Bertrand de Lavallade, who believes that the Lavallade family of Lisburn descends from (the much earlier!) Bertrand de Lavallade of Nerac.
He told me that this family is always known as 'De Lavallade' or as 'De Lavalade' (or variations of the same) and never has a prefix such as Truffin or Chievres or St-Georges etc. etc. This rules out most of the de Lavallade families of the south-east, even the Brun de La Valade family which I had suspected Bertrand de La Vallade to be related to. In one text, Bertrand of Nerac is referred to as Bertrand Brun de La Vallade, Sieur de Laumon - I discovered a Laumont in the district around Brive-la-Gaillard which is the area associated with the Brun de la Vallade family. Yesterday, however, I discovered the REAL Laumond which is a townland just north of Nerac. This makes much more sense.
Moreover, Bertrand (the modern one) told me that the father of Bertrand de Lavallade was called Pierre (and not Jean as I had thought) and that this Pierre de Lavallade was also a maitre de comptes in Nerac, just like his son later.
Members of the Lavallade family of Nerac moved to live in Bordeaux; some of these descendants were still there in the 18th century. When I re-read the Chronicle written by Isaac Peres of Nerac in the late 16th and early 17th century, I noticed that the town of Bordeaux was endlessly mentioned, meaning that there was significant traffic between both places. Bertrand's daughter, Catherine de Lavallade, died in Bordeaux in 1597, the year after her marriage to Jan Pinole in Nerac. Much later, a sister of Charles de la Valade married Jacques Dubourdieu who was an elder in the church of Blaye, just north of Bordeaux, and this area is where I would expect to find the Lavallade family just prior to the Revocation.
Bertrand tells me that the Lavallade family of Nerac originated in the Languedoc - I knew that they had followed the Princes of Condé there, but was unsure of their district of origin. He suspects that the title of Count may well have been a courtesy title, rather than an authentic title - although I personally came across a reference to 'letters of nobillity' for Bertrand de Lavallade which I will have to track down online. Bertrand thinks that the pastor of Fontenoy-le-Comte may not have been related to Bertrand of Nerac, but several books link them together. It is known that Pierre de La Vallade also originated in the Languedoc.
Bertrand himself descends, as I've already mentioned, from the Angoumois area, and several of his family fled France also, settling in Canterbury. He thinks that both his family, and the family of Nerac, may have shared a common ancestry.
He told me that this family is always known as 'De Lavallade' or as 'De Lavalade' (or variations of the same) and never has a prefix such as Truffin or Chievres or St-Georges etc. etc. This rules out most of the de Lavallade families of the south-east, even the Brun de La Valade family which I had suspected Bertrand de La Vallade to be related to. In one text, Bertrand of Nerac is referred to as Bertrand Brun de La Vallade, Sieur de Laumon - I discovered a Laumont in the district around Brive-la-Gaillard which is the area associated with the Brun de la Vallade family. Yesterday, however, I discovered the REAL Laumond which is a townland just north of Nerac. This makes much more sense.
Moreover, Bertrand (the modern one) told me that the father of Bertrand de Lavallade was called Pierre (and not Jean as I had thought) and that this Pierre de Lavallade was also a maitre de comptes in Nerac, just like his son later.
Members of the Lavallade family of Nerac moved to live in Bordeaux; some of these descendants were still there in the 18th century. When I re-read the Chronicle written by Isaac Peres of Nerac in the late 16th and early 17th century, I noticed that the town of Bordeaux was endlessly mentioned, meaning that there was significant traffic between both places. Bertrand's daughter, Catherine de Lavallade, died in Bordeaux in 1597, the year after her marriage to Jan Pinole in Nerac. Much later, a sister of Charles de la Valade married Jacques Dubourdieu who was an elder in the church of Blaye, just north of Bordeaux, and this area is where I would expect to find the Lavallade family just prior to the Revocation.
Bertrand tells me that the Lavallade family of Nerac originated in the Languedoc - I knew that they had followed the Princes of Condé there, but was unsure of their district of origin. He suspects that the title of Count may well have been a courtesy title, rather than an authentic title - although I personally came across a reference to 'letters of nobillity' for Bertrand de Lavallade which I will have to track down online. Bertrand thinks that the pastor of Fontenoy-le-Comte may not have been related to Bertrand of Nerac, but several books link them together. It is known that Pierre de La Vallade also originated in the Languedoc.
Bertrand himself descends, as I've already mentioned, from the Angoumois area, and several of his family fled France also, settling in Canterbury. He thinks that both his family, and the family of Nerac, may have shared a common ancestry.
Charles De La Valade
The Huguenot refugee, Rev. Charles de la Valade, became the pastor of the French Church in Lisburn in 1704, a post he held for 40 years. He died in 1756 - if he died at the age of about 80, then his date of birth would have been circa 1670.
The Lavalade name in Ireland only occurs in the Lisburn/Dromore area. Spelt phonetically for the most part, there are a variety of different spellings. Our paternal great-great-great grandmother was named Agnes Lavalet/Lavalade and married our great-great-great grandfather, Reid Wilson, in Ballygunaghan, Donaghcloney, just south of Dromore, Co. Down, in about 1826.
