Huguenots in Cornwall ??

[Billie Mendav]

Is anyone out there researching Huguenot families in Cornwall?    I have 4 surnames from early 18th century which could be Huguenot - Lilley, Francis, Jullian and Bohenna, although I've been assured that the latter is an old Cornish name.

Persistent story in my family that we descend from Huguenots in Cornwall.   Since the males are all Menhennet going way back, I feel the Huguenots must be on the female side.

Would appreciate any assistance,

Billie Mendav

[Emjaybee]

Did you see Julia Swahala on TV. She found Huegonots in her mothers's line.

It was said that the Huegonots centered on the East End of London when they first arrived in Uk. They were mainly silk weavers and worked in attics or lofts above their homes. The machine silk weaving put them out of work and many just starved to death. The Huegonots took on many other trades and moved off into other areas looking for employment.

[Billie Mendav]

Thanks, yes I did see the programme and it was fascinating.   It's what prompted me to try this site again.    They didn't give a lot of detail about how the professional genealogist found out some of the information.     Trade secrets I suppose!    But it did make me realise that if I can find an occupation for some of these 1700 era ancestors, that might point me in a direction.

I do know that when the Huguenots first arrived in England they had suffered so much that they were happy to immediately assimilate with the native population, and very quickly took on English names and habits.    They also hugely boosted the local economies of the areas in which they settled.

Thanks for your reply, I appreciate any help,

Billie Mendav

[yn9man]

Billie -

I am researching the surname Jory / Jorey / Jorry / Jorre from Truro, Cornwall.  I have been told they were Huguenots. They were living in Cornwall in the late 1700s to the mid to late 1800s when the family moved to the United States.

Don't know much more than that though.

yn9man

[jenvin]

Like someone else here, I have also been told since a child, that we go back to the french fleeing persercution. The timing seems to infer the Huguenots. Only trouble is that I can get back to 1660's, but can't find anything going back further. The name is Addicott, later to become Addicoat.
Does anyone have any info on this family before the 1660's?
thanks

Jen

[Cadoret]

Hi,

I also have Huguenot ancestors, from up to 5 branches of my paternal side, all from the east end of London. I've started compiling a list of Huguenot surnames - from 2 different sources so far.

Billie; just had a quick look, and although this obviously isn't definitive, I can't find anything for Lilley or Bohenna -  didn't just do a lookup, I had a look through all the Ls & Bs; my ancestors' name Debuse started out as De Boos!

I did however find Francis/Francois & Julien; it seems both family names came over during the 3rd wave of migration & were "Naturalized by Letters Patent". I haven't researched this era as my families seem to have come over during the 2nd & possibly 1st wave.

yn9man; I didn't find Jory / Jorey / Jorry / Jorre, but I did find Joret; they came over during the 1st wave, i.e. before the reign of Louis XIV., of France. (1643). So they would have had plenty of time to get down to Cornwall & for the name to get modified over the years.

jenvin; I had a quick look for Addicott/Addicoat, plus a look in the Hs (for things like H'addicott) with no luck. I also had a look in the "IGI Batch Numbers for London (including Middlesex)" at freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com. Nothing found in the listing for the French Huguenot church (1600-1698) in Threadneedle Street - as far as I know this was the first Huguenot church in London.

And Billie, I hadn't heard that about assimilating quickly - perhaps that was more common for those who ended up outside London. As far as I can tell, the London immigrants kept their traditions, food & drink & way of life and even their language for quite some time, mainly in Spitalfields and Bethnal Green. I would guess that as they became more prosperous they gradually assimilated & moved out of the 'French' areas, much like the afro-Caribbean & Asian immigrants last(!) century...

And the bit about silk weaving is right -  one of my branches were originally part of Huguenot 'society' & quite well off, bringing over their knowledge of the brocade trade, but as far as I can see fell on hard times. All the silk weavers disappeared, mainly being replaced by work associated with the London docks.

Hope the above is useful,

Graeme

[yn9man]

Cadoret -

Many thanks for looking up the Surname Jory and various spelling options. I will look further into the surname Joret.  I believe the name has changed several times throughout the years.   

Again thanks for taking time to respond to my request.

yn9man

[Welsh Jules]

Looking at your surnames I have an ancestor Joshua Bonhomme/Bonhome who was rector of Calstock at the end of the 1600s. I have traced him back to Jersey, where he's listed as Josue Bohomme, and found his grandfather Guillaume Bonhomme who was a Huguenot rector in St Helier in the 1500s. He arrived in Jersey after escaping persecution in Normandy (he was the rector at a place called Val de Sere which I'm still trying to trace).

Joshua ended up in Cornwall after first serving in Jersey then Leicester (where he was made "chaplain in ordinary" to the king) and it appears that his posting in Cornwall was rather a political one, with in those days Plymouth being Protestant, but the majority of Cornwall still remaining loyal to the Catholic Church.

[Billie Mendav]

Thank you for your reply.    My Cornish ancestors were Wesleyan Methodists, but of course they would all have been Roman Catholic at one stage.

Interesting story, and my congratulations at having got so far back.

I think if the Julian family were Huguenots, they must have first landed further east in England and then migrated westwards.    The story I was told was that they were lace weavers.   Also I was told that their provenance was the west coast of France, either Brittany or Normandy.

I'd really love to solve this one, but I realise my chances are quite slim.