When the Catholic party, headed by Catherine di Medici, culminated years
of cruel persecution with the massacre of the French Protestants on St.
Bartholomew’s Day, 24th August, 1572, a number of the surviving
Huguenots fled for safety to the Netherlands and England. In many cases
the name of illustrious families disappear forever from the records of
France only to reappear in and flourish under the protection and
religious toleration of the Dutch and English nations. Between the years
1572 and 1620 the names of many of the French refugees underwent a
change suitable to the environment and in some cases became so Dutch in
character that it is extremely difficult to trace them back to the
original French. The curious custom so prevalent in the Netherlands of
using no surname and designating as “Laurence, the son of John,”
(Laurens Jansen) if such was the father’s Christian name, renders the
task of the genealogist still more complicated, and when added to the
fact that localities and towns of the same derivative designation exist
both in France and Holland (as the hamlet of “Camps” in France and the
villages of “Campen” in the Netherlands and Denmark), it is small wonder
that the greatest confusion prevails as to the ancestral source of many
early New Amsterdam families. As early as 1650 the names of “De Camp,”
“Van Kamp” and “Van Campen” appear on the church and State records of
New Amsterdam and the surrounding towns. It was long supposed that these
three families were closely related, if not identical, but a critical
examination of the records not only of the parents and children, but
also of the baptismal sponsors, carries the conviction that the “De
Camp” and the “Van Campen” families were of different origin and
nationality. Almost all the original “De Camp” settlers who can
positively be identified and traced as such were recorded in the Dutch
church records of New Amsterdam, Brooklyn, Flatbush, New Utrecht, and
Staten Island, under the names “Van Kamp” and “Van Campen” by the clerks
of the above several parishes. It is only after the year 1710 that the
name begins to be written correctly as “De Camp” or “D’Camp” on the
church records.
At first it was theorized that some of the early “Van Campen” settlers
were originally members of the “De Camp” family, basing the presumption
upon the repeated recording of the name of “De Camp” in its Dutch
equivalent, but upon classifying and comparing the names of the several
sponsors at the baptism of the “De Camp” and “Van Campen” children, the
strongest evidence is found to sustain the statement that the two
families were nowise related by blood or marriage, the one being of
French and the other of Dutch origin. As a matter of general interest,
however, and for the sake of more complete record some few facts
concerning the “Van Campen”[1] family are given in the foot-notes and
the genealogical student can thus verify the above statement and draw
his own conclusions. Every effort has been made by the compiler to trace
the “De Camp” name in France, but a thorough search in the archives of
the “Bibliotheque Nationale” at Paris, and of the Department du Pas de
Calais at Arras, fails to disclose any information of direct bearing
upon the American families of “De Camp.” For the purpose of record
however, the following facts may be of interest. The name “De or Du
Camp, Camps and Campe,” also “Decamp” appear in the records of the
cities of Laon, Rosay, Rouen, Caen, Montauban, and Camp (a small hamlet
near Abbeville) of France, and in the archives of the cities of Lausanne
and Geneva of Switzerland.
TRISTAN and PIERRE DE CAMP of Lusigran de la Cabé les Pezenas, district
of Beziers, were received as inhabitants of Geneva on 7th January 1555.
JEAN DE CAMP, a saddler, was killed at Rouen during the St. Bartholomew
massacre, August 1572.
NOEL DE CAMP, a nobleman, Seigneur de La Boudrie, was received as an
inhabitant at Geneva on 4th September 1572.
JEAN DE CAMP, a native of Montauban, setting out from Moulins (about
1572) with two gentlemen, was seized and hung near that city, with his
companions.
JEAN DE CAMP, going from Tours, received a passport on 2d July 1590.
MARTHE (DE) CAMP de Bombelles, born of a good family of Montauban,
married a Catholic officer in the “Desert,” who wasted her marriage
portion and then abandoned her, alleging under the then law that his
marriage with a Protestant was a nullity. The unfortunate woman was
supported by a family named “Van Robais” and her daughter “Charlotte”
later married one of that name.