It's important to clarify that I have found no link between the first of the French Lavalade family to settle in the Lisburn/Dromore area of Northern Ireland, Rev. Charles Lavalade, and the cluster of Lavalades who lived in the Dromore/Donaghcloney area, but since the name only occurs in this one particular area, I would suspect that a family link is likely. In January 2017 I received the results of an Ancestry DNA test which revealed that I share an early genetic link with a fellow researcher who descends from the Crommelin/de la Cherois family of Lisburn and Donaghdee. The sister of Rev. Charles Lavalade of Lisburn was Madeleine de la Valade who married Alexander Crommelin, a member of the Lisburn Crommelins.
Where did the Rev. Charles Lavalade originate in France? The name of the family was de Lavalade/de Lavallade/de la Vallade/de la Valade. There was no nom de terre added to it. Having researched as many of the La Valade families as I could find, via the Geneanet website which holds a large online collection of original French historical material in their library, I isolated the staunchly Protestant ones, and none of these had a ‘nom de terre’ attached.
I isolated the staunchly Protestant Lavalade families in the southern part of the country, ruled out many, and concentrated eventually the families of Bertrand de Lavallade of Nerac who was the attorney general of Henry IV of Navarre, and the family of the Protestant pastor, Pierre de la Vallade of Fontenoy-le-Conte. Both Betrand de Lavallade and Pierre de la Vallade are well-documented and lived in the Languedoc area, which in earlier times generally referred to much of the South of France, and Rev. Charles de la Valade of Lisburn was reputed to come from this same area of the country.
In 'Recherches Historiques et Archaeologiques sur Fontenoy' Bernard Fillon states (page 254) that Pierre and Bertrand de La Vallade were of the same family...'Pierre de la Vallade, né dans le Languedoc, d'abord ministre a Bergerac, s'acquit beaucoup de réputation...Pierre de la Vallade etait parent de Bertrand de la Vallade, conseiller du roi de Navarre...'
The following links give details on these two earlier Protestant French Lavalades...
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2011/08/more-on-pierre-and-bertrand-de-la.html
The siblings of Rev. Charles de la Valade/Lavalade also fled France. He was known to have one brother, possibly named Alain, who supposedly succeeded him in Lisburn Cathedral for two years, and six sisters. Four of his sisters remained unmarried and settled in the Lisburn area - they were named Ann, Martha, Catherine, and Judith Lavalade.
The fifth sister of Rev. Charles de la Valade, Magdalen Lavalade, married into the Crommelin family who were the founders of the linen industry in Lisburn. I recently - in January 2017 - took an Ancestry DNA test, which revealed that I'm a distantly related to the Crommelin family. This would seem to suggest, therefore, that the Donaghcloney Lavalades were relatives of the Lisburn Lavalades, although I have found nothing to shed any further light on the family link.
Charles de la Valade's sixth sister married into the Dubourdieu family. Her first name is unknown, although she might be the sister, Madeleine, who married Alexander Crommelin of Lisburn as a second marriage.
The Dubourdieu family originated in Bergerac and fled France, settling eventually in London where they were closely linked to the French church there.
Rev.Isaac Dubourdieu (1567 - 1700) had been born in Bergerac to Pierre Dubourdieu, the governer of Bergerac. Rev. Isaac Dubourdieu would die in London. By his first wife, presumably a La Valet although some sources suggest she was a Lavalade, he had two children:
1)Andrée La Valet Dubourdieu who married, firstly, Jean Vachan, and, secondly, Jean Boisbellaud de la Chapelle. They were the parents of the pastor Armand Dubourdieu Boybellaud de la Chapelle. Jean Armand Boisbeleau de la Chapelle was called from London, where he had been the pastor of the Church of the Artillery, to the Walloon Church in La Haye, Holland, where he was installed on 11th November 1725; he died in 1745.
2) James/Jacques Dubourdieu (1621 - 1682ish) who married the older sister of Charles de la Valade/Lavalade. He was murdered just before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, possibly in Blaye or Montpelier. (There is a record of a Jacques Dubourdieu attending the Synod of Charenton in 1644; he was noted as an elder of the church at Blaye. Our Jacques Dubourdieu would have been 23 years old in 1644.)
The son of Jacques Dubourdieu and his wife née Lavalade, was Jean-Armand Dubourdieu (1683 - 1723) who would later marry Charlotte Massy - their son was Rev. Saumarez Dubourdieu, the celebrated third pastor of the French Church in Lisburn who succeeded his great-uncles, the two Lavalade brothers, Charles and Alain.
The second wife of Rev. Isaac Dubourdieu was Marie de Costebadie, the daughter of the minister Jean de Costebadie. They married in 1660 and had four sons. One of them, Jean Dubourdieu, helped to organise the escape of many French Protestants from the county, including the widow - Charles de la Valade’s sister - of his murdered half-brother, Jacques, and her baby son Jean-Armand, who would take refuge with the Rev. Isaac Dubourdieu in London.
Rev. Isaac Dubourdieu was transferred to the Reformed Church in Montpelier in 1651 and was exiled to London in 1683 where he became pastor of the French Church at the Savoy.
A Dubourdieu,one of the pastors who succeeded Isaac Dubourdieu at the French Church in the Savoy in London, appears many times in the Calendars of State Papers in Whitehall as the person who recommended that a travel pass be awarded to French Protestants wishing to travel from London to, for the most part, Holland.
