Burdeshaw - Don’t discount family stories or an improbable name
gibert, Colas Bordazeau and Françoise Sacbouille – newly recognized ancestors.Background:A telephone inquiry led to the identification of overlooked ancestors from Abbeville, SC. A recent caller said her great grandmother, Priscilla Burdeshaw, wife of Willis Alonzo Bird of Alabama, was a descendant of Huguenots in South Carolina. I’ll admit I was skeptical, but after I hung up I checked a few indices and then called her back. Her great grandmother was right. We have not found documentation for the whole lineage, but the caller wasn't concerned about that – she simply wanted to know if the story was true so she could tell her own granddaughter something about her heritage.What was found (Names in parentheses are the indexed spellings.):A group of Protestant refugees left southern France with Jean Louis Gibert 9 Aug 1763 and arrived at Plymouth, England 25 August. The names of 112 men and 61 women, ages 1 through 55 years are on "A “List of Protestant Refugees now at Plymouth to go to America…under the direction of Jean Louis Gibert Pasteur,” dated 22 November. On the list are the names of Colas Bordazeau (Bordajeau), a 33 year of laborer, Françoise Sacbouille, aged 32, and their children Jean aged 8 years, Pierre aged 6, Marie aged 10, and Jeanne aged 1 year. Gibert and his group boarded ship 25 Dec 1763, but bad weather pushed the ship onto rocks and it “lay to, in the road-stead of Farbret,” until 14 Feb 1764. It then returned to Plymouth where it remained until 22 February when it again set sail. The voyage lasted 47 days and the group sighted land 10 April. After running aground the ship arrived in Charlestown harbor two days later. The travelers were housed in military barracks 14 April and were provided with a ”hogshead of crackers and other liberalities “ by the French Protestant Church of Charles Towne. As required of all newly arriving settlers, the French Protestants took the oath of allegiance 18 Apr 1764 and then requested their land rights. They were to be settled in Hillsborough Township near the Savannah River where they would establish viticulture and sericulture.[1]According to a list of those entitled to headrights, Colas Bordazeau (Bodazeau) requested 300 acres of land. His plat was certified 5 Apr 1765 and his Royal Grant for 350 acres in Hillsborough Township (100 acres for himself and 50 for each dependent) followed 30 Aug 1765.[2] Undocumented sources There are more references in the online index of the SC Department of Archives and History and probably others in the records of Abbeville, SC and the surrounding area which have not been researched by the Society. According to an undocumented source, Pierre Burdeshaw died 1808/09 in Abbeville District, SC and John Burdeshaw died there in 1819.Outcome:A new vertical file for researchers and possible new members for the Society, as well as an increased awareness of the vagaries of spelling and pronunciation.