Andre Petillon
1620-1692
Born: Calais,Nord,,France
Died: Winden,Pfalz,Bayern,Germany
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1620-1692
Born: Calais,Nord,,France
Died: Winden,Pfalz,Bayern,Germany
<font color="#000000"><p><strong><font size="4">PETILLION BEGINNINGS IN GERMANY</font></strong></p><p>The father of Isaac Petillon was Jacob Petillon, who was also listed in the early records as Jacque Petillon. From the records of Barbelroth and Winden Parishes(13), the following family was compiled for Jacob Petillon:</p><p>Jacob (Jacque) Petillon was born about 1653 and died before 1715 in winden, age 62 years old. He married Maria Herland, daughter of Jean Herland and Margarita La Ratte. They had 5 children:</p><ol><li>Andreas Petillon born about 1680, buried 16 Sep 1749 Winden, md Anna Delhay.</li><li>Abraham Petillon born about 2 Apr 1682, buried 11 Dec 1739 Winden, md 9 Sep 1716 Maria Schoena Gomber in Winden.</li><li>Isaac Petillon born 20 Sep 1685 Winden.</li><li>Jacob Petillon b 11 Sep 1687 Winden, buried 8 Sep 1753 Winden, md 23 Nov 1717 Anna Catharina Wuest in Winden.</li><li>Esther Petillon b abt 1690 Winden. She md 26 Feb 1718 Jean (Johann) de Ras (Terrase) in Winden.</li></ol><p>The Petillion family was not originally a German family. By the 1750's the family had already been in Germany three generations and must have felt at home with German language and customs, however, by researching in the German records before the 1720's, the French influence becomes more and more obvious. For example, Jacob Petillion is referred to often as Jacque Petillon. His wife was listed as the daughter of Jean Herlan and Margarita La Ratte and his daughter married a Jean de Ras, all French sounding names.</p><p>Before 1713, the records of Winden Parish were kept together with those from Barbelroth Parish. During the 30-Years War, this entire region had been devastated. As the church books of Barbelroth extend back to before the War, an idea of the type of destruction and depopulation of this region can be seen from looking at these records(14). At the beginning of the war there were 30-40 children baptized each year. The numbers then steadily decreased from 1627 on, showing only 2-3 baptisms a year between 1643-1646. Two of these years (1647-1648) there were no baptisms at all. There was simply no-one left. Only one person was said to have been alive in Winden during the years 1632-1641.(15) Because of this, the parish there [Winden] was disbanded and remained united with Barbelroth until 1704. Although Barbelroth Parish included several villages at this time, for almost two decades, only four to six baptisms took place each year. Foreign names also occur more and more frequently then.</p><p>Duke Karl Ludwig of the Palatinate ruled part of this region from the end of the 30-Years War. Also Duke Friedrich of the Pfalz-Zweibrücken District of Bergzabern ruled from 1640-1661 and his successor was Duke Friedrich Ludwig who ruled 1661-1681. These rulers were faced with stretches of land that had once been blessed and densely populated, which were now in an awful state. Towns were deserted and formerly wealthy villages and markets were extremely run-down, almost desolate. The small part of the population that was still there, barely two percent of what it had been, were poverty-stricken and ragged because of the war and plundering.(16)</p><p>These rulers endeavored to induce new settlers to this region with many promises and incentives. They first tried to entice those who had left their homes to return. They then turned to settlers in other regions of Württemberg, Switzerland, Hessen, and France to settle here. Many people heard the call and came to this region. Among those in the region of Barbelroth and Winden, a majority were the French Walloons. These were Protestant refugees who fled northern France in the late-16th century and early 17th century. They first flooded the regions of Belgium and Holland, and then as territories opened and offers were extended, they emigrated on to England, Germany, Switzerland, and America.</p><p>The Petillion family was among those following this migration route. They fled France in the late-16th century and early 17th century. From there they went to Middelburg, Holland prior to 1642.</p><p>The father of Jacob or Jacque Petillon was named Andre Petillon. He was born about 1620 and died in Winden September 17, 1692. His first wife, Marie Mashue, he married in Middelburg in the Netherlands on March 10, 1648(17). He married a second wife, Sara Sy in Mannheim on January 24, 1677(18). Between his two wives he had six children:</p><ol><li>Nicolas Petillon born about 1651</li><li>Jacque Petillon born about 1653.</li><li>Abraham Petillon born 8 Feb 1656 in Mannheim(19).</li><li>Marie Petillon born 22 Feb 1660 in Mannheim(20).</li><li>Elisabeth Petillon born about 1678. She md 25 Jan 1696 Charle De La Haye in Barbelroth(21).