Poncet Stelle, Sieur des Laurier

Sieur des Lorieres-Lord or chief at the castle near Lorieres, France. Lorieres(Lauriere), France is at current area of Poitiers(ancient name of Poitou), France which is between Paris and Limoges, France. Lauriere is NE of Limoges, Fr. This is in the Poitou-Charentes region. This was a stronghold for the French Huguenots rebelling against the "King's religion". He came to Staten Island (Richmond County) then to New York in 1680. Before 1680, he fled to Holland. He then went to St. Christopher, on the Isle-of-del Re' in the French Antilles. The Ile-de Re' is off the West coast of France across water from the town of La Rochelle, France. There is also a town on the Ile-de-Re' named St. Martin which probably ties into Eugenia (Poncet's wife) le Gereau. This island was also a stronghold of the French Hugunots. Poncet came to Staten Island Richmond Co. in 1680 and then to New York City. Licensed for a tavern in Shrewsbury N.J. in 1693. Ponset Toile = Poncet Stelle. Toile is star in French. Stella is star in Italian or Latin. This was the Anglicizing of the word for star.

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http://genforum.com/cgi-bin/print.cgi?stell::288.html

Poncet Stelle, born Bef. 1635 in France; died Abt. 1735.

He married Eugenia Le Gereau.

Eugenia Le Gereau, born 1660 in France.

It is said that Pontus or Poncet Stelle FIRST SETTLED IN STATEN ISLAND and about 1680 went to New York and from thence to Monmouth.

His children were:

• Benjamin, born 1683, died 1759;
• Gabriel, born 1685, died 1738;
• Ambrose, born 1687;
• John, 1689;
• Isaac, 1690;
• Eugene, 1692;
• Benjamin settled at Piscataway and became a noted Baptist minister, ordained 1739.

The will of Gabriel Stelle was dated March 24. 1734-5, and proved Dec. 23, 1738; it named wife Margaret, sons Thomas Gordon Stelle, Pontus Stelle and Isaac Stelle, and daughters, Elizabeth and Catharine. Executors, wife, Margaret, son Pontus and son Thomas Billop

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I. Poncet Stelle, Sieur Des Lorieres, b. ca. 1650 at Lorieres, France, d. ca. 1735.

Wife Eugenia Legereau.

STELLES.

To conclude the worthy list of those who through faith, experienced trials, endured persecutions and overcame all ooposition for the truth sake, let grateful mention be made of such as bear the name of Stelle.

The progenitor of the Stelles in the United States was a Frenchman named Poncet Stelle (known among his descendants in America as Pontius Stelle). He was born about 1650, and was living at the time of his emigration to this country, about 1665, in the south-western part of France. His wife's name was Eugenie Legereau, a christian woman of earnest faith and devoted piety. Both were Protestants of the "reformed religion" designated in history since the Reformation of the 16th Century as "Huguenots" a name signifying decided and faithful adherence to Scriptural injunction — hence Bible christians, the recital of whose terrible struggles and sufferings for their religious belief, forms one of the most thrilling chapters in modern history.

From the records of the French Protestant Church in New York, of which he was a member, it is learned that Poncet Stelle came from Lorieres, France. A town of the same name at the present time is near the manufacturing city of Limoge. The locality is southerly from Poitiers, which was one of the strongest citadels of Hugue not faith, and in a region almost entirely occupied by devout christians of the Protestant religion just before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Disciples of the Reformation rapidly multiplied throughout the whole kingdom of France, but especially in the provinces situated between the rivers Loire and Garonne the doctrines of the new religion found ardent advocates in great numbers.

Poncet Stelle came from one of these provinces where the Reformers' followers were numerous. It was because the population of this portion of France was largely Protestant that the Papal authorities inflicted such direful persecution, and enforced such Satanic schemes for their extermination or their acceptance of the doctrines of the Romish Church.