This particular Dubourdieu may well have been Isaac Dubourdieu’s grandson, Jean-Armand Dubourdieu, who had been born to Isaac’s son, James/Jacques Dubourdieu and his La Valade wife in about 1680. James Dubourdieu was murdered in France in about 1682 - but it’s unclear where but possibly in Montpelier - which prompted his widow’s escape to London in 1683, aided by her brother-in-law Jean Dubourdieu. Madame Dubourdieu ‘walked the entire width of France, from near the Atlantic to Switzerland….the Count’s daughter enlisted the services of a faithful domestic, disguised herself as a peasant, put her infant son in a shawl on her back, and set off on her long long journey.’ (From ‘Baby on Her Back’ by Rev.William J. DuBourdieu.)
From the safety of Switzerland, she entered Germany, then Holland, and finally London where they were taken in by the patriarch of the family, Rev. Isaac Dubourdieu.
Madame Lavalade Dubourdieu and her young son, Jean-Armand Dubourdieu, were shortly joined in the same London household by Jean-Armand’s two cousins, Armand Boybellaud, who was the son of Andrée La Valet Dubourdieu and Jean Boybellaud de la Chapelle, and by J.Armand Dubourdieu. All three cousins were educated and reared in the home of their grandfather, Rev. Isaac Dubourdieu.
Rev. Charles de la Valade escaped from France to the safety of Protestant Holland and settled at Haarlem where Samuel Crommelin and his wife, Madeleine Testart had also settled following their expulsion from St. Quentin. Charles' sister, Madeleine de la Valade, married their son, Alexandre Crommelin; the young couple spent time in Hamburg before moving to Lisburn. The sister of Alexandre Crommelin, Anne Crommelin, had married her cousin, Louis Crommelin, who was the founder of the linen industry at Lisburn, and it was Louis Crommelin who suggested Charles Lavalade as a possible pastor for the French church there.
The following document, sourced from ‘The Pedigree Register, Vol.2’, documents later legal wrangling by the Crommelin family, and makes mention of the Lavalade sisters - Magdalen/Madeleine Lavalade who married Alexander Crommelin, and the unmarried sisters, Ann, Martha, Catherine and Judith Lavalade:
'Cramer V. Steward: 1790, July 5th. Marmaduke CRAMER only child and heir at law of Balthazer CRAMER v. Poyntz STEWARD and Ann, his wife, late wife of Abraham CROMMELIN. WILL OF ALEXANDER CROMMELIN OF LISBURN, Co.Antrim in Ireland, dated 19th April 1735, his wife Magdalen and daughter Martha executrixes. Testator died 2nd December 1737. Marriages articles 29 July 1741 between late plaintiff Balthazar CRAMER and said Martha CROMELIN, who died and adm’on of her effects was granted 9 March 1741 (sic for 1741/2) to the said Balthazer. His marriage in 1743 with Elizabeth STEPHENS, marriage articles 22 Sept. 1743, between him, Ambrose CRAMER, William STEPHENS Doctor in Physick, and the said Elizabeth his daughter, trustees Brewster LAUGHLIN and Walter STEPHENS. Annuities left by testator Alexander CROMMELIN to Magdalen CROMMELIN, Charles CROMMELIN, and Ann Martha Catherine, and Judith LAVALADE. That by the affidavid of Anne Maria STEPHENS, sworn 28 April 1790 at New Ross in Ireland it appears that the said late Balthazar CRAMER and Elizabeth had three children born of their marriage, viz., two daughters who died in their infancy and one son, the present plaintiff. That the late plaintiff, Elizabeth CRAMER died in January 1783 and was buried at St.Mary’s, Ross, Co. Wexford, leaving the said Balthazer her surviving, who also died 22 December 1783, intestate, leaving the present plaintiff Marmaduke, the only child of the said marriage, in whom the remainder in fee of the estate to be purchased is vested.’
The original will of Alexander Crommelin was published in 'Huguenot Wills and Administrations of England and Ireland, 1617 - 1849':
'Alexander Crommelin, of Lisburn, wife Magdalen, daughter Matty, son Charles Crommelin, annuity for sisters-in-law, Anne, Martha, Catherine and Judith Levallade, to daughter Magdalen and her husband Rev. Francis Hutchinson 65/- and no more, nephew Paul Mangin £20. Executrixes wife and daughter. Dated 19 April 1735. Probate 15th December 1737.'
The siblings of Rev. Charles de la Valade/Lavalade also fled France. He was known to have one brother, possibly named Alain, who supposedly succeeded him in Lisburn Cathedral for two years, and six sisters. Four of his sisters remained unmarried and settled in the Lisburn area - they were named Ann, Martha, Catherine, and Judith Lavalade.
The fifth sister of Rev. Charles de la Valade, Magdalen Lavalade, married into the Crommelin family who were the founders of the linen industry in Lisburn. I recently - in January 2017 - took an Ancestry DNA test, which revealed that I'm a distantly related to the Crommelin family. This would seem to suggest, therefore, that the Donaghcloney Lavalades were relatives of the Lisburn Lavalades, although I have found nothing to shed any further light on the family link.
The Dubourdieu family originated in Bergerac and fled France, settling eventually in London where they were closely linked to the French church there.
