HUGUENOT ANCESTORS: SALLEE AND BONDURANT

The following material is taken from a variety of sources collected by Kenneth, Mary, and Jeanene. For ease of reading (and contrary to my academic training :)), I have removed the references and mingled the words of the original sources–but the original versions are available in the large collection of stories of Kenneth’s and Mary’s ancestors I have mentioned previously.

JEAN SALLE’(born about 1624) and MARIE MARTIN (born about 1635)
Kenneth’s 6th great grandfather was JEAN SALLE', direct ancestor of Kenneth’s mother, CARRIE MAE SALLEE.

He and his family were Huguenots. The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France from the sixteenth to the seventeenth centuries. Because of religious persecution, Jean Salle' left the village of Mougon, France for the security of the Protestant stronghold, La Rochelle, and settled in St. Martin on the Ile de Re', France.

Source:  Wikipedia.org.  Courtesy of  Réalisation Pline Category:Île de Ré Category:Maps of French Islands)

 

St. Martin harbor.  Source:  Wikimedia.org.  Courtesy of  Gilbert Bochenek

Jean Salle' became, like his father, a master shoemaker. He married Claude Martin, daughter of JACQUES MARTIN, master hat maker, of St. Martin, and his deceased wife JUDITH FORTIER, November 24, 1654. Claude Martin Salle' died sometime after 1654. Jean Salle', age 44, secondly married MARIE MARTIN, age 33, Claude's sister, April 11, 1668.

ABRAHAM SALLEE (SALLE’) (1674-1720) AND OLIVE PERRAULT (born about 1673)
Kenneth’s 5th great grandfather, ABRAHAM SALLEE, was born February 22, 1674 on the Isle of Re'.
At the time of the Revocation of the Edict_of_Nantes in1685, ABRAHAM SALLEE was 11 years old.  This event was the culmination of approximately150 years of religious persecution endured by the Huguenots, and many fled to England, including, ABRAHAM SALLEE.  The Huguenots were the educated middle class--producers, tradespeople, and artisans. 

Escape of a Huguenot family.  Source:  http://manakin.addr.com/engravings.htm

We know little of Abraham's youth. His parents, according to the Protestant Register of Isle de Re', appear to be illiterate, yet, Abraham was an educated man. His parents and two of his brothers abjured [swore to give up] their Protestant faith on June 5, 1686, the year after the Revocation, and yet Abraham seems to have stayed strong a Protestant. He could write fluently in French and English.

One source says that shortly after 1685, ABRAHAM SALLE' left France for England. In 1698, at age 24, he sought citizenship in London. In 1699 he married OLIVE PERRAULT in St. Catherine-by-the-Tower. His wife was probably daughter of sister of Daniel Perrault or Perreau, who was Commander of the ship “Peter and Anthony”, which brought 169 French Refugees to Virginia in 1700. Following their marriage, Abraham and Olive embarked for America, arriving in New York in 1700. Soon they joined about seven hundred Huguenot refugees who were given land in an abandoned Monacan Indian village called Manakintown, Virginia.

The Huguenots established the colony in Manakintown, founded on the principles of religious freedom, discipline, thrift, and industry, located on the Indian frontier, twenty-five miles from the nearest military outpost. They traveled sixty miles up the James River to The Falls where they traveled overland to the deserted Indian town. Ten thousand acres of land had been set aside for the Huguenots, each person receiving one hundred thirty-three.

By Nov. 10, 1701, ABRAHAM SALLEE had moved to Manakintown, as the list of French refugees on that date shows: “Merchant Suillee, below ye Creek, his wife and 2 children, and one negro woman.” Abraham Sallee was probably the most important member of the Huguenot colony at Manakintown. He was a merchant, Clerk of King William Parish, a member of the Vestry, a Captain of militia, and a Justice of the Peace.

