Laurent Flournoy

Laurent Flournoy was a French Huguenot and he fled from Champagne to Geneva, Switzerland after the Duke of Guise led the protestant massacre at Vassey in 1562.

The Flournoy ancestral estate was located in the District of Harte-Marne, in the Province of Champagne in the area of Attencourt.

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Laurent Flournoy was the only protestant child in his family in the town of Flornoy, in Champagne region of France, the family's ancestral home. He escaped a massacre in 1562 by the Duke of Guise at Vassy. He later escaped the more famouse St. Bartholomew massacre in 1572 and emigrated to Geneva, SUI. where his descendants became goldsmiths. Prior to 1562 Larent had come into possession of considerable poperty in Fornoy vicinity including a messuage in Alcourt, from which ancient arms of Flornoywere later removed. He became a Protestant and in 1562 removed to Lyon; thence in 1572 to Geneva ,where,probably on the proceeds of sale from his Champagne properties, he founded the wealthy and prosperous House of Goldsmiths, Merchant Jewelers, which was carried on by his decendants for over 150 years. His land were in the four jurisdictions of Atlancourt, Magneux, Bronzeval and Flornoy, each about a league from the other. Several generations of the Flournoy/ Flornoy family were represented in the Assembly or Conuncil of the City-Republic of Geneva. Lareant had 2 children Gedeon 1567 and Jean 1574

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Added by Marvin Loyd Welborn, 11th Great Grandson, 02 May 2018.

Notes fm Beryl Wooldridge--I've quoted her. Furthermore, I've found some discrepancies with her memoranda and a file transferred to me fm AOL in April 1995. The Genealogy of the Flournoy (Flournois - Fleurnoir) Family in America. Laurent Flournoy left Champagne on the occasion of the Massacre at Vassay in 1562. -He went to Geneva [Switzerland] at the time of the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew in 1572. Jean Flournoy married Frances Mussard. Jean and Frances were parents of son, Jacque Flournoy, born 1608. Jacque married Judith Puerari. Jacque and Judith were the parents of Jacob Flournoy, born January 5th, 1663.

Jacob Flournoy married three times.
He had two daughters by this first marriage: (1) Mary, whom he brought from Geneva; died in London a month or six weeks before they [the family] embarked for Virginia. (2) Magdaline, who married first in Holland, 1699. Her husband (nr.1) Sir Antoine Trobue (Strabs) was a Huguenot Nobleman, who came to Manakin Town, VA. Husband Nr. 2: was Pierre Chastain.

Magdaline's children by her marriage to Sir Antoine Trobue as named in her will of 1731, are as follows: (1) Anthony Trobue Born 1702 Died 1744 Married Magdaline Verrvel. (2) Jacob Trobue Born 1705 Married Mary Wooldridge, daughter of John and Martha Wooldridge. (3) Judith Trobue Born 1712 Married A. Pittman. (4) Magdaline Trobue Born 1715 Married 1732 Pierre Guerrant, son of Daniel Guerrant, a Huguenot emigrant. (5) John James Married Olympia Dupuy. Jacob Flournoy married a second time, and went to Manakin Town, Virginia in 1700. He traveled from Holland to Boston aboard the ship, "Peter and Anthony."

-His letter to a brother indicated his family, then consisted of his second wife, two sons, and a daughter as follows: [She lists 3 children]
(1) Frances Flournoy (2) Jacque (James) Flournoy, born in Berlin, died 1717. (3) Jane Frances Flournoy, married Robert Ashurst.

Jane Frances and Robert has one son, Jacob Ashurst. Frances Flournoy married Mary Baugh. Frances Flournoy and Mary Baugh had the following nine children: (1) Mary Flournoy, married Edward Wooldridge, 1740. [Edward] son of John and Martha Wooldridge. (2) Jane Flournoy. (3) Jacob Flournoy. (4) Frances Flournoy. (5) James Flournoy. (6) Sarah Flournoy, married William Wooldridge, son of John and Martha (Osborne) Wooldridge. (7) Martha Flournoy. (8) Gibson Flournoy. (9) William Flournoy.

Jacob Flournoy's second wife died in Virginia [I did not catch her name?].

Jacob married the third time, December 9, 1703. His third wife was a Hollander, born in the Hague. Her name was Madeline Prodham [a misspelling]. She was the widow of Maise Verevil, [more MS] a French merchant of Roven. Her father was the Caenton of Berne, France. [Perhaps Switzerland?] Her grand father was Minister of Lausanns. [MS] See next page for marriage and children of Edward Wooldridge and Mary Flournoy. [Text copied per Beryl Wooldridge's memoranda. Misspellings and discrepancies intact. MLW]

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Event Memos from GEDCOM Import...