DANIEL DE CAMP, son of Paul de Camp, a merchant at Sedan and Marthe de
La Croix, was born about 1643, and became minister at Laon. He married
at Charenton on 11th June 1673, Marie, daughter of Mathew Roguin and
Margarite Bolduc. He was a member of the Synod of Ile de France on 26th
August 1677, and minister of the church at Roncy 1677–79.
MOSES DE CAMP, of Montauban, was a student at the faculty of the town in
1657. He became pastor of Mazamet 1659–68; was imprisoned several times
in 1665 for refusing to salute the Sacrament when passing in the street;
he died in February 1668.
MARIE DE CAMP, of La Rochelle, widow, aged 49 years, with two children,
was naturalized at London as Mary de Camp on 21st November 1682, and was
assisted there 1702–06.
PIERRE DE CAMP, of Pary le Monial in the Duchy of Burgundy, was received
as a refugee with others at Lausanne on 21st August 1688. He was a
copper-smith and died there on 1st March 1705 aged 64 years.
LAURENT DE CAMP was Seigneur of Bernoville (Picardie or Normandie) in
1746.[2]
There appears to have been a large family of “Du Campe” located in the
neighborhood of Boulogne from 1475, but it is uncertain whether they
were of same family as the Protestant “De Camps.”
HUCHON DU CAMP owned a fief in the county of Boulogne in 1477.
JEHENNET DU CAMP owned an estate at Wissant prior to 1500.
THOMAS DU CAMP owned an estate at Luberg in 1505.
HENRI, JEANNE, ROBIN AND ANTOINETTE DU CAMP held fiefs at Engouasant in
1553.
FRANCOIS DU CAMP was prosecutor and counsellor in the Seneschal’s Office
at Boulogne in 1558.
ANTOINE DU CAMP, son of John and ANTOINE DU CAMP, son of Robert,
declared their fiefs at Boulogne in 1572.
WILLIAM DU CAMP held a fief at Maninghen-les-Wimille in 1575.
MARGUERITTE DU CAMP, daughter of Guillaume Du Camp and Francoise Noel,
living at Lianne, parish of Allingthun, married on 21 May, 1631, Jehan
Flahaut, son of Nicholas Flahaut and Leonarde Lambert, living at Laires.
ANTOINE LE FEBURE, SIEUR DU CAMP du Rien, living at Wierre-au-Bois, son
of Antoine Le Febure (husband of 2d wife Peronne Damiens), married on 28
October, 1631. Suzanne Caullier, daughter of Jean Caullier and Marye
Frutier, living at Boulogne.
In “Recherche Genealogiques sur les contés de Boulogne, etc., Tome I.,
pp. 312,” is mentioned a family of “Du Campe” in Boulogne who had the
arms on a shield of silver, two bars, red. The ancestry is as follows:
“JEAN ROLANT DU CAMPE, married to Marie de Euyl, was the father of
_Martin_, 1482; ——, of Bois-le-Duc, father of _Robert_, married at
Montreuil in 1538 first to Helene Gressier, daughter of Antoine and
Peronne du Camp and second to Jacqueline Le Bois (remarried to Gabriel
de Lozieres). He had by his first marriage _Nicholas_, Sieur de Hubert,
who married at Montreuil in 1569 Laurence de Lozieres, the daughter of
his stepmother, whence he had issue _Francois_ and _Jeanne_, the wife of
Jean Le Vasseur. _Francois_, Sieur de Cambremont, married in 1617
Jacqueline Lesseline, daughter of Pierre, Sieur de La Malotterie,
captain and high bailiff of Samer, and Agnes Bertrand, and had issue
_Philippe_ and _Louis_, priest of the Oratory of Boulogne.