Among the Protestant exiles from France, by way of Holland, to settle in the vicinity of Hudson River was the founder of this family in America. It is a traditional statement that Poncet Stelle was one of the early French settlers on Staten Island, afterward removing to New York About 1660 a colony of Huguenots had located on the south-east side of Staten Island and were ministered to occasionally by the pastor of the French Protestant Church in the present City of New York.

About the time that several Huguenot families removed from Staten Island and settled in the Hackensack Valley in 167_, others of their co-religionists moved to New York City, and among them "Sieur Poncet Stelle des Lorieres" as he is best known in public print. He was the sole progenitor of this family name in the United States, unless others of his same lineage emigrated to this country under a different name.

For example his sister Catherine was known by the name of the town she came from in France, viz : Catherine de Loriere, though she signed herself Catherine Stelle. In the list of Baptisms performed during the early days of this French Church in New York City are the names of the children of Poncet Stelle, all of whom were born after 1680 and not later than 1695 : Benjamin, born, 1683 ; Gabriel, born 1685 ; Ambrose, born 1687 ; Madelaine, born 1689 ; Isaac, born 1690 ; John, born 1693, and possibly Eugene the last.

It would be interesting to trace the outline of Gabriel Stelle who became a large landholder in Monmouth County and a very wealthy man. He was a prominent member of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, of Amboy, in which ciiy he died 1738, leaving a valuable estate to his wife Margaret.

No less interesting would it be to refer to the other Monmouth families of Ambiose, Isaac and John Stelle, all of whom were valuable citizens of that same rich county in the early days preceding the Revolution. But the Baptist denomination is indebted solely to Benjamin Stelle the oldest son and the founder of the Piscataway family, for the many steadfast christian examples of generations past and present bearing the Stelle name

Benjamin Stelle was born in New York, A. D., 1683, and settled among the Piscataway people in early life just after colonial affairs were transferred to the Crown.

By his marriage in 1708 to a member of one of the pioneer families of the Baptist Church (Mercy Drake it is supposed) the following six named children were born :

• -- Susannah, who became the wife of Joseph Hull.
• --Betsey, who died young.
• -- Benjamin, who married Hannah Dunn, 1739, the year his father assumed the pastorate of this church — and had four sons and four daughters. Asher, who married Mary Drake. Isaac, whose wife was Margaret Manning. Benjamin, who did not marry, Samuel, who married Elizabeth Bishop, and the daughters were Mary, who became Andrew Manning's wife ; Mercy, who married Ephraim Piatt : Elizabeth, who married Joseph Stelle, and Rachel whose husbands were Ephraim F. Randolph and afterwards Samuel F. Randolph.
• -- John, the second son of Rev. Benjamin Stelle, married Rachel Thompson and was a mariner. Their children were Charity, Experience, Thompson, Lewis and Phoebe.
• -- Isaac was the youngest son of Rev. Benjamin Stelle, who succeeded his father in the pastorate of the church, 1759. He married Christiana Clarkson and had seven sons and two daughters, Benjamin, Ambrose, John, Abel, Joseph, Oliver, Samuel; Mary and Mercy.
• -- Rachel, the youngest child of Rev. Benjamin Stelle, married in 1734 Ephraim F. Randolph and had two sons and four daughters.

These children of Rev. Benjamin Stelle, with the offspring God gave them, have always been among the chief supporters of the Baptist Church in Piscataway and in many other communities where their lot has been cast.

To enumerate the many excellent virtues and christian graces which have characterized this family for two hundred years and more, would require another day's celebration. Such an event as the gathering of all the living who are the children and heirs of the distinguished Poncet Stelle would afford a suitable opportunity to consider the deeds of many generations, and record the wonderful experiences which link the present with the past.

-- "History of the First Baptist Church of Piscataway : with an account of its bi-centennial celebration, June 20th, 1889, and sketches of pioneer progenitors of Piscataway planters"

http://www.archive.org/stream/historyoffirstba00drak/historyoffirst...

French Huguenot