Thomas Billiou

Not a known child of Nicolas René Hébert

There is no evidence that Nicolas René Hébert is Thomas's father or that they ever even met. Same for Jacqueline-Marie Pageau / Pajot. I would love to see some documentation on this.

Disputed Origins

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bailliou-1

Since at least 1962 misinformation about this family has propogated. There is no primary evidence that Thomas' familiy were Huguenots. All record of them in Leiden suggest that they were English. See Research Notes.

This profile represents the father of Abigail (Baillou) Dunham. For the father of Pierre Billiou, see Jeacq Billiou.

Biography

Thomas' origin is unknown, though he may have been an Englishman. His daughters Anneken and Abigail were born in England, and son Thomas was born in Hertfordshire. They were not members of the Walloon church in Leiden.

The name of his wife is unknown,[Research Notes] but they had:

• Anneken, b. England, m. Nathaniel Walker in 1624[1]
• Abigail, b. England, m. John Dunham in 1622[2]
• Thomas, b. abt. 1605 in "Herforschier", England[3] (aged 26 in 1631)[4]
• Mary? (possibly identical with "Hatil" and "Meijnego"), b. Leiden, poss. m. "Steven Fastaer" in 1629[Research Notes]

At some point after 1607 they moved to Leiden, Netherlands.

A record for the burial of the "huisvrouw van Thomas Baljou opte Langebrugge" was recorded on 1 July 1621 at Saint Pieterskerke.[5]

Thomas Bailje was enumerated in the Wolhuis district in Leiden on 15 October 1622 with three of his children: "Anneken", "Abigeal", and "Hatil".[6]

On 22 August 1622 his daughter Abigail was married to John Dunham, and both Thomas and his other daughter Anna (presumably identical to Anneken) were witnesses.[2]

Two years later, on 15 June 1624, Anneken was married to Nathannel Walker, and Thomas Bailliuw and "Abigel Donham" were witnesses.[1]

On 20 December 1629, his son Thomas testified in Amsterdam that he had three sisters. Anneken was married to Nathaniel "Waecker" and lived in Leiden, Abigail who had "nae de Virgines" (gone to America),[7] and Meijnego, who was the youngest and still living with her father.[3] Thomas (senior) was not named, but the identity of Anneken and Nathaniel in Leiden, and Abigail in America is quite convincing.

A Thomas and Marij "Billjou" were sponsors at the baptism of Nathaneel, Philp, and Elisabet, the children of "Nathaneel Wacker" and "Annekge Walcher" (who were Brownists) at Leiderdorp in 1636.[8] On 9 July 1639, "Marij Beljou", who was born in Leiden, was married to "Steven Fastaer", an Englishman. Marij's father Thomas Beljou was a witness.[9]

Research notes

Thomas has been claimed to have been from La Bassée or Wicres in "French Flanders", and that he was the father of both Abigail (went to Plymouth c. 1629) and Pierre/Peter Billiou (went to New York 1661).

Pierre's father, as clearly stated in his marriage, was Jeacq.

About 1632 another(?) Thomas Bayllij* appears in the Leiden records who had a brother named Samuel.

Huguenot?

The earliest reference currently located for a French origin for Abigail's family was in the "Workman Family History" (1962). It asserts without argument that Abigail Balliou and Pierre Billiou were siblings. The author also asserts that Abigail's mother was named Aime and that her father Thomas was "of LaBassee, or Wicres, in 'French Flanders'".[10]

The author presumably conflated them as siblings because of their similar surname, that they were both in Leiden, and that both went to North America (though Pierre went to New Netherland in 1661).

Pierre was a French Huguenot. He was married at the Walloon church in Leiden, and at that time his birth location was given as Rijsel (now Lille, France). His marriage record clearly states his father's name as Jeacq, who was a witness to the marriage.[11] Wicres is about 15km southwest of Lille, and La Bassée 5km southwest of Wicres. Wicres is the alleged birth place of Pierre's father-in-law Chrétien du Bois. It's possible that this information was somehow distorted and applied to Thomas Balliou as well.

