Person:Abraham Gindrat (1)

The Gindrats were a French Hugenot family who had fled to Bern, Switzerland, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in October 1685, by Louis XIV. And from Bern, the family journeyed to South Carolina with Jean Pierre de Pury: "In mid November 1732, Colonel Jean Pierre de Pury, sometimes spelled “Purry,” arrived from Switzerland with the first boatload of German and French-speaking Protestant Swiss immigrants. They were bound for the new settlement of Purrysburg thirty-five miles up the Savannah River on the South Carolina side. This and successive boatloads of Pury-led settlers began their journey from Neuchatel, near Switzerland’s border with France. Some were natives of Neuchatel. Some came from other parts of Switzerland. These Swiss, seeking a better life in the New World, made their way from Neuchatel overland to the nearest seaport, Genoa, Italy. From there they sailed for America. Pury laid out the town bearing his name in a six mile perimeter along the northern side of the river. By the end of five years, the town contained some 600 Swiss settlers."

Abraham had six known children: 1. Daniel Henry Gindrat, 2. Abraham Henry Gindrat; 3. Catherine Gindrat; 4. Louis Gindrat; 5. Mary Magdalene Gindrat; 6. Marguerite Gindrat.