WHO WERE THE PASSENGERS ON THE RICHMOND?
by Cheves Leland, a sketch published as a supplemental to her talk presented at the 2025 annual Anniversary Meeting of the Society.
“1680 April ye 30th, Friday, This day we landed most of our Passengers goods at ye Oyster Point in Carralina.”
This in the last entry made to the log of a British man o’war named the Richmond which brought the first group of French Protestant refugees to what is now South Carolina. René Petit and Jacob Guérard, both in London after escaping persecution in France because of their religious beliefs, had petitioned the King of England for help in transporting between 70 and 100 men, women and children from England to Carolina. Skilled workers were needed to help the newly established colony of Carolina, just ten years old, become not only self-sufficient, but also a source of income for the Lords Proprietors who owned it.
A letter dated Whitehall, 17th of December 1679 and addressed to the Governor and Council of the Province of Carolina, arrived on “the Richmond Frigate, Capt. Dunbar Comandr.” Included in the letter was the following:
By the same conveyance with this goes Severall families of forraigne Protestants to Settle in Carolina whom wee recommend to your care and desire they may be so treated that others may be encouraged to follow them, they are to have the same quantities of Land we have by our Letter of the 19th of May last appointed to be granted to such as shall come to settle in our province. . . and pray let their land be run out to them without any delay, and as little charge as possible. Among these Famileys are divers persons well skilled in making of Silke, wine and oyle. . . and wee hope that the English will by them Learn to become skilled in those comodityes. . . . We have Thought fitt to Grant to Mr. René Petit and Jacob Guerard to each a Mannour of 4000 Akers.”
In addition to help from King James, the Lords Proprietors gave money to support the voyage. Newly arrived settlers were granted head rights, 70 acres for men in 1680 and varying amounts for women and servants and children over the age of 16 years. Indentured servants could claim their own head rights once they had served their time. One acre lots in Charles Towne, the only town, were also available.
There are two extant lists of passengers on the Richmond. The first, containing the “Names of 18 Fr: Protestants going to Carolina in the Richmond,” was dated 15 October 1679. The other, dated November 1679 in London, is entitled “A List of ye Foreign Protestant Famillies which are willing to be transported for Carolina. . . In all 20 Famillies besides one of ye Undertakers.”
The October list includes a list of men followed by how many men, women and children were attached to each man listed with a total of 27 men, 15 women and 24 children, 67 people in all. It gives only the surnames of eighteen of the men, each preceded by Mr. Two entries are identified as “Mr. his friend” and “Mr. also his friend” after Mr. De Rousserie and after Mr. Crozar is “Mr. his friend.”
The second list gives surnames with either a given name or an initial, as well as the name of a city or region of origin for most, followed by the total number of persons for each entry. This second list ends with “In all 20 Famillies besides one of ye Undertakers composed of 14 [persons],” showing a total of 90 persons. This second list actually contains the names of 22 families in addition to that of the undertaker (Jacob Guérard) and the total number of persons on it is 101.
Between the two lists there are twenty-two different family groups. Of these, fourteen appear on both lists and eight are on only one of the lists. Of the names on the October 1679 list, only the name Crozar is not on the November 1679 list and there are three unnamed persons on the earlier list. There are eight surnames on the November list which do not appear on the earlier list. Of all the names on both lists, seven were not found in the records of Carolina (Cazon, Cofe, Conire, Crozar, Dedayounnare, Depomar, Triquiau). The surnames Jermain and Siocar (both on only the November list) were found in the Carolina records, but not for the given names of Samuel Jermain and S. Siocart.
Several of the family groups added or lost persons between October and November and the numbers could have changed again prior to departure. There is no list of the names or number of the Richmond passengers made after their arrival in Carolina.
According to the ship’s log, the Richmond took on “some of ye French passengers yt was to goe to Carolina with us” on Friday, 19 December 1679 and set sail from Purflett on Christmas Day. An entry made Tuesday 3 February 1679/80 refers to a “greate storm of shipwracke.” Finally, on Friday, 13 February the Richmond was abreast Dover at 2pm and then anchored Sunday the 15th in Plymouth Sound for water and provisions, but “there was none ready for us.” Its actual departure date is not given. After a voyage of about two and a half months, the ship entered Charles Towne harbor and unloaded its passengers on 29 April, the day before their provisions and goods were off-loaded. Despite efforts made, silkworms which had been brought aboard the Richmond did not make it to Carolina. They hatched en route and died from lack of mulberry leaves.
In order to find out about these settlers, research studies were made using a database of references to the French in Carolina taken from compilations of abstracts of warrants, land records, wills, Proprietary records, as well as books by Baird, Bates and Leland, Hirsch and Van Ruymbeke. Transactions of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, The South Carolina Historical Magazine, records of New Paltz, New Rochelle, New Amsterdam/New York and the Quarto volumes of the French churches in England were also examined, as well as both Member and Vertical files of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina. Articles by Dr. St Julien Childs form the basis of the following information, with additions and new information added.
THE RICHMOND PASSENGERS AND THEIR FAMILIES
NOTE: The names are listed here in alphabetical order. The information as to which list or lists the names were on is given as well as anything discovered in my research. In some instances, readers will need to decide for themselves who the person was - and in some instances their identities may remain unclear. These sketches are a start and future discoveries and more research may turn up answers to questions which remain at this time.
BATON, ISAAC was on both lists, first as Mr. Baston with one man, one woman and one child and next as Isaac Caton of Picardy, three persons total. Isaac Baton, as identified on The 1697 List of French and Swiss who want to be Naturalized English (hereafter the Liste), was born at Leschelle in Picardy, son of Corneille Baton and Judith Voyenne, By 1697 Baton had two sons, Jacques born in London and Isaac born in Carolina, both sons of Marie De Lorme, native of Vadenouste, FR, deceased.
