The Craftsmen

Long before the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, my ancestors migrated to North America from Europe. It’s hard to imagine how they could support themselves in an unfamiliar and untamed land, but some arrived as experienced craftsmen with skills that were greatly in demand as more and more settlers arrived. Others learned a skill after they got here. For the most part, these trades are very different from work people do today.

Pilgrims in Massachusetts

Francis Eaton, carpenter (I am still confirming this ancestry)

Francis Eaton was my only ancestor to come on the Mayflower with the English Separatists who settled in Plymouth (Massachusetts) in 1620. With him on the Mayflower were his wife Sarah and son Samuel. Francis, a carpenter, was born in England, date unknown. His carpentry skills were undoubtedly in demand since the Pilgrims had to build all their homes. Unfortunately, Sarah was one of many who died in 1621, and Francis married a second wife who also died. In 1623, Christian Penn arrived on the Anne. She became his third wife around 1625, and they had three children: Rachel, Benjamin, and Christopher. Francis died on November 4, 1633, and Christian married Mayflower passenger Francis Billington the following year.  My descent is through Benjamin Eaton.

Giles Rickard, Sr., weaver (I am still confirming this ancestry)

Giles Rickard Sr., born about 1599 in England, arrived in Plymouth on the Speedwell in 1637 with his wife, Judith Cogan-King, and three children. On December 4, 1637, he was granted seven acres of land in Plymouth, where he served on several grand juries and was chosen to be constable in June 1658. Though he was granted a license to have an ordinary (a tavern), he was also a weaver–one involved in textile production. He died about 1684 in Massachusetts. I am descended from his son Giles Rickard, Jr.

John Barrowe, cooper (I am still confirming this ancestry)

Born in Yarmouth, England, in 1609, John Barrow sailed to Massachusetts in 1637, probably on the Mary Ann, with his wife, Anne Thompson Barrowe. Shortly after arriving, they settled in Salem. John had several ways of supporting his family; one of them was working as a cooper. A cooper made barrels, vats, buckets, tubs, troughs, and churns out of wood pieces held together with hoops. John and Anne were the parents of my ancestor Robert Barrowe, born in 1639, but Anne died soon after the birth. By 1665, John had moved to Plymouth, where he died in 1691. 

John Stockbridge, wheelwright

John Stockbridge, born about 1607 in England, was not technically a “Pilgrim,” but his biography is listed in Genealogies of Mayflower Families, Vol. III, available at the Ancestry website. This source discusses at length some of the controversies regarding baptism that divided people in the church. The claim is made that John came to New England for economic, not religious, reasons. There is no evidence he belonged to the church, but his first wife, Ann, is listed as “Goodwife Stockbridge” in the church records of Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1637.  His second wife also accepted the church’s teachings, despite John’s dissatisfaction with the government in Scituate. He was fined more than once for his “contemptuous speeches,” but his “usefulness as a wheelwright” protected him from being punished more severely. In 1646, he is mentioned in land transfers as “John Stockbridge, wheelwright.” Wheelwrights built and repaired wooden wheels, so it may be that most people did not have the knowledge or the means to do this themselves. He was later party to the purchase of a sawmill, which must have been a help to him in his work as a wheelwright.  I am descended from his daughter Mary Stockbridge by his third wife, Mary Broughton. This daughter married Benjamin Singletary in Essex County, Massachusetts, in 1678.

Nathaniel Briscoe, tanner

The maternal grandfather of Mary Broughton Stockbridge (mentioned in the preceding biography) was Nathaniel Briscoe, born in Missenden, England, in 1595. The surname is also sometimes seen as “Biscoe”. In Watertown, Massachusetts, Genealogies and Histories at Ancestry.com, he is described as “the rich tanner”. Tanners were responsible for treating the hides or skins of animals to make leather. Nathaniel had come to Watertown around 1640 and was always politically active. Like John Stockbridge, he was a rather contentious person. For example, he circulated a pamphlet complaining about the way ministers were supported financially. By 1651, he was so fed up with the “religious intolerance” and not being allowed to vote as a “freeman” due to his Baptist beliefs that he returned to England, where it is believed he died. His wife, Elizabeth Honor Briscoe, born in 1600, had passed away before he left, but Nathaniel’s grown children remained in Massachusetts. He later wrote to his son-in-law that he would rather be in Massachusetts if people were allowed freedom of conscience.

