Rob's Genealogy

Person Page 666

Abraham Michaux1

born UNKNOWN

Family: Susanne Rochette (born UNKNOWN)

Facts and Notes

  • Note: Abraham Michaux and Susanne Rochette were Huguenots who settled at Manikin Town in 1701 or 1702. (R1)

    " During the religious persecution consequent upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which was signed by Louis XIV, of France, on October 18, 1685, and published four days afterwards, Susanne Rochette lived in Sedan, France. When about fifteen years of age she escaped to Amsterdam where she married Abraham Michaux, a Huguenot, and continued in Holland until she had six children. They emigrated to Virginia and settled in Manikin Town in Goochland county early in the eighteenth century.

    Abraham Michaux was a nephew of the celebrated Mr. James Saurin, minister of the French Church of the Savoy in the Strand, London, in the year 1703. A prayer book, with this note in French inscribed on a blank page: 'M. Saurin, minister, has sent this Book of Common Prayer to his nephew Abraham Michaux in Virginia,' was presented in 1857, by H. F. Cabell, Esq., through Bishop Meade, to the Theological Seminary at Alexandria, Virginia. (Cabells and their Kin, p. 272.) (R1)

    "Abraham Michaux was born in Sedan, France in 1672 and died in Virginia in 1717. He was 'inscribed' member of the French Huguenot Church in Amsterdam, Holland, January 28, 1691. There he married Susanne Rochette on July 13, 1692. Their children were baptized as follows: Anne, May 7, 1693; Jane, January 3, 1697; Jacob, August 15, 1700. (See Archives of Holland Church.) On May 8, 1701, they left Amsterdam for London, England, and from there came to Virginia, probably the same year or in 1702. His uncle, Rev. James Saurin, sent him the above-mentioned prayer book in 1703. Abraham Michaux died in 1717 and his wife, Susanne, died in 1744. In her will, recorded in Goochland, she mentions children as follows: (1) Anne Madelin Michaux (born 1693, in Holland; was married in Virginia to Richard Woodson). (2) Susanne Michaux (born in Holland about 1695; was married in Virginia to John Quin of Henrico, and had a daughter, Judith Quin, who married Richard
    Morton, son of Thomas Morton and Elizabeth Woodson (4). (3) Jane Magdalen Michaux (born about 1697 in Holland; married prefer Le Grande). (4) Judith Michaux (born about 1699 in Holland, and married Anthony Morgan). (5) Jacob Michaux (born in 1700, in Holland, was married in Virginia to 43 Judith Woodson). (6) Elizabeth Michaux (born about 1701. It is not known positively whether her birth occurred in Holland, England or Virginia. She married Sanburne Woodson). (7) Esther Mary Michaux (was probably born about 1703 in Virginia, and married Alexander Cunningham). (See Michaux family Bible and Prayer Book, Episcopal Seminary, Alexandria, Virginia; and will of Abraham Michaux)." (R1)

    The above Michaux data was received from Mrs. Jennie Morton Cunningham, of Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania.

    Those Huguenots, driven from their native country by cruel persecution, were distinguished for their virtue, piety and industry wherever they went; and their strong character was impressed upon all the countries in which they found refuge. William of Orange recognized the high character of these people when he offered them asylum in England. The young American colony was only too glad to give them the little territory at Manikin Town where they might persue their vocations and " worship God under their own vine and fig tree, none daring to molest them nor to make them afraid." And from the frequency with which marital relations were consummated, it would seem that the young men and maidens of the Woodson family, too, had acquired some insight into Huguenot character and worth.

Citations

  1. [S454] Woodson, Henry Morton, Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and Their Connections, Woodson, Henry Morton. Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and Their Connections. Memphis, Tennessee: H.M. Woodson, 1915.

    A copy of this book is available on Ancestry.com (see http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=15304), openlibrary.org (see https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1758627M/Historical_genealogy_of_the_Woodsons_and_their_connections), and Google Books (see http://books.google.com/books/about/Historical_genealogy_of_the_Woodsons_and.html?id=GuhfAAAAMAAJ)., Page 34