Baton was in London by late 1671 when he was a witness at the baptism of Marie LeFebure on 12 November. Three months later, he and his wife Marie De Lorme baptized their daughter Judith at the French Church on Threadneedle Street on 21 Feb 1672. Their daughter Marie Baton was baptized the next year on 13 Jul 1673. Later that year, on 24 November, Isaac Baton was noted as having to prove his right to the trade in the Weaver’s Company. A third daughter, Marianne, was baptized 18 Apr 1675, their son Isaac on 10 Jan 1677 and Jacques on 20 Oct 1678. By 1697 when the Liste was made, they had lost all their daughters either in England, en route to America or in Carolina and Marie De Lorme had also died. Since the Liste gives son Isaac’s birthplace as Carolina, it is likely that their son Isaac, born in London in 1677 had died and that his name was given to their last child.
No warrants or grants to Baton were found in the records of Carolina, but his name does appear as a butt and bound on several tracts and on early maps. The earliest reference to him in Carolina was in 1685 when he was listed as owning land bounding on part of a 350-acre tract on Goose Creek owned by Isaac Fleury.
Isaac Baton signed the petition for naturalization made on 30 Mar 1696 and was also on a list adopted 10 Mar 1697 which identified him as a weaver. No further references were found for Isaac Baton, but there are references to his sons.
BREMER, SALOMON was one of five French immigrants who arrived on the Richmond, but who was not listed on either passenger list. A wool and hemp weaver from Ansème in Picardy in northern France, Bremar was the son of Jacques Bremar and Marthe Le Grande. On 2 March 1674, Jacques Bremer was admitted to the Weaver’s Company of London as a foreign journeyman, with a note that he had served in Paris and was a member of the French Church. Salomon had evidently escaped to London with his father although no records for him were found in England, possibly because he was young.
On 18 February 1680/[1], Salomon Bremer’s arrival rights in Carolina were claimed by Jacob Guérard. No other references for him were found, until 1697 when he was listed with other French and Swiss inhabitants in Carolina who wanted to be naturalized. The date of Bremer’s marriage with Marie Sauvagot, a native of Alleurs, Saintonge, daughter of Jean Sauvagot and Madeleine Potet is not known, but they were married by 1697 when the Liste was made and they were living in Orange Quarter. Later that year Bremer had a warrant for 220 acres in Berkeley County, possibly for the land he was living on when the Liste was made. It was not unusual for colonists to get warrants some years after they had settled on a tract of land. Once a warrant was obtained, they had a limited amount of time to clear and put the land into use.
Between 1697 and 1709 Bremar and Sauvagot had two children, Jacques and Marthe. Despite having begun his new life in Carolina as an indentured servant, Bremer had acquired 2,310 acres. In 1716, he gave his two children each £150 which he had promised them on the day of their marriage and they renounced any further claims to his estate. The document was recorded 22 Apr 1722. In another document, undated, but recorded a month later on 22 May, Bremar left them four Negro women and one Negro man. When he died in 1721 Bremar had been in Carolina for 41 years. The date of death of his wife Marie was not found, but there are more references to their two children.
CARIER/CARRIÈRE, JEAN was not on either of the Richmond passenger lists, but he was named as a servant in Guerard’s 1681 warrant. Jean Carrière may have arrived as a servant, but by his death in 1722/3 in Colleton County, he had bought or sold over 1000 acres of land in Craven and Berkeley Counties. His wife Elizabeth was deceased and their son John was still being educated. In his will, he named their five daughters, two married and three still single.
After arriving in Carolina in 1680, Carrière evidently worked off his indenture, probably as a cooper. He may have been young, since there is no mention of him until the Liste was made in 1697 and he did not claim or buy any land before then. He was enumerated alone, a cooper, the son of Jean Carrière of Normandy and living in French Santee, although no grants or warrants to him were found there. Jean Carrière probably married soon after the Liste was made, but there is no record of his wife’s surname and only her given name of Elizabeth is known. The earliest land records for Jean Carrière are warrants dated 1709 and 1710 for land in the parish of St. Thomas and St. Denis, near Wisboo (now French Quarter) Creek. He sold most of his land in Craven and Berkeley Counties and moved to Colleton County and when he died his estate was valued at £207.15. It consisted of household goods, a steer, a mare and colt, and some cash and notes. OFFSPRING?
CAZIN, ETIENNE (Expietienne) of Paris was on the second list with one other person, probably his older sister ESTHER CAZIN. Born in 1664 and 1652, respectively, they converted to Catholicism in 1677 when he was 13 and she was 15 years of age. At some point after that, they fled to England where they probably recanted. No references to them were found in the Carolina records, but there are references to Ester Cazin in the Quarto, as well as to others with the same surname.
COFÉ/COFFÉ, PIERRE appeared only on the second list where he was identified as from Geneva and was listed as having two persons in his family group. No references to him were found in the records of Carolina, but there are references to Pierre Coffee/Coffrier/Coffriez in the Quarto. According to the records, Pierre Coffe received monthly assistance at La Providence, a home and hospital in London for Hugeunt refugees, from 2 February 1739/40 until 13 April 1751. A native of Forest of St. Julien in Dauphiné he was admitted to La Providence on 10 July 1756 when he was 65 years of age. He died there 16 Feb 1759 when he was 73 years of age.
It is impossible to know if the following references are for him due to the spelling of the surname, but it is possible that they were. Pierre Coffrier and his wife Michelle had several children in London between 1697 and 1713 and Peter Coffé was listed in 1728 in the Weaver’s Company Register.
The surname does appear in later records in Carolina. Elias Cofee was buried in St. Philip’s Parish, in Charles Towne 2 Jan 1747/8 and John Cofe was buried in 1751. Their relationship to each other or to Pierre Coffé is not known.
CONIRE, SAMUEL of Saintonge was listed with a family of two persons on the second list. No other references were found for him.
CROZAR, MR. was listed on the first list with two men and two women. His name was not found in the Carolina records.
DEDAYOUNNARE, JESUE of Normandy, possibly a woman, was included on the second list with a family of four. No other references to the name were found.
DEPOMAR, DEMOS of Normandy was listed on the second list with a family of three. The surname does appear in the Quarto between 1720 and 1735, but there are no references for a Demos.
