-----Original Message----- From: Aleuts@aol.com <Aleuts@aol.com> To: Melungeon-L@rootsweb.com <Melungeon-L@rootsweb.com> 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:Melungeon-L@rootsweb.com">Melungeon-L@rootsweb.com</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 >