JEAN LATOURRETTE LEAVING OSSE: WHY AND HOW?*
by John E. La Tourette, Ph. D.
President Emeritus of Northern Illinois University

Pierre Peiret, the Protestant minister at Osse, flees with his young family at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. About the same time, Jean Latourrette leaves Osse and, two years later, he and the Peirets are found in New York City. As far as one can determine, he and the Peirets are the only ones who leave this small village in Bearn in 1685. In addition, after examining the origin of all of the French refugees associated with the French Church of New York, the Eglise Francaise du Saint-Esprit, before 1700, they are the only ones from Bearn. Is this just a coincidence or did they leave and travel together, ultimately coming to New York in 1687?

The people of Osse know that Jean Latourrette left the village about the time of the Revocation, but have not determined the reasons or circumstances. His descendents in America know he came from Osse, but have little understanding of why or how he came to New York, where he was married to Marie Mercereau of Moeze (Moise), Saintonge in Peiret’s church on July 16, 1693. As a consequence, many tales have been invented to fill in the gaps of knowledge about his roots in Osse and his whereabouts between 1685 and 1693.

This is a summary of a longer paper on this subject which also has been translated into French. Based on new evidence from London and a closer look at other evidence that historically has been passed over, Jean Latourrette likely left Osse in 1685 with Pastor Pierre Peiret to see him, his spouse and two children under the age of 5 to safety from the threat of the galleys or death. Peiret and the Protestant community of Osse appear to be the last holdouts in Bearn against the efforts to force adjuration and conversion in the fall of 1685. By leaving with Peiret, Jean also risked arrest and death.

Their likely path to Frankfurt, Rotterdam and then London is traced and their stay in London is documented by evidence not previously available and/or carefully examined. The records of the relief assistance given to French refugees in England clearly indicate their efforts to find a new ministry for Peiret in a new land. After considering Holland, Denmark and England for this purpose, they come to New York in the fall of 1687, where Peiret establishes the most successful Huguenot church in America in 1688. In that year, Jean, known in Osse as a jointer or carpenter, is involved in building and later adding to the first permanent church structure in what is now lower Manhattan for the exclusive use of the French Protestant refugees. Later, Jean is involved in building a church across the harbor at Richmond on Staten Island where he also builds close by the first Latourrette house in America.

The paper also explains why, for 300 years, American Huguenot scholars and descendants tracing Jean’s roots have not linked Pastor Peiret and Jean Latourrette in their flight from Osse to New York. This is in spite of the fact that they both leave Osse in 1685 and are found in New York two years later in 1687. In addition, from Peiret’s church records, they are apparently the only two in New York at that time from Bearn and, particularly, from Osse. The problem has been the mistaken assumption that Peiret was from Foix, made by Charles W. Baird in his 1885 book, “Huguenot Emigration to America” (Vol. II, pp.146-7), and repeated down to today by the histories of the French Church of New York and Jon Butler, cited below. As it is known in Osse, and documented by Alfred Cadier, Peiret was from Pontacq not Foix and was the minister at Osse from 1677 to 1685. (See “Le Bearn Protestant”, 2003 edition, particularly p. 203)

Although partly based on circumstantial evidence, it is very likely Jean and Peiret made this voyage from Osse to New York together. Certainly the role of the Latourrette family from the first minister in Osse in 1563, Gassiot Latourrette, to David Latourrette (ca 1625-1697), notaire, church ancien and Abbe laique d’Osse, Jean’s presumed father, establishes the strong tie with Peiret in Osse. Their close involvement in the church in New York confirms that tie.

Here, the concluding remarks from the longer paper are summarized:

Looking back with the perspective of almost 300 years since the founding of the French Church in New York, Butler in his 1983 book, ”The Huguenots in America”, provides a detailed description and analysis of the fortunes of Peiret’s church. Until his death in 1704, he was the force to carry the church forward. Given Butler’s comparisons of the three major centers of Huguenot settlement in America before 1700, New York, Boston and South Carolina, one might conclude that for this period the French Church of New York was the most successful.

