Brick Wall: Gabriel Trant l690's

[Marmalady]

Gabriel Trant appears out of nowhere in the wilds of Westmorland in the late 1690's

Earliest I can find him is on his marriage to Maria Withers at Beetham, Westmorland August 1698.
They have 5 sons between 1699 and 1705, when Gabriel dies and is buried at Lowther

Sometime soon after his marriage he is appointed Schoolmaster of Lowther School and also as Rector of Lowther, and curate to many other villages around.

I have found a reference to one such appointment, where he is described as:
"Mr. Gab. Trant (a Frenchman, and one of ye Masters at ye new
School of Lowther) instituted into both ; [i.e., Beaumont and Kirk-
andrews].* "

At that time (1703) would a "Frenchman" be used accurately to mean someone from France or in a more general way just meaning a foreigner -- or even someone from elsewhere in England?

Trant is not a common name in England.
There is a large well documented family in Ireland --but i have not been able to find a Gabriel amongst them

In 1706 an Isaac Trant is listed as a ratepayer in Broad St London

In 1694 a Henry Trant of Middlesex names his father, 2 brothers, 4 sisters and some Trant cousins in his will - but again no Gabriel. I suspect Henry is related to the Irish families.

In 1692 a Gabriel Trente is named as the grooms's father on a marriage in France between Jean Jacques Trente ans Ann Salagnac

Can anyone help find where he came from ?

[John Falvey]

There are various Trants living in La Rochelle. The snippet below is the baptism of Richard Trant on 1st August 1655. When do you think Gabriel was born?

[Marmalady]

That is very interesting!

I still have no idea when he was born -- to have married in 1698, I would say the latest he could have been born would be 1680.
But I would think he was born earlier than this.

I have a another reference which refers to him as "a Frenchman and one-time Catholic priest".
So to give him time to have trained and given up the priesthood -- as well as finding his way to a remote part of England -- he could easily have been born in the 1660's.

The name Richard is promising -- his first son (bn 1699) was named Richard. This Richard ended up in Barbados along with some of his mothers relatives. At the time there were also other Trant families in Barbados, but I have not been able to establish a connection between them.

Do you have any other information on the Trant families of La Rochelle?

[John Falvey]

I haven't seen many records indexed, that baptism wasn't. It comes from the archives at http://www.archinoe.net/v2/ad17/registre.html Look up the parish of St Jean du Perot in La Rochelle.

There's a few records indexed at https://en.geneanet.org/archives/releves/search_etat_civil.php?search=trant&clef=dep_8f&ref=frapchf17larochel&place=La+Rochelle&sens=liste

1635 29th July Helen Rice of Dingle (parents Richard Rice & Helen Trant of Dingle) gets married
1654 13th January Richard Trant married Elisabeth Bailly
1701 30th October Mary Rice daughter of Roland Rice and Helen Trant gets married
1710 25th November Thomas son of Gerard Trant and Mary Nagle from “Portrane” in Ireland is marrying Suzanne Ropre (Roper?) widow of Laurent Borne.

And elsewhere there is
1736 February Elisabeth Trant buried - https://en.geneanet.org/archives/releves/depgn6182/3691

Richard may be the Dingle man named in the list of "Papists in Corcaguiny" as "resident in France those 18 years" in March 1654 - https://archive.org/details/irishlandedgentr00ohar/page/286

[Marmalady]

So the La Rochelle Trants have Irish connections.

Looks like I need to delve into the Irish Trants further!

Many thanks for this info -- possibly a few pebbles crumbling from the brick wall