Pierre Billiou (abt. 1632 - 1701)

The Memory of the Just Is Blessed

Source: S11734 Title: Du"Bois Family News: "The Memory of the Just Is Blessed": The Ancestry and Extended Family of Chrétien du Bois, bailli, lieutenant, greffier, et receveur de la Comté de Coupigny, notaire, homme de loi, laboureur etmarchand; Resident of Wicres, then of Herlies, Url: Pages: 5–7; 3–6; 4–7 Abbreviation: DuBois Fam. News: Anc. and Extended Fam. of Chrétien du Bois Author: Horton, Monte Publication: June 2011 – Jul 2012 Note: The Memory of the Just is Blessed": The Ancestry and Extended Family of Chrétien du Bois, bailli, lieutenant, greffier, et receveur de la Comté de Coupigny,notaire, homme de loi, laboureur et marchand; Resident of Wicres, then of Herlies — Part I — "Beginnings"* by Monte Horton, J.D.**

"Mon mari, puisqu'il a plu à Dieu que nous soyons séparés l'un del'autre, il ne nous a point fait oublier de coeur. Quand j'en viens àme remémorer l'heureux temps passé, il n'est de jour qu'en mon coeur je pleure ...." (De Vos). From Marie le Gillon, great-grandmother of our own Catherine Blanchan,in a bitter-sweet letter of late 1570 sent from Armentières to GuyJoire, her young husband, exiled in London.

Guy had received the sentence of banishment on April 13, 1568, in the Duke of Alba's Conseildes Troubles for the Joire family's part in financing the révolte des Gueux des bois 1567-–1568. (De Vos).

Individuals treated in this series of articles were swept up in the storms of religious conflict that rumbled across Artois and the Flandre Gallicane in the 16th and 17th centuries. Their stories long to be told as we, their children, can attest.

We can truthfully say in the words of grandmother Marie: "He has not at all made us to forget from the heart." It seems, for example, that we never truly forgot that we descend from Chrétien du Bois of Wicres, France. We have always known — even when we had no documentary proof — that Louis, Françoise, and Jacques were brothers and sister. (Thankfully, we now have such proof from Lille and Leiden).

Their memory called us back to Wicres in the 1870s and 1880s, where we found the ancient parish register through the agency of M.M.C. Gregoire-Dubois while he was consul at Lille. There, we gazed upon records: faded, worn, worm-eaten, and deliberately mutilated, of "the births, marriages and deaths of [our] ancestors dating back 263 years." (Heidgerd). Throughout the 20th century, we probed, proposed, published, and discussed, and in so doing, kept the hearthstones warm.

A new century promises to rekindle old memories and to renew interest in our beginnings. Things we once saw "through a glass," we now see clearly. Though the ancient Wicres register has long since perished, a vast new body of evidence has come to light, thanks to the research of descendants of Chrétien's "other" daughter, Anne, who still live and work near Wicres.

The DBFA is now in possession of a large number of manuscripts and related documents, recently retrieved from the Archives Départementales de Lille ("the Archives du Nord"), and the Archives Municipales de Lille by Monsieur Eric Bourgoin and Madame Elisabeth Peckeu, two excellent French généalogistes employed for that purpose. The documents represent actes passed in the presence of official witnesses and notaries, as required by the feudal system under which our ancestors lived. Such actes were generated whenever a transaction touched on the individual's feudal responsibilities. Many of these documents bear Chrétien's own signature.

Other actes bear the signatures of his father: Maître Antoine du Bois, — a justice official, who, at the time of his death between 1615 and 1619, was greffier et receveur of the seigneurie de Coupigny; — his mother: Anne Cousin, his grandfather: Louis du Bois, and three of his six siblings, namely, Jacques, Ferry, and François. Among these many documents are four actes dated March 1718 attesting to the fate of four of the seven children of Chrétien du Bois ("the Attestation Documents"). There, the witnesses tell the story of one, Jacques du Bois, an unmarried son of the late Chrétien du Bois and Françoise le Poivre, who, around 1658, at the age of 25 to 30 years,left that land to go and live in Holland and never returned.

Having viewed his baptismal records, they state that Jacques was born at Herlies. The witnesses swear that in the days of his youth, Jacques alternated his residence at the homes of his uncles, Antoine le Poivre, at Sainghin-en-Weppes (birthplace of New Paltz's Antoine Crispell), and François du Bois at Wicres.

In December 1659, at about the time these witnesses say that Jacques left his ancestral home, Jacques du Bois "[s]'est présenté pour être reçu par confession de la foi" in the Walloon Church in Leiden. He was "accompagné de son cousin Jean Berlinguin". Berlinguin was actually Jacques' cousin-in-law, having married in Leiden upon banns published there on January 25, 1651, Anne du Bois, sister of Albert, Philippe, and Jacqueline. The latter four children were Chrétien's nieces and nephews by his brother, Ferry, and his wife, Laurentia Appourcheaux.

