Person:Louis Michelet (1)

Louis was also known as Rev. The Mickley family were Huguenots who decended from the Michelets of Metz who have been traced back to the year 1444 in that city. Metz is an ancient city that dates to pre-Roman times. It was captured by Henry II, King of France, on April 10, 1552 and was formally ceded to France by the Peace of Westphilia on October 24, 1648. During the France-German war, Metz was beseiged by the Germans and Surrendered by the French on October 27, 1870. Metz remained a part of the German empire until 1919 when it became again part of France under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The Protestant religion was introduced to Roman Catholic France between 1520 and 1523. Originally they were accepted and protected by the French rulers, but as their numbers increased, they were considered a threat. A series of religious wars between Catholics and Protestants (now called Huguenots) ravaged France f rom 1562 to 1598 when the Edict of Nantes was proclaimed by Henry IV, King of France. This gave some religious freedom to the Huguenots until it was revoked by Louis XIV, King of France, in 1685. As a result, no marriage was solemnized in France in accordance with the Protestant religion. They therefore found it necessary to travel to the neighboring Dukedom of Dues Ponts or Zweibrucken, in the Bavarian Palatinate, to celebrate their marriage. Here, in the German Empire, they were free to openly practice their religion. According to Susan's diary, they were married there in 1697 and apparently remained in that city to await the birth and baptism of their first child, Jean Jacques Michelet. The family moved back to Metz by 1699 according to information in the Statistical Archives of Metz and in that year they openly declared their conversion to the Huguenot way and gave up Roman Catholicism. Four more children were born at Metz and in 1715, Louis, now a widower, declared that his five children had also converted to the self-styled 'Reformed Church.' At some point, Louis returned to Zweibruchen where he became a Protestant pastor and where he spent the rest of his life.

In the archives of Metz, Germany, we find the following record: 1699 - Louis Michelet and his wife, Suzanne, born Mangeot, new converts to this Huguenot way. Converted to God, not acknowledging Roman Catholicism. 1715 - Louis Michelet, a widorer, and his five children, Jean Jacques, Louis, Pierre, Barbe, Marie, new converts to the self-styled "Reformed Church"

_FSFTID: KGMN-F5T

1. ↑ Minnie F. Mickley, The Geneology of the Mickley Family of America.