Person:Auguste Grassett (1)

Auguste Grassett, also called Augustus Grassett, was a Huguenot schoolmaster, merchant and public official, born 18 January 1645, at La Rochelle in France and there baptized in the Huguenot Temple de la ville neuve 5 February 1645 ( Registres protestants, Archives departmentales de la Rochelle, Temple de la ville neuve 5 fevrier 1645. hereafter referred to as: Arch. la Rochelle). He was the son of Pierre and Elizabeth (Coustardeur) Grasset whose marriage in the same church took place 7 December 1642 (Arch. la Rochelle). The Huguenot faith was representative of nobility and the upper class, until becoming politically unfavorable.

In 1652 Louis XIV, King of France, confirmed the Edict of Nantes (1598) of his grandfather Henry IV. However, an assembly of the catholic clergy in 1655, called for a stricter interpretation of the edict; their assembly of 1660 asked the King to close all Huguenot colleges and hospitals, and to exclude Huguenots from public office. By 1664 advancement to mastership in the guilds (trades) was made especially difficult for any but Catholics. In 1665 boys of fourteen and girls of twelve were authorized to accept conversion to Catholicism and to leave their parents, who were thereafter required to pay them an annuity for their support. In 1666 the King expressed his appreciation of Huguenot loyalty during the Fronde... but the Huguenots were forbidden to establish new colleges, or to maintain academies for the education of the young nobility. In 1669 the emigration of Huguenots was made punishable with arrest if they were captured, and confiscation of goods; and anyone who aided a Huguenot to emigrate was subject to condemnation to the galleys for life. The catholic assembly of 1670 recommended that children who had reached their seventh birthday should be deemed legally capable of abjuring the Huguenot heresy, and that those who so abjured should be removed from their parents; in 1675 their assembly demanded that mixed marriages be declared null, and that the offspring of such marriages be classed as illegitimate. In 1685 King Louis XIV. of France - who had earlier had himself declared the Protector of Catholicism - formally revoked the Edict of Nantes. French dragoons, already in 1681, were ordered to evict French protestants. The Dragonnard campaigns were conducted during the years following the order, and caused ten thousands of Huguenots, Waldensians (in French : Vaudois; in the Alpine regions bordering on Savoy), Lutherans (from the Alsace) to emigrate, others nominally to convert to Catholicism. Some were arrested, sentenced and sent to the galleys. In most cases the Dragonnards met no resistance, but in some areas, such as the Waldensian valleys, actual military campaigns were fought.

In 1672 the Huguenot church register recorded the marriage of Auguste Grasset, age 27 merchant, to Marie Pele, age 28, daughter of the late Pierre and Marie (Gautier) Pele. Arch la Rochelle 27 janvier 1672.

He and his family fled La Rouchelles and made safe passage to London, England and on to New York by 1681. Auguste continued in his previous occupation(s) as well as taking on the title of Master of the Weigh House and served as the "Chef de famille" of the first (Independent) French Church in New York.

The first independent French Church was organized under the Rev. Pierre Daille who had been a professor at the French Protestant college of Saumur before it was closed by order of the king and its faculty banished. Seeking refuge in Holland, Mr. Daille then went to London where he received Anglican holy orders. He came to America to work with the French and Dutch, not only in Manhattan, but in the surrounding area, going on a regular schedule to Huguenot communities in New Paltz, Staten Island, and New Jersey. In 1687 he was aided by the arrival of the Rev. Pierre Peiret, a native of Languedoc in the South of France. Concentrating on the French of New York while Mr. Daille continued his work in the surrounding area, Mr. Peiret organized the first French congregation to have its own edifice. This small church was located on what was then called Petticoat Lane, later Marketfield Street. Today it is Battery Place between Broadway and West Streets. It was called simply "L'Eglise Francaise a la Nouvelle York." However, Huguenot immigration was so great that after a few years the congregation became too large for the building. In 1704 a new and larger church (pictured below) was built at the corner of Pine and Nassau Streets and was called, for the first time, "Le Temple du Saint-Esprit." It was to serve the parish for the next 130 years. The church was a simple rectangular building, 50 by 75 feet. Beside it was a graveyard. There was a wooden fence on the sides which bordered the streets. It possessed a small tower which was surmounted by a cupola. By all accounts, it looked like a small country church.

Auguste was a beloved man, not-only by members of his church and fellow expatriated Huguenots, cherished by friend and neighbor.

In the early hours of a crisp April morning in 1712, the ministers house was set afire. Men of the village rushed to the aid and protection of all... and fell into a perilous, murderous trap which was badly orchestrated by a group of slaves (who had been imported from a Dutch settlement called Cormentine). Auguste was stabbed in the neck as he rushed out of his home to extinguish the fire. 39 slaves were indicted for murder, 23 were convicted and 16 acquitted (see Kenneth Scott, "The Slave Insurrection in New York in 1712," New-York Historical Society Quarterly 45 ( 1961): 48).

Death Notes: "Robert Hunter, Esq., Captain-General and Governor. Whereas Augustus Grassett, of New York, died intestate, Letters of Administration are granted to Louis De Bonis, who married his daughter Hester, Joseph Oldfield, of Jamaica, Long Island, who married his daughter Martha, and Henry Money of Richmond County, who married his daughter Mary. April 19, 1712."

1. ↑ HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, DAVID T.VALENTINE
   pp. 351.

   List of the inhabitants of the city in 1703: "Grassett, Augustus 1 male, 1 female, 1 negress"