With regard to the de la Mare family of the Island of Jersey, Channel Islands, this family would never have existed there as the Edict of Nantes created in 1598 called for the death of every Protestant in France.
Protestant refugee
So far as my forebears are concerned, this certain de la Mare actually refugeed his way to the Island of Jersey. [1]
When the Protestants were being killed in France, he, being a Protestant, had to flee the country. When the soldiers were searching for him in Paris, he took refuge with a lady whom he knew, who hid him in her boudoir. The soldiers search the house, but they did not find him.
The lady of the house said: "You have not searched the boudoir". The soldiers replied, being very gallant Frenchmen: "Who would dream of searching a lady's boudoir?" So after the soldiers had gone from the house, this lady showed him how he could climb out on the roof, which he did. The houses in the row were all flat roofed, so crawling along these roofs, he finally made his way to the end of the block and lowered himself into the street. How he did it, we do not know.
He then managed to make his way from Paris to some port on the coast of France. He got into a boat, and, we believe, rowed himself across to the Island of Jersey, which was about 20 miles away from the French coast. Here he took up his home and the family lived and thrived.
The Edict of Nantes was revoked by Louis XIV in 1685.
Family of builders
His family must have done well on the Island. The man who was my grandfather [2] was a contractor. Together with his son, Philip, he built the first stone pier that projected into the Channel. It was a comparatively small pier, but it afforded the Island the first protection against the waves of the Channel when a storm was raging. [3]
Also in connection with his son Philip, they built Fort Regent. This fort overlooked the town of St Helier. There were no fortifications of stone to protect it, and it was the only fortification, being of earth with chambers below this fort. Accommodations were provided for some eight thousand people under this fort from enemy ships. These eight thousand people represented the entire population the the Island at that time, about 1810. [4]
Mormons
Later his son, Philip, went to Utah and became one of the head men amongst the Mormons. He was one of the builders of the Mormon Tabernacle. The first of these tabernacles had been destroyed by Federal troops, the entire country believing that the Mormons were practically possessed of the devil. This Uncle Philip of mine was one of the chief builders of the Salt Lake City Tabernacle which is standing now. [5]
Every stone of the Tabernacle is marked so that if at at any time it is again destroyed, all of the stones in it are so marked that it could be rebuilt without much trouble. The building is unique, in that despite its enormous size, the roof stands apparently without supporting pillars.
This Uncle Philip was again distinguished, because he heard of the manufacture of sugar from beet roots in France. He went over to that country, settled the constructions of a mill and had one built in England, brought hack with him the knowledge of how to make the beet root sugar, and started a factory in this country, bringing the mill with him.
This mill was a massive affair,very heavy. It came by boat to New Orleans and was brought up the Mississippi River to a point nearest to Utah. Getting the mill across the county took several months in which many of the horses were killed, due to the heavy work entailed. The Indians also harassed them. He was the first man to make sugar from beet roots in the United States. [6]
My own father, Francis de la Mare, became a minister of the English Church in 1849. He went to Canada, getting there through coming to New York City, I believe, on one of the first steamships of the Cunard Line that ever ran between Liverpool and New York.
He was married at that time and my mother and he made their journey, suffering great hardships of their way, in a little sloop along the St Lawrence River all the way down from Quebec to Gaspe, Province of Quebec, on the shores of the Gulf of the St Lawrence. The sloop only had room for my mother and her maid and the rest had to stay on the deck. Repeatedly storms came up and compelled them to take refuge on the shore.
In later years he was recalled from Gaspe and sent to South Africa to preach against Bishop Colenso, but the two men became familiar friends and the Bishop would preach, say, in the morning, and my father would preach in the evening. From London the authorities tried to unfrock the Bishop because he didn't believe in Jesus, but the final ruling was that once a Bishop he could not be deposed.
By the way, Colenso's arithmetic was in general use thoughtout England when I was at school on the Island of Guernsey and probably in Great Britain, too.
My father was also stationed for some time in the Island of Mauritius, an English possession almost on the equator. Later on he was sent to Natal, South Africa. Returning on a sailing ship, he was washed overboard in a storm, about 1869.
Other de la Mare family pages
- De La Mare, the family page
- Philip de la Mare the Mormon pioneer in the USA
- Philip de la Mare's adventures, as recounted by his great-grandson
- Philip de la Mare's own story, as told to his grandson
- Descendants of Jean de la Mare, family tree showing the earliest de la Mares in Jersey
- Descendants of Abraham de la Mare the immediate family of this page's author
Notes and references
- ↑ The identity of the refugee is uncertain but he is believed to have been the father of Jean de la Mare born in St Martin in 1640, the 4x great-grandfather of the writer
- ↑ Francois de la Mare
- ↑ It appears that Francois and his father Abraham worked on the early jetty and Francois and Philip on later projects
- ↑ The writer is very confused here. The population of the island was closer to 25,000 in 1818, yet even 8,000 could scarcely have been accommodated at Fort Regent, which was built entirely of granite
- ↑ This suggestion is not borne out by other histories of Philip de la Mare. Although he was in Salt Lake City when building work started on the Tabernacle, Philip was not involved. Nor was he a Mormon leader, until much later in his life. His main work was as a blacksmith, living and working in towns outside Salt Lake City
- ↑ Again the writer errs, because it is well documented that the project in which Philip de la Mare was involved failed to produce sugar and went bankrupt
