de la nature nous protestons que nous serons toujours prest a la deffendre de tout notre pouvoir contre tous ceux qvi entreprendront de le troubler ce sont la nos veritable sentiments opposez comme vous le voyez au accusations de M. Bernon et nous ne doutons pas qve tout ce qu'il y a d'honnété Gens ne fut disposez a nous rendre ce temoinage s'il etait necessaire comme il nous fut rendu il ny a que peu de Jours par le procureur du Roy qvi recconut devant monseig. le Govvern!. lors que nous pleignisme a son Excellence des accusations de M. Bernon que nous nous étions toujours montrez fort affectionéz au Gouvernment et que le Roy n'avait pas de meilleurs sugets que nous en Effet si il en avait quelqun parmi nous qui parut animé des pensées que cette homme nous impute nous le retrencherions de notre Corps comme un monstre indigne de notre Société nous vous prions Mons!. de les faire connaistre a tous ceux a qvi les discours de Mr. Bernon peuvent avoir donné des préventions contre nous, c'est la toute la vengeance que nous voulons prendre de lui encore qu'il nous soit fort dur de nous voir accusez par un homme qvi porte avec nous le titre d'Exilé pour la religion et qui veut icy nous faire de feintes protestations d'amitie nous lui pardonnons de bon cœur lui soubsistant une Conduite droité a l'avenir et un judgement plus solide et a vous la Benediction de Dieu &c Monsieur Votre &c (sic) PEIRET Ministre ELIE BOUDINOT PAUL DROILET GABRIEL LE BOYTEULX The family of Bernon,1 or, de Bernon, as it was known in France, was originally from Burgundy, and is one of the most ancient families of the kingdom. It claims its descent from the younger branch of the Counts of Burgundy, several of whose princes have borne the name from the year 895. Its 1 As Bernon was a connection of Freneau's family, we give a short sketch of his life and labors for his countrymen in America. arms1 from the fourteenth century were borne by the Counts of Maçon. That branch of the family of which Gabriel Bernon, the refugee, was a descendant, has or had, in its possession all the documents necessary to prove its identity from the time of Raoul de Bernon. This house is allied to some of the most illustrious families of France. It has rendered distinguished services to its country, and has numbered amongst its members superior officers of great merit in the army, as well as in the navy. Several of its names are found in the "Livre d'Or de la Noblesse" as belonging to the Order of Saint Louis. The name of de Bernon is found amongst those of the families that were represented in the Crusades in the year 1191. In the sixteenth century it is seen contributing towards the ransom of the sons of François 1st, who were held as hostages by Spain after the battle of Pavia. It also sent money by the hands of Duplessis-Mornay to Henri Quatre, to assist him in his efforts to obtain the throne. Besides the claims to nobility entailed by their Burgundian ancestors, the Bernons of La Rochelle possess still another claim to distinction, several of the mayors of that city having been furnished by them. To have held the office of mayor of that city, according to the customs of the time, conferred rank, not alone to the person who had held the office, but to his heirs forever. Raoul de Bernon, who served with distinction in the wars of his time, married Charlotte de Talmont and their son, Nicolas, was mayor of La Rochelle in the year 1357. His son held the same office in 1398. son of the latter, founded the two Jean Thomas, 1 Azur à un chevron d'argent surmonté d'un croissant de même, accompagné en chef de deux étoiles d'or et en point d'un ours passant demême. gentilhommières or manors of Bernonière and Bernonville, the former deriving its name from a small château near Pouzauges in Poitou, now the department of Vendée, and the latter, from a château on the Isle de Ré. Jean Thomas had a son named André, who had two sons: Pierre, sieur de la Bernonière et l'Isleau, and Jean. Jean's son André married Catherine du Bouché in 1545, and their son Léonard married Françoise Carré, 1578, and had two sons: Jean, sieur de Bernonville, and André. The latter married Jeanne Lescour, and, after her death, Marie Papin in 1605; their two sons were Léonard, sieur de Bernonville, and André, the latter being the father of Gabriel the refugee. The branch of the family to which André belonged was distinguished as de Bernonville, and