DE ROUSSERYE/DE ROUSSERIE/DE ROUSIERYÉ, FRANÇOIS of Languedoc was on both lists; one male on the first list and three persons on the second. The two next entries after his name on the first list were for “Mr. his friend” and for “Mr. alsoe his friend,” both listed as 1 male. The identities of his two friends has not been ascertained.
De Rousserye witnessed the February 1682 apprenticeship of Isaac, son of Jacob Guérard, one of the organizers of the voyage to Carolina on the Richmond, to Maurice Mathews, then Surveyor General of the province. A year later on 27 March 1683 De Rousserye was appointed one of the appraisers for the estate of Henry Brayne, mariner. On 5 November of the same year “Monsieur de Russeree” received a warrant for 140 acres for his arrival in Carolina with one servant named Robert. Another warrant for 800 acres was “granted unto him by the right honourable the Lords & absolute proprietors” for “having with great Industry aplyed himselfe to ye propogation of Wine and other usefull things in Carolina.” This grant was stated to be similar to those the Proprietors allowed for bringing in servants, but without that requirement. The location of this 800-acre grant is not known and no more information about his interests in “Wine and other usefull things” was found. The next record for De Rousserye was dated 24 March 1693 when he, Elizabeth Harris and Joseph Palmer placed the probate bond for the estate of John Harris.24
Although no record of his having lived in French Santee was found, the name of François De Rousserye, born at Montpellier, is #61 on the Liste, the first name in the list of the inhabitants of French Santee. He was also on the general list of French and Swiss desiring naturalization as #11, the son of Alexandre De Rousserye and Marie Suranne. Based on a warrant dated 2 November 1697 he received a grant to 1010 acres in Berkeley County on the east side of the west branch of the T in the Cooper River, bounding west on the river, northward on land of Landgrave James Colleton, southward on land of Mr. John Harris and vacant land, and east on vacant land. The survey was certified on 3 November 1697 and the 2 January 1697/8 grant by Governor Archdale and the trustees for granting land states that De Rousserye bought the land for ₤20.4.2. An earlier probate bond on the estate of his neighbor John Harris that named De Rousserye indicates that he was probably on the land as early as 1693. “F. De Rousserye of Carolina, Gent.” sold 200 acres to Anthoine Cordes on 26 December 1700. This tract was described by De Rousserye as being “on the E side of my swamp butting W on my land, S on said land and N on Landgrave Colleton’s land, part of the 1010 acres granted me by the Lords Proprietors under the hand of Joseph Blake, he [Cordes] paying quit rent to the Proprietors.” Samuel DuBourdieu, Orlando Payne, Cordes and Trouillart witnessed the document and possession was given the same day. It was proved 14 May 1701.
In 1712 Francis De Rousserye, gentleman, for consideration of ₤400 from Gabriel Marion, planter, sold his remaining 810 acres in Berkeley County, described as bounding east on land newly laid out, west on a branch of the Cooper River and north on land of Mr. John Harris. The deed was witnessed by James Cordes, Benjamin Marion and Jno Harris and signed "Francis Rousseyé." Three years later, on 7 April 1713, later Paul Fidling, cooper of Berkeley County, bound himself to Francis De Rousserye, Gentleman of the province, for ₤240, to be repaid in full by 10 June 1716 “without fraud then this Obligation to be void.” The memo, indicating repayment of the sum, was dated 28 December 1716/17.
In a deed dated 3 July 1716 De Rousserye described himself as “Gent. of Charles Towne.” He stated that he had given his daughter Elisabeth De Rousserye, “now between 12 and 13 years, all his goods and chattels. . .and have put said Elizabeth DeRousserye in possession of aforesaid premises by delivery to her of one piece of silver called a Riale fixxed to and on seal of these presents.” He may have been very weak at the time this deed was drawn since he made his mark instead of signing his name. Robt. Dedecate [Didcott?], Jno. Dalton and Thos. Selby witnessed the document and the last two swore to it 17 July 1716.
It appears likely that François De Rousserye died before 28 December 1716/17 when the memorandum for Fidling’s bond was proved. Neither the name of his wife, nor the fate of their daughter Elisabeth, is known. No further records were found for François De Rousserye.
FLEURY DE LA PLAINE, ABRAHAM was not listed by name in either passenger list, but his warrant for 350 acres, dated 1 November 1683, gives his arrival date with four servants as April 1680. Three months later on 20 February 1683/4, he claimed more arrival rights for James Philllips (arrived October 1680) and Henry Blanchard (arrived September 1680), as well as the rights for “Lewis, Lucy, Sharto & Gabriel Teboo.”
Abraham Fleury was baptized in the Protestant temple in Tours in 1644. He, his brother Isaac and their older sister Madeleine, all the children of Charles Fleury, merchant, and Madeleine Soubzmain, made their way to England and then to Carolina, but Isaac and Madeleine do not show up in the records until 1685. Other relatives or friends from Tours who came to Carolina include Pierre Bacot and Jacquine Mercier, George Baudoin, Claude Carron, Etienne Fromaget, Isaac LeJay, Louis Pasquereau and Noë Royer. Abraham Fleury set up his plantation on Yeamans, or Goose, Creek, near land claimed by his brother Isaac and by Isaac Baton. In addition to them, Abraham Fleury’s daughter Marianne, born in Paris, probably accompanied him. She married Jacques DuGué [II] in Carolina where Fleury’s only grandchild, Marianne DuGué, was born before March 1697 when the Liste was made.
On 2 August 1721 when he was was 79 years of age, Abraham Fleury wrote his will, leaving his 830 acre plantation to his brother Isaaac with reversions to his grandaughter Marianne, by then the wife of Tobias Fitch, and to her children Marianne and Stephen Fitch. He also left his Indian slave Diana and her children to his brother and to his “son-in-law Peter Bacotte,” specifying that she was to be freed two years after the birth of her fifth child, “as he had promised her.” In 1733 Tobias Fitch claimed Abraham Fleury de la Plaine’s land in his wife name, indicating that Isaac Fleury had died.