“_Philippe_, Sieur de Tardinghen and Longueville, musketeer of the king,
attached to the regiment of the marines, married at Calais 24 February,
1672, Adrienne Marguerite Lepigault, daughter of Nicolas, Sieur de
Vertesalle, mayor and judge-consul of Calais, and Jeanne Pollart
(Nobillaire de Rousseville), and had issue _Louis_, esquire, Sieur of
Tardinghen, Ostove, Longatte, La Teutrie and Noir-Bonningue, who
purchased in 1710 the estates of Frency and Rosamel paying 46,050 pounds
for the inheritance of Monseigneur Augustine de Gouffier, Count of
Rosamel. He married in 1696 Antoinette Catherine Carpentier, daughter of
Antoine, Sieur of Lespagnerie and Catherine de Courteville d’Hodieg. He
was master of the waters and forests at Boulogne, and the father of many
children. From him descended the present Du Campes of Rosamel, allied to
the La Rue, Le Blond de Plouy, Cacheleu d’Houdan, etc., among whom were
_Daniel Antoine_, lieutenant in the Liannois regiment in 1729; _Claude
Louis Marie_, marshal of the camp in 1789; and in the present century a
rear-admiral, minister of war, father of another rear-admiral, a son of
whom is at the present time commander of a vessel.”
There are many references concerning these “Du Campes” in the archives
of the Department Pas du Calais at Arras, from which may be learned the
following facts: _Francois_ and _Jacqueline (Lesseline) Du Campe_ had
issue _Guillaume_, eldest son, an advocate at Sarlement, and later Sieur
of Cambremont; _Philippe_, second son, baptized at parish of St. Joseph
on 9 November, 1646, his godfather being Philippe de Crequy,
Chevalier-Seigneur de Hesmont, Souverains Moulins, Wimille, and other
estates; _Francoise_, a daughter, who signed a marriage contract with
Regnaut Destailleur, Knight, Sieur de Questreque, on 10 September, 1659,
and had a child, Marie Francoise Destailleur, married to Bertrand de La
Haye, Seigneur de la Houssaye, on 27 January, 1684, by Louis, priest of
the Oratory; _Louis_, who was priest of the Oratory at Boulogne, and
died 8 November, 1700.
PHILIPPE AND ADRIENNE (LEPIGAULT) DU CAMPE had a son _Louis_ and a
daughter _Nicolle_, who married Jean de Lafontaine, Sieur Dufart.
LOUIS AND ANTOINETTE (CARPENTIER) DU CAMPE had a son _Louis Antoine_
baptized 15 April, 1697, and a son _Francois_, baptized 10 October,
1712.
DANIEL ANTOINE DU CAMPE, squire and Seigneur de Rosamel, was married on
7 January, 1727, to Marie Marguerite de la Rue du Rosny, by Louis Claude
Du Campe, priest of the parish of St. Joseph, and had a son _Daniel_,
baptized on 20 September, 1729–30.
CLAUDE LOUIS MARIE DU CAMPE, Chevalier, Seigneur de Rosamel, Chevalier
of St. Louis, Major of the Royal Navarre Regiment, married Marie Armande
Cecile de St. Martin, who died 17 February, 1765, aged 19 years. He was
also Seigneur of Frency, Seguian, Journy, Lamotte, Courteville, and
Zelucy.
CLAUDE CHARLES MARIE DU CAMP DE ROSAMEL was born at Boulogne 1774 (?),
was minister of marine, and died 19 March, 1873.
In addition to above “Du Campes” clearly related to the great Du Campe
family of Boulogne, we also find the following mentioned in the Arras
archives:
JEAN DESCAMPS (sic) living at Boulogne, a son of Jean Descamps,
deceased, and Margueritte Chevalier, married on 28 September, 1681,
Catherine Delarre. Witness, Maurice Descamps, his younger brother.
GUILLAUME DU CAMPE and Marie Boutalle had a son Jean, who obtained a
beneficiary letter on 12 October, 1705.
