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Rae: It appears you are raising two issues relative to “A Latourrette Fable: The Schenectady Massacre,” posted here on November 4, 2005.
(1) Whether the Mercereau family tale passed down and quoted in my posting (repeated below) that Marie Mercereau and possibly Jean Latourrette were at the Schenectady Massacre has been incorrect from at least 1840. That is, in your version it is Marie’s older sister, Elizabeth, and her spouse Pierre Masse who were there rather than Marie and Jean Latourrette.
(2) Whether Jean Latourrette and Marie were married in France before their marriage at the French Church of New York is recorded on July 16, 1693.
First, let me say that almost everything that appears in American literature and genealogy about Jean Latourrette before 1693 is incorrect. This includes the prior marriage tale, the fable of a Count de Latourette, the location of Osse, Bearn (now Osse-en-Aspe, France), the Schenectady story, his association with the Rhode Island Colony and etc, etc. As some of my future postings will point out, some of these tales are just fantasies or cover-ups, like you will see below with the marriage tale.
Let me deal first with the Schenectady story:
SCHENECTADY STORY:
I am completely puzzled by the new version of the Schenectady massacre that you offer—that it was Elizabeth Mercereau and Pierre Masse who were there rather than Marie Mercereau and possibly Jean Latourrette. Other than that the rest of the skimpy details are the same. Here I repeat what I originally posted:
“Mary (Marie), who married Mr. Latourette, was in the great massacre of Schenectady, in 1690. She was scalped and left for dead; all her children butchered by the Indians; her husband probably dead before, or killed in the same massacre. The nakedness of her skull was concealed and defended by a cap for the express purpose. She spent the rest of her days with her brother Joshua, who, it is believed lived on Staten Island also, and who was the maternal great-grandfather of Esq. La Grange, and the grandfather of Judge Mersereau; great –grandfather also of Peter Latourette, who early settled in Vestal, where his son Henry, and David Ross now own and live.” (“Binghamton Annals,” 1872, p. 87—this is a reprint of the 1840 edition.)
In my research and what was researched for me at Schenectady, noted in my original posting, one does not find the names of Mercereau, Latourrette or (now) Masse on the list of victims or captured. Moreover, the search of the records does not reveal any story about a woman who is scalped and lives. This is such a unique situation one would think it would be recorded. Nothing found in my research efforts collaborate anything resembling either version of this tale.
You offer no documentation to support your version of this story. Do you have any?
MARRIAGE STORY:
Relative to the marriage issue, it is now well documented by sources in France fully acquainted with Osse, including three genealogists and three historians that there was no earlier marriage between Marie Mercereau and Jean Latourrette. This is covered in great detail in my posting on this forum. See:
http://genforum.genealogy.com/latourette/messages/288.html
Relative to Jean’s origin and why he leaves France, I will post below the summary article I had on my Webpage and mentioned in the posting:
http://genforum.genealogy.com/latourette/messages/273.html
This summary article was presented in French at Osse (Osse-en-Aspe) on August 7, 2005 and published in December 2005 in Bulletin # 38 by the Center for the Study of Bearn Protestantism at the University of Pau, France. (Pau is the former seat of government of the Province of Bearn.) The occasion was the 200th anniversary of the reconstruction of the Temple Bethel. See:
http://genforum.genealogy.com/latourette/messages/279.html
The summary article is based on a much longer paper. I plan to post both the summary and longer article on this forum since my Webpage is down. If you wish, I can send you the longer article by e-mail or snail mail. Since I wrote these papers over a year ago I have added a great detail more documentation to collaborate what is said in these two papers. Jean left Osse in October of 1685, at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes with several other parishioners to see Pastor Pierre Peiret and his family safely out of France. For example, see Pasteau Marc Forissier, “Les Eglises Reformees du Bearn,” 1964, in which he says (translated) “the latter (Peiret) flees out of the country with several of his parishioners, the most famous of whom being Jean Latourrette.” As I am updating my papers, one in draft form gives the details:
When he leaves Osse in 1685 with Peiret, Jean Latourrette is described as a “cadet,” a second, unmarried son of an “ostau”, a household. (7) His single status is confirmed by the entries found later in the records of the French Relief Committee in London. (8) Also, Jean is identified as a younger brother of Jacob of the household of David Latourrette. Under the “Fors de Bearn,” the customs and laws of the province down to the French Revolution, the eldest son is the heir of the “ostau.” Younger sons, even among the elite families of the time like the Latourrettes, are typically craftsmen. Jean is no exception, being a “menuisier” (carpenter), a craft he practices after his arrival in New York. (9) Therefore, he is neither a count nor married when he leaves Osse.
