The Resseguie Family (Alexander Resseguie of Norwalk)

Gc M. L. 929.2 R3127m 1585759 REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION Cto ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01423 1044 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center http://www.archive.org/details/resseguiefamilyhOOmorr THE RESSEGUIE FAMILY. A Historical and Genealogical Record Alexander Resseguie, OF NORWALK, CONN., AND FOUR GENERATIONS OF HIS DESCENDANTS. Compiled by John E. Morris. HARTFORD, CONN.: Press of The Case,- Lockivcod & Brainard Company. iS88. 1585759 INTRODUCTION. In view of the fact that the advent of the Resseguie family in America occurred nearly a century after the earliest settlements had been made, and at a period when the eastern coast had become comparatively well populated, and when town and church organizations had long been completed, it appears somewhat remarkable that no more of a historical nature can be learned concerning them than at present seems possible. The early family was composed of a sturdy, middle-class people, descend- ants of the Huguenots and Puritans, in whom, especially in the first two or three generations, tfhe pioneer instinct seems to have been remarkably prominent. The manifest desire to make a way for themselves, a distaste for clannish village civilization, and a deep enjoyment of the life of nature to be met with in the forest clearing, urged them instinctively to pusrrf urther attd further into the wilderness, and left no time nor taste for a record of their lives and deeds ; and this may, in a measure, account for the. sparse and fragmentary evidence of their history, the loss of which we now so much regret. The full genealogy upon which the compiler has been more or less diligently engaged since 18S3, and subscriptions for which have been repeatedly solicited, records over four thousand of the descendants of Alexander Resseguie, in eight generations, and would form a printed book of seven hundred pages. Its abandonment and the substitution of the present little work arise from the complete failure of the many efforts to obtain subscriptions at all approaching the cost of the former; while the latter is offered in order that the at- tainable facts of the early history may be preserved. The five generations noted herein, while containing but one-seventh of the descendants enumerated in the manuscript genealogy, cany the line of descent so near to the present day that searchers niay readily connect themselves with their ancestry, J. E. M. DE RESSEGUIER. ARMS. — RESSEGUIER. — ROUERGUE. " D'or a 1'arbre de sin. ; au chef cousu d'arg. ch. de txois roses de gu." Rietstat, Armorial General. A green tree upon a golden shield, a silver chevron having upon it three red roses. Appearances point chiefly to the province of Languedoc, in Southern France, as the ancient home of the Resseguie family ; and to Toulouse, the capital of the department of Haute-Garonne, as their native city. In such research as the means at his com- mand has permitted, the compiler has found the name in connec- nection with no other locality (excepting the neighboring province of Guienne), and therefore considers the assumption reasonable that the American family, though not directly traceable to that section, is of the same nativity as those whose names and deeds have been considered worthy of public record, and are thus pre- served to us. To the great regret of the compiler, he~h:-5 been unable to connect the American family with its French progeni- tors ; indeed, the early history of it prior to the settlement of its head in Xorwalk, Connecticut, is unknown, but in the absence of evidence to the contrary, it is safe to consider Alexander Resse- guie of Norwalk as the emigrant, and with him properly begins the family history. It will be of interest, however, to note such facts concerning others of the name as have been found, although largely contem- porary with the American family ; and beginning in order of date, the first is Dominique de Resseguier, who, in 1597, resigned his position as secular abbot* of the church of St. Afrodise-de- Beziers.t *Hercule de Gailhac fut nomine par le Roi le 22 Octobre, 1597, a l'abbaye seculiere de Saint Afrodise-de-Beziers sur hi demission de Dominique Resse- guier. — Hosiers, Armorial General. t Beziers is a town of Languedoc, in the department of H f rault, dating from 120 B. C. 5 RESSEGUIE GENEALOGY. Jean de Resseguier was born in Toulouse, July 22, 16S3, of a family originally of Rouergue,* which for three centuries furnished eminent magistrates to the Parliament of Toulouse. He, himself, was a member of that body, and president of