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Bartholomew Dupey and Susanne LeVillain
Verbatim text of Bartholomew Dupuy's and Susanne LeVillain's escape from certain death in France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Oct 1685, and their subsequent immigration to England before immigrating to the colonies. (Paragraphs added by Lisa Allison Albert.)
Bartholomew Dupuy was born in 1650 or 1653 in France. At eighteen years of age he entered the French army where his intelligence and fidelity soon won him the confidence of the King, Louis XIV, who promoted him at an early age to be an officer in the Household Guards.
The King so far trusted and honored him as to frequently select him for the performance of duties so important as to require the royal signature, which Dupuy was authorized to affix by means of the royal signet ring. One of those occasions was the means, under God, of saving this officer and his wife from arrest and most probably from death.
A short time before the revocation of the Edict of Hantes which occurred October 18, 1685, he married Susanne LeVillian, "a young countess of good standing in society, possessed of a villa and of the Huguenot faith," and retired to her villa for a short respite from his military duties.
Soon after their retirement they were called upon by messenger from the King who communicated that startling intelligence that the Edict of Nantes* was to be revoked immediately, and that he had been sent by the King, from motives of esteem, to save him and his wife from the impending fate of all heretics. He urged their submission, that is their renunciation of the Protestant faith, with all his eloquence and with promises of great genefits if they would, in this way, prove their loyalty to the King.
Dupuy replied that the demand was so sudden and of such grave importance that he would beg a few hours for consideration. The priest said that this request was reasonable and he would cheerfully grant it.
As soon as he retired, Dupuy sent for the village tailor and asked if he could make a suit of livery for his page within six hours. The tailor replied in the affirmative, and at midnight, the suit was completed and delivered.
In this suit, he immediately disguised his wife as his page, and putting on his best uniform and girding on his sword, he took what money and jewels they had together with a few clothes and their Bibles and prayer books and mounting two good horses, set out for the frontier.
They traveled eighteen days and, though stopped almost daily, always escaped by saying that he was the King's officer, until near the line when he was arrested. He showed the officer the passport bearing the King's signet, and immediately snatching it back, drew his sword and sternly demanded by what authority he was thus insulted, and further demanded an escort for his protection to the line, which was provided without delay.
Arriving safely at the seacoast he dismissed the escort, and crossing over into Holland, they sang the praises of God in the Fortieth Psalm, and offered up prayers and thanksgiving to their great deliverer for their escape from a cruel death.
They remained in Holland fourteen years and, upon the invitation of William of Orange, to all the French refugees in Holland to accompany him, Dupuy and his wife went to England where they remained unntil 1700, when they removed to Virginia and settled at Manikin Town on James River in King William parish where they spent the remainder of their lives.
The sword used by Bartholomew Dupuy while in the French army, is now in the possession of Dr. James Dupuy, of Prince George county, Virginia, and was used by his grandfather James Dupuy, Sr., of Nottoway, at the battle of Guilford Courthouse** where he distinguished himself.
Notes:
* The Edict of Nantes, signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants (aka Huguenots) of France substantial rights in France, which was still considered essentially Catholic at the time. Revoking this edict opened the door to persecution and death for those practicing the Huguenot faith.
** The Battle of Guilford Court House was fought on March 15, 1781,
during the American Revolutionary War, at a site which is now in
Greensboro, the seat of Guilford County, North Carolina.
| Owner/Source | Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and their connections, Compiled by Henry Morton Woodson |
| Linked to | Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and their connections; Bartholemew Dupuy; Susanne LeVillain |
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