Note: Jacob, b ca 1650 and Jean, b ca 1651
Therefore, there is no earlier marriage in France and the 1693 marriage is the only one between Jean and Marie.
Here is the summary. What was circumstantial evidence in the paper has been confirmed by my interaction with several French genealogists and historians since the paper was written over a year ago.
Summary
JEAN LATOURRETTE LEAVING OSSE: WHY AND HOW?*
by John E. La Tourette, Ph. D. /President
Emeritus of Northern Illinois University
Pierre Peiret, the Protestant minister at Osse, flees with his young family at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. About the same time, Jean Latourrette leaves Osse and, two years later, he and the Peirets are found in New York City. As far as one can determine, he and the Peirets are the only ones who leave this small village in Bearn in 1685. In addition, after examining the origin of all of the French refugees associated with the French Church of New York, the Eglise Francaise du Saint-Esprit, before 1700, they are the only ones from Bearn. Is this just a coincidence or did they leave and travel together, ultimately coming to New York in 1687?
The people of Osse know that Jean Latourrette left the village about the time of the Revocation, but have not determined the reasons
or circumstances. His descendants in America know he came from Osse, but have little understanding
* The author’s Latourrette lineage is from Pierre, the second son of Jean Latourrette and Marie Mercereau, born November 22, 1697 and baptized by Pierre Peiret on November 28, 1697 in the French Church of New York. Given the theme of this paper, the name Pierre, used after the first son was named Jean, may signify the strong tie with Pastor Peiret described in this paper. The author’s understanding of Osse and earlier family history was greatly aided by two “distant cousins”, Jean-Luc Bilhou-Nabera of Paris and Osse and Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila Latourrette of Millbrook, New York.
of why or how he came to New York, where he was married to Marie Mercereau of Moeze (Moise), Saintonge in Peiret’s church on July 16, 1693. As a consequence, many tales have been invented to fill in the gaps of knowledge about his roots in Osse and his whereabouts between 1685 and 1693.
This is a summary of a longer paper on this subject which also has been translated into French. Based on new evidence from London and a closer look at other evidence that historically has been passed over, Jean Latourrette likely left Osse in 1685 with Pastor Pierre Peiret to see him, his spouse and two children under the age of 5 to safety from the threat of the galleys or death. Peiret and the Protestant community of Osse appear to be the last holdouts in Bearn against the efforts to force adjuration and conversion in the fall of 1685. By leaving with Peiret, Jean also risked arrest and death.
Their likely path to Frankfurt, Rotterdam and then London is traced and their stay in London is documented by evidence not previously available and/or carefully examined. The records of the relief assistance given to French refugees in England clearly indicate their efforts to find a new ministry for Peiret in a new land. After considering Holland, Denmark and England for this purpose, they come to New York in the fall of 1687, where Peiret establishes the most successful Huguenot church in America in 1688. In that year, Jean, known in Osse as a jointer or carpenter, is involved in building and later adding to the first permanent church structure in what is now lower Manhattan for the exclusive use of the French Protestant refugees. Later, Jean is involved in building a church across the harbor at Richmond on Staten Island where he also builds close by the first Latourrette house in America.
