Hello,
My father was convinced that our ancestors were French Huguenots and that they have held the name Benoy since before they left France.
The only Benoys that I have found in England that were recorded as being Huguenots were Jean and Marie Benoy, of Threadneedle Street in London, who christened their baby daughter - Susanne - on 23 Dec 1694. I have no reason to believe there is any direct relationship with these Benoys but it does confirm that there were Benoys who were Huguenots.

In fact, my brother's travels in France convinced him that Benoy is the Huguenot spelling of Benoit.

The earliest records that I have found, for which I am almost certain of a family link, were in Werrington as follows:
Modestie Benoy married John Facey 3 May 1682
Richard Benoy married Mary Geach 6 Dec 1686
Chariti Benoy married Peter Wicket 4 Mar 1688/89
and John Benoy married Mary Hedon 21 Feb 1691/92

I also found
Jane Benoy who married William Wicket in 1683 in Jacobstow, Cornwall

I believe these were siblings and that there father was Isaac Benoy who was buried in Werrington on 7 Oct 1694.

Has anyone come across any Benoy Huguenots?
Has anyone come across Benoys in Devon before 1882?
Can anyone give me any information about Huguenots in the Werrington area of Devon (now Cornwall)?
Thank you

Hello -- you raise some good questions in your post but unfortunately, I don't have many answers for you. The only way you can really prove if there is Huguenot ancestry in your family is to trace back as far as you can and see if your ancestors are the ones found in records of French Protestant churches several hundred years ago.

Who is your earliest known ancestor at the moment? When/where did s/he live, marry, die?

As for BENOY being a "Huguenot spelling" of BENOIT, as far as I know the Huguenots did not spell their surnames differently. What did happen, however, is that surnames often changed to reflect the culture and usage of the refugees adopted homelands. So, for example, French surnames in England were often anglicised. Similarly, the surnames of refugees who fled to other countries such as the Netherlands changed to fit into the language and culture of that new country.

Were you aware that there was a French Protestant church at Plymouth in Devon? The records of that church have been indexed and made available as part of the Quarto series published years ago by the Huguenot Society of London. They have also been microfilmed. See further info about the Quarto series and all the volumes in it here: http://www.island.net/~andreav/quarto.htm .

Hope this helps a bit. Regarrds, Andrea (admin for Huguenots-Walloons-Europe Message Board & mailing list)

There are only a few listings for BENOY in Werrington the 1881 Census with additional listings elsewhere in the county.
This census has been transcribed by the LDS online.
http://www.familysearch.org

Approximately a dozen names in each of the 1861 and 1851 enumerations associated with Werrington. Also check 1871 and perhaps 1891 and others.

Regards,
KA

Perhaps I can help here.

I would discount the name BENOIT, I think that may lead you away from where you want to be.

There are 38 references in 12 volumes of the Quarto Series for the name BENOY/de BENOYT/van BENOY in the records of the Huguenot Society of GB, though there are none in the Plymouth records.

Many of those references are not listed on the IGI as they are Hug Soc material that the LDS has not transcribed onto the IGI.

One interesting reference is for a weaver, Ely BENOY, dated 1673, refered to as 'recently come from Paris'.

There is one reference to BENOY in the Hug Socs Proceedings, Vol. 7.

You should be aware that there are several references to the names in the French Protestante records of SHPF/Centre de Genealogie Protestante.

As for the Devon community, although the Hug Soc does have some references for that group, much of the research has been published by more local groups, though the papers were written by acknowledged Huguenot historians.

Regards

Tony Fuller

Thank you so much for your replies and the information that you have added. I have done an extensive one-name-study of the Benoys including all entries in the 1881 UK census as well as all UK Civil Registration entries for Births from 1837 to 1917, Deaths from 1837 to 1903 and Marriages from 1837 to 1911. I've restricted my study primarily to exact spelling of Benoy.

Tony's answer was particularly helpful since it saved me the time and expence of researching the Plymouth Huguenot church which is what I planned on doing next.

I know for sure that my family was in Werrington in 1682 but have no idea where to look before that. Tony: do you know if there is a reference to Isaac Benoy in the Quarto Series?

Mmmmmmm, think I may review my comment on Benois/t etc., no Benoys but plenty of sound alikes.

There are probably a hundred references in the Plymouth Registers to various spelling of the name including two Isaac references.

Probably worth looking at those records, would take ages to look through them all. You may also want to look at the Southampton registers which may have something.