A 1791 plat drawn by Joseph Purcell indicates the “remains of a french church” and remants of a graveyard were found nearby on the land of Abraham Fleury. The site was identified by Henry Augustus Middleton Smith who bought the acre on which they were located in 1909. A grantite cross was erected on the site by the Huguenot Society of South Carolina in 1910. This God’s Acre is probably the earliest known settlement by Huguenot refugees outside of Charles Towne and stands in the middle of a grove of trees, bearing mute testemony to our ancestors.
FORESTIER, MR. was listed on the October 1679 list with two men. On the November list he was identified as minister with six people in his group. In the interval between the two lists, Jacob Guérard had asked for help finding a minister and it is possible that the French Church of London did suggest one, although the Consistory said they could not help with a salary for a minister. One suggestion is that Forestier was an as yet unqualified minister named Henri and another that he was Louis Forestier, a refugee in Holland by 1679. We may never know the answer since the name Forestier does not appear in the Carolina records. There were three brothers from Cozes named Charles, Jean and Théophile Forestier who settled in Narragansett, but no relation to them has been found. The surname was found in the records of the French Church of New York, Saint Esprit, but all were after 1700.
FORTRESS, MARIE was not listed on either passenger list, but she was named by Guérard in his 1681 warrant, where she was identified as a servant. No other reference to her name was found in the Carolina records. She may have died or she could have married and become lost in the records under her husband’s name.
FOURRÉ/FRERE FOURE, MR. of Paris with two men, one woman and six children, a total of eight persons was on both lists. He was shown on the 1682 Gascoyne Map in Orange Quarter on the East Branch of the T in Cooper River. His warrant and grant have not been found and in 1686 he conveyed ownership of his land to Pierre de St. Julien. Although his name appeared on both the 1695 and Thornton-Morden Map and the 1696 Sanson Map, he does not appear elsewhere in the records of Carolina.
FROMAGET, CHARLES was listed on Guerard’s 1681 warrant as a servant, although he was not named on either passenger list. He may have arrived here with Etienne Fromaget, but their relationship is not known. Etienne Fromaget was named in the Carolina records when he witnessed the will of Alexander Pepin, dated 31 May 1687 and he was identified by another source as a weaver from Tours. Another reference to him, but back in England, was found when he and his wife Magdaleine Royer baptized two of their children at the Threadneedle French Church of London, a daughter Magdaleine Elizabeth on 30 Jan 1684 and a son Etienne on 29 March 1685. Witnessing both baptisms was Noë Royer who was in Carolina by October 1685 with his family.
Charles Fromaget shows up a bit more in the Carolina records. He was #138, listed alone on the 1697 Liste, born in Chateleraux, son of Charles Fromaget and Marie LeNain. He was also on Trott’s list as a planter and was identified in another source as a planter and weaver. In 1703 he witnessed the will of Daniel LeGendre of French Santee, the last mention found for him.
GARDER, JEAN of Picardy with one male and one female was on both of the Richmond lists, but no other references for him were found. A French refugee named Jean Garde showed up in South Africa in 1690 and later married Susanna Taillfort and had children. No connection between him and Carolina was found.
GUÉRARD, JACOB, with René Petit, was one of the “undertakers” of the Petit-Guérard group of French refugees. The two men persuaded King James, the Board of Trade and the King’s Council to use the Richmond to transport settlers to Carolina. In the first list (October), he was identified as “Mr. Guerard one of ye undertakers” and shown with seven men, three women and four children. His son was also listed, Mr. Guérard Junior, one man. The second list (November) has “P. Guérard of Normandy with his Famillie… 2” and “one of ye Undertakers composed of 14 persons” with no other names given. It is quite possible that some of the people in his group were the servants for whom he claimed arrival rights. They may have been relatives and/or indentured servants. We know from his son John Guérard’s naturalization papers that Jacob Guérard’s wife was named Marguerite and other sources state he was from Dieppe.
On 18 Oct 1679 Jacob Guérard was identified as a gentleman of Normandy and was granted 4000 acres for a manor by the Lords Proprietors prior to leaving England. He received his warrant for this land on 16 Nov 1680. On 14 Jun 1680 during the summer before the Richmond left England, Jacob Guérard bought a 500-acre plantation called Etchaw (probably Ittchecaw on Clouter or Beresford Creek) on the north side of eastern branch of the T in Cooper River from Robert and Dorothy Daniell for £50.
On 18 Feb 1681 Jacob Guérard had a warrant for 560 acres for his arrival that of his wife and six servants, Peter Oliver, Solomon Bremmer, Charles Fromagett, John Carier, Anna Lafelleine and Mary Fortress.
Two months later, on 24 Apr 1681, warrants for 420 acres of land were made to “Peter Jacob Gerrard, Isack Gerrard, John Gerrard, Joseph Garrard, Margaret Gerrard, and Elizabeth Gerrard,” probably all the children of Jacob Guérard. Also in the colony was Solomon Guérard who died between 1702 and 1706. His relationship to Jacob Guérard and his family is not known. Guérard was listed with 14 people in his group, 7 men, 3 women and four children on the October list and with a total of 14 on the November list. His son Peter Jacob was listed separately with one person in his group in October and two in November. Jacob Gerard’s warrant was for eight persons, five men and three women. Warrants granted to his children were for four men and two women, making a total of nine men, seven women and no children.
The next year on 20 Feb 1682, Jacob Guérard’s son Isaac apprenticed himself to Maurice Mathews, for 8 years, to learn the science of surveying of lands and all others mathimaticall mensurations . . .and as apprentice his secrets he shall keepe close, he shall nor committ matrimony, he shall not contract Tavernes, he shall not Absent or prolong himself . . . and Maurice Mathews to his said apprentice shall teach the sciences & arts above mentioned, shall find to his sd apprentice Apparerell, meate, drinke, and bedding & all other Necessaries.
Jacob Guérard witnessed several wills and deeds during the next few years and had deeds for several lots in Charles Towne, as did his son Peter Jacob Guérard who obtained a patent in 1691 for his invention of a rice-husking machine. In 1696 Peter Jacob Guérard was named as a collector of the port of Charles Towne. No members of the Guéard family were on the Liste in 1697, although Jacob Guérard did sign the 30 March 1696 petition for naturalization and was identified on Trott’s list as Sieur.
