The following documents are records and accounts of the process that was involved in Huguenot efforts to seek freedom from persecution and opportunity for the accumulation of wealth. Conditions for Huguenots remaining in France were perilous – Van Ruymbeke notes that “the South Carolina refugee Judith Giton, who then lived in the town of La Voulte, Vivarais, had her home dragooned before moving she decided to flee France.” Dragooning, the practice of persecution through the threat of military troop force, was to be the deciding factor in the Gitton’s decision to flee France.
This practice not only was a terrifying experience, but, as Van Ruymbeke further explains, “dragoons were an enormous finanacial burden for their Huguenot hosts simply because many were assigned to one home.” There is record of one home being forced to sustain up to eighteen soldiers at one time, harassing and demanding things often impossible for the rightful inhabitants of a home.
The receipt of passage show the transactional process behind coming to Carolina, yet it also shows the ease of immigration that we do not face today. This short, half-a-page document is a simple transaction of one being “paid” and therefore allowed to enter the country. In fact, the British commanders of Carolina were more than happy to take French refugees. The proprietors were in need of settlers skilled in vine and silk production. Carolinians were experimenting with an extensive variety of crops in the hope of finding a lucrative staple. As secretary to the proprietary government at the Ashley River settlement, Joseph Dalton wrote in 1672 that Carolina’s ‘climate and Soyle’ were particularly suited to the cultivation of ‘Wine, Oyle, and Silke,’ precisely what the Huguenots were reported as being experts at producing. Thus, it is only obvious that Judith Gitton and her family would have been highly encouraged and helped along in their journey to America. Her account symbolizes the struggle for freedom and the miles that settlers were willing to go for a presumably better life.
The escape account below has been taken from a pre-transcribed source; the receipt of passage I have transcribed on my own as close to what is on physical paper as possible (hence the lack of punctuation in some areas). Sources for more direct reference are listed below.
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An Excerpt from the Escape Account of Judith Gitton
Manigault Family Vault
“ For eight months we had suffered from the contributions and the quartering of the soldiers, on accounts of religion, enduring many inconveniences. We therefore resolved on quitting France at night, leaving the soldiers in their beds, and abandoning the house with its furniture. We went to Romans, in Dauphiny, and there contrived to hide ourselves for ten days, whilst a search was made for us; but our hostess, being faithful, did not betray us when questioned if she had seen us. Thence we passed on to Lyons, and thence to Dijon, from which place, as well as Langret, my eldestbrother wrote to you; but I know not if either of the letters reached you. He informed you that we were quitting France. We went to Madame de Choiseule’s, but accomplished nothing, for she was dead, and her son-in-law had the control of everything. Moreover, he gave us to understand that he perceived our intention to escape from France, and that if we asked any favors from him he would inform against us. We pursued our way towards Metz, in Lorraine, where we embarked on the river Moselle, in order to go to Treves. Thence we proceeded to Cochem and to Coblentz, and thence to Cologne, where we left the Rhine and took wagons to Wesel. There we met with an host who spoke a little French, and who told us that we were only thirty leagues from Luneburg. We knew that you were there, in winter quarters, for we had received a letter of yours, fifteen days before our departure from France, telling us that you would winter there. Our deceased mother and I entreated my eldest brother to consent that we should go that way; or else, leaving us with her, to go himself to see you. It was in the depth of winter. But he would not hear of it, having nothing in his mind but ‘Carolina,’ and dreading to miss any chance of coming hither. THe thought that we thus lost so good an opportunity to see you at least once more, has been a constant source of grief to me, ever since. After this, we passed into Holland, in order to go to England. We were detained in London for three months, waiting for a vessel ready to sail for Carolina.” – retrieved from Charles W. Baird’s “History of the Huguenot Emigration to America.”
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Receipt of Passage for the Gitton Family