Regards

Tony Fuller

Beg your pardon for taking the question literally – numerically – whatever – and popping up again. There is some online confirmation of BENOY, BENNOY and BONNOY in Werrington after 1750. In addition there are several IGI christenings circa 1700 in which either John or Richard are listed as the father. These listings are transcribed from the Bishop’s transcripts for Werrington which begins in 1670.
What are the sources for your wedding dates, spousal names and the burial of Isaac BENOY in 1694? The only wedding that I found was William WICKET and Jane BENEY. BENEY turns up a set of other listings in Cornwall. One might tend to connect her with them. And perhaps, of course, the WICKETs were brothers. But looking briefly over the precipice, there are BENEY, BENNE, BYNNE, BENNEY, BENNY etc. in Devon before 1640.
Don’t let self-imposed spelling restrictions become a set of artificial blinders in your investigation. It has been shown that spelling becomes more variable in earlier documents. Also that names are sometimes altered by a change of location. You follow the family, however their name happened to get recorded or misspelled. Already you have a small group of variations, a name cluster. Always be ready to admit a new variation, when the evidence supports it. Do not let preconceptions limit your search. Once you have located a verified source, try every option you can think of.
The immediate difficulty is to locate a birth for one of the marrying BENOYs or a wedding for Isaac. Are they listed in the Bishop’s transcripts? Were they born somewhere else or just too early for the Werrington transcripts? Does a document for Isaac’s burial provide any additional information about him? Are there burial records for Richard and John that might provide any data concerning their births? Are there any stones left unturned in the Werrington transcripts?

Regards,
KA

All good advice and I'll be sure to keep all of it in mind.

Regarding my possible Huguenot ancestry, I've discovered that the Huegenot Society has the Quarto Series on CD and have inquired as to price and ordering information. Can anyone tell me which volumes actually contain entries for people with the name spelled Benoy or something similar to Benoy with the first name Isaac (especially if he has a wife called Johan)?

I have found records of Huguenot Benoys on Threadneedle Street in London but the Werrington Benoys seem to have been well established in Werrington before these people arrived in England.

My Werrington information comes from LDS film # 1596318 Baptisms, marriages and burials, 1653-1745. Baptisms, 1813-1854. Marriages/banns, 1754-1812. Marriages, 1813-1900. Banns, 1824-1900. Burials, 1813-1900. Baptisms, 1854-1900.

The marriage of Modestie Benoy in 1682 is one of the first readable entries for marriages. The earliest recorded Benoy Baptism is for Susanah, daughter of John Benoy in 1695 and the earliest recorded Benoy burial is for Isaac Benoy (the patriarch of the family) in 1692.

I have (since my last posting) acquired a copy of Isaac Benoy's will which was written in 1691. It names his wife, Johan, and his chidren Modestie, Anne, Elizabeth, Frances, John, Richard and Chariti. Frances, who was a son and had two unnamed children, does not appear anywhere in the Werrington parish records so I suspect he lived elsewhere. I'm especially keen to track Frances down since I've ruled out Richard and John as my ancestors and am left with Frances if I do, indeed, derive from the Werrington Benoys.

Does anyone know of any earlier records for Benoys anywhere in Enland before 1682 or records of a Frances Benoy (or a surname similar enough to be a possible match).

Hi

Not sure if anyone is still monitoring this thread but just in case... I am trying to track down the origins in France of my Dessiou ancestors from Devon and found this thread through the Huguenot connection. One of my ancestors was Abraham (or Abram) Dessiou who married Judith Page. Her parents are recorded as James Page and Benoi 1685. I think this date must be the marriage date, given the other dates on the family tree around it. Is that information at all useful to you? Conversely, do you have any clues as to how I might track down my French ancestors?

Alison Lash

There may be a few of us still floating around out here. There is a reply notification option, if you noticed. The information I am finding on DESSIOU is very limited so far. Just half a dozen listings in the LDS, but there are several generations descended from this Abraham and Judith. The submitter of the pedigree files looks to be a bloke from NZ. Given the general paucity of information, there may only be a few long shots, so I suggest you take them.
http://www.familysearch.org

The information you provided is also very minimal. It would be helpful to know which specific events and locations you have documented and which references you have investigated. The key to finding additional information to further your research is to know the correct location(s).

An Abraham DESSIAUX of Wheel(er) Street received assistance in 1707.
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~frpayments/I...

Is this the same person and a spelling variation? Or a different person with a similar name? Is there info at St. Savior in Dartmouth prior to Peter in 1708*. See which potential sources of information exist and who has them, then you’ll be on your way to finding out what it takes to get access.

* The extracted listing for Peter and some others are found in LDS under DESUE. Spelling variations are another important topic.

Regards,
KA