The paper also explains why, for 300 years, American Huguenot scholars and descendents tracing Jean’s roots have not linked Pastor Peiret and Jean Latourrette in their flight from Osse to New York. This is in spite of the fact that they both leave Osse in 1685 and are found in New York two years later in 1687. In addition, from Peiret’s church records, they are apparently the only two in New York at that time from Bearn and, particularly, from Osse. The problem has been the mistaken assumption that Peiret was from Foix, made by Charles W. Baird in his 1885 book, “Huguenot Emigration to America” (Vol. II, pp.146-7), and repeated down to today by the histories of the French Church of New York and Jon Butler, cited below. As it is known in Osse, and documented by Alfred Cadier, Peiret was from Pontacq not Foix and was the minister at Osse from 1677 to 1685. (See “Le Bearn Protestant”, 2003 edition, particularly p. 203)
Although partly based on circumstantial evidence, it is very likely Jean and Peiret made this voyage from Osse to New York together. Certainly the role of the Latourrette family from the first minister in Osse in 1563, Gassiot Latourrette, to David Latourrette (ca 1625-1697), notaire, church ancien and Abbe laique d’Osse, Jean’s presumed father, establishes the strong tie with Peiret in Osse. Their close involvement in the church in New York confirms that tie.
Here, the concluding remarks from the longer paper are summarized:
Looking back with the perspective of almost 300 years since the founding of the French Church in New York, Butler in his 1983 book, ”The Huguenots in America”, provides a detailed description and analysis of the fortunes of Peiret’s church. Until his death in 1704, he was the force to carry the church forward. Given Butler’s comparisons of the three major centers of Huguenot settlement in America before 1700, New York, Boston and South Carolina, one might conclude that for this period the French Church of New York was the most successful.
Butler provides an excellent summary of a successful ministry, “Peiret created an unusually strong refugee congregation in New York City---- The Huguenot’s use of the French Church as a ritual center offers the most obvious evidence of the congregation’s health in the 1690s.” (p. 161) He notes that Peiret preformed 40 marriages between 1690 and 1704, including that of Jean Latourrette and Marie Mercereau in 1693 and during this period baptisms increased to an average of 23.4 per year. (p. 161)
For a host of reasons detailed by Butler in his concluding chapter, ‘Everywhere They Fled, Everywhere They Vanished,’ the Huguenots were absorbed into a dynamic America society, even prior to the American Revolution. One of the major factors, detailed by Butler, was the rapid assimilation of the Huguenots into the fabric of American society by exogamous marriages which increased rapidly after Peiret’s death in 1704. “Huguenot exogamy (marrying outside the French Protestant refugee group) ran rampant outside the French Church after 1710” and “between 1750 and 1759---87.1 percent of the Huguenot marriages were exogamous.” (p. 187)
The church founded by Peiret struggled for years and then closed in 1776 with the American Revolution and the British occupation of New York City. There was a temporary revival in the 1790s but the congregation had few members and little financial support. In 1803 it accepted the denominational authority of the new Protestant Episcopal Church. It is now known as L’Eglise Francaise du St. Esprit and is located at 109 East 60th St. Services are still given in French by the Rev. Nigel Massey.
In conclusion, what can be said about Jean Latourrette and his flight from Osse in 1685? The longer paper traces him to a prominent Protestant family in the small village of Osse in the Aspe Valley. He was likely the second son of David Latourrette, who was a notaire, church ancien and a person of some means. The family roots include the first Protestant minister in 1563 in the Aspe Valley, Gassiot Latourrette. Jean was well educated for the times, single and a skilled carpenter. Given what is known about the family before and after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, there appears to be no reason for him to flee from Osse. In fact, his departure from Osse is an unexplained, very rare and unique event until he is linked to Pastor Peiret who was forced to flee with his young family under threat of the galleys or, even more likely, death. Circumstantial evidence suggests he accompanied Peiret first to Holland and then to England. He is in London during the same period of time as Peiret. It also appears that he came with Peiret to New York on the ship Robert in late 1687.