Anecdote
The following is excerpted from the book, "Some Of The Ancestors Of Francis Flournoy Sr. Of Chesterfield County, Virginia," by Bettye S. Rathbone:
Family tradition says that Laurent left his homeland and abandoned his lands in 1562 at the time of the Massacre of Vassy when the Duke of Guise's men attacked a group of protestants who were holding a worship service in a barn near the village. The lands he abandoned were said to lie between Attancourt, Magneux, Brouzeval and Flournoy.

Proceeding first to Lyon, he remained there for several years before finally settling in Geneva after the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 24 August 1572. He was received HG (Inhabitant of Geneva) on 22 September 1572, being listed as a mercer, or haberdasher, from Vassy and an inhabitant of Lyon. Yllaire Gazan and Estienne Dage vouched for him. They also vouched for Francois Chouan, mercer, of Toulouse, and for Jean Morel, of Castres in Albigeois, the same day.

Another family tradition says that on his arrival in Geneva, Providence caused him to meet one of his debtors who forthwith paid his debt. With the money received, Laurent bought a great loaf of bread which he carried under his cloak to his family who received it with great joy, provisions being then at very high prices.

Sometime after settling in Geneva, Laurent became a merchant jeweler. His death record speaks of him as a lapidary, and he was called "Syer" (Sieur, Mister). He is listed among the goldsmiths and jewelers of the 16th century Geneva [ Bettye S. Rathbone cites Waldemar Deonna, "Les Arts a Geneve des Origines a la Fin du XVIII Siecle," (Geneve, 1942), p. 436. ] and was residing in the Rue des Orfevres when he died. His will was made 2 Jan 1591 before Jean Jovenon, and was witnessed by Anthoine Fyrminn, Estienne Fanon, Jehan-Jehan Danyer, and Noble Jehan de Beze.

He is said to have married in Lyon, to Gabrielle Mellin of that city. She was born about 1522, and died in Geneva on 1 Feb 1601, in the home of her son-in-law Jean Naville, in the Rue de la Boulangerie. For her children by her two previous marriages, see info and data on the Mellin family.

It should be noted that Laurent would have been nearly 40 years of age if he indeed fled to Lyon in 1562. It seems possible that he may have been married at least once before his marriage to Gabrielle, but if so, nothing is known about the circumstances, nor whether there were any children. No records of children other than Gedeon Flournoy and Jean Flournoy were found in the Geneva church and death records, [ by Bettye S. Rathbone] and none are mentioned in his will.

Nicholas Flournoy was father of:

(1) Laurent Flournoy, born about 1523 in France and died 8 December 1593, aged 70 years, in Geneva, after a long illness. [Family tradition says that Laurent left his homeland and abandoned his lands in 1562, at the time of the Massacre of Vassy when the Duke of Guise’s men attacked a group of protestants who were holding a worship service in a barn near the village. The lands he abandoned were said to lie between Attancourt, Magneux, Brouzeval and Flournoy.] (2) Claude Flournoy, who had at least four children. His son Pierre was canon at Bar-le-Duc. Of Claude’s three daughters, one married Simon Tivet, inhabitant of St. Dizier in Champagne. (3) Nicolas Flournoy, father of Claude, inhabitant of Attancourt, and of Jean, Susanne, Prudence, and Anne. (4) A daughter who married ___ Gallois or Galoys, of whom she had Zacharie, Abel, and Valentine who was the wife of Didier Jaquot of Magneux pres Vassy in Champagne. On 29 November 1585, Laurent Flournoy vouched for Abel Galois of Vassy, lapidary, when the latter was received HG. Others he vouched for were Claude Pernier, mercer, of Salanche in Faucigny, 25 September 1572, and Laurens Tomas, lapidary, of Compiegne in Picardy, 21 March 1586. [In his will, made 1591, Laurent mentions his neephew Zacharie Galois, hatter, who seems to have been residing in Geneva.]

Bettye S. Rathbone, "Some Of The Ancestors Of Francis Flournoy, Sr. Of Chesterfield County, Virginia," 1985, Nortex Press, a Division of Eakin Publications, Inc.

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• https://gw.geneanet.org/rossellat?lang=en&pz=pierre&nz=combes&p=lau...
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/158961508/laurent-flournoy
• https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28633879/flournoy-family/