Butler provides an excellent summary of a successful ministry, “Peiret created an unusually strong refugee congregation in New York City---- The Huguenot’s use of the French Church as a ritual center offers the most obvious evidence of the congregation’s health in the 1690s.” (p. 161) He notes that Peiret preformed 40 marriages between 1690 and 1704, including that of Jean Latourrette and Marie Mercereau in 1693 and during this period baptisms increased to an average of 23.4 per year. (p. 161)

For a host of reasons detailed by Butler in his concluding chapter, ‘Everywhere They Fled, Everywhere They Vanished,’ the Huguenots were absorbed into a dynamic America society, even prior to the American Revolution. One of the major factors, detailed by Butler, was the rapid assimilation of the Huguenots into the fabric of American society by exogamous marriages which increased rapidly after Peiret’s death in 1704. “Huguenot exogamy (marrying outside the French Protestant refugee group) ran rampant outside the French Church after 1710” and “between 1750 and 1759---87.1 percent of the Huguenot marriages were exogamous.” (p. 187)

The church founded by Peiret struggled for years and then closed in 1776 with the American Revolution and the British occupation of New York City. There was a temporary revival in the 1790s but the congregation had few members and little financial support. In 1803 it accepted the denominational authority of the new Protestant Episcopal Church. It is now known as L’Eglise Francaise du St. Esprit and is located at 109 East 60th St. Services are still given in French by the Rev. Nigel Massey.

In conclusion, what can be said about Jean Latourrette and his flight from Osse in 1685? The longer paper traces him to a prominent Protestant family in the small village of Osse in the Aspe Valley. He was likely the second son of David Latourrette, who was a notaire, church ancien and a person of some means. The family roots include the first Protestant minister in 1563 in the Aspe Valley, Gassiot Latourrette. Jean was well educated for the times, single and a skilled carpenter. Given what is known about the family before and after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, there appears to be no reason for him to flee from Osse. In fact, his departure from Osse is an unexplained, very rare and unique event until he is linked to Pastor Peiret who was forced to flee with his young family under threat of the galleys or, even more likely, death. Circumstantial evidence suggests he accompanied Peiret first to Holland and then to England. He is in London during the same period of time as Peiret. It also appears that he came with Peiret to New York on the ship Robert in late 1687.

Jean’s documented carpentry work for the church in the 1690’s, along with how rapidly Peiret builds the first church in New York, and his leadership later in constructing a Huguenot church near Richmond on Staten Island, suggests he played a significant role in the construction of the Petty-Coat-Lane (Marketfield Street) Church in 1688. There is much more to be said about his early years in America, adding to and correcting the information which was gathered in America by Lyman Latourette and Mrs. Verna Jacob. But we can say that Jean remained true to his roots from Osse and fulfilled his mission to accompany Peiret and his family to safety in America and establish a new ministry, first with Peiret and then on Staten Island for the several hundred French refugees who found their way to New York before 1700.

As more of his background is explored we will find that Jean was not a count with a castle, as described in the romantic tales cited in Lyman’s “Latourette Annals in America” (1954) and by Mrs. Jacob’s “Compilation” (1965). However, Jean did come from a prominent family who had a lay (purchased ownership) title to property in the small village of Osse in the Aspe Valley. This property, still standing, would best be described as a modest “strong house.” However, if we wish to attach the term “nobility” to him it would be because of his “noble” deeds in risking his life to accompany Peiret to safety and his work to build houses of worship for Huguenots who fled to America.

In conclusion, we can say that the contributions that both Jean Latourrette and Pastor Peiret made to the life of the French refugees, who came to New York, reflect well on the values they carried from the small village of Osse in the Aspe Valley.

* The author’s Latourrette lineage is from Pierre, the second son of Jean Latourrette and Marie Mercereau, born November 22, 1697 and baptized by Pierre Peiret on November 28, 1697 in the French Church of New York. Given the theme of this paper, the name Pierre, used after the first son was named Jean, may signify the strong tie with Pastor Peiret described in this paper. The author’s understanding of Osse and earlier family history was greatly aided by two “distant cousins”, Jean-Luc Bilhou-Nabera of Paris and Osse and Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila Latourrette of Millbrook, New York.