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From: "sherry henson" <>
Subject: [ARCLAY-L] Fw: [Melungeon-L] Re: About The Douglas Register
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 13:51:20 -0500


-----Original Message-----
From: <>
To: <>
Date: Friday, April 23, 1999 12:13 PM
Subject: [Melungeon-L] Re: About The Douglas Register

>Subj: About The Douglas Register
>Date: 4/16/99
>To: <A HREF="mailto:"></A>
>
>Dear List,
>There has been a lot of newbies on the list, I have been getting many
emails
>asking what the Douglas Register is and where it takes place. I was in
error
>when I said the book was written in 1921, it was written 1928. It was
>published in Richmond, Virginia, during Walter Plecker's time. The register
>was kept from the public for over a century.
>
>I hope this will answer some questions. These records were kept from the
>public until 1928, when a descendant decided to transcribe them and publish
>them. The book has about four hundred pages of genealogy, starting in 1727
>to 1790s. The Rev Douglas married people from many counties, I think I
>counted at least seven. Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Goochland,
Hanover,
>Louisa and Spotsylvania and Orange. He gives the counties that the people
>came from. The Reverend Douglas went to remote places to minister to the
>people, he must have baptized every "soul" he came into contact with.
Every
>child in the birth registry has been baptized and the date of baptism
>recorded. He married couples even if they were of different race, it
appears
>to him it did not matter what color the people were. In the birth records,
>he uses the word "fornication," a lot, I've omitted this from my posting.
>
>The spelling of the names changes quite frequently, giving a good insight
>into how various names have changed over time. I tried to keep the
spellings
>exactly the way they are written in the book. I know it must look like I
>can't spell or type.
>
>He has a section on the Huguenots marriages, many that married into the
>colony.
>The notes in this section are detailed, giving an understanding of the
>migration of these refugees. Thank you all for the kind emails.
>
>Helen Campbell
>
>Forward
>
>The Reverend William Douglas came to St. James Northam Parish, in Goochland
>County, Virginia, (Dover Church), on the 12th of October, 1750. A
memorandum
>in the Register shows that he had charge of St. James Northam Parish for
>twenty-seven years: Maniken Town (King William Parish), for nineteen years,
>and ministered to a charge in Buckingham County for four years.
>
>This book is known as "The Douglas Register" for the reason that it not
only
>contains a record of Births, Christenings, Marriages, Deaths and Funerals
in
>St. James Northam Parish and the County of Goochland, but in many instances
>in adjacent and others more remote. He kept up the entries in the register
>until 1797, and thus it covers a period of ninety-two years.
>
>Some of the records of the early French settlers at Maniken Town and a
rough
>index of the Goochland County wills, inventories, etc., have been added to
>the publication, that the reader may understand the origin of many family
>names that occur in the register.
>
>King William Parish, or "Manakin Town"
>The Huguenot Settlement on the James River
>page 365
>
>While there had been, almost since the foundation of the Colony, many
>individual refugees who sought safety in the Colonies, those referred to in
>these notes were part of a body of some five hundred immigrants who came to
>Virginia in 1700 under Marquis de la Muce, and who landed in this country
in
>four successive debarkations. (Beverley's History of Virginia page 244)
>(Baird, C.W., II, p.177)
>
>"Three ministers of the Gospel and two physicians were among their number.
>The ministers were Claude Phillipe de Richebourg, Benjamin de Joux and
Louis
>Latane. The physicians were Casaing and La Sosse.
>
>"Among the ministers who served the Parish of King William (Manakin-Town)
>were the following : Benjamin de Joux until his death in 1704; Claude
>Phillipe de Richelbourge, who removed to South Carolina in 1707; Jean
Cairon,
>who died in 1716; Peter Fontaine 1720-1721; Francis Fontaine 1722-1724;
>William Finney, 1722 and later; William Murdaugh of St. James Northam,
>Goochland, and Zachariah Brooke of Hanover in 1727; Mr. Neirn 1727-128;
David
>Mossom, of Peters Parish, New Kent, 1727; Mr. Swift and Daniel Taylor of
>Blissland Parish, New Kent, 1728-1729; James Marye 1731-1735; Anthony
Gavain
>1739 and later Rev. William Douglas from 1750-1777 and subsequently Rev.
Mr.
>Hopkins of Goochland."
>
>The above list is given by Dr. R. A. Brock in the introduction to his work
on
>the Hugenot immigration to Virginia, in "Collection of the Virginia
>Historical Society," vol. V, published in 1886, from which most of these
>notes have been obtained.
>
>As there were constant intermarriages between the French Refugees and the
>colonist already in Virginia, the records as contained in the Douglas
>Register can be more readily understood when read in connection with the
King
>William Parish, and for that reason they are included in this publication.
>
>page 366
>
>"This parish was originally in Henrico County, which extended thus far and
>beyond it on either side of James River. It is now in Powhatan County,
whose
>name is taken from the ancient name of the river and the Old King Powhatan.
>By Act of Assembly in 1790, it was assigned to the French refugees who were
>driven from their country by the persecutions of Louis XIV., and sought
>asylum in Virginia as hundreds of thousands did in all the various
countries
>of Protestant Christendom."
>
>"As early as the year 1660 some few came over fleeing from the earlier
>persecutions. They were sufficient in number to induce an Act of Assembly
>granting them the privilege of citizens. Toward the close of the century
>some of them settled themselves on the Rappahannock. In the year 1790, so
>many had settled on the South side of the James River, in Henrico County
>(which was on both sides of the river) that the assembly passed an act
giving
>them large tract of land along the river as their possession, exempting
them
>from all county and states taxes for seven years, and then extending the
>privilege indefinitely. They were required to support their own minister
in
>their own way. Accordingly, in dividing the grant into farms, all running
>down to the river in narrow in narrow slips, a portion of the most valuable
>was set apart for the minister, and continued for a long time to be in the
e
>possession and use of the minister, and after that to be rented out and the
>proceeds paid for such things as occasional services as were rendered by
>neighboring ministers. At length, as it could not be seized and alienated
by
>the act of selling glebes. "
>
>"I mention the names of those families still remaining in Virginia who
derive
>their descent from Hugeunots. From information obtained from books and
from
>individuals, they are as follows: Marye, Fontaine, Deput, Harris, Sublett,
>Watkins, Markham, Sully, Chasteen, Duvall, Bondurrant, Flournoy, Potter,
>Michaux, Pemberton, Munford, Agie, Hatcher, Jacqueline, Bernard, Barraud,
>Latane, Moncure, Amouet, Chadouim, Dibrell, Farrar, Jeter, Jordan, Jouette,
>LeGrand, Ligon, Maupin, Maxey, Pasteur, Perrou, Thweat, Maury, Boisseau,
>Fouche, Lanier, Le Neve. Concerning a few of these it may be questioned
>whether they be not of Welsh descent, while doubtless others who might be
>added."
>
>"The Douglas Register" by Rev. William Douglas
>Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc. Baltimore, Maryland 1966
>Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 66-30367
>
>
>==== Melungeon Mailing List ====
>The Melungeon Registry
>http://pluto.clinch.edu/appalachia/melungeon/mel_nmr.htm
>

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