Abigail and her sister's marriage were both civil ceremonies. Abigail's known family does not appear in the Walloon church records.

There is currently no information to support the idea that Abigail and Pierre were related. There were in fact other families with names similiar to "Baillou" (and its many variations) in Leiden during this time. An Erfgoed Leiden search for "ba*l*u" as a surname comes up with 232 hits between 1590 and 1690. And other variants exist, ending with "w" or "e", or starting instead with "Bi" for instance.

Last Names

The various ways Thomas' surname name has been recorded in primary sources (either him or his family):

1621 Thomas' wife burial: Baljou[5]
1622 Hoofdgeld: Bailje (the family)[6]
1622 Abigail's marriage: Ballou (him)[2]
1622 Abigail's marriage: Balliou (his daughters)[2]
1624 Anneken's marriage: Bailliuw (him and Anneken)[1]
1629 Thomas' (junior) confession: Bailliu[3]
1636 Leidendorp baptisms: Billjou[8]
1639 Mary's marriage: Beljou[9]

Previous Publications

In Dexter's "The England and Holland of the Pilgrims" (1905), Abigail's maiden name is stated to be "Barlow" and "Balliou" is not mentioned at all, though the date and place of their marriage is. No primary source is mentioned, though evidently the author had seen both Abigail's marriage record and John Dunham's 1622 enumeration.[12]

Dunham's "Dunham Genealogy" (1907) contains "several serious errors and some statements that are absolutely impossible",[13] however it's worth mentioning if only to dismiss its information. He calls John Dunham's wife "Abigail Wood", and makes the false statement that they were married on 17 October 1619 in Leiden.[14]

In part 5 of Monnette's "First settlers of ye plantations of Piscataway and Woodbridge, olde East New Jersey" (1933), he notes that "her name was not ABIGAIL BARLOW, any more than it was ABIGAIL WOOD; but it was BAILLIOU". He further states:[15]

The repeated error of BARLOW for BALLIOU must be corrected forever, DEXTER (HOLLAND, and the PILGRIMS, p. 612), tried very hard to Anglicize French names in his excellent work, without even a fundamental knowledge of French of French surnames. By no stretch of the imagination could BAILLOU be transferred to BARLOW.

Anderson's "The Great Migration Begins", cites Bangs[16] and uses the name Barlow.[17]

Mary

In the 1622 Hoofdgeld, Thomas' youngest daughter was "Hatil". In 1629 Thomas' (junior) youngest sister was "Meijnego", who was stated to be still living with her father. They both may have been a pet form of "Mary", as a "Marij Beljou", born in Leiden and daughter of a Thomas Beljou, was married in 1639 to "Steven Fastaer", an Englishman. "Brechgen Robberts", the widow of the Rev. John Robinson was a witness to this marriage.[9] A Thomas and Marij "Billjou" were sponsors at the baptism of Nathaneel, Philp, and Elisabet, the children of "Nathaneel Wacker" and "Annekge Walcher" (who were stated to be Brownists) at Leiderdorp in 1636. No other record of either the "Wackers" or "Billjou" families are at Leiderdorp.[8]

Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Erfgoed Leiden: "Ondertrouwboek en trouwboek voor schepenen van Leiden, juli 1611 - april 1633", fol. 160. Archiefnummer 1004, inventarisnummer 198, blad B, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzich... (accessed 14 April 2023). (index).
2. Erfgoed Leiden Index: Schepenbank Leiden, marriage record, Nathanael Walker and Anneken Bailliuw (15 June 1624); “Zoek op personen,” index and images, Erfgoed Leiden (https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/ : accessed 26 July 2019).
3. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Erfgoed Leiden: "Ondertrouwboek en trouwboek voor schepenen van Leiden, juli 1611 - april 1633", fol. 137v. Archiefnummer 1004, inventarisnummer 198, blad B, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzich... (accessed 14 April 2023).
4. Erfgoed Leiden Index: Schepenbank Leiden, marriage record, Jan Danham and Abigail Balliou (22 October 1622); “Zoek op personen,” index and images, Erfgoed Leiden (https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/ : accessed 26 July 2019).
5. FamilySearch: Netherlands, Zuid-Holland Province, Church Records, 1076-1916," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-31135-20455-60?cc=203... : accessed 21 March 2016), Alle Gezindten > Leiden > Trouwen 1592-1646 > image 317 of 704; Rijksarchiefdienst Nederlands, Zuid-Holland (Netherlands National Archives, Zuid-Holland).
6. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "[Amsterdam] Confessieboek 1628-1631", fols. 133, 133v. Archiefnummer 5061, inventarisnummer 298, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief. Digital images. https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/scans/5061/1.17.30/start/13... (accessed 14 April 2023).
7. ↑ "[Amsterdam] Confessieboek 1628-1631", fols. 257v, 258. Archiefnummer 5061, inventarisnummer 298, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzich... (accessed 14 April 2023).
8. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Register van begravenen te Leiden, 1617 september 14-1624 juni 1. 1617-1624", fol. 141. Archiefnummer 0501A, inventarisnummer 1316, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzich... (accessed 14 April 2023).
9. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "[Leiden] Hoofdgeld van 1622", Wolhuis fol. 27v. Archiefnummer 0501A, I.B.2.7.1.5.2, inventarisnummer 4021, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzich... (accessed 14 April 2023).
10. ↑ A. Eekhof, Bastiaen Jansz. Krol : krankenbezoeker, kommies en kommandeur van Nieuw-Nederland (1595-1645) ('s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1910), p. 21 "Van hem wordt gezegd dat hij vóór 4 of 5 jaren 'nae de Virginees' is gegaan. 'De Virginees', ook wel 'de Virgines', is in dezen tijd een andere naam voor Nieuw-Nederland".
11. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Register van dopen (doopboek), trouwen (trouwboek) en lidmaten (NH) van Leiderdorp, 1619 - 1641", fol. 100v. Archiefnummer 0800, inventarisnummer 1473, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzich... (accessed 14 April 2023).
12. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Ondertrouwboek en trouwboek voor schepenen van Leiden, juli 1633 - juli 1646", fol. 109. Archiefnummer 1004, inventarisnummer 199, blad C, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzich... (accessed 14 April 2023).
13. ↑ Anderson, Thelma C., Workman Family History (Salt Lake City, Utah: 1962), pp. 42-43.
14. ↑ "Kerkelijk ondertrouwboek (NH) van Leiden, juli 1647 - juni 1653.", fol. 97v. Archiefnummer 1004, inventarisnummer 14, blad B, Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken. Digital images. https://www.erfgoedleiden.nl/collecties/archieven/archievenoverzich... (accessed 14 April 2023). (index).
15. ↑ Dexter, Henry M. The England and Holland of the Pilgrims, (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1905), p. 612.
16. ↑ Barclay, Mrs. John E., Notes on The Dunham Family of Plymouth, Mass., The American Genealogist (1954) Vol. 30, p. 143.
17. ↑ Dunham, Isaac Watson. Deacon John Dunham of Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1589-1669, and His Descendants (Norwich, Conn.: Bulletin Print, 1907), p. 5.
18. ↑ Monnette, Orra Eugene First settlers of ye plantations of Piscataway and Woodbridge, olde East New Jersey, Part Five (Los Angeles, California: The Leroy Carman Press, 1933), p. 788-789, entries for BAILLOU and BARLOW.
19. ↑ The Pilgrims in The Netherlands, Recent Research, Papers Presented at a Symposium held by The Leiden Pilgrim Documents Center and The Sir Thomas Browne Institute, ed. Jeremy D. Bangs (Leiden, The Netherlands, 1984).
20. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England Volume I, A-F. (Boston: NEHGS, 1995): p. 599 - 603 "John Dunham".