Settlers in New Netherland

Philippe Antoni Du Trieux II, worsted dyer

Philippe Du Trieux was born in July of 1586 in Roubaix, France, which is now part of Belgium. In 1615, he married Jacquemine Noirett, and they had four children. After Jacquemine died in 1620, Philippe married Susanna Du Chesne in Leiden, Holland; their families had come to Leiden to escape religious persecution in France. The Netherlands was enriched with the arrival of these new immigrants because they were highly skilled craftsmen and artisans. Philippe was among these skilled workers; he was a worsted dyer–a dyer of wool yarn. In 1623, the Dutch West India Company decided to take settlers to the Delaware Valley near the Connecticut River. Philippe and 29 other families sailed in the spring of 1624 on the ship Nieuw Nederland but ended up going to a different location than planned: New Amsterdam (now New York City). The families settled on Manhattan Island, and Philippe became an employee of the Dutch West India Company. He later served his community in other capacities and had at least nine more children. Sometime before September of 1653, Philippe died, and Susanna died in 1654. I am descended from their daughter Susanna, who married Evert Wendell.

Jochem Wesselse, baker

Jochem Wesselse (1579-1681) was born in Hamburg, Germany. Very little is known about him, but he married Geertruy Hieronimus and had at least one child, Catrina. Though they were among the earliest settlers of Rensselerswyck (now Albany), they later moved to New Amsterdam. Jochem was a baker, and, obviously, his skills were in demand, regardless of where he lived. Everybody eats bread! He made a will around 1680 and died not long after. Geertruy was born in the Netherlands in 1579, but her date of death is unknown. Catrina (1620-1703) married Abraham Staats, a surgeon, fur trader, and community leader in Fort Orange, Rensselaerswyck, now Albany.

Goosen Van Schaick, brewer

Goosen Gerritse Van Schaick was born in Utrecht and came to New Netherland in 1637 under contract to Patroon Killian Van Rensselaer. After seven years of service, he went back to Holland but returned to New Netherland in 1646 on the ship Rensselaerswyck. Goosen was interested in the fur trade and was also involved in the real estate market. In 1664 he and Philip Pieterse Schuyler purchased the “Halve Maan”– land– from the Indians. Within this patent is Van Schaick Island, where the Van Schaick Mansion was built by his son Anthony. In 1675, Goosen and Pieter Lassingh purchased Harmen Rutger’s brewery on the Exchange Block; subsequently, Goosen became a brewer. A brewer, of course, makes beer, which was probably a necessity in that time and place. Goosen’s first wife was Geeritje Brantse Van Nieukerke, mother of my ancestor Sybrant Goosen Van Schaick. After she died, Goosen remarried. Due to his two marriages, he was the patriarch of a large and prominent family in Albany. At his death, sometime before 1679, he left a substantial estate to his second wife and to his ten children living in Albany.

Immigrants to Virginia and South Carolina

Salvator Muscoe, Sr., stone mason

As far as I know, Salvator Muscoe is my only Italian ancestor. According to Doug Garnett of the Garnett Family Registry, Salvator was a stone cutter, or stone mason, born in 1645 in Sicily. He went to London following the Great Fire of 1666 because workers with his skills were in demand to rebuild the city. He worked under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren in the construction of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Salvator immigrated to Virginia around 1685 and settled near one of the Garnett families living there. Sometimes there is confusion about the details of his life due to the fact he had a son also named Salvator. Both Salvator Sr. and Salvator Jr. had daughters named Elizabeth who married Garnetts. I am descended from Elizabeth, daughter of the elder Salvator. Elizabeth was born about 1680 and married Thomas Garnett, born about 1675. They lived in St. Anne’s Parish, Essex County, Virginia.

Johann Philip ensminger, blacksmith

Johann Philip Ensminger, born in 1727 in Waldambach, Alsace, France, immigrated to Pennsylvania as a child with his parents, Peter and Mary Catherine Trautmann Ensminger. He was the fourth generation of Ensminger men to be a blacksmith. His great-grandfather, Philipp Ensminger, Sr. (1640-1712), age 20, was listed in the 1662 tax records for Grafschaft Lützelstein, which included Waldhambach.  His occupation is listed as schmeidwerks. A schmied is a smith (blacksmith) and werks means works. Johann Philip’s grandfather, Philipp Ensminger, Jr. (1666 – post 1730), worked as a blacksmith who shoed horses in Alsace. Johann Philipp’s father, Peter Ensminger (1694-1739), was a blacksmith, too, and practiced that trade both in Alsace and in Pennsylvania. However, blacksmiths do more than shoe horses. They are really metalsmiths– hammering, bending, and cutting metal to make grills, railings, grates, tools, cooking utensils, weapons, and chains, among other things. After the death of his father, Johann Philip married Catherine Margaret Kissinger, supported the American Revolution, and moved to Virginia, where he worked as a blacksmith, raised at least ten children, and died in Monroe County. This area is now in West Virginia.

john dickey, Linen draper

One of the strangest professions I’ve ever heard of is linen draper. Basically, this is the job title for someone who sold cloth or linens–a dry goods merchant. 

