Ambroise Secord

Ambrose Sicard was born in Mornac sur Seudre, Farnce. Mornac is quite close to the major city of La Rochelle.Ambrose and his family were Huguenots. The area around La Rochelle was indeed under Huguenot rule in the late 1500s. The Huguenots were followers of the protestant reformer Calvin and they were very badly persecuted in France. Many of them (like Ambrose) felt forced to flee the country and settle abroad. Ambrose was one of the founders of New Rochelle in New York state.

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1. Ambroise (de Sicar) SECORD* Sr was born in 1631 in Mormac, France. He died about 1712 in New Rochelle. He was Huguenot. Most of the following information about him comes from "Biographical Sketches and Index of Huguenot Settlers of New Rochelle 1687-1776" by Morgan H. Secord.

Amboise de Sicar was a native of La Rochelle, France. He owned a small vineyard which supplemented his income as a "saunier or salt maker. La Rochelle was a city where France's Protestants could practice their religion under the protection of the King and the Edict of Nantes. The revocation of the Edict made La Rochelle a target for anti-Protestant forces. How and when Ambroise and his 5 children left France is not known.

The de Sicars eventually arrived in New York. The eldest son, Amboise de Sicar Jr., was in New York by the fall of 1688 and in New Rochelle by 1692. So many settled in the area immediately north of New York that the settlement took the name of their old home, New Rochelle. A church was built and for the next 50 years records and supposedly services were performed in French. The first entry in the church records is for the marriage of Amboise de Sicar to Jeanne Perron.

Ambroise Secord Sr. died about 1712. He left behind his 5 children. His son Daniel married a Dutch woman by the name of Catherine Woertman and they had several children including Daniel Jr. Daniel Jr. married a woman of Huguenot extraction by the name of Catherine Mabie. They had 12 children including a girl name Marie or Mary.

Mary's great-grandfather was Ambroise Sicard, a salt farmer near La Rochelle, a port on France's Bay of Biscay. A Huguenot, he enjoyed the religious freedom guaranteed to Protestants by the 1598 Edict of Nantes, which ended religious persecution at the time of the Reformation. In 1685, during a period of political instability, Louis XIV revoked the edict in an attempt to unify the country under one religion. Refusing to sign an allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church, some 400,000 Huguenots fled France, Ambroise Sicard among them. He first sought sanctuary, in England; then, under the sponsorship of a London church that considered his family "persons of middle quality," sailed to the New World. By 1689, Ambroise and other Huguenots founded New Rochelle, New York. He appeared on the census that year at age sixty-seven, and pledged allegiance to England. That year, too, England and France went to war.

Briefly lived at the French Church on Threadneedle Street in London before coming to America.

Honored on the Huguenot Memorial at Hudson Park on the shore in New Rochelle, NY.

His will was written in 1701 and is found in the New Rochelle Public Library.

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AMBROISE WAS BORN IN MORNAC, SAINTES,SANTONGE,FRANCE. HE MARRIED JEANNE MARIE PERRON C.1656 C. AT La ROCHELL,AUNIS,FRANCE. IN 1681 AMBROISE AND HIS FAMILY FLED FRANCE TO ENGLAND BECAUSE OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUSTION. IN 1686 HE IMMEGRATED TO N.Y.C. WITH HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN. IN 1690 HE WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. IN 1692 HE BOUGHT 95 ACRES OF LAND. THE NATIONAL HUGUENOT SOCIETY LISTS AMBROISE AS A QUALIFIED HUGUENOT ANCESTER. HE IS ALSO NAMED IN DAR. (DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION) HIS FEMALE DECENDENTS ARE MEMBERS. AMBROISE'S FAMILY HAS BEEN IN FRANCE SINCE THE 14TH CENTURY.

http://www.dcnyhistory.org/bf4s.html Seacord (Sicard), Ambroise

A French Protestant refugee of LaRochelle, France. Fled to England in 1682, and from there to America in 1684. Landed at New Rochelle, NY and on the 9th day of Feb. 1692 bought land of William LaConnte. His will was dated Mar. 28, 1701, and was written in French. He died in May 1701,and left three sons and two daughters, Ambroise, Daniel, James, Mary and Silvia.

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GEDCOM Note

From: "Florence Secor" <may81cs@a-znet.com> Subject: [Secor] TRANSCRIPTION RE SECOR FAMILY FROM HUGUENOT TRAILS Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 08:44:44 -0700

Recently, I requested from the Huguenot Historical Society at New Paltz , New York information on the Sicard/Secord/Secor Family. Today I received in the mail two pages with a cover sheet.

"HUGUENOT TRAILS, Published by The Huguenot society of Canada, Founded 1 966, Vol. XV Number 3, 1982, ISSN-0441-6910"

"Page 8: FAMILY HISTORY - THE SECOR FAMILY:

In 1682 Ambroise Sicard, a Hugenot of Mornac France, fled with his wife a nd six children to England. Some historians claim that Ambroise and his family sailed with other Huguenots from England to one of the islands in t he West Indies before journeying on to New York. After much research there is no trace of his wife or his sixth child.

The Scarborough Secor family descend from Jacques Sicard born 1675 and t he Niagara Secord family descend from Daniel born 1672. Jacques and Daniel were probably born in Mornac where their father Ambroise was a Saun ier (maker of Salt).

Records show that most of Jacques and Anne's children moved across the Hudson River to the area around Tappan in Orange County, a predominately Dutch settlement. We find in the existing documents, that this branch of t he family as a rule, dropped the final "d", while the members of Ambroi se Sicard's family who remained in Westchester County, retained the fin al "d".