</li><li>Susanna Petillon born about 1680. She md 8 Dec 1700 Abraham De La Haye in Barbelroth(22).</li></ol><p>Andre Petillon took his family from Middelburg to Mannheim, Germany about 1655. When further persecution and wars hit Mannheim from the French troops, the Petillon family decided to take up offers made by the aforesaid Dukes in the Palatinate region of Germany where they settled at Winden. After the French wars of the 1670's and 1680's were over, this area began to prosper again!</p><p>After three generations of this family had passed in Germany, their settlement was quite successful and the economic climate was good. Why then would two sons in this family leave Germany and go to faraway America?</p><p>The reasons they chose to leave Germany were similar to why they left eastern Pennsylvania for the frontier lands. The areas that had once offered cheap land were now more heavily populated. Prices had gone up and there were fewer opportunities than further west. Likewise in Germany in the late 17th century, this area had great opportunities for those willing to settle there and build it up again.</p><p>By the mid-18th century, the population in this region had greatly increased. Bigger families and few wars or plagues led to much competition for jobs. Taxes were heavy. Opportunities for another weaver in a town with four or five weavers was not good. To many it appeared impossible to raise above poverty and improve their lot in life. At this same time, promises of free land and wonderful conditions in the New World sounded very enticing. Like their ancestors three generations before, they had a chance to improve their lot in life and pass on an inheritance to their children.</p><p>Although perhaps more extreme, the reasons these people left Germany were not all that different than their descendants had for moving west.</p>FRENCH ORIGINS<p>Establishing the origins of the Petillon family in France was next to impossible as the records were destroyed when these families fled the region of Northern France. Yet clues in the records of Mannheim and Middleburg identified the region of Estaires, Sailly, Lavantie, and Fleurbaix, which was then called "pays de la leu". These towns are in the present-day departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, known as the regions of Flanders and Artois. This region had several protestant congregations established in 1566(23), which were later disbanded and prohibited.</p><p>In the town of Fleurbaix, the marriage records from 1567-1675 show several members of the Petillon family there(24). Within this region is a small village by the name Pètillon. It was apparently from this village that the family took its name. The town name was derived from the verb "petiller" which in Old French meant boiling with anger, furious, or very agitated.</p><p>Identifying the father of Andre Petillon for certain is not possible, however it is probable that he was a brother to others mentioned in Middleburg records of the early and mid-1600's: Henri Petillon (1642), Antoine Petillon (1647), Paul Petillon (1662)(25). This Henry Petillon was listed as a son of Jacque Petillon of Estaires. This Jacque Petillon would have been born about 1596 and have been the earliest probable direct ancestor that could be identified with any certainty.</p><p>Although originally fleeing France in the early 17th century for religious reasons, subsequent moves from Holland to Germany, from Germany to Pennsylvania, and from Pennsylvania westward, all came through opportunities for bettering their lot in life.</p><p>The story of the Bedillion-Petillon family's move through five countries and three languages in the 17th and 18th centuries is not atypical. In researching Palatinate emigrants to Pennsylvania, it appears frequently to be the case that the emigrants who left were from those regions of Germany that were re-settled after the French-German wars of the 17th century. Locating these families in Germany is only part of the story. By delving deeper into the European sources, one finds that they were originally from Switzerland, France, Southern Germany (Württemberg), or elsewhere. The story of their adventurous trip to America is really only another chapter in the ongoing story of the travels our ancestors undertook to improve their lots in life.</p><p>*******</p><p>Melanie Nolan manolan@mail.esc4.com has done a lot of research on the refugee families that settled in Friedrichstal, Germany about 1700. She is a descendant of Jacques Gorenflo, a leader in the colony there, and is related to just about every one of the 15 original families of the village. Those interested in any of these families might be interested in contacting her.</p><p> </p><p>NOTES AND REFERENCES</p><p> </p><p>1. Gary T. Horlacher was commissioned to research the Bedillion family by Kenneth Craft of Norcross, Georgia. Other researchers whose work on this family was used in this article include Bill Kincaid, Esther Marsh, Ronald L. Daarah, John T. Humphrey, and Annette K. Burgert.