According to Grover Dickey’s book John and Alexander Dickey, Immigrants, 1772, this was John Dickey’s job in Larne, County Antrim, Ireland, before he and his son Alexander arrived in South Carolina on the ship James and Mary. They received warrants for land surveys in 1773, and John Dickey’s land was 150 acres in Berkley County. Obviously, they had to do some farming, but I do not know for sure that John continued to work as a linen draper. John died in York County, South Carolina, in 1788. His son Alexander (1746-1832) served in the American Revolution and married Ann Wiseman, also an Irish immigrant. 

John mcvey, millwright

Long-time McVey researcher Vern Taylor believes that John McVey (1737-1823) was probably born in Scotland and came to America as a soldier in the French and Indian War.  He and his (unknown) first wife had four children and lived in Greenbrier County, Virginia (now West Virginia). I am descended from their son Samuel Lewis McVey. After John’s first wife died, he married Sarah Snedigar and had twelve more children. John was given leave to build a mill on his land in 1787 and then worked as a millwright. A millwright’s responsibilities might have included installing, repairing, dismantling, assembling, or moving machinery, as well as constructing any of a variety of types of mills–flour mills, sawmills, or paper mills. The idyllc scenes of mills that are often seen in artwork might make one think that a millwright’s life was easy. However, looking at a diagram showing how complicated the machinery could be, it becomes clear that a millwright actually had to be very knowledgeable about  many things. John moved to Kentucky later in life, but records are unclear as to whether he died in Kentucky or in Virginia.

These examples give a simple overview of some of the crafts and trades our earliest American ancestors learned. Technical and practical skills are always needed, but not always appreciated.  I am looking forward to finding more information about other ancestors  and the crafts and skills that helped them to support their families and contribute to the welfare of the whole community.

Note: All illustrations are in the public domain.

Copyright © 2019 K Steele Barrera. All rights reserved.

The Palatine Immigrants

Part 1

When one hears the name Alsace, it is often assumed that the region is thoroughly French, but it has not always been under French rule.  For much of its history, it was part of Germany. The Palatines were  emigrants from this middle region of the Rhine River. In the late 1600s and early 1700s, the region was repeatedly overrun by French troops, causing armed conflict, destruction, and famine. Even after it became part of France, many of the people spoke Alsatian or a German dialect and had German customs. After the Protestant Reformation, many Alsatians worshipped in Lutheran churches, which put them in conflict with the Catholic French monarchy.  On the map, a small red W marks the approximate location of the village of Waldhambach  in Alsace in the late 17th century.

Ensminger

The Ensminger family lived in that village–Waldenbach–very near the Rhine River. I write about the Ensmingers because I am descended from them several times. Both of my great-great-great-great grandmother Elizabeth Miller’s parents were from the Ensminger line. Her father was the grandson of Nicholas Ensminger, and her mother was the granddaughter of Peter Ensminger. Nicholas, born in 1699, and Peter, born in 1694, were brothers, sons of Philip Ensminger and  Elizabeth Quirin of Alsace. I am descended from three of Elizabeth Miller’s children, (Thomas Skaggs, Susan Skaggs Withrow, and Cynthia Skaggs Vandal), so my Ensminger ancestry is significant.  Additionally, Thomas’s wife, Julia Hunter, was an Ensminger descendant.

The first Ensminger to come to America was Peter. He left Rotterdam aboard the Samuel with his wife, Maria Catherina Trautmann Ensminger, his widowed mother-in-law, Katharina Emmerich Trautmann, and four children, arriving in Pennsylvania in 1733. Peter and Maria Catherina settled in Cocalico in Lancaster County, where two more children were born, and the family attended the Muddy Creek Lutheran Church. Peter was finally able to get 200 acres along Muddy Creek in 1738, but he died in 1739 at the age of 45. Maria Catherina remarried.

