From the research I've done and the stories I've heard my understanding of how the Vautaus got to Dublin is this...
Apparently the Vauteaus were French Huguenots (Calvinist Protestants) at a time when France was thoroughly Catholic. However, under the Edict of Nantes (1598) they enjoyed legal protection and basic religious freedoms. In 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict, essentially making Protestantism illegal in France once again. It was after this turn of events in 1685 that Isaac Vauteau fled with his family to London, England where they stayed for about five years. While in London, the Vauteaus found refuge with other French Huguenots meeting at the Orange Street Congregationalist Church. There is a good chance the Vauteaus were guests of Sir Isaac Newton, who lived near the Congregationalist Church and often took in French refugees to help get them on their feet. Around 1700, Isaac took his family to Dublin, Ireland (the Irish, though Catholic, were natural allies of all Frenchmen, having a common historic enemy - England). There they worshiped with a small Huguenot congregation that met at the famous St. Patrick's Cathedral. Apparently Isaac was fairly well-to-do, as he built a lot of real estate in Dublin, as did his grandson, Pierre. One of the townhouses that Isaac built still stands today on Mill Street. Also, the remains of St. Luke's Church stand on Cork Street, where Pierre Vauteau taught the Wednesday lessons.
Again, this is the story that I've ascertained through research and oral history, but there's always mistakes! I'm always open to other theories. I'm descended from Isaac's great-grandson, John Votaw, who was born in Virginia in 1740, and was one of the first settlers of Adair County, Kentucky, dying there in 1823. My branch of the Votaws stayed in Kentucky until the Great Depression, when my great-great-grandfather, Ed, took his family up here to northern Illinois. My great-grandmother, Christine Votaw, married Jim Nicholson, so that's how I'm related.
Jacob Nicholson