David Zielle Uzille

(© 1996, Lorine McGinnis Schulze, OliveTree Genealogy): The French name Uzille was corrupted into Gille. One version of the name was Ziele - which may be a step toward Gille. (The name was also spelled Seely in later years.) It is interesting to note the striking similarity between Uzille (and its alternate spelling, Usile) on the one hand, and the place name Ousille-la-Riviere on the other. The Norman Le Roux were lords of Ousille-la-Riviere. (Abraham La Roux the Immigrant, also a convert to the reformed church, married David's sister Magda. They may have been followers of Louis du Bois, who also came to America in 1660 on the Dutch ship, the Gilded Otter.) Brittany, the home of the Uzilles, is beside Normandy. Perhaps therefore, the name Uzille comes from the place name Ousille.

David Uzille was from Calais but his family came originally from near La Moussaye (south of St. Malo) in lower Brittany. He was a farmer, born about 1635. He married Marie Magdalina, the eldest daughter of Philippe Casier from Calais, before 1659.

The Uzilles and the Casiers went to the Netherlands and took ship on the Gilded Otter, reaching Manhattan in April 1660. Isaac Tayne (Marie Casier's brother) had moved to New Amsterdam before them.

The Uzilles and the Casiers were in New Harlem in 1661. David Uzille eventually moved to Esopus, New York, which is probably where Abraham married Magdalen. The Casiers remained in New Harlem, i.e. - Harlem, New York City. Magdalen's brother Peter Uzille, married Cornelia Damen in 1685 while he was living on Staten Island; later he too, appears to have moved to Esopus.

By 1686, David Uzille had left Harlem for Staten Island.

David Uzille was from Calais but his family came originally from near La Moussaye (south of St. Malo) in lower Brittany. He was a farmer, born about 1635. He married Marie Magdalina, the eldest daughter of Philippe Casier from Calais, before 1659. David Usilie, as he was recorded, emigrated from Calais on the ship the Gilded Otter in 1660 with a nursing child, presumably Pieter Uziele from Mannheim who married in 1686 in the Dutch Reformed Church of NYC. The family lived in Dutch neighbourhoods and attended Dutch churches of Brooklyn, Albany, Kingston, Schoharie, etc. Pieter signed with what he considered the Dutch form of his name: Uzielle. Wills of the Schoharie group show the further change in name from Useely [1746/47], Uziellie [1795], Zielie[1808] and Seeley in 1862. Thus, the Seeley family of upstate New York has a misleading English connotation as they actually descend from the French immigrant David Usilie. David and Marie Uzille's son, Pierre aka Peter, was born in Mannheim in 1660. At about that time, the Protestants in Mannheim became afraid that the Catholic Duke of Lorraine was preparing to invade their land. This may be why the Uzilles and the Casiers went to the Netherlands and took ship on the Gilded Otter, reaching Manhattan in April 1660. Isaac Tayne (Marie Casier's brother) had moved to New Amsterdam before them. Also on board the Gilded Otter was a man named Jacob Leisler - later to become famous as the leader of Leisler's Rebellion. The Uzilles and the Casiers were in New Harlem in 1661. This means that David and Marie's daughter, Magdalen, was almost certainly born there, since she was baptized in 1662. Magdalen was the first wife of Abraham La Roux the Immigrant. David Uzille eventually moved to Esopus, New York, which is probably where Abraham married Magdalen. The Casiers remained in New Harlem, i.e. Harlem, New York City. North of La Rochelle lies Bretagne or Brittany. Its peninsulas jut into the Atlantic Ocean with forests, heaths, valleys, Druid ruins and ancient castles. In Lower Brittany are those people speaking a variant of the old Celtic language. Brittany was conquered by the Norman dukes and later became an affluent Duchy. Here, Charles of Blois fought with the house of Montfort but it was finally taken by the Crown. One Breton name found here is Glaude Le Maistre [Delameter] whose ancestors were lords of Garlaye in the diocese of Nantes. Near La Moussaye, was the original seat of the family of David Uzille. The Reformed Church at Nantes and La Moussaye was supported by the Le Maistres and Uzilles. In Henry G. Bayer's The Belgians, First Settlers in New York and in the Middle States (New York: Devlin-Adair, 1925): "A little colony of Walloons, flying before the troops of the Duke of Alva, had come to settle within the territory of the Palatinate, at Frankenthal, near Mannheim, its capital, where we find many families that later moved to New Netherland: David de Marest, Frederic de Vaux, Abraham Hasbroucq, Chretien Duyou, Methese or Matthew Blanchan, Thonnet Terrin, Pierre Parmentier, Antoine Crispel, David Usilie, Philippe Casier, Bourgeon Broucard, Simon Le Febre, Juste Durie, and others." North of La Rochelle lies Bretagne or Brittany. Its peninsulas jut into the Atlantic Ocean with forests, heaths, valleys, Druid ruins and ancient castles. In Lower Brittany are those people speaking a variant of the old Celtic language. Brittany was conquered by the Norman dukes and later became an affluent Duchy. Here, Charles of Blois fought with the house of Montfort but it was finally taken by the Crown. One Breton name found here is Glaude Le Maistre [Delameter] whose ancestors were lords of Garlaye in the diocese of Nantes. Near La Moussaye, was the original seat of the family of David Uzille. The Reformed Church at Nantes and La Moussaye was supported by the Le Maistres and Uzilles.