A Snip-It of Huguenot-Walloon History

[leeg]

It's always nice to share a little tid-bit of history with fellow collectors:

 

 

 

Picked up this example from Mike Printz while he was still at Larry Whitlow. Very sad for both of them that it turned into such an ugly mess.

 

 

On to the history:

 

 

January 29, 1924

To Whom It May Concern:

This is to certify that from time to time I have had the privilege to act in an advisory capacity with the Director of the Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Tercentenary, in the issuing of the Huguenot Memorial half dollar, which the mint in Philadelphia is about to strike.

 

I have passed on the designs and seen proof of the obverse side. I feel safe in saying that I believe this coin will surpass all previous U.S. commemorative coins in both attractiveness and historical significance and feel certain, too, that it will appeal not only to those of Huguenot, Walloon, or Dutch extraction, but to all citizens of every section of our country who are interested in the romantic history of its founding as a refuge for the oppressed.

 

I have confidence in the management of the Tercentenary, which I am assured is free from the keen commercialism too often apparent in the distribution of commemorative coins.

 

The first run, I am informed, will consist of twenty thousand coins, and thereafter only four thousand are to be coined at a time. It is proposed to strike not more than one hundred thousand at most. All coins remaining on hand after a certain date are to be returned to the mint for remelting.

 

The good faith of the Commission is evident from the fact that they have come to the American Numismatic Association for suggestions and advice, particularly as to selling methods that should protect the purchasers who buy these coins at a premium over face.

 

(Signed) Moritz Wormser,

President, American Numismatic Association

 

Some interesting history in connection with the first settlement of New Netherland is contained in a circular sent out by the commission, as follows:

Since the publication of an historical discussion of the date of the permanent settlement of New Netherland in our nineteenth annual report, interesting light has been thrown upon this important event by the publication of the journal of Jesse de Forest, who, on July 21, 1621, sent a petition to the Virginia Company for permission to send a colony to America. This journal and other valuable information are given in “A Walloon Family in America,” by Mrs. Robert W. de Forest, who was an ancestor of Mr. Robert W. de Forest, of New York City, was a native of Avesnes. Three of his children, Isaac, Henry and Rachel, the last of whom married Jean Mousnier de la Montagne, were among the earliest European inhabitants of New York.

 

[texasrichard]

Love your posts Lee!

[No+4Me]

My mother's side of the family is descended from French Huguenots who settled near Manakin-Sabot around 1700. They fled France to avoid "persecution" (read: butchery or burning alive) for their Protestant religion to Belgium, and then to England or Ireland.

The settlement, west of Richmond on the James River, was named for the Monacan Indians, who traded with the settlers during the 1700's.

 

Some Huguenots were imprisoned in Fort Royal, on the Isle St. Marguerite, off the coast of Cannes (where the "Man in the Iron Mask" was locked away) in the late 17th-early 18th c. They were imprisoned for decades, in solitary confinement, solely on authority of the King's signature.Many of them simply went mad. When I visited the Fort, the cells had a tiny barred window that gave a view of just a bit of empty sea and sky.

 

It makes one appreciate our Liberties and due process.

 

[leeg]

Cool stuff No+4Me. (thumbs u

[johnny9434]

interesting storys all. knowledge is a wonderful thing