Rev.Isaac Dubourdieu (1567 - 1700) had been born in Bergerac to Pierre Dubourdieu, the governer of Bergerac. Rev. Isaac Dubourdieu would die in London. By his first wife, presumably a La Valet although some sources suggest she was a Lavalade, he had two children:
1)Andrée La Valet Dubourdieu who married, firstly, Jean Vachan, and, secondly, Jean Boisbellaud de la Chapelle. They were the parents of the pastor Armand Dubourdieu Boybellaud de la Chapelle. Jean Armand Boisbeleau de la Chapelle was called from London, where he had been the pastor of the Church of the Artillery, to the Walloon Church in La Haye, Holland, where he was installed on 11th November 1725; he died in 1745.
2) James/Jacques Dubourdieu (1621 - 1682ish) who married the older sister of Charles de la Valade/Lavalade. He was murdered just before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, possibly in Blaye or Montpelier. (There is a record of a Jacques Dubourdieu attending the Synod of Charenton in 1644; he was noted as an elder of the church at Blaye. Our Jacques Dubourdieu would have been 23 years old in 1644.)
The son of Jacques Dubourdieu and his wife née Lavalade, was Jean-Armand Dubourdieu (1683 - 1723) who would later marry Charlotte Massy - their son was Rev. Saumarez Dubourdieu, the celebrated third pastor of the French Church in Lisburn who succeeded his great-uncles, the two Lavalade brothers, Charles and Alain.
The second wife of Rev. Isaac Dubourdieu was Marie de Costebadie, the daughter of the minister Jean de Costebadie. They married in 1660 and had four sons. One of them, Jean Dubourdieu, helped to organise the escape of many French Protestants from the county, including the widow - Charles de la Valade’s sister - of his murdered half-brother, Jacques, and her baby son Jean-Armand, who would take refuge with the Rev. Isaac Dubourdieu in London.
Rev. Isaac Dubourdieu was transferred to the Reformed Church in Montpelier in 1651 and was exiled to London in 1683 where he became pastor of the French Church at the Savoy.
A Dubourdieu,one of the pastors who succeeded Isaac Dubourdieu at the French Church in the Savoy in London, appears many times in the Calendars of State Papers in Whitehall as the person who recommended that a travel pass be awarded to French Protestants wishing to travel from London to, for the most part, Holland.
This particular Dubourdieu may well have been Isaac Dubourdieu’s grandson, Jean-Armand Dubourdieu, who had been born to Isaac’s son, James/Jacques Dubourdieu and his La Valade wife in about 1680. James Dubourdieu was murdered in France in about 1682 - but it’s unclear where but possibly in Montpelier - which prompted his widow’s escape to London in 1683, aided by her brother-in-law Jean Dubourdieu. Madame Dubourdieu ‘walked the entire width of France, from near the Atlantic to Switzerland….the Count’s daughter enlisted the services of a faithful domestic, disguised herself as a peasant, put her infant son in a shawl on her back, and set off on her long long journey.’ (From ‘Baby on Her Back’ by Rev.William J. DuBourdieu.)
From the safety of Switzerland, she entered Germany, then Holland, and finally London where they were taken in by the patriarch of the family, Rev. Isaac Dubourdieu.
Madame Lavalade Dubourdieu and her young son, Jean-Armand Dubourdieu, were shortly joined in the same London household by Jean-Armand’s two cousins, Armand Boybellaud, who was the son of Andrée La Valet Dubourdieu and Jean Boybellaud de la Chapelle, and by J.Armand Dubourdieu. All three cousins were educated and reared in the home of their grandfather, Rev. Isaac Dubourdieu.
Rev. Charles de la Valade escaped from France to the safety of Protestant Holland and settled at Haarlem where Samuel Crommelin and his wife, Madeleine Testart had also settled following their expulsion from St. Quentin. Charles' sister, Madeleine de la Valade, married their son, Alexandre Crommelin; the young couple spent time in Hamburg before moving to Lisburn. The sister of Alexandre Crommelin, Anne Crommelin, had married her cousin, Louis Crommelin, who was the founder of the linen industry at Lisburn, and it was Louis Crommelin who suggested Charles Lavalade as a possible pastor for the French church there.
The following document, sourced from ‘The Pedigree Register, Vol.2’, documents later legal wrangling by the Crommelin family, and makes mention of the Lavalade sisters - Magdalen/Madeleine Lavalade who married Alexander Crommelin, and the unmarried sisters, Ann, Martha, Catherine and Judith Lavalade:
'Cramer V. Steward: 1790, July 5th. Marmaduke CRAMER only child and heir at law of Balthazer CRAMER v. Poyntz STEWARD and Ann, his wife, late wife of Abraham CROMMELIN. WILL OF ALEXANDER CROMMELIN OF LISBURN, Co.Antrim in Ireland, dated 19th April 1735, his wife Magdalen and daughter Martha executrixes. Testator died 2nd December 1737. Marriages articles 29 July 1741 between late plaintiff Balthazar CRAMER and said Martha CROMELIN, who died and adm’on of her effects was granted 9 March 1741 (sic for 1741/2) to the said Balthazer. His marriage in 1743 with Elizabeth STEPHENS, marriage articles 22 Sept. 1743, between him, Ambrose CRAMER, William STEPHENS Doctor in Physick, and the said Elizabeth his daughter, trustees Brewster LAUGHLIN and Walter STEPHENS. Annuities left by testator Alexander CROMMELIN to Magdalen CROMMELIN, Charles CROMMELIN, and Ann Martha Catherine, and Judith LAVALADE. That by the affidavid of Anne Maria STEPHENS, sworn 28 April 1790 at New Ross in Ireland it appears that the said late Balthazar CRAMER and Elizabeth had three children born of their marriage, viz., two daughters who died in their infancy and one son, the present plaintiff. That the late plaintiff, Elizabeth CRAMER died in January 1783 and was buried at St.Mary’s, Ross, Co. Wexford, leaving the said Balthazer her surviving, who also died 22 December 1783, intestate, leaving the present plaintiff Marmaduke, the only child of the said marriage, in whom the remainder in fee of the estate to be purchased is vested.’
