Updating immigrants to Purrysburugh...

Later this spring I will make a trip to Charleston, South Carolina for a reunion with my husband's U. S. Naval Academy company mates. We will take a couple extra days to as my children would say "add a dead people tour" to our trip. In preparation for the trip, I've been going over my research on the Huguenin/Hugunin family who arrived in Charleston 22 December 1732.

Today while volunteering in the Montgomery County Library Genealogy section, I came across the book,, "The Huguenots of Colonial South Carolina" written by Arthur Henry Hirsch, Ph. D. and published by Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina in 1928. Dr. Hirsch writes about the French settlers who came to Purrysburg, South Carolina and identifies them as having come from Switzerland but regarding themselves as French having fled from their estates in France to the relative safety of the Swiss mountains after the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of Protestants.

The name of ship carrying these settlers to Charleston is not included in the information but Dr. Hirsch found the following French and Swiss listed ( in french):

      David Hugenin, age de 60
      Susanna Seccot, sa femme (his woman/wife) 47
      Daniel Huguenin, son fils (his son) 14
      David Huguenin, son fils (his son) 8
      Abraham Huguenin, son fils (his son) age 10
      Marguerite Huguenin, sa fille (his daughter) age 12
Note: the spelling differences are the spellings used in the book

They were bound for Purryburg, a new settlement laid out on the north bank (South Carolina side) of the Savannah River. In addition to the plots reserved for the settlers, 300 acres were set aside for a Church and Cemetery and 100 acres for a common and a glebe. A glebe is an area of land usually set aside to support the minister. Last year I posted a drawing from the South Carolina archives that laid out the plots (please see posting of 13 April 2012).

I have only seen secondary sources of the lists of these settlers to Purrysburg. Most list David Huguenin's wife as Susanna Jacot. This is the first I've found listing her surname as Seccot. Perhaps this additional name will help researchers locate additional information about her.

No grave has been found for David Huguenin, who is listed in the 1743 South Carolina census. Probably he is buried in the cemetery at the now abandoned Purryburg.