Jacob Guérard had died by 1703 when his estate was probated. His son Peter Jacob Guérard served as Register of the Province from 1703 until mid-1707. He died c. 1710 when there was a bundle index entry for his estate. His brother Jean died between 1711 when he wrote his will and 1714 when it was proved. Death dates for the other Guérard siblings and their mother are not known.
JERMAIN, SAMUEL of Dieppe was listed with two persons on the November 1679 passenger list. No references to him were found in the Carolina records, but the surname Jermain does appear in records of the Narraganset, RI settlement and in the records of Carolina under a variety of spellings, predominantly Jermain, Germain and Jerman.
Jean Germaine/Germon was in Narragansett, RI in 1686 and by 1688 a Capt. Germaine had settled in Oxford, MA with his son. Jean Germon/Germaine of La Tremblade was also listed as being at Oxford, as was Charles Germon who moved to Boston after the 1696 massacre in Oxford.
The first reference to the name in Carolina was to George Jerman, probably English, in 1670 whose arrival rights were claimed by John Godfrey of Barbados. Ten years later, Samuel Jermain of Dieppe, France was on the November list of passengers for the Petit-Guérard colony being transported to Carolina on the Richmond in 1680.
In 1703 Stephen Jamain, probably of the ship Charming Mary, witnessed two documents with the master of the ship, John Potter, and signed receipts for passage money on the brigantine. At almost the same time John Jerman, mariner of Charles Towne, purchased 1⁄2 of the sloop Discovery and “1/2 part of all masts, anchors, cables and ropes.” The connection of these people to each other is not known, nor is their connection, if any, to Ralph Jermain who was in Carolina by Nov 1717. settled at French Santee. Although the given name Ralph is not French, he could have been related to either family. Later generations of the Carolina family used the spelling Jerman.
LAFELLEINE, ANNE was one of five people listed as servants by Jacob Guérard when he claimed land for their arrival in Carolina. She was not on either of the Richmond lists, but was a passenger based upon her arrival date. This is the only reference found for her.
LE RICHE, JEAN was on both passenger lists, first for one man and two women and second making his mark as Jean Le Riche of the Palatinate with five people in his group. No references to him were found in the records of Carolina, but there are records for a child named Susannah Le Riche, the daughter of Jean Le Riche and his wife Anne Ferment. Susannah was baptized in the French Church of London, Threadneedle Street 9 September 1677, with Nicholas Faucon and Susanne Ribau as her godparents. Her brother Jean Le Riche was baptized there 21 April 1679. His godparents were his grandfather Jean Le Riche and Suzanne Guignard. The two children could have arrived in Carolina on board the Richmond in 1680, two of the five people listed on the second Richmond passenger list with their father Jean Le Riche “of the Palatinat.” Susanne would have been three years of age and her brother Jean only one as they made the voyage across the Atlantic. If the Le Riche family did make the trip, it appears that most of the family died either en voyage or soon after their arrival, leaving Susannah a very young orphan She would have grown up as the new colony of Carolina grew, possibly in Orange Quarter or in Charles Towne. No references to her were found until she was listed as the wife of George Juin on the Liste in 1697. Neither the names of her parents or her birthplace were given, perhaps because she did not know them. Susanne Le Riche and George Juin had at least one son, Jean Juin (Juing), born in Carolina before 1697 when the family was identified as inhabitants of French Santee although no land records at French Santee were found for them. It is possible that they lived in French Santee until they decided where to settle, as did a number of French immigrants.
MARTIN, MR. had a family group of five persons on the November list, but his identity is not known for sure. He and his family might have decided to stay in England; they may have perished on the trip to Carolina or soon after they arrived or they could have decided upon disembarking that they would return to England or go to another colony. We have no given names, no other records about them, nothing to distinguish them from anyone else with the surname Martin.
As far as Carolina records are concerned, the only possibilities found so far are references in 1704 and 1705 for John Martin who sold lot #48 in Charles Towne to James Le Serrurier and Peter de St. Julien for the mortgage owned on it. Another possibility is John Martin who settled in Oxford, Massachusetts when it was founded in 1690 with his wife Anne and their sons Jean and François. They moved to New Rochelle after the Oxford massacre in 1696.
OLIVIER, MR. of Dauphine was listed alone on the October 1679 list and then with three people in his family on the November list. According to the warrant given to Guérard on 18 Feb 1680/[1], his full name was PETER OLIVER. No other records for him were found in Carolina, but on 12 Nov 1681 naturalization was granted to John and Peter Olivier in London. On 4 May 1699 John, the son of Peter Olivier of Montpellier was naturalized in London. A reference to Antoine Olivier, chandellier of Boston in 1704 and 1705 was also found. Did Peter Olivier die soon after the warrant was issued; did he decide to return to England; did he move to another colony? We don’t know.
PREVOST, A. of Dieppe was listed with two men and one woman on the October 1679 list and with three people in his family on the November list. No further references to him were found in the Carolina records.
ROUSSEAU/ROULLEAU, P. of Orleans was listed with one man, one woman and one child on the October l679 list and with a family of 8 on the November list. Despite the initial P, he is believed to have been #47 on the 1697 Liste: Daniel DuRouseaux born at St. Jean d’Angely son of Daniel Durouzeaux and Marye Souchard, with wife Elizabeth Foucheraud and their children Daniel and Pierre, born in Carolina. Du Rousseau was identified as a shammy dresser and he witnessed or was appointed to appraise several estates in Carolina between 1696 and 1700. He was granted denization 11 Mar 1699/1700 and had died by 4 Dec of that year when a warrant of appraisement for his estate was made. On 7 Aug 1702 Anna Vignaud was given guardianship of her nephews Daniel and Peter Du Rousseau. She was the widow of Charles Faucheraud from Soubize who is believed to have been the brother of both Elizabeth Foucheraud, the boys’ mother, and of Sara Foucheraud, wife of Pierre Poinsett.