was amongst the first in La Rochelle to embrace Calvinism. The other branch, de la Bernonière de l'Isleau, also adopted the same belief.1 André, Gabriel's father, was one of ten children, five of whom were sons, the remaining five daughters. André was a prosperous banker, and ancien of the Huguenot Church. He did not long survive its destruction and the dispersion of his brethren, but died soon after the Act of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes was passed, and was buried by night in his own gardens at Périgny. Samuel and Jean de Bernon, André's second and third sons, became zealous converts to the Catholic faith. Some of the letters written by the former to Gabriel, in reply to his severe reproaches, are still extant; they prove the sincerity of his convictions, and give the reasons for his conversion. As sieur de Salines he lived in luxury in Poitou. Jean, sieur 1 Bernon famille habitant la Rochelle après avoir embrassé l'hérésie de Calvinisme n'a Jamais voulu se faire réhabiliter; elle a toujours été riche et considérée.-FILleau. de Luneau, resided before and after his conversion in San Just. Ester escaped to England, and Jeanne married Jean Allaire, brother to Alexandre Allaire, the refugee, and one of the founders of New Rochelle, Westchester County, in the State of New York. Another sister married a Mr. Du Pont of La Rochelle, and her son Jacque, along with Jeanne's son, Louis Allaire, accompanied their uncle Gabriel Bernon to America. André and Benjamin Faneuil, connections of the de Bernons, accompanied this party in their flight. Gabriel was forty-one years of age at the time of the revocation of the Edict, and was one of the leading merchants of La Rochelle. He married Ester Le Roy, the daughter of a landed proprietor whose residence faced the royal palace. He was an inflexible Huguenot and had materially assisted the refugees who had settled in Quebec. Gabriel attempted to settle in Quebec, but on account of his religious convictions was obliged to leave Canada. Upon his return to France he was arrested and thrown into the prison of la Lanterne, from which, after an imprisonment of several months' duration, he was released through the influence of his Catholic brothers, Samuel and Jean. After his release, Gabriel disposed of his remaining property, but he received only about one-tenth part of its value. He managed to escape with this into Holland, where his wife was to meet him; but she was arrested in her attempt, and was only set at liberty upon feigning conversion. She speedily joined her husband, however, and they sailed to England, landing in London, where they were met by their relatives Louis Allaire, Jacque Du Pont, and the two Faneuils. Bernon, with the intention of settling in America, had sent several sums of money to his agent in that country, who purchased a tract of land of twenty-five hundred acres not very far from Boston; and later on he sailed for his new home with his wife and relatives, along with forty other refugees whose expenses he paid to his colony. Arriving in Boston, he was put in possession of his grant by the custom of investiture of twig and turf, by Chief Justice Dudley. Bernon and his nephews remained in Boston, leaving his agent to act for him in the colony called New Oxford; in which houses, and a fort and church were soon built. The community all together amounted to about eighty persons; amongst whom was the family of Lydia Sigourney's husband. To all appearance there was every sign of success and an increase of the infant colony, as other refugees frequently joined it. During King Philip's war, the Nipmucks ravaged the surrounding country, and the Oxford colonists became greatly alarmed. Bernon's agent, foreseeing danger, disposed of all the stock and furniture Bernon had provided, and made off with the proceeds to unknown parts. A visit from the Indians, attended by the usual massacre, caused the colonists to take refuge in the fort, which they soon after abandoned to return to Boston. The minister also went off, carrying with him the books provided for the use of the colony, and all papers of importance. All that remains to mark the spot of the once prosperous settlement is a huge cross bearing the following inscription - IN MEMORY OF THE HUGUENOTS EXILES FOR THEIR FAITH WHO MADE THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF 1680 WE LIVE NOT FOR OURSELVES ONLY |