We saw the record of their baptisms in the Wicres Parish Register in the 1870s. At times, the documents reinforce conventional wisdom. For example, the tradition that Chrétien was a "prosperous middle class linen merchant," as reflected in our website, is remarkably recollective. The documents confirm that he was comfortably within the middle class and indicate that he was, among other things, a cloth merchant. Chrétien's mercantile pursuits were the subject of acte 2E3/7430-61, dated January 16, 1641. On that day, Chrétien received an assignment of censes (a seigneurial rent/tribute) from Guilbert Milleville and sons, Jehan et Anthoine, residents of Herlies.

The assignment of "trois années de censes portant par an la somme de trente huictz livres" (three years of censes bearing 38 livres per year), was to comprise a payment of "la somme de cent quattorz [114] livres paris is Flandres" by the Millevilles in consideration to Chrétien for his sale to the Millevilles of "marchandise de bure", a term for clothing material. After transcribing acte 2E3/7430-61 for this project, M. Bourgoin wrote in an enlightening e-mail to the author: "As you will see, this document is not exactly a 'sale,' but rather a 'cession' of censes (= assignment of rents) by the Millevilles to Chrétien du Bois.

He sold them 'marchandise' for the sum of 114 livres. Since they don't have the money, they transfer to him the benefit of three years of rents (38 livres per year) owed to them by a man named Noël Danscoine in connection with a lease they granted to him a few days ago.... Anyway, it seems that in January 1641, Chrétien was at the same time the 'greffier de la comté de Coupigny,' a 'laboureur,' a merchant and a 'notaire' (!), since the lease between the Millevilles and Danscoine was passed before him. A very busy man!"

At other times, the light glaring from the pages forces a reevaluation of traditional thought. For example, it is now known to a virtual certainty that Chrétien was the eldest son of a family of seven children: Isabeau, Chretien, Jean, Ferry, François, Jacques, and Laurent. This knowledge arises, in part, from an acte of sale that transpired soon after the death of Chrétien's father, Antoine. On December 31, 1619, Jacques Pollevesce (first cousin of that Antoine)and Marie le Mesre, his wife, sold to Anne Cousin, widow of the late Antoine du Bois, and their children four cents of farm land at Wicres. Acte 2E3/7435-99.

The new land lay hard against the boundary of Wicres and adjacent to land already owned by Anne. It was a portion of the fief and "maisrie d'Oresmieux", which was situated at Wicres, Herlies, Illies, and Marquillies. The conveyance was made to Anne Cousin and to her children "comme heritx patrimoinal". In this acte, the Dubois children are listed in the following order:

1. Chrétien
2. Jean ("Jan")
3. Ferry
4. Jacques
5. François
6. Laurent
7. Isabeau.

The conveyance was accomplished according to the ancient ceremony of "rain [fr. rameau] et baston", which effected the feudal investiture of seisin in land: "Et pour effectuer ce que dessus les dis comparans se sont des herités des vestus et des saisssys par rain et baston es mains du bailly sous nommé présens les hommes de loy en nombre competent et de leur consentement la saisine réelle fonsiere et propriétaire en au roi testé faicte et baillée au dict Chrestien du Bois tant en leurs noms que es noms de leurs frères." Acte 2E3/7435-99 lines 36–41 (emphasis added).

The finest details of this extinct rite can no longer be described with absolute certainty and doubtlessly varied somewhat from country to country. Nevertheless, on the authority of Sir Edward Coke and others,the essential elements of the ceremony are clear. On a day appointed, the participants entered the land to be conveyed. As the grant or recited words of divestiture, he broke a twig or branch off a tree of the land and handed it to the grantee, saying: "Here I deliver you seisin and possession of this [land], in the name of all the lands and tenements contained in this deed," or words of like effect. If there were multiple grantees, as in this case, the "livery to one" sufficed as livery to all. Representing the seigneur d'Oresmieux in this instance was the bailli of the maisrie, Jan Descamps. Representing the grantees in the transaction was Chrétien du Bois, as it is said: "en auroit esté faicte et baillée au dict Chrestien du Bois".

It was Chrétien, who, on an appointed day in 1619, went upon the land to meet the bailli d'Oresmieux; there, to engage in the ancient rite that would invest the DuBois with ownership, subject to all the feudal benefits and burdens appurtenant thereto. It was Chrétien who received the "branch or twig" from the hand of the bailli on behalf of his mother and all her children, as it is said: "tant en leurs noms que les noms de leurs freres".

Thus, not only is Chrétien listed first in the catalog of Antoine's children, but the transaction itself casts him in a role characteristic of the eldest son. Also, in the contract of the marriage of François du Bois with Jenne le Blon, Chrétien was listed first — ahead of his brothers Jean and Jacques, in that order as assistants and "frères germains" of François. Contrat de mariage, 2E3/7977-68 (December 5, 1634).