</p><p>2. Strassburger, Ralph Beaver and William John Hinke. Pennsylvania German Pioneers. Picton Press: Camden, Maine, 1992. P.v.</p><p>3. Brink, Andreas. Die deutsch Auswanderungswelle in die britischen Kolonien Nordamerikas um die Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts. Franz Steiner Verlag: Stuttgart, 1993. P.14.</p><p>4. Annette K. Burgert has published several books on 18th century emigrants from various German regions: Eighteenth Century Emigrants from Northern Alsace to America (1992), Eighteenth Century Emigrants from German Speaking Lands to North Ameirca, Vol. 16, Germans from Northern Kraichgau (1983), Vol. 19 Germans from the Western Palatinate (1985), and together with Hank Jones, Westerwald to America (1989). Hank Jones published a study of the Germans who settled together in New York in 1709/1710, The Palatine Families of New York (1985). Werner Hacker published books indexing emigration records of Germans from various regions of Germany including: Auswanderung aus Baden und dem Breisgau (1980),Kurpfälzische Auswanderer vom Unteren Neckar (1984), Auswanderung aus Rheinpfalz und Saarland im 18. Jahrhundert. More recently Burguette Burkett has published a volume, Emigration from Baden-Durlach in the 18th Century (1996). Wilford W. Whitaker and Gary T. Horlacher have published a study of the origins of the German families who settled in New England in the 18th century: Broad Bay Roots (1998).</p><p>5. National Genealogical Society Quarterly. Turner, Shirley J. Jacob Knobel (1682-1731) of the Palatinate, New York, and Berks County, Pennsylvania, Sep 1891, Vol. 69, No.3. Andersen, Patricia Abelard, Jacob Fluck of Middletown, Frederick County, Maryland and His Flook and Fluke Descendants, Sep 1984, Vol. 72, No.3. Strasser, Theresa Coyne, Jacob Rieser of Cumru, Berks County, Pennsylvania (1726-1793), and His Descendants. Hinchliff, Helen, Michael Mumper of Pennsylvania: Reconstructing the Origins and Circumstances of an Immigrant Ancestor, Mar 1989, Vol. 77, No.1.</p><p>6. Ohio County, West Viriginia County Clerk. Marriages 1790-1971. Marriage License book Vol. 2, p.108; FHL #0863796.</p><p>7. Copy of a manuscript on the Bedillon family by Esther Marsh, without a title or date.</p><p>8. Strassburger & Hinke. Vol. 1, p. 474.</p><p>9. Ibid. P.496.</p><p>10. Letter from Annette K. Burgert to Kenneth Craft dated November 8, 1994. Don Yoder's book, Pennsylvania German Immigrants, 1709-1786 (1980) [FHL 974.8 F2pg] includes references to Abraham Sontag and Jacob Schuster being from Edenkoben. Annette K. Burgert's book, Eighteenth century emigrants from the northern Alsace to America (1992), included references to Johann Daniel Mutschler of Langensoultzbach. Her book, Eighteenth Century emigrants from German Sepaking Lands to North America, Vol. 16, Germans from the Northern Kraichgau region referred to Christoph Süss from Eschelbach. In Carl Boyer III's book, Ship Passengr Lists Pennsylvania and Delaware (1641-1825) [FHL 973 W3sb], the origins of Jacob Haen of Minfeld and Johann Jacob Decker of Weissenstein were identified.</p><p>11. ibid. Don Yoder's book included the following families that were on this ship: Jacob Hauswird of Winden, Catharina Kesler, Abraham Koenig (from Hoffen), Philip Enes (from Kleeburg-Hoffen), Jacob Walter, Johann Georg Sprecher, Jacob Sprecher, and Jacob Koening, hte last four being from Württemberg. Annette Burgert's book on the Northern Alsace region included references to Koenig and Enes as well as Jacob Gallmann (from Hatten), Jacob Hahm (from Diedendorf/Fleisheim), Philip Jacob Humbert and Joh. Friedrich Humbert (from Hatten), Theobald Stark (from Uhrweiler), and Jacob Weimer (from Hunspach and Hoffen). Boyer's book included references to Casper Georg Adam and Georg Leonhardt Beckenbach of Eiterbach and Ehrihardt Thuerwaechter of Frankenfeld.</p><p>12. Barbelroth Parish Records, 1596-1740, FHL #0193777; and Winden Parish Records, 1713-1798, FHL #0193232.</p><p>13. ibid.</p><p>14. ibid.</p><p>15. Gümbel, Theodor. "The Foreign Colony in Billigheim and the Surrounding Area". Geschichtsblätter des Deutschen Hugenotten-Vereins. Heinrichshofensche Buchhandlung: Magdeburg, 1894.</p><p>16. Ibid.</p><p>17. Leiden Walloon Collection. FHL #0199906.</p><p>18. Mannheim French Reformed Parish Records; Mds 1652-1819; FHL #1192139, item 9.</p><p>19. ibid. Christenings Vol. 1 1651-1672, p.18</p><p>20. ibid.</p><p>21. Barbelroth Reformed Parish Register; FHL #0193777.</p><p>22. Ibid.</p><p>23. Mours, Samuel. Les Églises Réformées en France. Librairie Protestante: Paris, 1958.</p><p>24. Dalenne, Bernard. "Contrats de mariage passés devant Maîtres Daniel Quyjue, Jean Defache et Pierre Delesalle, notaires à Fleurbaix, 1567-1675".Travaus et Etudes Genealogiques. [FHL 944.26 D25t no. 40-45.</p><p>25. Leiden Walloon Collection. FHL #0199906. </p></font>