SERRÉ, NOË of Brïe was listed on the October 1679 passenger list with four people and on the November list with six in his family group. No mention of the Serré family was found in Carolina until 3 March 1693/4 when Noë Serré received a warrant and certificate of survey for Lot #190 on Tradd Street in Charles Towne. Two years later he signed a petition requesting naturalization with other “alien born” settlers in order that lands already bought might “be secured to them and their heirs.” The 1697 Liste includes the names of Noë Serré, a native of Lumigny in Brie and the son of Claude Serré and Esther Gilliet, his wife Catherine Challiou of Lyon, daughter of Louis Challiou and Benoite Pitauer, and their children Noë and Marguerite, both born in Carolina. On 10 March 1697 Noë Serré, identified as a weaver, received his naturalization papers from Governor Blake of Carolina with other “aliens,” as the document identified them. Noë Serré died within three or four years after petitioning for naturalization. His will is listed in a 1700/01 index entry, but no copy of it exists now.
Noë Serré, the younger, was probably born shortly after his family arrived in Carolina (based upon his being of age when he petitioned for land 27 August 1701. He is believed to have married Esther Michaud, daughter of Abraham Michaud and his wife Esther Jaudon, also born in Carolina.
SIOCART, S. of Bordeaux with his family of five was listed on the 9 November 1697 passenger list of the Richmond. No records were found for him in Carolina. It is unlikely that he could have been Ambroise Sicard who was born about 1631 in Mornac near La Rochelle and left there c. 1681. Ambroise Sicard settled first in New York where he was denizened in 1683 with three sons, Ambroise (born c. 1666), Daniel (born c. 1672) and Jacques (born c. 1675). None of the records for the family of Ambroise Sicard link him to South Carolina or provide links to Peter and Isaac Secare who show up in the colony’s records after 1700.
No records in Carolina were found for S. Siocart. He may never have boarded the ship or he may have died en route to Carolina or soon after his arrival. If he did board the ship, it is likely that at least one or more of the people traveling with him were related to him. If he did have family members with him, one of them could have been his son, the father of Peter and Isaac Secare who appear in the Carolina records after 1701. My assumption is that this unnamed son married Esther Tauvron, who had arrived in Carolina by 1692 with her father Etienne/Stephen Tauvron and her sister Madeleine.
By 1695 Etienne/Stephen Tauvron and his daughters, Madeleine and Esther they had been joined by Tauvron’s sister Marie Tauvron and her son Moÿse Le Brun. They had escaped from France to England with her husband Moyse Le Brun and then emigrated to Narrangansett, RI by 1688. When that settlement failed in 1691, the family went to New York where Moÿse Le Brun, the elder, died about 1694, probably prompting his widow and young son to go to her brother in Carolina. Once in Carolina, the re-united brother and sister who had both lost their spouses were both on the general list of French and Swiss settlers wanting naturalization in 1697 with their children.
Stephen Tauvron of Charles Town, Gent, wrote his will on 19 July 1729. He left his grandsons Peter and Isaac Secar one lot each on Broad Street and gave lots as well as other items to his grandsons, Daniel and Thomas Laroche and his granddaughter Mary Laroche and to John Lewis. His will was proved 1 October 1729.
In 1734 Peter Secare was plastering the church of Prince Frederick. In 1736 Isaac Mazyck of Charles Town mentioned his godson Isaac Sicart (sic) in his will and Isaac Secare (sic) was a witness to the 1749 will of Daniel Bretton (sic). There are numerous references to both Isaac and Peter Secare in South Carolina deeds, several with or for Daniel and Thomas LaRoche. In 1735 Peter Secare and his cousin Mary LaRoche with her husband Elias Foissin, sold their “2 undivided third parts of two lots in Charleston,” bequeathed them by Stephen Tauvron, cooper in 1729. In September 1737, Isaac Secare, gentleman of Georgetown, bought 500 acres in Queensborough Township, Craven County and in December of the same year. Peter Secare, bricklayer of Craven County bought 500 acres in Queensborough Township. The next year Peter Secare witnessed the sale of 500 acres to Daniel and Thomas LaRoche, merchants of Georgetown. Isaac Secare sold “all of undivided 1/3 part of the two town lots in Charleston in 1740.
On 13 June 1742 Peter Secare and Mary Rea were married in the church of Prince Frederick, Winyaw. On 29 Jun 1769 his estate was listed as being administered by James Calhoun and Elisha Tamplet in Prince George Parish.
THIBOU, LOUIS of Orleans was listed with seven people, two men, one woman and four children, on the October 1679 passenger list and had a family of eight on the November list. Who all these people were has not been completely discovered. Louis Thibou, son of Jean Thibou and Marie Callard, was married first to Charlotte Mariette. Their son Louis and daughter Charlotte were born in Paris and their son Gabriel was born in London, baptized in the French Church of London, Threadneedle Street 13 January 1678. Their fourth child Jacob was baptized there 23 Feb 1679 and then died there later that year.
Three of children Thibou brought to Carolina were his own: Louis, Charlotte and Gabriel. The fourth child on the passenger list was probably “the little boy” he mentioned in a letter he wrote to Gabriel Bontefoy and other friends of his. Thibou said he arrived ‘with my wife and three children” and then added, “I beg you to tell the mother of the little boy I brought along that he is well. . . .” The letter appears to agree with the October passenger list total of there being seven persons in Thibou’s group, but does not identify the second man or explain why there were eight people noted on the November list. He wrote, “My poor little Loton died in this country, but God has given us another son who is called Jacob after the one we lost in England.” On 12 February 1683, Charlotte Mariette and Louis Thibou’s son Jacob was baptized at Charles Towne with Capt. Gardaratt and Mrs. Susanna Vairin (sic) as his godparents.