There seems to have been a conflict between Abraham and the minister of the congregation, Claude Philippe De Richbourg. There had been various dissensions and outbreaks as early as 1704. Richbourg has been described as a “gentle” man. Abraham Salle', on the other hand, was described as “irreconcilable and the maker of such [sic] trouble and stirrer-up of strife.” The argument took place on March 27, 1707, when someone called out, “assassinate that damned fellow with the black beard!” “That 'bougre de chien' ought to be hanged up out of the way!” Yes, this was our ancestor. The minister only wanted the Register of Christenings delivered to him. Nevertheless, our ancestor proceeded to insult de Richbourgh while in the pulpit and even after he came out. Abraham was summoned to appear at the next Council to answer a petition. The Council found, after a full hearing of both parties, in their opinion, that the complaint of de Richbourg was groundless and ordered to be dismissed. Claude Philippe De Richbourg left Manakintown in 1711 or 1712, removing to South Carolina.

Evidently ABRAHAM SALLEE was not satisfied with his situation in Manakintown because he wrote to George I of England, requesting that he be granted land in some more fertile spot, possibly in Ireland. The letter was given to the Virginia Historical Society, and is assumed to have been written soon after the accession of George I of Great Britain to the throne of England in 1714.

King George I by Sir Godfrey Knelleraption, National Portrait Gallery, London.  Source:  Wikimedia

 To His Royal Majesty, Sire:

Since the address of Congratulations which we your humble, very faithful and very obedient French Protestant subjects in Virginia, have taken the liberty of sending to Your Majesty, we have seen in public print that Your Majesty has approved a project which has been presented to you to settle French Protestants in Ireland.

We take again the same liberty in presenting ourselves by this very humble petition at the feet of your Sacred Majesty, not being able to do otherwise, to beg with deep respect, to be kind as to permit us to have some part in this solid and advantageous establishment which Your Majesty intends to make in this country in favor of poor exiles.

It will be for us, Sire, a subject of eternal gratitude and great satisfaction, in as much as, your Majesty will procure us, in the celestial food and bread of life which is so precious to us and yet so rare in this country, that our souls thirst after it; our minister having died some months since. In the second place, our families, which are pretty numerous, and the place we occupy quite limited, we find ourselves in the impossibility of procuring any situation for our children, or even to have them instructed, or give them any education.

In the third place, what a joy it would be for us, Sire, to be brought nearer to Your Sacred Majesty, to sacrifice to your service all that remains to us of life, which undoubtedly would not fail to inspire, also, our children from their earliest youth, with the same sentiments of love and obedience for Your Majesty. We never will fail to imprint this sacred duty in their hearts in whatever place we may be.

Sire, we supplicate once more, Your Majesty, to grant us that grace and to withdraw us from a place where we suffer. For a long time we would have been out of it if we had been in a state to leave it of ourselves, and to pay our passage, but we are wanting in means for that purpose. There is quite a considerable number of families who wait only for the orders which it may please Your Majesty to give them thereupon. In the meantime, we continue, and will ever continue, during the course of our life, to offer thousands of prayers to Heaven for the preservation of your sacred person, for that of the Great Prince, your successor, of the Illustrious Princess, his wife, of all Royal posterity, and for the prosperity of your arms to the confussion [sic] and destruction of your enemies.

ABRAHAM SALLE'
in the year 1714

His petition was not granted and Abraham Sallee died at Manakintown in 1720. His will, dated Aug. 9, 1718, and probated in Henrico Co., in March, 1719/20, gives his nativity in France as cited above, requests to be buried with his wife, and leaves slaves, land, and considerable property to his sons Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, William and PETER, and to his daughter Olive Magdaleine.

SCOTT COUSINS EXPLORE MANIKINTOWN
Flash forward to September, 2005, when Debbie, Cindy, and Mary Lee decided to visit Manakintown, Virginia, after discovering the website for The Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia . (Kenneth was evidently a member of the Society as he received their newsletters.)  We made arrangements with the librarian to meet us at the headquarters. We looked at the exhibits in the research library and the librarian shared several records with us relating to our ancestors.  The gift shop offers several books containing records of the colony and a traditional Huguenot cross pendant. The white dove represents the Holy Ghost.