Further proof of Chrétien's position in his family is demonstrated by the fact that he was, —as was his father before him, —a justice official of the seigneurie de Coupigny (lès Fournes-en-Weppes). Their seigneur was Claude d'Ongnies (died 10 Jan. 1640), chevalier; seigneur de Wicres, Coupigny, Beaucamps, Rouvroy, Morckhoven, etc.; created Comte de Coupigny on May 6, 1624; himself, a Du Bois descendant, being the great-grandson of Barbe du Bois, dit de Hoves, wife of Josse Mallet, Sr de Berlettes. (M. de Vegiano).

Chrétien stepped into the shoes of his father after Maître Antoine's death, serving throughout the remainder of his life in the magisterial offices, whether separately or in some combination of them, as bailli, lieutenant, greffier, or receveur of Coupigny. "[T]hese justice officials ... formed a middle social class between the [seigneur] and the crowd of peasants and artisans, and ... happened to be the first step of many families' social rise in the 17th century." (Bourgoin).

Acquisition of these offices by hereditary succession was common-place. "In principle, the [seigneur] could dismiss the justice officials. In fact, the end of the office usually occurred [upon] the death of the holder or by resignation, for health reasons, for example,and the office would go to the son or a relative of the former owner." Ibid. (emphasis added). Chrétien's life following the death of his father is exemplary of that of a first-born son, as all available evidence attests. Whether Chrétien was a Protestant at the time of his death is a more difficult question, which will be taken up in a later installment of this series.

Also, while it is not the purpose of these articles to reiterate that which we already know of Louis, Jacques, and Françoise and their activities in this country, the new sources shed considerable light on the pre-emigration activities of Louis and Jacques. Those activities demand to be explored in some detail, as they require a reevaluation of current understanding regarding the ages of those two children. There is also much to say regarding the very interesting maternal ancestry of Catherine Blanchan.

Questions and comments engendered by these articles are welcome and maybe addressed to the author, Monte Horton, at mnthorton@yahoo.com.

Unless otherwise stated, transcriptions of original French from the manuscripts of the Archives du Nord are essentially those of Monsieur Eric Bourgoin. Where French names have been Latinized or Anglicized, the French form will be used throughout this series, i.e., Magdalena =Madeleine; Jacoba = Jacqueline, etc., except in direct quotations.

Memberships: Groupement Généalogique de la Région du Nord;
American Mensa Ltd.;
Society of Mayflower Descendants;
Baronial Order of MagnaCharta;
Plantagenet Society;
DuBois Family Association.
Sources:
Archives du Nord:
Sale to Anne Cousin, 2E3/7435-99 (1619); agreement of heirs, 2E3/7501-9(1602);
assignment of censes, 2E3/7430-61 (1641); contract of marriageof François du Bois and Jenne le Blon, 2E3/7977-68 (December 5, 1634);
and Attestation Documents, (2E3/7787-27 (1718), 2E3/7787-33 (1718),2E3/7787-34 (1718), 2E3/7787-35 (1718)). Editions: Proverbs 10:7;
I Corinthians 13:12;
Francis De Vos, Vers la Liberté 94,117, 139 (2007);
William Heidgerd, The American Descendants of Chrétien du Bois of Wicres, France vol. 9, p. ii (1974);
Bi-Centenary Reunion ofthe Descendants of Louis and Jacques du Bois: (emigrants to America 1660 and 1675) pp. 29-30 (1876);
1 Sir Edward Coke, The First Part of theInstitutes of the Laws of England § 48.a. (Legal Classics Library 1985);
M. Chassan, Essai Sur la Symbolique du Droit, p. 390 (Paris 1847);
M. deVegiano, Sr de Hovel, Suite du Supplément Nobiliaire des Pays-Bas, et du Comté de Bourgogne pp. 54, 62 (Malines 1779);
Bulletin de la CommissionHistorique du Département du Nord vol. 20, pp. 74, 76 (Lille 1897).
Microfilm (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ("FHL")):
Fiches op de Waalse registers, 1500-1828, Card index of Huguenots in theNetherlands, Belgium, France, Germany and elsewhere. Known as the LeidenCollection, FHL film no. 0199813;
Registers van kerkelijke huwelijks proclamatiën (der Gereformeerden), 1575-1811 ,Huwelijksafkondigingen 1642-1653, FHL film no. 0119016, p. 200(b)).
Französisch-Reformierte Kirche Mannheim, FHL film no. 1192139.
Unpublished Manuscript: Eric Bourgoin, Historical/Explanatory Report"Chrétien du Bois", February 24, 2008, p. 5.
Electronic: Généalogie Doresmieulx: genealogy doresmieulx

P.S. Lately comes news from Saint Germain en Laye, France, that New Paltz Patentees Antoine Crispell and Louis du Bois were related by blood as well as by marriage. Details on the relationship and the ancestry of Antoine Crispell may be seen in the series of articles to be published this summer by Madame Jeannine Duquesne and Monsieur Jean Castelain,eminent French généalogistes and descendants of Chrétien's daughter, Anne. The articles will appear in Nord Généalogie, a publication of Groupement Généalogique de la Région du Nord.To be continued in the December newsletter.