Maupin family in the Abbeville area. It is located about 80 miles West-路NW of Paris. In ancient times it was in the county of Ponthieu. It was probably the most important city in that part of France. Today it is in the Department of Somme which has its seat at Amiems where their Archives are located. Drucat is a town a few kilometers to the North. The estate La Bouvacque, owned by Maupins for hundreds of years, lies between Drucat and Abbeville. In the 1500 and 1600's there seems to have been many Maupins in this area and still a lot today. l<.evin told of walking to the "Pare f'.1unicipal de Ia Bouvaque" and his impressions of this old Maupin estate that is now a municipal park. He found that there were gardening plots for the use of the residents but in the middle of the park was a beautiful setting with a creek running down one side with geese and swans swimming about. Everything looked so green, even the tall trees that were planted close together in perfect lines along the path had light green moss all over their trunks. These were all about 80-100 feet tall -they looked very old. The name "Bouvaque" as described by the lady in the tourist office implied that it was once a place for beef and dairy cattle. This tells us something about our early Maupins and their livelihood. Kevin had the assistance of Paul Rouet but no connection could be found to our immigrant Gabriel in this area. There, as elsewhere in France, Protestant records are very scarce, especially in this area because of the intense bombing in World War II. PARJS At the National Archives and Library Kevin's experience was much the same as mine- not very productive- finding only the material that was already known. The legal documents which had been filmed were not readable - both from the poor copy and the writing either in Old French or New French ~.;as not legible. The name "Maupin" appeared and in some cases it could be distinguished but no given names appeared with it. The Protestant Society Library in Paris was again very helpful. It was at their library that a report of Synods or meetings of the protestant churches was found. In 1559 the first General Synod of the Reformed Church in France was attended by representatives of seventy-two churches. As a result of the Synod, over one hundred ministers were trained in Geneva under the teachings and leadership of Calvin and took up formal duties at the new French churches. In a Synod in 1641 there appeared a DANIEL MAUPIN, Elder of the church at Gergeau (Gargeau) along with a Francois de La Galere looking for a pastor to fill a vacancy at their church in Gargeau! At the same meeting was also a Samuel Le Gendre. The路 路name Le Gendre appears on Gabriel's marriage record as a witness. As Gargeau
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was in the Department of Loriet with Archives in Orleans that was Kevin's next visit! LORIET - ARCHIVES at ORLEANS Orleans is a short distance southwest of Paris. It was there that for the long looked for answer to the question of what or where was the town of "GARGAU" that Gabriel had said he was from when he went to Amsterdam. It was from the town of "Gargeau" now changed from the Old French spelling to New French "Jargeau"! It is located a few miles east of Orleans. There for the first time in Kevin's research did he find a record of the given name of Daniel or Gabriel for a Maupin. In the book "Le Protestantisme a Jargeau de 1601-1685" by P. A. LeRoy published in Orleans 1898 we find this record of baptisms with parents and godparents listed. Baptized 1628 a Daniel Maupin whose father is also a Daniel Maupin. Baptized in 1622 a Gabriel Maupin whose father was Estienne Maupin (Stephen). He also was the father of Elizabeth. Daniel was also the father of Marguerite and Suzanne. It is true that as of yet we do not have the names of the parents of our Gabriel Maupin but it is logical to assume that as he listed he was from "Gargau"- (the "e" left out of the Dutch record) he very well could be from this area and from one of these two men, most likely the Daniel, baptized in 1628 whose father, Daniel, attended the Synod in 1641 looking for a pastor for his church. The Daniel baptized In 1628 would be about 36 years of age when our Gabriel was born in 1664. I later sent all this Information to the Protestant Society Library in Paris for their study and opinion and it was their conclusion that this must certainly be the right place to find our ancestor and his parent was most likely Daniel. The Immigrant Gabriel named their oldest living son, Daniel, which would follow the pattern of the time to name that son after the paternal grandfather. It is true that in Amsterdam they named their first born son, "Claude" but feel that was to honor the name of the godfather, Claude Brousson, the great Huguenot minister and soon to be martyr. They no doubt were very pleased and honored to have this great Protestant minister with his mother, Jeanne Brousson, to be witnesses to their son's baptism. Against warnings of the danger Claude Brousson returned to France to try to be of help to the Protestants left there. He was arrested and executed on the wheel and rack on 4 November 1698. It was between 1698 and 1700 that Gabriel and Marie left Amsterdam for England. How do we know what affect this execution of their friend might have influenced the young couple to seek refuge in the new world? We have no record of son Claude after his baptism in Amsterdam so he must have died as an infant. The church in Amsterdam did not record deaths. We do know however, that our Daniel according to his obituary In the Virginia Independent Chronicle was born 25 March 1700
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