Traditional Huguenot cross pendant

The librarian also took us into the small church, built in 1895, that replaced the earlier church building of the Manikin Episcopal Church, founded in 1700.

As we approached the Huguenot society headquarters on the Huguenot Trail (Robius Road, 711) , we had noticed a county line sign, but thought little of it. Later, however, as the librarian showed us the location of ABRAHAM SALLEE'S property, we noticed that the county line passed through it. Because of that small detail, we were able to locate the land. We knocked on the door of the impressive 18th century home, and the owner answered.  When we told her that our ancestor was Abraham Sallee, she graciously showed us around her property, including the home that was built in 1713 for Abraham Sallee’s daughter, Marianne and her husband, Charles Clark, who also built the large manor.

Home built for Marianne Sallee in 1713 on land formerly owned by Abraham Sallee

PIERRE SALLEE (1714-1752) AND FRANCOISE (FRANCIS JANE) BONDURANT (1712-1777)
Back to the story of our Sallee ancestors. Based on the limited information we have, it appears that our Sallee family stayed in Virginia until the early 1800s. Kenneth’s 4th great-grandfather, PIERRE SALLEE, was only 6 years old when his father, ABRAHAM SALLEE, died. He married FRANCOISE BONDURANT in 1733 in Goochland County, Virginia.

Francoise’s father was JEAN PIERRE BONDURANT(1678-1734), also a Huguenot refugee. He was the son of DR. JOSEPH AND ELIZABETH ANN BONDURANT, who remained in France. JEAN PIERRE BONDURANT arrived at Manikintown 20 Sept. 1700 on the boat “Ye Peter and Anthony,” an English galley which sailed from London bound for the James River in Viriginia. The Captain of the boat was Daniel Perroin. (Recall that other sources name the Captain as DANIEL PERRAULT OR PERREAU, father of OLIVE PERRAULT, PIERRE SALLEE’S mother.) The Captain gave Jean Pierre Bondurant money for the passage. JEAN PIERRE (anglicized to JOHN PETER after he settled in Virginia) was born near Lyons, France, about 16778. To avoid the religious persecution, he left France and went first to Germany, then to England, and finally to Virginia. He died in Virginia in 1734. He was not married when he reached Virginia, but in 1708, he married ANN FAURE, born about 1699.

JACOB BONDURANT SALLEE (1743-1800) AND JUDITH TRUEMAN (born about 1761)
JACOB SALLEE, Kenneth’s 3rd great-grandfather, was 9 when his father, PIERRE SALLEE, died. He married JUDITH TRUMAN in 1785 in Henrico County, Virginia.

MOSES SALLEE (born about 1790) AND ELIZABETH WHITMORE (born about 1792)
MOSES SALLEE, Kenneth’s great-great grandfather, was a native of Virginia and a cooper [barrel maker] by trade. According to one account, he and his wife, ELIZABETH WHITMORE, moved to Montgomery County, Tennessee, in 1822, when their oldest child, JOSEPH MAXEY SALLEE, was eight years of age.

JOSEPH MAXEY SALLEE (1815-1897) AND MATILDA ANN DUNKERSON (1813-1856)
Kenneth’s great-grandfather, JOSEPH MAXEY SALLEE, was of French descent, born in Rockingham County, Virginia, in 1815. The year following his marriage to MATILDA ANN DUNKERSON in 1838, he emigrated to northern Missouri and located near Edenburg (now Grundy County), where he took up a claim. About a year later he sold out and came to Mercer County. There he settled upon a farm owned by Israel Smith, situated in Harrison Township. About two years later he moved to Lindley Township where he resided until 1878, at which time he moved to Mt. Moriah, Harrison County, where he lived and served as a postmaster. He also held that position in Burr Oak, Mercer County. He was an officer of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons [Free_Masons] lodge in Cainsville in 1868 when it was organized.