Jean’s documented carpentry work for the church in the 1690’s, along with how rapidly Peiret builds the first church in New York, and his leadership later in constructing a Huguenot church near Richmond on Staten Island, suggests he played a significant role in the construction of the Petty-Coat-Lane (Marketfield Street) Church in 1688. There is much more to be said about his early years in America, adding to and correcting the information which was gathered in America by Lyman Latourette and Mrs. Verna Jacob. But we can say that Jean remained true to his roots from Osse and fulfilled his mission to accompany Peiret and his family to safety in America and establish a new ministry, first with Peiret and then on Staten Island for the several hundred French refugees who found their way to New York before 1700.
As more of his background is explored we will find that Jean was not a count with a castle, as described in the romantic tales cited in Lyman’s “Latourette Annals in America” (1954) and by Mrs. Jacob’s “Compilation” (1965). However, Jean did come from a prominent family who had a lay (purchased ownership) title to property in the small village of Osse in the Aspe Valley. This property, still standing, would best be described as a modest “strong house.” However, if we wish to attach the term “nobility” to him it would be because of his “noble” deeds in risking his life to accompany Peiret to safety and his work to build houses of worship for Huguenots who fled to America.
In conclusion, we can say that the contributions that both Jean Latourrette and Pastor Peiret made to the life of the French refugees, who came to New York, reflect well on the values they carried from the small village of Osse in the Aspe Valley.
Française:
RESUME COURT POUR LA VERSION FRANCAISE:
JEAN LATOURRETTE, LE DEPART D'OSSE:
POURQUOI ET COMMENT?*
par John E. La Tourette, Ph. D./
Président Emeritus de la Northern Illinois University
Traduit de la Version Anglaise par Frédérique Marsault Ledbetter
Pierre Peiret, le pasteur Protestant d'Osse, s'enfuit avec sa jeune famille à l'époque de la Révocation de l'Edit de Nantes. A peu près en même temps, Jean Latourrette partit d'Osse et, deux ans plus tard, on le retrouve, ainsi que les Peiret à New York city. Autant que l'on sache, les Peirets et lui furent les seuls à avoir quitté ce petit village du Béarn en 1685. De plus, après examen des origines de tous les réfugiés français, associés avec la French Church de New York, l'Eglise Française du Saint-Esprit, avant 1700, ils étaient les seuls originaires du Béarn. Est-ce une simple coïncidence ou bien partirent-ils et voyagèrent-ils ensemble, pour éventuellement arriver à New York en 1687?
Les gens d'Osse savent que Jean Latourrette a quitté le village à peu près au temps de la Révocation, mais ils n'en ont pas déterminé les raisons ni les circonstances. Ses descendants en Amérique savent qu'il est venu d'Osse, mais ne ils connaissent pas exactement le pourquoi ni le comment de sa venue à New-York, où il épousa Marie Mercereau de Moeze, Saintonge dans l'église de Peiret, le 16 Juillet 1693. Par conséquent, de nombreuses fables ont été inventées au cours des années pour reconstituer le puzzle du peu que l'on sait de ses racines à Osse et d'où il se trouvait entre 1685 et 1693.
Ceci est le résumé d'un texte plus long sur le sujet, qui a aussi été traduit en français. Basé sur de nouvelles informations en provenance de Londres et sur un examen plus proche d'autres documents qui avaient historiquement été négligés, Jean Latourrette est vraisemblablement parti d'Osse en 1685 avec Pasteur Pierre Peiret pour lui assurer, ainsi qu'à son épouse et leurs deux enfants de moins de 5 ans, un passage à l'abri de la condamnation aux galères ou à la mort. Peiret et la communauté protestante d'Osse semblent être les derniers au Béarn à avoir tenu bon contre les efforts d'adjuration et de conversion forcées durant l'automne 1685. En partant avec Peiret, Jean aussi risquait d'être arrêté, ou tué.