By 23 September 1683 when Louis Thibou wrote the letter to friends of his in England, he said he had “five or six arpents of land under cultivation” and had “reaped this year . . . more than 100 bushels of wheat and 50 or 60 bushels of pease” after working “only two months in the year.” On 1 Nov 1683/ Tibou received a warrant for 210 acres for his arrival with two servants. No names were given, so we do not know who he was claiming as his servants. On 25 February 1683/4 arrival rights of 200 acres were claimed by Alexander Fleury for Lewis, Lucy, Scharto and Gabriel Teboo. Since Louis Thibou, the elder, had claimed rights for three adults, Fleury must have been claiming rights for the Thibou children, although they were underage.
We don’t know what happened to the Thibou family in the following years until a reference to them was made in New York where their son Isaac was born c.1689. By 15 June 1694, they were back in Carolina when Louis Thibou, vintner of Charles Towne, bought 3/4 of town lot #103 from Anthoine Boureau. The lot, on the southeast corner of Broad and King Streets, bounded on the French Churchyard on the east. Thibou sold the lot to Solomon Legare the next year. In 1696 Thibou signed a petition for naturalization and in 1697 was on both the Liste (#35) and on Trott’s list which identified him as a merchant. Part of the general 1697 Liste of people wanting naturalization, Louis Thibou and his wife Charlotte Mariette then had six children: Louis and Charlotte born in Paris, Gabriel born in England, Isaac born in New York and Jacob and Louise born in Carolina.
Louis Thibou, the younger, appears to have left Carolina by 1699 when he settled in Antigua. On 11 Aug 1700 Gabriel Thibou and his wife Mary Conly baptized their son Louis Thibou in the Church of Saint Esprit in New York. The child, presented by his uncle Jacob Thibou and Louise Strang, was born at 9 am Wed, 7 Aug. Jacob Thibou also witnessed several wills while he was in New York. On 6 Aug 1702 his eldest brother Louis/Lewis Thibou married Mary Catherine Fraise. Two years later on 30 Aug1704, their father Louis Thibou merchant of Philadelphia, appointed his son Gabriel his agent in Antigua where in 1705 Jacob Thibou married Dorothy Blizard.
The whole family appears to have moved to Antigua. According to the records, Charlotte Thibou was buried at St. John’s in 1724. Louis Thibou, the elder, was buried there on 5 Apr 1726. Lucy married first Leonard Buroughs and second in 1745 Peter Meteret. She was 50 years of age when she died in St. John’s in 1736. Isaac Thibou was about 78 years of age when he died there in 1768. Jacob Thibout was buried 4 Dec 1741, and Gabriel 1 Sep 1746. The Thibou family line continued through descendants in Antigua and Bermuda.
TRIQUIAU of Allençon, family group of three, was on the November list. No references to him were found in Carolina, but one reference in the list of témoinages at the French Church of London, Threadneedle Street, may be a clue to his identity. On 1 Jun 1679 Pierre Triguiau was listed as being from Charenton. On 5 Dec 1680 he “brought his T[émoinage] from our church.”
VARIN, JACQUES of Rouen, Normandy was listed on the October 1679 Richmond passenger list with one man, one woman and one child, but the November list shows a family of only 2 persons. He and his wife Susanne Horry baptized four children at the French Church of London, Threadneedle Street in London prior to leaving: Isaac was baptized 21 June 1674 with Isaac Dargar and Elizabeth Damberbos witnessing; Susanne was baptized 25 July 1675 with Margaret Le Motteux, widow od Jacques Poitevin witnessing; Jean Jacques 13 August 1676 with Jean Turet and Anne de la Vigne, fille, as witnesses; and Susanne 26 May 1678 with Jeean Astory and Judith Leger as witnesses. From the November, 1680 passenger list entry, it appears that they left England with no children, but three years later, Varin claimed arrival rights of 210 acres for himself, his wife and a son. The name and fate of this child is not known.
By 20 Sep 1683 according to Louis Thibou, “Mr. Varain is making lots of money at his trade.” What that trade was in unclear, since Varin was described as a joyner in a later deed and as a merchant by Van Ruymbeke, both occupations which were needed in the colony. On 25 Feb 1683/4 Varin applied for a warrant for 210 acres of land for his arrival in Carolina on 29 Apr 1680 with his wife and one son. He received warrants for two town lots the same day. In 1685 Varine, a joyner, bought 1/4 of Lot #27 in Charleston from Theopolis Paty and two years later he bought 2/3 of 1/4 of the same lot from Jacob Waight. On 16 Mar 1688 Varin bought 200 acres of land from Lydia Green. He died later that year. An abstract in English of a fragment of his will gives his wife’s name as Susan and his eldest son as Jacob. Another will fragment, written in French, gives no information about his estate or family.
A year after the death of her husband, his widow Susanne Horry, executrix of his estate, sold 100 acres on New Town Creek for £18. In September 1694 she was granted two one acre lots, #297 and #298, in Charles Towne 29 Aug 1694. Both lots were south of the creek and marsh which is now Water Street. In 1698 John Stewart received a warrant for lot #298. The duplication of lot numbers has not been explained, but it is possible that the original warrant was never filed.
In 1697 Susanne Horry, born at Neuchatel, Switzerland, widow of Jacques Varin, daughter of Samuel Horry and Jeanne Dubois, was entered on the Liste, with children Susanne and Jacob both born in Carolina. By 1710, Susanne Horry, widow of Jacques Varin, was the wife of Elie Prioleau when the estate of Jacques Varin was settled on 28 December and their daughter Susanne Varin had married Joel Poinset.
No reference to Jacob Varin was found in the Carolina records, but there are references to Jeremiah Varin whose identity is not yet known. He first appears in the Carolina records in 1707 when he and his wife Jean Evens baptized their son Jeremiah in the parish of St. Thomas and St. Denis. They baptized their daughter there in January 1710. Jeremiah Varin wrote his will later that year, but it was not proved until July 1729. One other person in the records of Carolina who might have been related to the family of Jacques Varin was Catherine Varing, wife of James Le Bas.
