Notes |
- "David with his parents was forced to flee from France because oftheir Protestant religion. They moved in 1642 to Middleburg, on theisland of Walcheren off the west coast of Holland, where they joined acolony of Belgian and French refugees. A protestant Church (Walloon)had been firmly established here, and the names of Jean desMarets andfamily appeared as members in 1643. In this Church David marriedMarie Sohier, whose family had taken refuge during the first Walloonmigration. The term "Walloon" was used to refer to BelgianProtestants while the term "Huguenot" denoted French back-ground.
Due to the frequently shifting boundary lines between France andBelgium, an exact date must be known in order to determinenationalities, but most of the families here were French.
The family moved next to Germany and in 1651 were living within theGerman Palatinate at Mannheim on the Rhine. French and BelgianProtestants from Holland and England were fleeing to this refuge,fearing a war between those two countries.
Many of the refugees then living in Mannheim later joined the NewFrench Settlement in America, established at Harlem, north of NewAmsterdam.
Soon the Palatinate was threatened with hostile invasion byneighboring Catholic princes, and the desMarets, ........, and anumber of other French families left Mannheim, sailed down the Rhine,and after a short stay in Amsterdam embarked for the New Netherlandson the ship Bontekoe (The Spotted Cow), skipper Jan Bergen. The dateApr. 16, 1663 may have been that of departure from Holland, or arrivalin America." Narrative, pg. xxi.
"The desMarets made the voyage safely and upon arrival settled firstin a Huguenot village on Staten Island where they remained for twoyears before moving to Harlem ...." Narrative, pg. xxii.
"French Church of Kinderkamack, Hackensack, Milford, Bergen County,New Jersey joined with a Dutch Reform Church at Hackensack, known as"Church On The Green. " Narrative, pg. xxxii, para. 6.
"The famous Demarest heart strone bearing the date 1696 and theintials D.M.R. (meaning David desMarets) was placed in the east wallof the new church. It is said that within the four arms of theHuguenot Cross a heart appears. The phrase "Jesus is the heart ofGod" is found many times in the literature of the ancient mystics"Narrative, pg. xxxii, para. 7.
"His will was dated Aug 26, 1689 and probated July 30, 1697. His willincluded a bequest to Anna Cronk, possibly his housekeeper, of 100acres, and the rest of his estate went to his sons, equally, exceptthat the son David (Jr.) had died (prior to David Sr.'s death), so"Jean Durie our cousin" represented the children of David Jr. and he(Jean Durie) later married the widow (Rachel CressondesMarets/desMarest)." First Generation, pg. I-II-1, para. 1.
Source:
EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK BY: Demarest, Voorhis David,
The Demarest family : a record of the desMarets family in France, theHoly Land in the Crusades, again in France, Holland, the Palatinate(Germany), again in Holland, and the migration to America, 1663 ...
Hackensack, N.J.?: unknown, 1964, 1322 pgs.
http://persi.heritagequestonline.com/
[Obtained 10 October 2006, SLJuhl, family genealogist-compiler]
NOTE: There is some detail to the families movements in this book.Especially with movements prior to the families immigration toAmerica, baptisms, and land transactions, Indians, the law, and thechurches after arriving to America.
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