The Huguenot Connection

Mizell Family History Project

The Huguenot Migrations from France Beginning mid-1500s

Coming out of the Dark Ages

The feudal system of the Dark Ages depended upon a bureaucratic system of nobility that drew power from the King.  In France, the loose equivalent of nobles administered their territories with justice, collected taxes, defended their tenants from attacks, and obeyed

the Crown.  The Catholic Church had been a major influence across Europe until the 1500s, when reformers and Protestants split from Rome over religious doctrine. The reformers in France were known as the Huguenots.

The Wars of Religion

France was rocked by religious wars between 1562 and 1598.  Depending upon who was in power or in positions of significant political influence, the Huguenots were either granted freedom of worship or heavily persecuted.  Influence seesawed back and forth, and there were seven wars during this period. From these earliest conflicts, Huguenots began fleeing their homes in France to escape the periods of intense religious persecution.  They fled to England, Germany, Switzerland, and Holland.  In England, records from this era show the creation of French Churches, which eventually numbered in the hundreds, serving French Protestants.  Registers from these churches show thousands of entries for marriages and births,

and demonstrate that French Huguenot families tended to marry among themselves, at least for the first one or two generations in their new English society. In France during the 1600s, King Louis XIV sought to reduce the power of the nobility and increase his own power by opening the door to merchants who could buy all or part of fiefdoms.  These new avenues to local power shifted the roles and influence of the "greater nobles" and created opportunities for "lesser nobles.  Louis XIV favored the Catholics and did nothing to slow the persecutions of the Huguenots.  Conflicts in France continued through the French Revolution in the late 1780s, and it is estimated that by this time, over 250,000 Huguenots had fled their homeland.

Origins on Luke Meazle

Luke Meazle I, reportedly born around 1614 in either France or England, is believed to come from a line of French Huguenots that escaped the religious persecutions as part of the early migrations to England.  The last name could have been spelled differently, such as Measle, or Moselle (from the river valley), or Meazel.  It is unknown if he was: ·        born in France and brought to England by his parents, ·        born in England after his parents had escaped France, or ·        orphaned in France and brought to England by other Huguenots. The uncertainty is so great that the connection may not be England at all, but possibly Wales or Scotland instead.

History of Jamestown, Virginia

Beginning in 1607

The earliest ancestors of the Mizell family in America can be traced to the Jamestown Colony in Virginia.  Jamestown (or James City as it was known then) had been established near the shores of Chesapeake Bay on April 26, 1607 with the arrival of the first 140 colonists on three ships from England.

Much has been written about the difficult life during the early years in Jamestown.  By January 1608, only 67 settlers survived.  About 500 more colonists from England arrived on eight more ships in August 1609 under the Virginia Company's efforts to establish a permanent settlement.

Orphans in England

Prisons in England and London had a significant role in the early emigration patterns.  The Bridewell was established in London by Queen Elizabeth for the education of poor children, care of paupers, and the occupation of vagrants.  By the 1620s, English nobility and proprietors for the Virginia Company could claim 50 acres of land under the headright system in Virginia for every indentured servant they brought over.  Thus, the early tobacco plantation owners could purchase (or "apprentice") people of ill repute and bring them to Virginia as "indentured servants."  In return for passage, clothing, room and board, an indentured servant became the property of his master for a period of years, after which

he might expect to be given his freedom and perhaps some land.  There is evidence that by 1625, several shiploads of passengers were departing England for the New World every year. Beginning in 1606, English law required the people wishing to "pass beyond the seas" must secure a license and take oaths of allegiance and supremacy to the Crown.  This was the start of efforts to maintain lists of emigrants to the New World over the 1600s, which was indeed a very difficult task.  Passenger lists of ships sailing to the New World were recorded, but many have been lost.  Similar efforts to maintain lists of arrivals in Virginia failed or have been lost.

Immigration to the New World

Reports from Virginia indicate there were 1,200 immigrants in 1634, 2,000 in 1635, and 1,600 in 1636.  Another census in 1635 estimated the population  in Virginia had grown to around 5,000. Between 50 and 100 ship loads of passengers may have traveled to the New World up to 1635 to account for this growth. The first census in Jamestown in 1624 reported a population of almost 1,500 people.  Among these was a Thomas Graye and his wife, and

Jone Graye and William Graye.  Another census in January 1625 identifies Thomas Graye and his wife Margrett, and their son William (age 3) and daughter Jone (age 6). Luke Mizell was brought to Virginia by Thomas Gray around 1635 as an indentured servant.  Because Luke was not English, his name is apparently not recorded in any emigration records in England or in Virginia.

Conclusion

Given the turmoil of the times, it is quite possible that Luke I found himself in an orphanage such as the Bridewell or similar institution, with very little past and almost no future.  It is quite plausible that at around age 20, he would become an "indentured servant" to an

Englishman with ties to the Virginia Company and the New World.  And as a French refugee in England, with no significance to the King, his name may not have been recorded on passenger lists of those sailing to the New World.

Copyright © David E. Mizell, 2006