He was one of the oldest settlers of northern Missouri, which, when he came to it, abounded in Indians and wild animals. It was a vast unbroken prairie. He was a Democrat and was for one year assessor of half of Mercer County. His wife, MATILDA ANN DUNKERSON, was born in Kentucky in 1813. She died in 1856 and was the mother of nine children of whom THOMAS EDWARD SALLEE was the second.

THOMAS EDWARD SALLEE (1841-1817) AND ADELIA PUTNAM (1846-1904)
Kenneth’s grandfather, THOMAS EDWARD SALLEE, a farmer and stock raiser, was born in Mercer County, Missouri, March 20, 1841. He received a common school education during his years and made his home with his parents until of age. In 1861 he married Elizabeth Woodward who was born in Decatur County, Indiana, and was the daughter of Elder John Woodward. She was born in 1845 and died in 1862. In 1867 Thomas Edward married second ADELIA PUTNAM, daughter of LUTHER CHARLES AND LUCY ANN PUTNAM, a native of Huron County, Ohio. She was born October 5, 1846 and came to Mercer County at the age of eighteen years. CARRIE MAE SALLEE, Kenneth’s mother, was the fifth of nine children. She was 27 when her mother died in 1904.

Thomas Edward Sallee (1841-1917)

Adelia Putnam Sallee (1846-1904)

Thomas Edward and Adelia Putnam Sallee and family.  From the birth order of the children, I assume that Carrie Mae is on the far right in the back row, as she was the 5th child.

Mr. Thomas Edward Sallee was a strong Union man during the war and in March, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, Third Missouri Calvary for three years, participating in the battle of Springfield and numerous other skirmishes. In June, 1864, he veteranized and enlisted in Company M, Thirteenth Veterans Volunteer Calvary and was afterward promoted to Company C of the same regiment. In August 1865 he was made a Second Lieutenant which position he held until his discharge in May, 1866, at Ft. Levinworth, Kansas.

Thomas Edward Sallee, Captain in Union Cavalry

We have the following letter regarding his service in the “War of Rebellion” [Civil War]:

Maj. O. D. Green
Asst. Adjt. General St. Louis MO
June 15, 1864

Major,

I have the honor to report that on the evening of the 12 Instant a party of 20 guerrillas made a dash into Calhoun, burnt one church, 1 tavern, 2 dwelling houses and robbed 2 stores.

The leader, Dr. Beck, a notorious character, was killed by Lieut. Thomas Sallee, of the Citizens Gard; 3 of the Gard were wounded.

I am very truly your obedient servent,
E. B. Brown

About 1857, THOMAS SALLEE entered 100 acres of land in Section 3, Township 65, Range 22, where he located after his marriage and where he resided. He owned 100 acres of land and was one of Harrison Township's most respected, enterprising farmers. He was one of the original directors of the Agricultural and Mechanics Association of Mercer County, which purchased the site and organized the county fair. He was a Democrat and was elected in 1875 the county assessor and re-elected in 1877, thus serving 4 years. He was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church for 26 years. His wife was a member for 30 years.

Front row L to R: [Mary Williams Sallee--maybe] w/ baby, Lucy Ann Ewell, Kenneth, Carrie Mae Sallee Scott, Winnogene

.

[Note that in the photo above, the elderly lady, Lucy Ann Ewell Putnam (born 1822), is Kenneth's great grandmother!   The others on the back row are Evelyn Severe and her husband, Arthur Sallee, Kenneth's aunt and uncle.  We believe Mary, Kenneth's wife, who labeled the photo made an error and the woman in front on the left may actually be Mary Williams, whom Thomas E. Sallee married on in 1906.  Adelia Putnam Sallee died in 1904 and Winnogene was born in 1905, so they could not have appeared in the same photo.]

Adelia Putnam Sallee

The following account is from a tape-recorded interview with Kenneth, found in the appendix of his and Mary’s autobiographies:

My Grandmother Sallee died when I was quite young so I don’t have any recollection of her, but Grandfather Sallee, Thomas Edward, he’d sell fuel, coal, and various kinds of feed because many of the people in the town had a horse or team. That was quite a business. He had a big substantial wagon...a fine big team of horses that would pull that around.