In 1738, right before Peter died, his brother Nicholas and his family arrived in Pennsylvania on the Billender Thistle with another group of Palatines. Nicholas and his wife, Anna Ludwig, also settled in Cocalico in Lancaster County and attended the Muddy Creek Lutheran Church, where several of his children were baptized.  His daughter Catherine Elizabeth, born in 1742, married Theobalt Mueller (Miller), and they became the parents of Valentine Miller, who later settled in Monroe County, Virginia (now West Virginia).

Meanwhile, Peter’s son Philip, born in 1727, and his wife, Catherine Margaret Kessinger, had moved from Pennsylvania to Maryland, but they eventually settled in Monroe County, Virginia (now West Virginia). Philip supported the American patriots in the Revolutionary War and is described as an “associator” with the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), which has verified that I am his descendant. Philip lived to the age of 80, and his will was probated in Monroe County. I am a direct descendant of two of his children: Susanna, mother of  Elizabeth Miller, and Mary Elizabeth, the mother of Julia Hunter. In addition, I am a direct descendant of his uncle, Johannes Nicholas Ensminger.

The family relationships are complicated to keep straight unless looking at the pedigree chart. The bottom line is that I am descended from the first Philip Ensminger and his wife Elizabeth Quirin at least four times.  The first Philip and his wife, Elizabeth, died in France, never coming to America, but their sons and grandchildren made a positive contribution toward building this country.

Part 2

Future research on the Palatine immigration will include these surnames: Koontz, Federkeil, Longenecker, Spahr, Baumgardner, Schnaeder.

The Huguenot Immigrants

Historical Context

The Protestant Reformation, which started in 1517, resulted in the persecution of Protestants throughout Europe. Some relief came with the Edict of Nantes, signed in 1598 by King Henry IV of France in order to give rights to French Protestants of the Reformed tradition. This was made law despite France being a majority Catholic nation. Even so, the persecution of Protestants continued and then increased after King Henry’s grandson, Louis XIV, revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

These French Protestants, called Huguenots, sought refuge in other countries throughout the  17th century, enriching the populations of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland with talented and skilled Frenchmen from all walks of life. The French Protestants who came from the area that is now Belgium were known as Walloons, who were also persecuted. Because of the emigration of Huguenots and Walloons into Britain, more than 28 French churches were established in the city of London alone between 1599 and 1753.

The Huguenot migration from England to Virginia and other colonies began after 1629, when an application to do so was first made to the English government. In 1700-1701, more than 500 Huguenot emigrants landed along the Potomac, Rappahannock, and James Rivers in Virginia, but there were numerous others who arrived in the colonies both before and after that influx.

This excellent map found online in “The Migration to Manakin Town,” an article by Daniel Ludington, had neither copyright notice nor contact information, so if I am informed that a copyright has been violated, I will immediately remove it. However, it is extremely helpful to those doing genealogical research to be able to see the locations where their Huguenot ancestors may have landed.

My Huguenot Ancestors, Part 1

DuTrieux

Philippe DuTrieux, born about 1586, was from Roubaix, an area in northeast France that is now present day Belgium. He was a French speaker who became a Protestant while Robaix was under Spanish rule. Persecution of Protestants was widespread and marked by repression and loss of life, so many in the Du Trieux extended family fled to England or the Netherlands, which had declared independence from Spain. Philippe settled in Amsterdam, employed as a dyer, and married Jacquemine Noiret in 1615. When Jacquemine died in 1620, Philippe was left with three small children: Marie, Philippe Jr., and Madeleine.

Around this time, the Dutch West India Company tried to develop international commerce by capitalizing on the fur trade that had developed in the Hudson Valley. In 1623 the company got rights to land in the Delaware Valley near the Connecticut River so they could start settlements there. Philippe and his family were among 29 other families who entered into a contract with the company to emigrate to America. Meanwhile, he had married Susanna DuChesne; she was also a French Protestant and had been born in England after her parents sought refuge. With Philippe’s two surviving children, Philippe and Susanna left the Netherlands in early April 1624 on the ship “Nieuw Nederland” (New Netherland), arriving at what is now New York City in mid-May. All of the immigrants came as free people and had freedom to worship as they pleased. They settled in what is now Manhattan instead of the Delaware valley as the company had intended.

Philippe and Susanna eventually had at least four daughters and three sons. He was employed by the West India Company and served as the Court Messenger in 1638. In 1640, he got a  patent for land in an area called Smits Valley. He already had a home on Beaver Street, but he sold it in 1643 so he could move to his farm in Smits Valley, near the fort (pictured) on the tip of southern Manhattan.