The original will of Alexander Crommelin was published in 'Huguenot Wills and Administrations of England and Ireland, 1617 - 1849':
'Alexander Crommelin, of Lisburn, wife Magdalen, daughter Matty, son Charles Crommelin, annuity for sisters-in-law, Anne, Martha, Catherine and Judith Levallade, to daughter Magdalen and her husband Rev. Francis Hutchinson 65/- and no more, nephew Paul Mangin £20. Executrixes wife and daughter. Dated 19 April 1735. Probate 15th December 1737.'
Sightings of Charles de la Valade:
On 1 Sept. 1690, the English authorities granted travel passes to Charles and Madeleine de Lavalade to travel from Harwich, north of London, to Holland:
'Passes for John Watson, his wife, and three children to go to Chester for Ireland; for Peter Doorn, Jasper de Vries, William Rechtering, Cornelis de Clerk, and Nicholas Vanderstar to go to Harwich for Holland; for Charles Lavalade and Magdalen Lavalade, his sister, ditto; and for George Boscher, ditto. [Ibid., pp. 363, 364.]'
(From 'Calendar of State Papers Domestic: William and Mary, 1690-1)
Charles died in 1756; if he was aged about 85 at the time of his death, then his date of birth would be about 1670, which would make him 20-ish when he travelled from London to Holland in 1690 and was confirmed in Haarlem in 1699.
'Charles Lavallade, appellé a l'Eglise de Lisburn en Irlande; confirmé par l'imposition des mains, dans le meme synode, par Mr. Prevost, Pasteur de l'Eglise de Haarlem.' ('Charles Lavallade, called to the Church in Lisburn, confirmed with the laying-on of hands at the same synod, by Mr. Prevost, the pastor of Haarlem'.)
Charles Lavalade had been confirmed in Haarlem by the pastor, Jean Prevost, who had been called to the church from Dordrecht in 1671 as the second pastor, becoming the head pastor there in 1689 and dying in 1715.
I scoured the records of the Walloon Church, ie: the Reformed or Protestant Church, in the Netherlands but there was no mention of Charles Lavalade working as a pastor there; perhaps he was merely a member of the congregation prior to his confirmation by Jean Prevost in 1699. His older sister was living with her son, Jean-Armand Dubourdieu, with Rev. Isaac Dubourdieu in London at this time, while his younger sister, Madeleine had married Alexander Crommelin and was living at Haarlem and then Hamburg at this time - Charles may have been moving between England, Holland and Germany, before settling finally in Lisburn.
The 'Livre Synodal Contenant les Articles Résolus dans les Synodes des Églises Wallonnes des Pays-Bas' mentions Charles de la Valade as being present at three Dutch synods - September 1697, April 1698 and September 1699.
(The same publication mentions that Jean Prévost, who had confirmed Charles Lavallade in 1699, was the pastor of Haarlem, and that one of his church elders was Jean Crommelin - about this time, Charles' sister, Madeleine, married Alexander Crommelin. Another section mentions a Pierre Prévost as being a second Haarlem pastor. Jean Prévost of Haarlem also confirmed Jean Guillebert, a refugee pastor from Caen, Normandy, on 20th January 1686; the same Jean Guillebert, himself one of the pastors of Haarlem, would later, in 1701, be confirmed once again, this time by M.de Joncourt of La Haye, and would be called to be the pastor in Dublin.)
However, 'Huguenot Wills and Administrations in England and Ireland' shows up the will of Nicholas de la Cherois which makes mention of Charles Lavalade in Llisburn in 1702:
'Nicholas de la Cherois, major in my Lord Lifford's regiment, living in Lisburn, blessing to my wife and three children, Lisburn poor £5, De Valeda, Minister £5, wife Maria Madeleine, children Maria Madeleine, Nicholas and Samuel. Executors brother David and brother-in-law, Lewis Crommelin. Dated 12 June 1702. Probate July 1702.'
(Nicholas de la Cherois was the brother of Daniel de la Cherois who served in the army alongside Louis de Gorron de la Thenies who was the husband of Suzanne de La Vallade, the granddaughter of Pierre de La Vallade, pastor of Fontenoy. I don't know if these connections are significant.)
‘August 12th 1717:
Civil List Establishment of Ireland or List containing all payments to be made for Civil affairs for the Kingdom of Ireland: under the royal sign manual given at Hampton Court Aug. 12: to commence from 24 Aug. 1717.
List includes the following: A French Minister at Lisburn £60 0s. 0d.’