Leur périple probable vers Francfort, Rotterdam et Londres a été retracé et leur séjour à Londres est confirmé par des documents qui n'étaient pas disponibles auparavant et/ou pas examinés d'assez près. Les dossiers de l'assistance financière donnée aux refugiés français en Angleterre indiquent clairement leurs efforts pour trouver un nouveau pastorat pour Peiret dans un nouveau pays. Après avoir considéré la Hollande, le Danemark et l'Angleterre, ils vinrent à New York à l'automne 1687, où Peiret établit l'église Huguenote la plus prospère en Amérique en 1688. Cette année-la, Jean, connu à Osse comme charpentier, prit part à la construction et plus tard à une addition de la première église permanente de ce qui est maintenant Manhattan, pour l'usage exclusif des réfugiés protestants français . Plus tard, Jean prit part à la construction d'une église de l'autre côté du port, à Richmond, sur Staten Island, où il construisit aussi, non loin de là, la première maison Latourrette en Amérique.
Le texte explique aussi pourquoi, pendant 300 ans, les huguenots américains, historiens et descendants retraçant les racines de Jean, n'ont pas lié Pasteur Peiret et Jean Latourrette dans leur évasion d'Osse vers New York. Ceci, en dépit du fait qu'ils avaient tous deux quitté Osse en 1685 et qu'on les retrouva tous deux a New York en 1687. De plus, d'après les registres de l'église de Peiret, ils étaient apparemment les deux seuls à New York originaires du Béarn à l'époque et, particulièrement d'Osse. Le problème vient d'une supposition incorrecte que Peiret était de Foix, faite par Charles W. Baird en 1885 dans son livre "L'émigration des Huguenots en Amérique" (Vol.II, pp. 146-7), et répétée jusqu'à nos jours par les histoires de l'Eglise Française de New York et Jon Butler, cité plus bas. Comme on le sait à Osse, et comme Alfred Cadier l'a documenté, Peiret était de Pontacq, non de Foix, et il était le pasteur d'Osse de 1677 a 1685 (Voir "Le Béarn Protestant", édition 2003, particulièrement p. 203).
Bien que basé en partie sur des faits circonstanciels, il est très probable que Jean et Peiret ont fait le voyage d'Osse à New York ensemble. Certainement, le rôle de la famille Latourrette, du premier pasteur d'Osse en 1563, Gassiot Latourrette, à David Latourrette (vers 1625-1697), notaire, ancien de l'église, abbé laïque d'Osse et père présumé de Jean, établit un lien très fort avec Peiret à Osse. Leur proche collaboration à l'église de New-York confirme ce lien.
Ici, les remarques de conclusion du long texte sont résumées:
Avec la perspective de près de 300 ans depuis la fondation de l'Eglise Française de New-York, Butler, dans son livre "Les Huguenots en Amérique", paru en 1983, fournit une description et une analyse détaillées du sort de l'église de Peiret. Jusqu'à sa mort en 1704, il fut la force qui mena l'église vers l'avant. Considérant les comparaisons de Butler sur les trois principaux centres de Huguenots en Amérique avant 1700, New York, Boston et la Caroline du Sud, on peut conclure qu'à cette époque l'Eglise Française de New York était la plus prospère.
Butler fournit un sommaire excellent d'un pastorat très accompli, "Peiret a crée une très forte paroisse de réfugiés à New York City --- L'usage que font les Huguenots de l'Eglise Française comme centre de rites offre la preuve la plus évidente de la bonne santé de la paroisse dans les années 1690" (p. 161). Il nota que Peiret célébra 40 mariages entre 1690 et 1704, y compris celui de Jean Latourrette à Marie Mercereau en 1693, et pendant cette même période les baptèmes augmentèrent jusqu'à une moyenne de 23,4 par an (p. 161).
Pour de nombreuses raisons détaillées par Butler dans sa conclusion, dans le chapitre intitulé "Partout où ils s'enfuirent, partout ils disparurent", les Huguenots furent absorbés par une société Américaine dynamique, même avant la Révolution Américaine. Un des facteurs majeurs, mentionné par Butler, fut l'assimilation rapide des Huguenots dans le tissu de la société Américaine par les mariages exogames, qui augmentèrent rapidement après la mort de Peiret en 1704. "Les mariages exogames (mariages en dehors du group de réfugiés protestants français) des Huguenots se multiplièrent en dehors de l'Eglise Française après 1710" et "entre 1750 et 1759--- 87,1 pour cent des mariages Huguenots étaient exogames"(p. 187).
