CLAIRE/CLARA DE NORMANDIE was the sister of SARAH (DE NORMANDIE) ABERCROMBIE who was my 4-great grandmother & wife of JOHN JOSEPH ABERCROMBIE, SR. I found these items yesterday and wonder if anyone might have anything on THOMAS KIRKBRIDE BILES who d. 1821? This DE NORMANDIE family was very prominent in Bucks County, the emigrant was ANDRE DE NORMANDIE who was connected to FREDERICK THE GREAT, according to item found yesterday in GOOGLE BOOK search. See item below. I am expecting more on ERNESTINE and her mother's line (incl. ANDRE-ANDREW DE NORMANDIE) from the National Genealogy Society located in Virginia soon. ============================= IGI Individual Record FamilySearch™ International Genealogical Index v5.0 North America CLAIRE <DENORMANDIE> Female Christening: 28 DEC 1761 Christ Church And Saint Peters, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Father: ANTHONY DENORMANDIE Mother: MARY DENORMANDIE Messages: Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record. Source Information:Type: C725888 1750 - 1762 1490578 ====================================== OneWorldTreeSM Name: Clara Denormandie Birth: 5 Dec 1761 Parents: Anthony Denormandie, Mary Hall Spouse: Thomas Kirkbride Biles Died: 1821 Children: Thomas Biles M Charles Biles M William Biles M James Biles M Hannah Biles F Charles Biles M ================================== The History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania: From the Discovery of the Delaware to the Present Time By William Watts Hart Davis Published 1876 Democrat Book and Job Office Print 875 pages Page 344. & 345. The DE NORMANDIES were a princely family of France, holding feudal tenures in Champagne from the earliest times, the heads of the house being the lords de la Motte. In 1460 GIULLIAUME DE NORMANDIE was made royal governor of Noyon in Picardy, and founded the chapel of ST. CLAIRE in the church of ST. MARTIN. He married a DE ROYE, princess in her own right, and daughter of the lord of DE MAILLY D'AISILLY and MONTESCOURT. >From GIULLIAUME DE NORMAMDIE descended LAURENT DE NORMANDIE, the warm friend and supporter of CALVIN, and the executor of his will, who fled to Geneva, and, as did his sons after him, filled some of the highest offices in that republic. >From LAURENT came JEAN DE NORMANDIE, one of the deputies sent in 1603 to conclude a treaty of peace with the prince of Savoy, and from JEAN came JOSEPH, named after his uncle and godfather, the celebrated DUC DE LA TREMOUILLE. These were all counsellors of state and syndies of Geneva, as was MICHAEL, the son of JOSEPH. >From MICHAEL came ANDRE DE NORMANDIE, the confidential agent and lieutenant of FREDERICK THE GREAT at Neufchatel. In his old age this ANDRE DE NORMANDIE, born at Geneva in 1651, came to America in 1706, with his two sons, JOHN ABRAM and JOHN ANTHONY, and settled at Bristol, where he died in 1724. Of his sons, JOHN ABRAM, in 1688, and JOHN ANTHONY, in 1693, married HENRIETTA ELIZABETH, and MARY, daughters of DOCTOR FRANCIS GANDONET. The former died at Bristol in 1757, and the latter in 1748. The remains of father and sons repose in SAINT JAMES' church-yard. The children of the two sons married into the familes of BARD, of Burlington, and ANDERSON, whose whereabouts is not known. Some of the DE NORMANDIES sided with England in the Revolutionary struggle and got into trouble, while with others WASHINGTON was on terms of warm friendship. The families were valuable citizens in the church and ont of it. Some of them were physicians and men of science and culture, and they owned considerable real estate in the county. DOCTOR JAMES DE NORMANDIE, a physician with large practice in PENN's manor, was the last of the family to leave the county, and settled in Ohio about thirty-five years ago. His son JAMES is now a clergyman of the Episcopal church at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The father married a sister of SAMUEL YARDLEY, formerly of Doylestown. Late in life DOCTOR JOHN ABRAM went to Geneva to claim property left him and his cousin, by an old nobleman. He there met VOLTAIRE, who was so pleased with his society that he made some preparation to return with him and lay his bones here. The doctor brought home a miniature given him by VOLTAIRE, which is yet owned by the descendants of the family. ARTHUR SANDS of Trenton, is a descendant of the DE NORMANDIES. ======================================================== Jacqueline Sleeper Russell website: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=SRCH&db=jacquelinesr