'Name of Subsidized Residents
Louis Crommelin
Samuel Crommelin
Samuel Lewis Crommelin
Daniel Crommelin
Alexander Crommelin (married to Magdalen Lavalade)
James Truffet
Louis Poiriez
Abel Dartigues
Nicholas Laurent
ANN LA VALADE
Salomon Lubia
John Douillez
Peter Douillez
The Rev. Lavalade subscribed in 1728 to 'Sermons Sur Divers Textes de l'Ecriture Sainte' by the French pastor in Dublin, Gaspard Caillard.
The Great Fire in Lisburn:
The great fire of Lisburn started at 11am on Sunday April 20th 1707 and spread rapidly through the town. Constructed almost entirely of highly flammable material, the town was consumed.
A local minister wrote: "This is a very sore and sudden shock and...I pray God you never experience the like. There are many families wholly broken and several had not so much as to buy bread to their children last market day."
The linen business of Louis Crommelin temporarily closed and the authorities had to step in to help the colony. Following the catastrophic fire of 1707, many of the inhabitants of the town moved the few miles south to the town of Dromore, and it's in the Dromore area that the Lavalade name seems to have carried on until it died out in the mid 19th century.
George Russell and Ann Lavallade (sic) married on 2nd May 1737 in Lisburn Cathedral - this from the register of the cathedral, which I went through in the Public Record Office in Belfast. A possible relation of this George Russell might be the following, earlier, George Russell of Lisburn....
This, from the Trinity College Admission records....'George Russell, Siz (Mr. Harvey, Lisburn) Jan 30 1688 - 1689, aged 20; son of Thomas, Armiger; born Newtown, Co. Down.'
Rev. Charles Lavalade made his will in Lisburn in 1758; there was another record of this same will in 1775, although the document, headed 'Connor Diocese Administration Bonds' and viewable online on the PRONI website, was listed under the name of 'Rev. Charles Laralade.'
The same will was in probate in 1827.
Charles' widow, listed as 'Widow Lavalach' was listed on the 1766 Religious Census for Lisburn.
An Anne Lavallade made a will in Lisburn in 1859, but I wonder was this erroneously transcribed, and whether it should be 1759 - Charles had sisters in Lisburn, one of whom was Anne Lavalade; his daughter, from the time of her marriage to George Russell, would have been known as Anne Russell.
Evolution of the Lavalade name in the Dromore area:
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2013/03/lavalade-records-in-donaghcloney-parish.html
Still Hunting for the La Valade Family!
This Huguenot La Valade family are proving elusive! I've joined Geneanet which is excellent value - only €40 for a year's subscription - and have spent a few days dredging through their online library of digitised books, searching for La Valade references in the Langudoc region.
The major problem with French genealogy is that early French families use a 'nom de terre' rather than a 'nom de famille'. The name 'de la Valade', therefore, signifies an area rather than a specific family, and there are numerous townlands named Lavalade scattered throughout the country.
The only reference to a La Valade family in the old Languedoc area occurs in Moissac/Castel-Sarrasin, but I've been unable to find any mention in the historical genealogies of a Count de LaValade who was, presumably, the father of Charles de la Valade and his brother, the two Huguenot pastors who left France for Lisburn circa 1700. If the family were truly members of the French aristocracy, their lineage would be well-recorded and relatively easy to track down. If our La Valade family were members of the aristocracy, then they were surely minor members of it.
I have, however, made a little progress although it's mostly speculative at this stage.
In a book of armorials, the family coat of arms of the Valade family of Languedoc is mentioned - 'Palé de gueules, d'or, d'azur d'or et de gueules' - so they must have existed somewhere in the region!
I mentioned in an earlier post that Pierre de la Vallade was the protestant pastor of Fontenoy-le-Conte from 1603 - 1633 and that he had been born in the Languedoc before moving west to Bergerac. Several of the texts hint at a family link between this Pierre de la Vallade and Charles de la Valade who went into exile following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
The journal of Paul de Vendée, a Huguenot captain, mentions Pierre de la Vallade twice - in an entry for February 1622, he mentions that he saw M. de la Vallade preaching at la Buardyere, and earlier in 1619, that M.de la Vallade went to spend the night at Escoue.
In another text, I read that Pierre de la Vallade died during an epidemic of either scarlet fever or cholera which struck the town of Fontenoy in 1633.
Yet another text relates that Pierre and his wife, Louise Billaud, had four children, although only one was mentioned - Elysée or Élie, who was an equerry and master in the house of the King. He married a Marie Genays in 1647. This text was incomplete.
Another link: A Saran Udel was the wife of Hanael d'Espée, doctor and brother-in-law to the pastor La Vallade. (Pierre de Lavallade's wife was of the family d'Espée - her mother was a Francoise d'Espée.) Later, a Huguenot, Jean Hudel of Fontenoy-le-Conte, engaged in protestant propaganda at Bazoges-en-Pareds, was jailed from 1690 to 1717, before leaving France for good.
Most of the literature links Pierre de la Vallade to Bertrand de la Vallade who likewise worked for the King of Navarre and for his protestant mother, Jeanne d'Albret. An early historian, Samazeuilh, wrote a note about Bertrand de la Vallade but gave little information on his origins. Bertrand, he writes, was the 'procureur générale' for the Queen of Navarre in the duchy of Albret and in the Chambre des Comptes in Nerac in 1566. By 1582 he was the master of 'requetes ordinares' for the King of Navarre, and the president of the Chambre des Comptes in Nerac in 1598 and 1604. Bertrand, with the authorisation of the King, sold the title of president to the Chambre des Comptes on 28th September 1610 to a Du Maurier.