Several entries to Jacques Varin in the Quarto need to be studied and sorted. Quarto 21: 259 list Jacques Varin of Rouen making his temoinage in London 21 Sept 1681 and Jacques and Susanne Varin from Rotterdam making theirs on 27 Aug 1710. The following entry for Jaques Varin in Quarto 49: 184, the Relief Fund of the French Church of London, Threadneedle Street, may shed some light. It lists Jacques Varin as a clothier who arrived from Rouen c. 14 Aug 1681 with his wife Mary and their four daughters, Mary, Susanne, Anna and Elizabeth. Their relationship, if any, to Jacques Varin of Carolina is not yet known.
THE RICHMOND LISTS and OTHERS
Between the two Richmond passenger lists in 1679, there were twenty-two family groups, counting the Guérard family as one group. Of these, only fourteen are known to have actually arrived in Carolina in 1680 and a few of those may be questionable. (Baton, Bremar, Carrière, De Rousserye, Fortress, Fouré, Fromaget, Guérard, Lafelleine, Le Riche, Serré, Rousseau, Thibou, Varin). Of the 18 names listed on the first list, four (Crozar, Forestier, Garder and Prévot ) do not appear in the Carolina records. It is not known if the three friends listed were on the second list or if they arrived in Carolina. Of the 23 names on the second list, nine (Cazin, Cofe, Conire, Dedayounnare, Depomar, Forestier, Garder, Prévost, Triquiau) do not appear in the Carolina records. Some of those who are not in the records of Carolina, probably never left England, some may have died en route or soon after landing, some may have left for the Caribbean islands or for one of the more northern colonies and some, of course may have returned to England.
In addition to those listed above, there are several other people who may have been part of the plans to come to Carolina in 1680. This includes Rene Petit, one of the “undertakers” of the voyage, Marguerite Petit who may have been his wife or related to him, Henry Blanchard and James Phillips.
MARGUERITE PETIT was not named on the Richmond passenger lists, but several sources suggest that she not only may have been a passenger, but may have been the wife or a relative of René Petit, who worked with Jacob Guérard to secure the Richmond, but who never appears in the records of Carolina. She received a warrant for 70 acres on 18 Feb 168/1, the same date as the warrant to Guérard for his arrival. As with Guérard’s warrant, the date was probably 1681 since the Richmond did not arrive in Carolina until 29 April 1680. She made a claim against Elizabeth Greene regarding possession of a town lot, probably Lot 81. In this and several other documents she was addressed as “Mrs.” On 8 January 1684 she was identified as a “widow” living on Lot 81 in Charles Towne on the west side of State Street between Broad and Queen Streets. In 1687 she sold part of Lot 81 to Edward Loughton.
RENÉ PETIT worked with Jacob Guerard to convince King Charles II of England to fund ships to transport French Protestant refugees from England to Carolina, a colony founded in 1670 by a group of men called the Lords Proprietors. Correspondence between the two men and the Kings and his councils can be found in the British Public Records, and broadsheets published in England at the time refer to plans to send two ships with a total of 80 Huguenot refugees. There is speculation that a second ship arrived in late 1680, but there are only a few names which bear this out. In addition, several of the men who arrived at the end of April 1680 did not claim their headrights until 1681. Not much else has been found out about René Petit. He was not listed on either of the passenger lists of the Richmond and his name does not appear in the Carolina records. He was granted a manor of 4000 acres for his efforts, but the land was never claimed. Petit did request aid from the French Church of London, Threadneedle Street Consistory in July 1680, possibly indicating that funds were needed for the promised second ship and that support from the King was no longer available. Petit may have died before any arrangements were made for a second ship which would have ended the venture.
HENRY BLANCHARD arrived in September 1680 and JAMES PHILLIPS in October 1684. Their arrival rights were claimed by A[lexander] Fleury 25 February 1683/4. No other references for them were found in the Carolina records. St. Julien Childs thought that they were part of a second contingent of the Richmond group, the second ship mentioned in the records, but no proof for this has been found. There are later references to Francis Blanchard, but no connection to Henry Blanchard was found.
More Huguenot immigrants did arrive during the following years, but only two more groups arriving before 1700 have been identified thus far: the Margaret in 1685 with a lengthy passenger list and the Boyd group in 1686 with no passenger list, although some of the passengers have been identified. After the arrival of the Richmond, the Lords Proprietors wrote the Governor and Assembly of Carolina and requested that newly arriving groups of foreigners be settled together instead of allowing them to take up land wherever they wanted to. In 1685 a lot of the French on board the Margaret settled on or near what became known as French Quarter Creek and most of the 1686 Boyd group went to French Santee. The Governor had proposed that the 1686 group go south and settle between the Ashepoo and Combahee Rivers, but after two raids and massacres of the Scots at Port Royal in August ans December of that year, eight French men sailed up the coast to the Santee River where they found a high bluff about 20 miles inland, “ce Païs tant desiré” [this country so longed for] where they began the settlement they called Jamestown.
The total of the Richmond passengers and family members known to have been in Carolina comes to forty-four. Some of the other passengers may not have boarded at all and others may have come aboard at the last minute, in addition there could have been deaths at sea, passengers who decided to return to England or who moved on to another colony and passengers who died after their arrival, but before being recorded in Carolina. We may never have an accurate number of the passengers, much less a complete list of their names and identities.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bates, Susan B and Harriott Cheves Leland. French Santee and Proprietary Records of South Carolina, Vols I, II, III.
Baird, Charles. Huguenot Emigration to America.
Burns, M.B., “The Richmond,” Transactions 85: 43-49.
Childs, St.J.R, “French Origins of Carolina,” Transactions 50: 38.
Clute, Register of St. Thomas and St. Denis.
Hirsch. Huguenots in South Carolina.
Langley, Clara. South Carolina Deed Abstracts.
Lesser, Charles. South Carolina Begins.
Moore, Carolina T. Records of the Secretry of the Province
Moore, Caroline T. & Agatha Aimar Simmons, SC Will Abstracts 1670-1740.
Oliver, V.L. The History of the Island of Antigua, Vol. III: 124-5, 455.
Quarto Publications of the Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Salley & Olsberg, Warrants for Land in South Carolina.
Van Ruymbeke. From New Babylon to Eden.