Lois, Huguenots actually migrated to England over a 150-year period, (1550-1700). Ireland was looking for settlers and many French/Flanders folk wound up there. During the period of continuous Huguenot migration to England, there were two main waves: the first, during the persecution of the late sixteenth century, and the second, after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. We need to keep in mind that while many of Huguenots and later arrivals were refugees on account of their Protestant beliefs, not all were. Some were economic migrants looking for a better living and some were social migrants joining friends and family already living here. For others a number of reasons combined to influence their migrability e.g., newlyweds were disproportionately represented. In the sixteenth century Calvinism won as followers about half of France's nobility and a third of the bourgeoisie. They were scattered through France, with clusters in the south, south-west, in Poitou, Normandy and Alsace-Lorraine. In the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572), when about 3,000 prominent Huguenots who had gathered in Paris for the marriage of the king's sister, Marguerite, to Henry of Navarre, were murdered, a further 8,000 Huguenots were later killed in outer provinces. In my family's line: There was a Jane (Jeanette) JENNIN, who was born in Croisilles, Pas de Calais, France d/o Francois JENNIN and Louis MORON and later brought to Ireland by her Uncle, Jean Jennin with his family in abt. 1570. Concurrently, John (Jean) PADOC bapt. 19 July 1550 in Le Cateau, France; came with his parents to Ireland via England from France well before 1580. John learned the blacksmith trade and met Jane Jennings or a marriage was arranged for them in Ireland. He m. Jane 12 Aug 1580. One of their children, Robert Paddock, was in Plymouth MA by 1634, working as a blacksmith. Though he had been born in France among the "landed gentry", Jean (John) alledgedly fled to England, then settled with his family for "religious as well as political reasons" and became a blacksmith, settling in Stephenstown, Balrothery Parish, County Dublin, Ireland in 1580, and later purchased land in Tullygovan near Killany, Barony of Ardee, County Louth, Ireland, from Nicholas Ball and his wife. The early history of Paddocks in France may be accurate but then again may be subject to conjecture. Jean (John) Padoc could have have left Le Cateau a few years after the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Maybe it was for economic or religious reasons, or just wanting to be rid of the more or less constant fighting and upheaval in the area where they lived. Additionally, if the Paddock lineage traced back to the 13th or 14th century is accurate, then the Padocs were likely a prominent family. LE CATEAU, or CATEAU-CAMBRESIS, is a town now in northern France, in the department of Nord, on the River Selle, 15 m. E.S.E. of Cambrai by road. Formed by the union of the two villages of Peronne and Vendelgies, under the protection of a castle built by the bishop of Cambrai, Le Cateau became the seat of an abbey in the 11th century. In the 16th it was frequently taken and retaken, and in 1556 it was burned by the French, who in 1559 signed a celebrated treaty with Spain in the town. It was finally ceded to France in 1678. The Paddocks were prominent people; landed barons, and thus to some degree their descendency would have been tracked; regular citizens generally weren't. It is quite feasible the family was fearful, fled their comfortable lives in France and later got involved in blacksmithing as a means of survival and became commoners. Quite a fall from grace there, in one generation. Hope this helps a bit or elicits more comment. ----- Original Message ----- From: Lois Friss To: HUGUENOTS-WALLOONS-EUROPE-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 10:24 AM Subject: [HWE] French in Ireland My 2nd great grandparents (O'Brien, O'Leary) lived in County Kildare Ireland; born abt. 1815. Their paternal grandparents were also in Ireland although I have no proof that they were born there; no information on their wives. The O'Brien's immigrated with 3 teen age sons to Jamestown New York in the early 1850s where they read French newspapers and were considered well educated. They were Catholics. She supposedly taught French before she immigrated. There was no French community of note in Jamestown. I have been advised to read Hugenot history for clues. Was there any migration pattern from France to Southern Ireland (could have been County Clare) Thanks Lois Friss Thousand Oaks, CA ==============================