Bertrand de la Vallade appears in numerous texts and seemed to play the role of notary overseeing commercial land transactions between various members of the Perigord nobility, and also seemed to play the role of messenger for the royal house of Navarre.
Working alongside Bertrand in the Chambre des Comptes in Nérac were Jehan Alespée, Sieur de la Grange, and Jehan de Secondat, Sieur de Roques.
The daughter of Bertrand de la Vallade, Catherine, married Jean Pinolé on Sunday 28th April 1596.
Bertrand de la Vallade's niece - unnamed - died on 16th August 1596.
From 'The Revue d'Aquitaine' we learn that the family of the pastor, Pierre de la Vallade, came to Poitou following the princes of Navarre and Condé but it doesn't say where they originated from! The same text mentions that a Jean de la Vallade was possibly the father of Pierre de la Vallade and was certainly the father of Bertrand de la Vallade.
This Jean de la Vallade, who is sometimes called by the archaic form of Jehan, also worked in the royal household of Navarre and a letter exists written by him from Fontenoy-le-Conte on 19th May 1569, in which he states that he was commissioned by the princes of Navarre to collect funds due to the state following the sale of ecclesiastical goods in the dioceses of Lucon and Maillezais.
The published records state that Bertrand de la Vallade was of the town of Laumont, which is just south of Brive-la-Gaillarde in Perigord. In some texts he is called Bertrand BRUN de la Vallade which seems to link him to the Brun de la Valade family who lived in the same area of southern Brive-la-Gaillarde.
By 1540, there is mention of Jean Brun, Seigneur de la Vallade at Grospuy and l'Estrade which are in the area of Laumont associated with Bertrand de la Vallade.
There was a chateau belonging to the Brun family in Grospuy south of Brive-la-Gaillard since the thirteenth century but the name of La Vallade doesn't make its appearance alongside the Brun name until about 1500 when there is mention of Jean and Antoine Brun, co-seigneurs de la Vallade. The daughters of Jean Brun de la Vallade married into the illustrious d'Abzac and d'Aubusson families and the land passed quickly into those families.
I mentioned earlier in this post that Bertrand de la Vallade served alongside a man by the name of Jehan or Jean Secondat in the Chambre des Comptes at Nérac. He was the seigneur of Roques who became the steward of Henry II of Navarre. Henry's daughter, Jeanne d'Albret, awarded Jean's service with 10,000 livres so he could become lord of the domaine called Montesquieu north of Moissac in the Languedoc. This family later reverted to Catholicism.
There are links between the Secondat and la Valade families although in this instance the nom de famille is 'Viguier de la Valade' and this branch of the family is associated with Moissac/Castel-Sarrasin in the Languedoc.
In the 1550's, Catherine de Secondat was married to N.....de Viguier, sieur de la Valade, who lived close to Moissac in Quercy.
In 1566, Marie-Anne de Secondat was baptised a Protestant and had, as godfather, Henry, Prince of Navarre who was represented at the ceremony by Antoine Viguier de la Valade.
In 1574, the noble Pierre de Secondat, seigneur de Roques, who was the maitre d'hotel ordinaire for Henry IV, had been baptised a Protestant; the godmother was Anne de Viguier de la Vallade, his cousin.
Later, Catherine de Viguier, the heiress of the la Valade family, married Francois, the seigneur de Pechpeyrou and Montbarla (Montbarla is just north of Moissac), the baron of Beaucaire.
By 1780, the La Valade estates belonged to the Marquis de Beaucaire.
The major problem with French genealogy is that early French families use a 'nom de terre' rather than a 'nom de famille'. The name 'de la Valade', therefore, signifies an area rather than a specific family, and there are numerous townlands named Lavalade scattered throughout the country.
The only reference to a La Valade family in the old Languedoc area occurs in Moissac/Castel-Sarrasin, but I've been unable to find any mention in the historical genealogies of a Count de LaValade who was, presumably, the father of Charles de la Valade and his brother, the two Huguenot pastors who left France for Lisburn circa 1700. If the family were truly members of the French aristocracy, their lineage would be well-recorded and relatively easy to track down. If our La Valade family were members of the aristocracy, then they were surely minor members of it.
I have, however, made a little progress although it's mostly speculative at this stage.
In a book of armorials, the family coat of arms of the Valade family of Languedoc is mentioned - 'Palé de gueules, d'or, d'azur d'or et de gueules' - so they must have existed somewhere in the region!
I mentioned in an earlier post that Pierre de la Vallade was the protestant pastor of Fontenoy-le-Conte from 1603 - 1633 and that he had been born in the Languedoc before moving west to Bergerac. Several of the texts hint at a family link between this Pierre de la Vallade and Charles de la Valade who went into exile following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
The journal of Paul de Vendée, a Huguenot captain, mentions Pierre de la Vallade twice - in an entry for February 1622, he mentions that he saw M. de la Vallade preaching at la Buardyere, and earlier in 1619, that M.de la Vallade went to spend the night at Escoue.
In another text, I read that Pierre de la Vallade died during an epidemic of either scarlet fever or cholera which struck the town of Fontenoy in 1633.