Today, in Battery Park, there is a monument honoring the settlers who came on the “Nieuw Nederland”. Philippe Du Trieux is in many records of early Manhattan, which was governed by the Dutch. He died about 1652, killed by Indians. A more detailed biography is available here. Even though Philippe did not live in Virginia, he has been verified as a Huguenot immigrant by the Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin of the Colony of Virginia.

Crockett

Though there is no documentary evidence, the tradition is that Antoine Desasurre de Croquetaine (1643-1735) converted to Protestantism in France and subsequently had to flee (according to tradition) to Ireland, with his wife, Louise Dessaix. In Ireland, the family changed their name to Crockett. One son, Robert Watkins Crockett, married his cousin, Rachel Watkins, and they had several children who went to the American colonies in the 1700s. Among those who emigrated was their daughter, Hannah Watkins Crockett, who married Reuben Steele of Argylshire, Scotland. My ancestor Robert Steele, born about 1750 in Montgomery County, Virginia, was one of their seven children. Robert Steele would later marry Mary Keeling, serve in the Virginia militia during the American Revolution, and build a home for his many children in Wythe County.  The Crockett lineage has been accepted by the Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia.

My Huguenot Ancestors, Part 2

Shumate

The progenitor of the Shumates in West Virginia was Jean de la Chaumette, born to attorney Daniel de la Chaumette and Marie Au Courturier, about 1664, in Rochechouart, Poitiers, France.  His family was among those being watched by the government because they were Protestant. After the Edict of Nantes was revoked on October 20, 1684, Jean fled France with his two brothers, Josue and Antione, and Clovis Palazy, the pastor of the Reformed Church at Rochechouart. They found refuge in England, but no records have been located to indicate what his life was like between 1684 and 1687. Some speculate that he served in the English army.

One record that does exist is dated September 8, 1687, and can be found in the Huguenot Library in London, England. It shows his name Anglicized to John (hereafter so called) and that his passage to Virginia was to be paid by an English citizen, Nicholas Hayward. Since no wife is mentioned, he was single at the time the document was written. A translation of the document is below.

To severall ye intended for ye West Indies . . . To Lewis Reynaud   of Angoumois, his  wife and eight children for tools and others necessaries things to go to Virginia granted  8 pounds; and To Nichlos Hayward notary for ye passage to Virginia of Lewis Reynaud,  Anne his wife, Francis, Lewis, Mary and Sara Reynaud their children, and Benjamin  Reynaud, Mary his wife, Marianne and Mary their children, and John de la Chaumette  granted 33 pounds.

However, John did not leave England at that time. It appears he changed his mind and got married instead. He was later widowed, but the wife’s name is not known. There were no known children.

What is known is that, on September 29, 1695, John, a widower, married a widow, Elizabeth Bouvet Bourgeois, in the French Church in London, but it wasn’t until 1708 that John and other wealthy French Huguenots set sail for the West Indies. They were there for several years, but after Elizabeth died in an epidemic, John left the West Indies and headed for Virginia. With him were his three youngest sons: John, Samuel, and Daniel.  His oldest son, Antoine, stayed in Martinique (lower right-hand corner on map) at the homestead John had purchased.  At some point, his name was further Anglicized to John de la Shumate.

The largest influx of Huguenots to the Colonies, as noted previously, was in 1700. This was at a settlement known as Manakin Town in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. John arrived by 1722, presumably thinking he would join his brother Arnoul; however, he found that Arnoul had died 20 years before. Apparently, that was one factor in John’s decision not to stay in Isle of Wight County, but to head west, where land was more plentiful. He eventually bought 200 acres in Stafford County, where the deed is recorded. In 1724, John was included in the tobacco list of Overton Parish with his sons John, over 16, Samuel, 14, and Daniel, 12.  He died about 1734 in what was then known as Prince William County, Virginia. He was murdered at a tavern by a highwayman.

John de la Shumate is recognized as a Huguenot immigrant by the Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia.

Brasseur-Brashear

[Update 7/7/22: It is now believed that Robert and Benjamin were brothers, not father and son, so my descent is from Benjamin, not Robert.]

There are many spellings of this name: Brasseure, Brashear(s), Brasseur, Brashier, Brushier, and more, which makes it difficult to keep track of the descendants. However, the Brasseurs were French Protestants and left France to avoid persecution. They went to the Netherlands or England before coming to the English Colonies and settling in Maryland and Virginia.