NICHOLAS DU CAMP and Marie Isabelle Battel, his wife, living at
Cremaren, had a lawsuit at Samer with Jean Battel and Marie Duflos, his
wife, on 30 October, 1733.
MARIE ANNE BARBE AUSTREBERTHE COULOMBER DU CAMP, daughter of Jacques and
Angelique Rose Du Camp, living at Boulogne, married on 24 July, 1736,
Antoine, Seigneur du Blaujel. Witness, Jean Du Camp, proprietor, living
at Lianne.
MARIE ROSE DESCAMPS, widow of Charles Jacques, living at the hamlet of
Partel, gave a donation to Marie Rose Jacques, her daughter, of
furniture situated at Bienvillon-au-Bois on 11 October, 1741.
LOUISE MARIE DU CAMP, living at Brumembert, signed a contract of
marriage with Adrien Gardin, laborer, living at same place, on 11
January, 1755.
In “Le Cabinet Historique” (Indicateur Armorial d’Houzier, Charles
Rene), edition 1866, may be found the names of those “De Camps” entitled
to bear coat-armor about 1650. The list is as follows:
JEAN ANDRÉ DE CAMPS, Counsellor to the Presidial of Pamiers. Arms: On a
shield azure a chevron with two roses in chief and a wheat sheaf in
point, all in gold. (Montpellier, vol. 15, fol. 1483.)
JACQUES DE or DU CAMP, notary in the district of Lauvan. Arms: On a
shield sinople (the color green in English heraldry) a chief fessy, gold
and sable. (Montpellier, vol. 15, fol. 1483.)
FRANCOIS DE CAMPS, Abbe de Ligny. Arms: On a shield azure, a lion gold
holding in his two front paws a shield, sable. (Paris, vol. 24, pt. ii.,
fol. 1137.)
LAURENT DE CAMPS, Chief Surgeon of the King’s Hospitals at Maubeuge.
Arms: On a shield azure three trefoils, gold, 2 and 1. (Flanders, vol.
12, fol. 1438.)
ETIENNE DES CAMPS, scribe of the king at the gallery called La Forte.
Arms: On a shield azure a crescent gold between two towers silver,
placed front, three stars gold ranged in chief, and three ducks, also
gold, ranged in point, swimming on a river of silver. (Provence, vol.
29, pt. i., fol. 668.)
JACQUES DE CAMPS, bourgeois. Arms: On a shield azure two towers silver,
jointed sable, accompanied in point by a dog, gold, running after a
hare, gold, on a meadow, silver, and a chief gules charged with three
gold stars. (Provence, vol. 29, pt. i., fol. 818.)
BERTRAND DE CAMPS, Procureur Audit of Parleement; Capitoul (municipal
officer of Toulouse). Arms: On a shield azure a chevron gules,
accompanied in chief by dots azure, and in point by a lion of sable,
tongued and armed gules and a chief, azure, charged with three silver
stars. (Toulouse, vol. 14, pt. i., fol. 137.)
PIERRE DE CAMPS, esquire, Seigneur de Clairbourg, and former body guard
to the king, Valet of the Wardrobe to Monsieur (the Dauphin). Arms: On a
shield azure a chevron gules, accompanied by three merlets of sable.
From the above facts it will be noted that there existed a large family
of Protestant “De Camps” at Montauban between 1625–1675; a great
Catholic family of “Du Campe” at Boulogne between 1600–1780, and an
indication of “De Camps” at Rouen. Perhaps a clue to the ancestry of the
New Jersey “De Camp” family may lurk about that Laurent De Camps who was
Chief Surgeon at Mauberge and that Laurent De Camps who was Sieur de
Bernoville in 1746. The fact of a Maurice Descamps being a witness to
the marriage of his brother Jean Descamps and Catherine Delarre on 28
September, 1681, may also be important, as this Maurice was a son of
Jean and Margueritte (Chevalier) Descamps, deceased in 1681, and it will
hereafter be seen that the name of Morris is a favored one in the early
New Jersey De Camp families.
