Re:Du Follet/La Follete/Ohio
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In reply to:
Re:Du Follet/La Follete/Ohio
VICKIE STROMATT 2/27/05
I'm a little late chiming in on this, and I can't show you a will, bible, etc., proving that William was George's son, not his brother, but I can give you strong evidence of dates from actual records.These demonstrate that some of the early LaFollette researchers, bless their hearts, confused George's oldest sons for his brothers and left histories that mislead us:
Jean Le Follet, father of Joseph and George, died in Sussex Co NJ by 1760, probably a little earlier -- proved by administration account of his estate, under name John Lafollet, filed in Sussex Co NJ in 1760 (also history of the French and Indian War in Sussex Co, where a barrage of major Indian attacks ceased in or about 1756).I believe Jean also had a son Isaac, who was an apprentice and a minor (and not an older minor) in 1765, so named in the will of Aaron Doud, 1765, Hunterdon Co NJ (Doud had previously lived in Sussex Co).Isaac was thus very likely born in the 1750s, after Jean Le Follet and family came to America.They were, by 1751, in what was then Morris Co NJ, became Sussex Co in 1753, where Jean took up land on the Wallkill River near New Town (now Newton) -- proved by report of Richard Gardiner, surveyor for the NJ Proprietors.Based on evidence I've seen, Joseph, George and probably Isaac were the only children who survived the Indian attack in which Jean and the rest of the family were killed.Of course there might have been other children who didn't live long enough to generate records in their own names.
Meantime, William LaFollette of Hampshire Co VA was born ca. 1775 in NJ (1850 Census, William Laffollett, Hampshire Co VA, p. 167 -- Age 75, b. NJ).Unless this census erred on his age by at least 15 years, making William at least 90 in 1850, he could not have been Jean Le Follet's son and had to be a grandson.He wasn't Joseph's son and was probably too old to be Isaac's, for whom I've found no further records.In any case, George LaFollette was also living in Hampshire Co from at least 1795 to 1807 (Hampshire Co deeds and tax records).So barring new evidence, I see no reason to question that William, and his brother Isaac (born 1765-1770 in NJ), were George's sons.They were both too young to be his brothers. I think that George, who married in 1769, was almost certainly born in France and came to America as a boy with brother Joseph and their parents.
Among other errors passed down to us by the early LaFollette researchers is the report that George and his brothers William (Guillaume) and Isaac came to America with Lafayette and fought with him to the end of the war.Lafayette came to America in 1777, nine years after George married Jemima Menthorne in New Jersey.Further, general history of Lafayette reveals that the men who came with him from France all returned to France (at Lafayette's expense), while he stayed on to fight the war here, save a couple of personal aides whose names weren't LaFollette or any variation thereof.
It is true, though, that Lafayette's command in the Virginia Campaign included New Jersey militia troops, who were still with him at Yorktown, the final battle of the war.I've found no record of George's Rev. War service, and Joseph's military service records (not necessarily complete) show him on duty in New Jersey and nearby areas, not including the Battle of Brandywine in 1777, where tradition asserts that he not only fought but was wounded.I think it's likely that the brothers LaFollette were at Brandywine, perhaps inspired by their countryman since Brandywine was Lafayette's first battle, though he had no command there.I think it's also likely that George, perhaps Isaac and possibly Joseph, were with Lafayette in the Virginia Campaign and at the end of the war, in the Battle of Yorktown.I think a family tradition re their service under Lafayette was probably inflated into the story of their coming to America with him.
Certainly the Isaac and William LaFollette we find later in Hampshire Co VA were too young to have fought in the Rev. War or to have come to America with Lafayette on a military mission.Isaac, if he was born as early as 1765, might have been a young soldier at the end of the war, but if there was an Isaac LaFollette with Lafayette, he was more likely George's brother than his son.
Unfortunately "the books" aren't always accurate.We have so much better access to a broad range of records than people of those days had.For instance, Harvey M. LaFollette, who was Maud Pugh's source for the early family, believed that father Jean/John never came to America.Obviously he didn't find Jean/John in Sussex Co NJ, and no wonder when finding him would have meant a trip there (and Harvey lived in Tennessee, where he founded the town of LaFollette).Harvey claimed that it was Joseph LaFollette whose finacee escaped from a convent in France and eloped with him to the Isle of Jersey -- impossible since Joseph was born ca. 1745 and was in America with his parents by 1751, age about six.Harvey also claimed that George lost a wife and baby in France -- unlikely unless George was a lot older than Joseph, born by about 1730 or earlier.George might have had a wife prior to Jemima (probably did if son Isaac was born as early as 1765), but if so she didn't die in France, and the convent bride, assuming there was one, was almost certainly Jean's wife.
Let me know if you have any questions or want to know more about anything I've posted here.And do let me know if you have records to contradict any of this information.