According to Morgan Seacord, who was for many years the historian in Ne w Rochelle, Jean Sicar born 1712 was the father of John Secor ca 1730. I t was this John Secor (ca 1730) who married Maria Giraud (Gerow). Maria w as the daughter of Benjamin Giraud and his wife Annatye Kuyper whose marriage is recorded in the Hackensack Dutch Reformed Church records. Mar ia was the granddaughter of Daniel Giraud born ca 1665 in France and died in York.

John Secor and Maria lived in Kakiat, Orange County N.Y. (this area now Rockland County). Their son Isaac was born 11 August 1751 probably at Kakiat N.Y. He died in Scarborough, Ont. Canada 27th of August 1835. Isaac married Mary Simmons (1752-1819). During the Rev. War Isaac and Mary lived in the Haverstraw Precinct of Rockland County. With the exception o f their two youngest children, Rebecca and Joseph, we find the birth da tes and the baptism dates of their other children in the Clarkstown register of the Tappan Dutch Reformed Church. This seems to be proof enough that the family remained in this area during the Rev. War.

While Isaac Secor did not fight in the Rev. War, he was loyal to the Crown and assisted the Loyalists in other ways. In his land petitions he mentions that he suffered many hardships at the hand of the Rebels. Because of his mother's illness and his young helpless family he was forced t o remain.

It was in Haverstraw, on the 21 of September 1780 that Major John Andre had a clandestine meeting with Benedict Arnold. John Andre was the son of a Huguenot who had fled from France to England. He was Deputy Adjutant General to Sir Henry Clinton, Commander of British land forces in America. Andre's ship, anchored in the Hudson, was fired upon forcing him to make his way back to Westchester by land. He was helped along the way with a pass signed by Arnold allowing "John anderson", his code name, to pass American outposts. His uniform was exchanged for other clothing. Late in the afternoon of 22nd of September he started out by horseback with written information hidden in a stocking. By the time Andre reached Tarrytown he was waylayed. Because of the incriminating message he was carrying was arrested. It would be with a heavy heart that Isaac Secor heard of the news of the arrest of Andre. One can't help wondering if Isaac was involved in someway with the plan for An!dre to reach the Loyalists with the message from Benedict Arnold.

Isaac's mother Maria died in 1785. Soon after that he and his family started out on the long trek to Canada. It is possible they stayed in Ballston Falls N.Y. enroute. This was a Loyalist stronghold during the Rev. War. Isaac and Mary's daughter Rebecca was born the 26th of November 1787. It is likely that she was born in Ballston Falls which would account for the family tradition that Isaac and Mary were from Ballston Falls New York.

Isaac Secor entered Canada in 1788 with his wife and five children: Isaac, the younger, Sarah, Joshua, Peter and Rebecca. Another son Joseph was born 22 October 1790. Rebecca and Joseph were baptized by Rev. Robt. McDowell, Hamilton Township.

He was in Kingston before going to Napanee where he built the first stone mill. In 1797 Isaac resided in the Tonship of Marysburg.

By 1804 Isaac Secor and his family had arrived in York. He purchased lot 19 Conc. D in Scarborough where a grist mill was erected. He was located on the West side of the road access and his Son Isaac, the young, on the East side. The Highland Creek flowed through the property. The road access became the Markham Road. His son Peter later ran the mill.

Isaac and Mary's children all married and had families:

Isaac, the younger (1773-1853) married (1) Rachel Ferguson, (2) Ellithear Ferguson. Sarah (1775 - ?) married 91) Isaac Benn, (2) James Jones Joshua (1781 - ?) married Lydia, surname unknown. Peter (1785-1861) married Elizabeth Winslow Rebecca (1787 - ?) married Simmons Mallory Joseph (1790 - 1874) married (1) Ann Stevens, (2) Bridget Ryan

Many of their descendants live in Scarborough. One of the most noteworthy is Clark Secor who at 93 drives his own car, gardens and delivers "meals-on-wheels". Clark's father, Alexander Maitland Secor, died in his 101 year.

The Secor Cairn, overlooking the Secor Memorial Park, stands on what was known as Secor Hill, now Stevenwood Rd. This commemorative cairn is a tribute to a family of principle who helped build the township of Scarborough.

Alma E. Beesley

Research on Secor family - Mrs. D. Milne, Mervyn Milne, Secor Johnson, Alma E. Beesley. Sources of research on file.

Mrs. Alma E. Beesley, in a letter to Mrs. Alma Mills accompanying the history of the SECOR family of Scarborough, made the following comments:

My Secor line is Mary (Polly) Secor the daughter of Isaac Secor, the younger. She was my gr. gr. grandmother. And if there is such a relations hip as a step gr. grandmother she was also a daughter of Isaac, the younger. My gr. grandfather (after his wife died) married his mother-in-law's half sister."

Ambroice was one of the original French Huguenots to settled in New Rochelle, NY, He settled before 2/19/1692. His wife may had been named Maria or Jeanne, who may have died before he came or if they had gone to England first, may had died there. He did come over with 3 sons and 2 daughters, who settled in New Rochelle also. He may had been buried in the Old Town Cemetery or on the Old Sicard property Beside his son listed below, he was the father of Ambroice Jr (Jeanne Perow , Jeannie Peiot), Jacque (Anna Terrier), Mary/Maria (William Landrine) and Sylvia (Franciso Coquilette)

GEDCOM Note

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Ambroise Secord (Sicard) St was in England as of 1682 and in New York as of 1684. He was one of five brothers (French spelling D'Secor or Sicar) who fled persecution of the Huguenots.