Fo8 Reverend Peter Fontaine

    Fo8 Rev. Peter Fontaine of Charles City County, Parish of Westover, James River, Virginia, Was the son of Reverend James Fontaine (Fo9) and Ann Boursiquot Bo9 who were both Hugenot refugees from France to England and Ireland.
    Born: 1st Dec. 1691, at Taunton, England.
    Died: Ju1y or August, 1757, in Charles City County, Virginia.
    Married: 1st. March 29, 1714, to Elizabeth Fourreau.
     2nd. to Sarah Elizabeth Wade, daughter of Joseph Wade. She was living in 1756.

    Chi1dren.
    By 1st wife:;
    Fo7-1 Mary Ann Fontaine
    Fo7-2 Peter Fontaine m Elizabeth Louise Winston b: 17 DEC 1734 in Albemarle Co Va + 4 ch John Smith Fontaine b: 6 AUG 1750 in 'Beaverdam', Hanover Co., VA William Fontaine b: 22 JAN 1754 in Virginia Sarah Fontaine b: 1755 in 'Beaver Dam', Hanover Co., Virginia Mary Ann Fontaine b: 1759 in Virginia
    By his 2nd wife::
    Fo7-3 Moses Fontaine b 1742 m Elizabeth Ballard b c 1746
    Fo7-4 Sarah Fontaine b 1744 possibly same as d before 13 Oct 1795
    m PHILLIP WADE b Abt. 1740 d Oct 1795, Prince Edward Co Va
    Fo7-5 Elizabeth Fontaine b 1747 d 1748/1841 in VA m William Mills
    Fo7-6 Joseph Fontaine b 1748 d 1 Sep 1813 m Mary Pauline Goode "Polly" b 12 Feb 1756 Lunenburg Co Va d 15 Aug 1812 Chrstian Co Ky bur Wallaria Ky dau of Edward Goode and Judith Morton on 8 Feb 1773 in Mecklenburg Co + 10 ch
    Fo7 Aaron Fontaine b 30 Nov 1753 d 1823
    Fo7-8 Abraham Fontaine b 1756 m 1794 York Co Va Saran Ballard
    Fo7-8-1 Col Walter Lloyd Fontaine m1 Margaret Fry Nicholas b 1800 d 1833 m2 George Ann Nicholas b 1799 d 1845

    Memoirs of a Huguenot Family. Original autobiography of Reverend James Fontaine Fo9 translated by Ann Maury.
    Letters of Reverend Peter Fontaine (Fo8.l ) and Mary Ann Maury printed in same volume of memoirs.
    Virginia Magazine of History - Volume 32 - ,page ?'
    http://www.jscott.tierranet.com/fontaine/fonthistory.html
     

    Sketch
    Reverend Peter Fontaine, a minister and planter of Virginia. was born in Taunton, England.
    His father, James (Fo9) who wrote the Memoirs of a Huguenot Family, (of which he made several  copies) was himself never in America.
    He stated that during their family residence at Taunton, "his wife had not been less fruitful" than had his brain; she had given birth to six children.
     In 1711, Peter entered college in Dublin, Ireland, where they had removed from England.
    Shortly thereafter, a French half-pay officer, (then about eighty years of age), Captain Boulay, asked, that his granddaughter might marry one of James Fontaine's sons.
     Their chi1d was Elizabeth Fourreau, about thirteen years old.
    After consultation with two of his brothers, Peter agreed to Marry her. The wedding on March 29, 1714. Captain Boulay died the following year and left them L1OOO.
    . Peter was ready to be ordained, and went to London, where the ceremony was performed by the Bishop) of London, who was also Bishop of all the British Colonies.
     They then set sail for Virginia, where John Fontaine had bought and arranged a home for them.

     His brother John was with Governor Byrd, and was a Knight of the Golden Horseshoe.
     Peter Fontaine’s family reached Hampton on December 8th.

    He had two children by his first wife: Elizabeth Fourreau, of whom his Sister Mary Ann Maury wrote:- My brother Peter's first wife Lizzy was one of the loveliest creatures I ever saw. God had endowed her with all the virtues of a good. Christian. . .. . . . . . . . “ They had two children, Mary Ann (who married Isaac Winston) and Peter Fontaine, Jr. His present wife  is a lovely, sweet-tempered woman.. . . . . . ..” .
    This second  wife, Elizabeth Wade (Wa8)   was the mother of Aaron Fontaine (Fo7) who came to Kentucky. He was Colonel Aaron Fontaine, who lived at Fontaine Ferry, below Louisville, on the Ohio River, opposite New Albany, Indiana. After his parents’ death, he was reared by his halfsister, Mrs. Isaac Winston.

    In 1727, on December 4, at a Council meeting in Virginia, it was ordered that Peter Fontaine, Clerk, be appointed to attend said Commission as their chaplain. This was Governor Byrd's expedition to establish the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina. The names of the members were obscured for some reason, Byrd being known as Shorty, and Fontaine as Humdrum.

    In 1757, Reverend Fontaine wrote to a brother that “with regard to my worldly estate I am full; I abound with every valuable blessing my heart can desire or wish for” . He died in April 1757.
    In his will, he said he did not wish a public funeral, nor did he wish liquor served to make any one drunk. Neither did he wish any of his family to wear mourning.
    There are photographic copies of several ancestors of .Rev. James Fontaine, and all of his children owned by Mrs. George Nicholas (Ni3-5). These were sent her by Admiral John Carpenter, U.S.N., a Fontaine descendent. Admiral Carpenter was also able to purchase a copy of the Memoirs for Mrs. Nicholas.
    . .An original translation was given by Mrs. Nicholas to a son, Major. H.T. Nicholas. .

    The above mentioned Mary Ann Maury was probably the wife of the same Rev. Maury opposed in court by Patrick Henry in one of his first cases. Rev. Maury was suing for payment of the Tithe to the Anglican Church as the established religion of Virginia and dead certain to win, for it was the law. But Henry pleaded his case so eloquently that the suit was thrown out and a legal precedent for freedom of religion was set that made Henry the most popular lawyer in the colony for all the Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists and quickly brought him a seat in the Assembly in Williamburg.