Yet another text relates that Pierre and his wife, Louise Billaud, had four children, although only one was mentioned - Elysée or Élie, who was an equerry and master in the house of the King. He married a Marie Genays in 1647. This text was incomplete.
Another link: A Saran Udel was the wife of Hanael d'Espée, doctor and brother-in-law to the pastor La Vallade. (Pierre de Lavallade's wife was of the family d'Espée - her mother was a Francoise d'Espée.) Later, a Huguenot, Jean Hudel of Fontenoy-le-Conte, engaged in protestant propaganda at Bazoges-en-Pareds, was jailed from 1690 to 1717, before leaving France for good.
Most of the literature links Pierre de la Vallade to Bertrand de la Vallade who likewise worked for the King of Navarre and for his protestant mother, Jeanne d'Albret. An early historian, Samazeuilh, wrote a note about Bertrand de la Vallade but gave little information on his origins. Bertrand, he writes, was the 'procureur générale' for the Queen of Navarre in the duchy of Albret and in the Chambre des Comptes in Nerac in 1566. By 1582 he was the master of 'requetes ordinares' for the King of Navarre, and the president of the Chambre des Comptes in Nerac in 1598 and 1604. Bertrand, with the authorisation of the King, sold the title of president to the Chambre des Comptes on 28th September 1610 to a Du Maurier.
Bertrand de la Vallade appears in numerous texts and seemed to play the role of notary overseeing commercial land transactions between various members of the Perigord nobility, and also seemed to play the role of messenger for the royal house of Navarre.
Working alongside Bertrand in the Chambre des Comptes in Nérac were Jehan Alespée, Sieur de la Grange, and Jehan de Secondat, Sieur de Roques.
The daughter of Bertrand de la Vallade, Catherine, married Jean Pinolé on Sunday 28th April 1596.
Bertrand de la Vallade's niece - unnamed - died on 16th August 1596.
From 'The Revue d'Aquitaine' we learn that the family of the pastor, Pierre de la Vallade, came to Poitou following the princes of Navarre and Condé but it doesn't say where they originated from! The same text mentions that a Jean de la Vallade was possibly the father of Pierre de la Vallade and was certainly the father of Bertrand de la Vallade.
This Jean de la Vallade, who is sometimes called by the archaic form of Jehan, also worked in the royal household of Navarre and a letter exists written by him from Fontenoy-le-Conte on 19th May 1569, in which he states that he was commissioned by the princes of Navarre to collect funds due to the state following the sale of ecclesiastical goods in the dioceses of Lucon and Maillezais.
The published records state that Bertrand de la Vallade was of the town of Laumont, which is just south of Brive-la-Gaillarde in Perigord. In some texts he is called Bertrand BRUN de la Vallade which seems to link him to the Brun de la Valade family who lived in the same area of southern Brive-la-Gaillarde.
By 1540, there is mention of Jean Brun, Seigneur de la Vallade at Grospuy and l'Estrade which are in the area of Laumont associated with Bertrand de la Vallade.
There was a chateau belonging to the Brun family in Grospuy south of Brive-la-Gaillard since the thirteenth century but the name of La Vallade doesn't make its appearance alongside the Brun name until about 1500 when there is mention of Jean and Antoine Brun, co-seigneurs de la Vallade. The daughters of Jean Brun de la Vallade married into the illustrious d'Abzac and d'Aubusson families and the land passed quickly into those families.
I mentioned earlier in this post that Bertrand de la Vallade served alongside a man by the name of Jehan or Jean Secondat in the Chambre des Comptes at Nérac. He was the seigneur of Roques who became the steward of Henry II of Navarre. Henry's daughter, Jeanne d'Albret, awarded Jean's service with 10,000 livres so he could become lord of the domaine called Montesquieu north of Moissac in the Languedoc. This family later reverted to Catholicism.
There are links between the Secondat and la Valade families although in this instance the nom de famille is 'Viguier de la Valade' and this branch of the family is associated with Moissac/Castel-Sarrasin in the Languedoc.
In the 1550's, Catherine de Secondat was married to N.....de Viguier, sieur de la Valade, who lived close to Moissac in Quercy.
In 1566, Marie-Anne de Secondat was baptised a Protestant and had, as godfather, Henry, Prince of Navarre who was represented at the ceremony by Antoine Viguier de la Valade.
In 1574, the noble Pierre de Secondat, seigneur de Roques, who was the maitre d'hotel ordinaire for Henry IV, had been baptised a Protestant; the godmother was Anne de Viguier de la Vallade, his cousin.
Later, Catherine de Viguier, the heiress of the la Valade family, married Francois, the seigneur de Pechpeyrou and Montbarla (Montbarla is just north of Moissac), the baron of Beaucaire.
By 1780, the La Valade estates belonged to the Marquis de Beaucaire.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
The Tutty Family
Our great-great-great grandparents on our mother’s side were John Pennefather and Emily Courtenay who married in St. Mary’s, Dublin, on Ja...
-
In 1788, Richard Grattan the Elder, of Drummin, Kildare, married Elizabeth Biddulph, the eldest daughter of Francis Biddulph of Vicarstown...
-
We descend directly on our mother's side from Rev. John Pennefather of Newport, Co. Tipperary, and from his first, unnamed, wife. http...