L'église fondée par Peiret lutta pour survivre pendant plusieurs années, puis ferma en 1776 avec la Revolution Américaine et l'occupation de New York par les anglais. Il y eut une renaissance temporaire dans les années 1790 mais la paroisse avait peu de membres et un support financier insuffisant. En 1803 elle accepta l'autorité confessionnelle de Nouvelle Eglise Protestante Episcopale. Elle est maintenant connue en tant que l'Eglise Française du St-Esprit et est située au 109 Est 60 ème Rue. Les services y sont encore célébrées en français par le Révérand Nigel Massey.
En conclusion, que peut-on dire de Jean Latourrette et de son départ d'Osse en 1685? On peut retracer ses origines à une famille protestante de notables du petit village d'Osse dans la vallée d'Aspe. Il était probablement le second fils de David Latourrette, qui était un notaire, un ancien de l'église et quelqu'un qui avait des moyens financiers. Les racines de la famille comptent le premier pasteur protestant dans la Vallée d'Aspe en 1563, Gassiot Latourrette. Jean avait une bonne éducation pour l'époque, était célibataire et un charpentier expérimenté. Etant donné ce que l'on sait de la famille avant et après la Révocation de l'Edit de Nantes, il ne semble pas y avoir de raison pour lui de s'enfuir d'Osse. En fait, son départ d'Osse est un évènement sans explication, très rare et unique jusqu'à ce qu'on le lie au Pasteur Peiret, qui fut forcé de fuir avec sa famille sous peine de galères ou, encore plus probable, de mort. Les faits et circonstances suggèrent qu'il a accompagné Peiret d'abord en Hollande puis en Angleterre. Il était à Londres à la même époque que Peiret. Il semble aussi qu'il serait venu à New York avec Peiret, à bord du navire Robert en fin 1687.
Le travail de charpente de Jean sur l'église est mentionné dans les annees 1690, aussi bien que la rapidité avec laquelle Peiret construisit la première église de New York. Sa direction plus tard de la construction d'une église huguenote près de Richmond sur Staten Island, suggère qu'il a joué un rôle significatif dans la construction de l'Eglise de Petty-Coat-Lane (Marketfield Street) en 1688. Il y aurait encore beaucoup à dire de ses premières années en Amérique, ajoutant et portant correction aux informations réunies par Lyman Latourette et Mme Jacob. Mais on peut dire que Jean resta fidèle à ses racines d'Osse et accomplit sa mission d'accompagner Peiret et sa famille vers la sécurité de l'Amérique, et d'y établir un nouveau pastorat, d'abord avec Peiret, puis sur Staten Island pour les plusieurs centaines de réfugiés Français qui trouvèrent leur chemin vers New York avant 1700.
En explorant son histoire personnelle plus à fond, on trouvera que Jean n'était pas un comte avec un château, comme le disent les histoires romantiques citées dans les "Annales des Latourette en Amérique" de Lyman (1954) et les "Compilations" de Mme Jacob (1965). Cependant, Jean venait d'une famille de notables qui avait un titre de propriété dans le petit village d'Osse. Cette propriété, toujours en place, serait mieux décrite comme une "maison forte". Mais, en fait, si l'on veut attribuer à Jean le terme de "noblesse" ce serait pour ses actions "nobles" au risque de sa vie pour accompagner Peiret vers la sécurité; et son travail de construction de temples pour les huguenots qui avaient fui pour l'Amérique.
En conclusion, on peut dire que les contributions que Jean Latourrette et Pasteur Peiret ont faites à la vie des réfugiés français à New York, reflète bien la force morale qu'ils avaient apportée avec eux de leur petit village d'Osse, dans la Vallée d'Aspe.
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