There were some of the streets in Chillicothe that were paved in those days and brick pavement and I could just see my grandfather’s assistant driving the team around delivering the feed to the customers. He was quiet an interesting fellow. It [the feed store] was a nice place to go.

Grandpa Sallee was a captain in the Civil War, a captain in the Calvary, on the Union side. He had a long, white beard. [Kenneth was a teenager--about 17 or 18--when he knew his grandfather and didn’t pay too much attention to his stories.]

Thomas Edward Sallee (1841-1917)

My grandfather Scott and my Grandfather Sallee were very good friends. Mother and Dad were the reason for them getting acquainted. They didn’t get together very often. Grandfather Scott lived in Ridgeway and Grandfather Sallee in Chillicothe.  It seemed to me a terribly long ways down there because they had to go on a train. We’d change trains a time or two...but it really wasn’t very far down there....

They had the Chillicothe Business College and Dad went down there to attend business college and Mother was a member of the Baptist Church. Father got acquainted with her in church. Grandfather Sallee was a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat and Grandfather Scott was a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, but they lived 25 or 30 miles apart.

I went to business college down there in Chillicothe and stayed with Grandfather Sallee and that was his second wife. He had three wives:  He had one who died before he got back out of the army. They were married only a very short time before the Civil War.  Adelia [Kenneth’s grandmother] was his second wife. Mary Williams I think was his third wife.

[Our records show that THOMAS SALLEE and his first wife, MARY ELIZABETH WOODWARD, were married on 7 April 1861.  She died in 1862, the same year their first child was born and died, so it may be that she died in childbirth, or that they were both stricken by an illness.  In any case, Thomas was a widower when he fought in the Civil War.]

CARRIE MAE SALLEE AND ELZUMER SCOTT

HUGUENOT APPLE PECAN TORTE
Here’s a sweet dessert for those of you who made it to the end of the longest blog post so far! I found it in Better Homes and Gardens in November 1993 (p. 228). I have made it several times and it is delicious!

Huguenot Apple Pecan Torte, Better Homes and Gardens, Nov. 1993, p. 228

The seventeenth century French Huguenots, who settled in South Carolina [and Manakin, Virginia, where Grandpa Scott’s ancestors settled], were famed for their cooking. This French apple cake is still an American favorite.

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 ½ cups pecans
1 cup water
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 cups sliced, peeled apple
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbsp. sugar
Toasted pecan halves (optional)

Stir together flour, baking powder, and lemon peel; set aside.

In a blender container or food processor bowl place eggs, the 3/4 cup sugar, and vanilla. Cover and blend or process till smooth. Add the 2 ½ cups pecans. Blend or process about 1 minutes or till nearly smooth. Add the flour mixture and blend or process just till combined. Spread the batter evenly into 2 greased and floured 8x1/2-inch round baking pans.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes or till lightly browned. Cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool thoroughly on racks.

Meanwhile, in a skillet heat water and lemon juice to boiling. Add apple slices. Reduce heat. Cover; simmer 2 to 3 minutes or just till tender. Drain apple slices. [I am experimenting with sauteeing the apples in a little oil and–next time--with a little sugar to cook and carmelize them, to give them a prettier appearance.]

In a medium bowl beat whipping cream and the 2 tablespoons sugar till soft peaks form. Place a torte layer on a cake plate. Spread about half of the whipped cream evenly over layer. Arrange apple slices in a single layer on whipped cream, using as many as needed to cover surface and reserving remaining for top. Top with second torte layer. Spread remaining whipped cream on top of second torte layer. Arrange remaining apple slices and, if desired, pecan halves on top. Chill 1 to 2 hours. Make 12 servings.

Nutrition facts per serving: 311 cal.. 26 g total fat (6 g sat. fat), 98 mg chol., 24 g carbo., 55mg sodium, 5 g pro.

Let me know if you try the recipe and think of a better way to cook the apples. Enjoy!