Re: The Legend of the Count de Latourrette
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In reply to:
Re: The Legend of the Count de Latourrette
Diana Igo 3/01/09
Dear Diana: It is gratifying to hear that you believe you are a descendant of Pierre Peiret and Marguerite La Tour. I searched for descendants in America without any concrete results. I also contacted all the people who had posted any genealogical information about Peiret, much of it incorrect, when I published the first monograph to which you referred, Jean Latourrette and Pierre Peiret: Huguneot refugees, Their Roots in Osse, Bearn. I never had even one response.
Information about births of French Protestants in France in the 17th century is difficult to find because of the destruction of many Protestant baptism records after the Revocation in 1685, especially in Osse. We do know that Peiret (or as it is also formally written, Peyret) was born in Pontacq, Bearn (just southeast of Pau)likely in 1644 because at his death in New York on September 1, 1704, it was stated he was 60 years old. Marquerite La Tour (or Latour) was clearly not a Latourrette. Alfred Cadier, the long time minister at Osse in the 19th and 20th centuries, investigated her background for his history of Protestantism in Bearn, published in 1890. He indicates she was a local young lady from Bearn who married Peiret in 1680, correcting the misinformation in Baird about her background. Modern genealogical research in the Aspe Valley in which Osse is located indicates La Tour was (is) a common name in Osse and Bedous, a village about a mile east of Osse. I cover this in my second monograph that I just published and go into the details of what is available about Marguerite. She was young and no more than 20 (and likely younger) in 1680 because she bore her last child (Elizabeth) in 1700.
My two monographs are available. The second one covers Pastor Peiret in great detail as it compares his ministry in New York (1677-1704) with the one in Osse (1677-1685) and his success as a minister in New York as compared with the other French ministers who came to the American Colonies before 1700.
I don't want to go into all the details about Peiret on the forum, but write me about the monographs that I have available and why you think you are a descendant of Peiret. I certainly would like to know about the latter and how I can obtain more information about the descendants of Pierre and Marguerite in America. There is interest at the Center for the Study of Bearnaise Protestantism at Pau University in acquiring more information about Peiret in America and I have written a summary of my second monograph in French for them. It is 94 pages as compared to the original in English of 135 pages.
My address is [email protected]
Good to hear from you
John