Musing on the Dupres of Henrico County…

 DuPree Family Musings  Add comments
Sep 152016
 
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Georgian Period Huguenot Spitalfields made silk shoes

JEAN DUPRE & ELIZABETH MANE – THEORETICAL PARENTS
OF JEAN, THOMAS & LOUIS DUPREE OV VIRGINIA (1701)

I suppose the line of inquiry  will unsettle some who think it is settled fact that Josias and Mynetta Dupre are the parents of Thomas, Jean and Loys Dupre of Henrico and Brunswick Counties, Virginia. I am still–somewhat in the dark–trying to piece together the origin of this story. It is a not a claim made in the dupre trail. The “myth” of Josias seems to link with Josias Dupree b 1640 d 1712 in Berkeley County, South Carolina (see – http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10608522). This Josias is certainly of the right age to be a father of the three Dupre boys. And then there are claims that the Dupre Bible names the parents of the boys.

The devout French Huguenot family of dupree were honest and ??? in their religion, giving each Sunday to their churches.

At the REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES, this church-going and worship had to be done in privacy or be persecuted. JOSEPH (JOSIAS) DUPRE and his wife MARY took refuge in or near LONDON. Life was hard. They had opportunity to send their sons JEAN (John), THOMAS, and LOYS (Lewis) to Virginia with one of the ministers on the ship ‘Mary Ann’ to Manakintown where other Huguenots were located and they could worship.

Jean and Thomas went to Henrico, then Thomas to Goochland. Loys who carried the Huguenot bible went to James and Elizabeth City and the Isle of Wight. Loys married Larence Ellerbee in Elizabeth City, Va; then moved to Henrico County in 1730s where his brother Jean left him land and a slave. He moved to Brunswick Co. Va where he an Larance reared quite a family of at least 5 sons–Thomas, John, Lewis, James, and Haley–and possibly daughters.

Son Lewis bought from his father the 90 acres of Thomas Ellerby Land. It is surmised that Lewis inherited the great Huguenot Bible at this time in 1748, Brunswick County, VA….

But there is precious little to recommend the story of Josias and Mary/Mynetta:

  1. There is a Josias (b 1640 d 1712) in Berkeley County, South Carolina.  But there is little to connect him to the Henrico Dupre’s
  2. There is a family in Geneva (a stopping point for refugees at the time) but there is no evidence that he went on to Virginia.
  3. None of the boys name a child Josias – seems unlikely they would not honor their father.

I won’t even touch on the pedigrees that have been shared, as I have found little evidence of them one way or the other.

This particular theoretical voyage began by considering the tithing list of Henrico of 1713.  Placement of names may be important, so here are how the top three fall out:

  • Jean Dupre
  • Moise Leurau
  • Thomas Dupre

Moses Leurau is important.  He goes on to marry the widow Janne Forqueran who will herself later marry the widower Jean Dupre.  All told the families seem tight from beginning to end.  Now one record appears for Mosses Leurau… It is for Mosses Lura born 1659 in Spitalfields, London, England.  Spitalfields, itself is one of the centers of lower class French protestants and of English silk clothing production as these French silk weavers brought their trade with them.  On closer inspection, Spitalfields is even more important.  While Andre Aubry (listed in the tithe) can not be found there, a family of Aubry’s can be found and Judicq Aubrey married Jacques Dupre there in the 1690s.  Other names from the tithes, Dupuys and Abraham Soblet also show up Spitalfields

Taking this as a starting point and wading through the Spitalfields (and Threadneedle Street) registers… I believe the trail takes us five generations back to the town of Sedan, Ardennes, France.  And this town (by the way), is known for its silk weaving.  I realize this is the barest of sketches.  But I welcome comments!

The family origin, I find in early baptismal records for Sedan, and then some in a movement to Valenciennes.

Whether the Du Pre family of Valenciennes is, in fact, the same as that in Sedan is hard to tell. However in 1572:

“Tensions were further raised when in May 1572 the news reached Paris that a French Huguenot army under Louis of Nassau had crossed from France to the Netherlandish province of Hainault and captured the Catholic strongholds of Mons and VALENCIENNES (now in Belgium and France, respectively). Louis governed the Principality of Orange around Avignon in southern France for his brother William the Silent, who was leading the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish. This intervention threatened to involve France in that war; many Catholics believed that Coligny had again persuaded the king to intervene on the side of the Dutch, as he had managed to do the previous October, before Catherine had got the decision reversed.”

So Valenciennes was for some time a bastion of Protestantism, but:

“…in 1580, Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma took Valenciennes and Protestantism was eradicated there. Hereafter, Valenciennes remained under Spanish protection, no longer directly involved in later fighting of the ‘Eighty Years’ War. With its manufacturers of wool and fine linens, the city was able to become economically independent.”

Some year before 1633, the family of a Jean  Dupre baptized his 1st child at the Threadneedle Street church. This region of London is known for the Huguenot, bringing with them their silk weaving and tailoring traditions. Jean was a weaver in fact. He also, I think, is the grandfather of the three Dupree brothers who settle in Henrico, Virginia after 1701. It seems likely they spoke English already and had the opportunity to board these ships. In addition, many, but not all, of their Huguenot neighbors can also be traced to this same region as discussed above.

Here is my reconstruction of the family:

1  Dupre [1] – Family of Sedan, Ardennes, France

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