My descent [was previously believed to be] from the immigrant Robert Brasseur, born about 1597, in Provence, France. His wife’s name was Florence, but her last name has been disputed. Robert fled France with his family to Kent County, England, around 1628, but, by 1635, had settled in Nansemond County, Virginia, where there were other French-speaking Huguenots. There, he patented 600 acres. The deed to that land, dated February 1638, is said to be the earliest land record of a Brashear in America.

To all to whom these present shall come: I, Sr John Harvey, Kt [knight], Governor, &c, send &c. whereas, &c. Now know yee that I, the said Sr John Harvey, Kt. doe with the consent of the Councell of State accordingly give and grannt unto Robert Brassure and Peter Rey six hundred acres of land seituate, lying and being in the upper Countie of New Norfolke lying north east and south west along the south side of a Creeke upon the head of the said Creeke and butting upon Nansemund river, alias Matrebers River. The said six hundred acres of land being due unto them, the said Robert Brassure and Peter Rey, by assignment from Peter Johnson to have and to hold, &c. dated the 24th of February 1638. (Va. Land Patents, Book 1, p.622. NOTE: this land now in Nansemond County, Virginia)

 Robert also received a grant of 1200 acres in Nansemond County in 1653:

“at the head of the southerne branch of Nanzemond Riv., 600 acres lying on the S. side of the branch & the other 600 on the N. side. Beg. on the No. side etc. Joining land of Adrian Buny. On the S. side being an Indian Towne, beg. at a marked pine standing on a bancke by the branch side joining land of Wm. Haines, etc. Transporting 24 persons: Marg. Stockwell, Geo. Ivory, Robt. Brasseur, Florence, his wife, Mary Brasseur, Persid Brasseur, Kathe. Brasseur, Bennet Brasseur, Wm. Wotton, Tho. Parker, Jno. Sutton, Jno. Stephens, Step. Dordon, Jon. Loyd, Jon. Bott, Symon Iron, Jon Barefield, Eliz. Pateman, Geo. Doldye, Wm. Ball, Nicho. Moroise, Tho. Pursell, Ra. Ellis, Jon. Abby.” (Va. Land Patents, Book 3, p.33.)

Robert’s property in Nansemond County went to his son John in 1667, so Robert had died by then. His oldest son, Benoit—or Benjamin—[now assumed to be brother] had relocated to Calvert County, Maryland, well before then, but died around 1662. Documentary evidence of his residence in Maryland includes probate records and his citizenship application.

Both Robert and Benjamin are listed as Huguenot ancestors by the Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin of the Colony of Virginia, even though they arrived over 50 years before Manakin was founded.

Noell

The Noell family, French-speaking and Protestant, lived in Sedan, France, near the border of Belgium, in the early 1500s. Pieter Noell (Anglicized spelling) and his wife, Jeanne Vintier, were born there. Seeking safety from those targeting Protestants, their son Jacob, born about 1599, left France and went to Leiden, in the Netherlands, where he married Treintje Cornelis on January 13, 1620. Treintje’s family had also come from France.

Jacob and Treintje had a son named Cornelius, who was born October 1623 in Leiden. Cornelius is the immigrant ancestor. He married Elizabeth Page in the Netherlands and had at least six children. Exactly when they came to Virginia is not known, but there are land records in Essex County with his name on them in 1670, if not earlier. Cornelius died in Essex County, Virginia, in 1699. His will mentions his wife and children.  Cornelius Noell has been verified by the Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia.

Copyright ©2018 Kitty Steele Barrera All rights reserved

Sources

Historical Background:
R. A. Brock, Documents . . . Relating to the Huguenot 
   Emigration to Virginia, edited and compiled for the
   Virginia Historical Society,Genealogical Publishing
   Co., Baltimore, 1962. v-ix., accessed at 
   https://archive.org/details/documentschiefly05broc

Du Trieux:
Huguenot Society
Philippe Du Trieux, Findagrave.com
Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Non-Conformist and 
   Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970 [on-line].  

Crockett:
Huguenot Society
Janie French and Zella Armstrong, “The Crockett 
   Family and Connecting Lines,” in Notable Southern 
   Families, Vol. V, The King Printing Company,Bristol. 
Carl Edmond Steele, Jr., Steele, A Gathering of the 
   Clan, 1981, accessible at 
   https://archive.org/details/steelegatheringo00stee
Steele Home photo scanned from the History of Bland 
   County, Virginia, copyright 1961.

Shumate:
Huguenot Society
My Heritage.com 
Shumake.org
Ancestors.chashartley.com
Public domain map

Brasseur:
Huguenot Society
Robert Brasseure, the Huguenot