its Chamber of Inquisition. He was elected judge in 1705, and the same year a member of the Jeux FloraiiK (a literary institute established in Toulouse in 1322 for the purpose of encouraging the art of poetry) ; later he became one of the founders of the Academy of Sciences of Toulouse. He died in that city, Sept. 25, 1753, leaving a number of unpublished works, among them a History of the Parliament of Toulouse, the manuscripc of which is still preserved. Clement Ignace de Resseguier (knight), son of Jean de Resseguier, was born in Toulouse, Nov. 23, 1724, and was intended from infancy as a member of the order of Malta (an order of chivalry, whose origin is traced to the Crusades) ; conse- quently, when young went to the island of Malta, where his vows were performed. After having won distinction in a number of expeditions against the infidels, he became general of the Galleys, amassed wealth, and had the advantage of a long residence in France. Chevalier de Resseguier. though gifted with wit, was naturally caustic, and imprudently directed a number of epigrams against people of influence, which resulted in his imprisonment in the Bastile. A keen satire upon Madame de Pompadour led to his detention in the Castle of If, from which he was released through the intercession of a friend. The property which he possessed in France having been lost through the Revolution, he retired to Malta, where he *.vas living when the place was surrendered to Bonaparte in 1798. He died the same year and was buried on the island. He was the author of quite a number of published works, both in poetry and prose. Louis Elizabeth Emanuel de Resseguier, Marquis of Miremont, grandson of Jean, and nephew of Clement Ignace de Resseguier, was born in Toulouse, May 15, 1755, and married Angelique Louise de Chastenet de Puysegur, grandniece of the Marshal de Puysc'gur, and niece of the Count de Puysegur, minis- ister of war under Louis XVI. His merit and high repu.tai.ion gained for him the position of advocate-general, at the age of 24. * Rouergue was an ancient district of France, in the eastern part of the province of Guienne. It is now included in the department of Aveyron. [DE RESSEGUIER, y In 17SS he was called to Versailles to take part in the Second Assembly of the leading notables of the kingdom. The ease with which he dispatched his duties, and the wisdom and sagacity displayed by him, made him a noticeable figure in the Assembly. Charged by his office of magistrate with the duty of suppress- ing the popular riots at Toulouse, he was one of the first exposed to the abuses of the Revolution. At his demand the Parliament of Toulouse refused to tran- scribe the decrees of the National Assembly, relative to the suppression of the courts of justice throughout the kingdom and the organization of a new judicial order, and he entered before the King and the people a solemn protest against the injuries done to society by the revolutionary innovations. The answer of the National Assembly to this was a decree denouncing the action of the Toulouse Parliament, and stigmatizing the protest of its attor- ney as the tocsin of rebellion, and commanding that the members who had taken a part in it be immediately arrested and brought before a tribunal, to be tried for the crime of rebellion. Fifty- three members of this Parliament died upon the scaffold, but Resseguier was so fortunate as to escape to the Spanish frontier and thence to England. Returning to France, he concealed himself for a number of years in Paris, until the re-establishment of peace restored him to liberty. He died of a sudden and violent illness, Aug. 2S, 1 80 1, as he was about starting to meet his family in Languedoc. Bernard Marie Jules de Resseguier (Count), son of the preceding, was born in Toulouse, Jan. 28, 1788. His pa- rents having fled from France, he passed several months with his grandmother (wife of the President de Resseguier) in prison, during the Terror, but upon the death of Robespierre regained his liberty. Later he was placed in the military school of Fon- tainebleau, and in 1806 had completed his studies and immedi- ately entered into service as an officer of cavalry in the campaigns of Spain and Poland. His health having greatly suffered in con- sequence of the exposure and hardships of a military life, he left the army and returned to his native land, where, in 1S11, he married Christine Pauline Charlotte de Mac-Mahon, and contin- ued to reside in Languedoc, devoting himself to poetic composi- tion. His first literary essays opened for him the doors of the Academy of the Jeux Floraux in 18 iS, and in 1822 he removed 2 S- RESSEGUIE GENEALOGY.