The purpose of the present work is to trace and record the descendants
of “Laurens Jansen De Camp,”[3] a French Huguenot, who arrived in this
country about 1664, and appears to have been the first and only one of
his name who came to the shores of the New Netherlands.
1 LAURENCE^2 DE CAMP, the son of _John^1 De Camp_, was probably born
either in the province of Picardie or Normandy about 1645. He arrived at
New Amsterdam in 1664, in company with other Huguenots, from Holland;
but the name of the vessel in which he crossed the ocean is unknown. Dr.
Charles W. Baird, in his “History of the Huguenot Refugees in America,”
states that his fellow-emigrants were Antoine du Chaine, Nicolas de La
Plaine, Jean de la Warde, all of Normandy; and Simon Bouclé, Jacques
Monier, Pierre Monier, Gedeon Merlet, Jacques Cossart, and Jean Paul de
Rues. In the early Dutch church records he is repeatedly called “Laurens
Jansen,”[4] but in 1687 his full name, “Laurens Jansen De Camp,” appears
on the Kings County, N. Y., rolls.
He must have been quite young at the date of his emigration for he
married about 1676 Elsie de Mandeville, daughter of Gillis and Altje
(Hendricks) de Mandeville[5] (also written Mandeviel), and had most if
not all his children born within the period of from 1676–1696. In the
Assessment Roll of New Utrecht made up 24th August, 1675, his name
appears as “Laurens Jansen 1 Pole, 2 Horses, 2 Cows, £52; 24 Morgens of
Land £48; Total; £100;” and in the Assessment Roll of the same place
made up 29th September, 1676, he appears as “Laurens Jansen 1 Pole; 2
Horses; 2 Cows; £52; 12 Morgens of Land; £24; Total £76.”
In 1677 the names “Laurens Jansen and wife” appear in a list of church
members at New Utrecht, N. Y., and he undoubtedly lived at this place
from 1664 to 1688, for on the 26th September, 1687, his name appears on
a list of these inhabitants of Kings County, N. Y., who took the oath of
allegiance to England as follows: “Lawrens Janse De Camp 23 Jaere” (Doc.
Hist. of N. Y., vol. I., p. 415), (that is, he had been in New
Netherlands 23 years) of New Utrecht, N. Y. Shortly after this date he
must have removed to Staten Island, N. Y., where there was a large
Huguenot settlement and a French church established as early as 1680. On
30th December, 1701, he joined in a Petition of the Protestants of New
York to King William III. (N. Y. Col. Mss., vol. IV., p. 942), entitled
“A list of the maj^r part of the freeholders and inhabitants of Richmond
County” “Johannes de Campe; Larrens de Campe.” The John De Camp here
mentioned was his eldest son. In 1719, May 7th, he was Local Pastor of
the Staten Island Dutch Church. On 20 June, 1679 “Laurens Janz & Altie
Gillis” his wife, were the witnesses at baptism of Maria, the child of
Antoine Du Chesne and Anna Bocque at Flatbush, N. Y. On 5th May, 1688,
Laurens Jansen and Altie Gillis, his wife, were the witnesses at baptism
of Angenetie, child of Hendrik Jansen Cammega and Anna Maria Vervele at
Flatbush, N. Y.
His children were:
i JOANNES^3, bapt. 1677, Apl. 2, at Brooklyn, N. Y. by Dom.
Gideon Schaets. Witnesses: Joannes Gillisz and Tryntje
Gillis.
2 ii JOHANIS^3, bapt. 1679, Feb. 2, at Flatbush. Witness: Tryntje
Gillis.
iii STYNTJE^3, bapt. 1681, Jan. 16, at Flatbush. Witness: Gillis
and Elsje Mandeville. She is Christyntje or Christina De
Camp and married _Christoffel Christopher_, and their names
appear on Staten Island Dutch Church record as witnesses on
several entries of birth.