#laurens family

[foryourownbosom]

portrait of a young artist, c. 1760s

(happy birthday dear john! 🌻)

[pythiaswine]

what a nice thought, that they might've had a funeral after digging up his original grave near where he died so they could move him to the family plot. something something

[pub-lius]

Hello, I was wondering if you have information on John Laurens’s family? Like, all of them; in depth? Also any sources where you learned the information? Sorry if this is bothersome, I’m just trying and failing to write smth about Laurens that centers around him and is also historically accurate.

hey gang

yes i do!! i have this post as another post about john laurens floating around but i cant find it. i have many posts about him that are tagged with his name if you want previous questions about him or whatever. that biographical information is also included in the google doc linked at the bottom of my pinned post. i believe that doc also contains the online sources i used but most of my laurens-related information comes from John Laurens and the American Revolution by Gregory D. Massey, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow and George Washington’s Indispensable Men by Arthur S. Lefkowitz (which is a very Laurens-centric book)

also that is so exciting and if you feel comfortable sharing your writing i would love to read it!! nothing heals me like historical accuracy even if its like the tiniest detail that gets mentioned.

also also you didn’t ask for this but i also just wanted to remind you and any other writers who may use my blog for information, you dont need to make everything historically accurate. like it isn’t that fucking deep. the fic im writing rn (read private interest on ao3 xoxo) is like so far from accurate. i used to be a huge stickler for accuracy but it just is Not That Deep. you can write about whatever the fuck you want, and if you want to, use historical fact to ENHANCE your writing with cultural information, foreshadowing, symbolism, small references to outside events, and those other things that make the story feel well rounded and complex. have fun writing and dont let people with sticks up their asses tell you you’re doing it wrong

[yr-obedt-cicero]

Do eleborate

After Henry decided to take his three boys, Harry, Laurens, and Jemmy to Europe for their education, Jemmy seems to have caught small pox. After recovering he reportedly gained some noticable weight reported in a letter from Henry Laurens to Peter Nephew, [December 20, 1771];

My Sons, thank God, are very well. I wish this may find you and your family as well, and that you may long continue so. Your Acquaintance Jemmy is now scribbling by me. He has pass'd safely through the Small Pox and is now as fat as a little Pig. He desires me to give his best Compliments to Mr. & Mrs. Nephew, and thank them for their kindness to him when he was in Distress.

Laurens, Henry. The papers of Henry Laurens. United States, University of South Carolina Press, 1968.

(Italics are mine)

[affectionately-frankie]

Francis Henderson Sr’s Family

i’m back for a little bit to share what i’ve learned about Francis Henderson Sr’s wife and kids after he moved to Newport, Rhode Island. i am unsure if any of this information has been discovered and shared in the time i’ve been gone, and if so, i’m sorry for repeating information. i haven’t been on Tumblr since my last post, iirc, and i don’t feel like checking, i’m sorry!

For quick background, in Francis Sr’s letters to John Adams, he says that he is living in Rhode Island and briefly visiting South Carolina. Reminiscences of Abbeville also states that Francis Sr lived in Newport and vacationed in South Carolina during the summer. It also states that after he left Junior in Scotland and moved to Rhode Island, he got remarried and had children.

The first of this information is a Newport census report from 1850.

Listed is a 71-year-old man named Francis Henderson, who it says was born in Scotland, which matches Frances Laurens’ ex-husband. Included in the household is a 53-year-old woman named Elizabeth, a woman named Janet, and a man named Robert, both in their twenties. Also included is a woman named Jane Armstrong, who it says was born in Ireland.

Using this information, I was able to find a Find A Grave connected. The cemetery the grave is connected in is located in Newport.

The grave lists three people, Francis Henderson, his wife Elizabeth Gouffran, and their daughter Janet Carruthers. There is a discrepancy, as their graves say Francis died at 80 on March 24, 1853, and Elizabeth died at 75 on March 7, 1855, while the census states they were 71 and 53 in 1850. Janet’s age is also discrepent, but I’m inclined to believe these are the same people, and I’m more inclined to believe that their graves display their accurate ages. This estimates his birth year as 1773 / 1774, meaning he was 21 or 22 when he married 18-year-old Frances Laurens.

Find A Grave connects this grave to that of a man named William H. Henderson, born in 1816. If this is the son of Francis Henderson and Elizabeth Gouffran, the H likely stands for Hoggan, as another grave found is for a nine-year-old girl named Elizabeth Hoggan Henderson, the “eldest daughter of Francis & Elizabeth G. Henderson.” A grave for a Robert J., who was listed on the 1850 census, is not connected. However, a Newport record does list the death of a Robert James Henderson, born est. 1826 and died in 1914, and is described as the son of Francis Henderson and Elizabeth G. Henderson.

With this knowledge, my personal current belief is that after arriving in Rhode Island, Francis Henderson Sr remarried to Elizabeth Gouffran, and they had at least three children, possibly four or more, including daughters named Elizabeth and Janet, a son named Robert, and possibly another son named William. Unlike Francis Junior, all of these children remained in Newport, Rhode Island. There is no evidence that, unlike their father, they vacationed in South Carolina as they are not mentioned in Reminiscences despite it otherwise being very information heavy. They likely never left / moved away from Newport, unlike their older half-brother.

[goblinqueen97]

The historical drama between the Gadsden and Laurens family paternal figures was REAL.

[lil-gae-disaster]

Tbh I'm crying over the whole Laurens family- John Generation.

:c they all deserved better.

it's 2023 and I'm still crying over people who have been dead for over 200 years

[gollancz]

Guys. Christmas is coming. Consumerism is in the driver's seat and GAWD don't I know about the existential ennui of all these faceless corporations trying to schill you their wares. It's cold. Impersonal. Bleak.

So I, a fellow tumblr user, will instead try to schill you MY wares, so that when you purchase these items you can say "Hey, that person from tumblr worked on this", and feel the warmth of HUMAN CONNECTION in a way that is completely normal and not parasocial at all. We really are friends. I promise. Yes, you. Love you, bestie. Remember the boop war? Good times. Fond memories.

THIRTEEN STOREYS and FAMILY BUSINESS by Jonathan Sims

Tumblr's favourite Nightmare Factory @jonnywaistcoat has two novels out and they're phenomenal horror that also punch you in the throat with SOCIAL COMMENTARY and FEELINGS. He's so adept at tapping into the specific part of my brain that feels fear like a small child - not the adult creepy scared that I normally get around horror, but specifically the kind of fear that almost freezes your limbs and vocal chords with a terror you don't quite understand because there is so much in the world that you don't know, but you know that somehow this thing might be quick enough or smart enough or sneaky enough to get you before you can get to the safety of your parents sort of fear.

THIRTEEN STOREYS is a haunted house novel, but set in a refurbished block of flats. Each chapter follows a different resident being haunted in a different way, with a style to match the flavour of ghost. It's all tied together phenomenally and brutally.

FAMILY BUSINESS is a story about ghosts in a different way, following a woman who joins a post-mortem house cleaning service while grieving the death of her best friend. But as she removes the stains from the houses of the dead, she begins to suspect something else is removing even more.

Both of these titles are available from Gollancz worldwide!

THE LAST UNICORN, THE WAY HOME, THE INNKEEPER'S SONG and A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE by Peter S. Beagle

Obviously Peter's work needs no introduction, and our editions aren't available in the US and Canada, but I've had a wonderful time working with Peter and his team to bring these beautiful books back to the UK. Meeting him at Worldcon this year was such a magical moment, and he was jet-lagged and I had gone through sleep deprived into hyper and was bringing an Extremely Weird Energy to every interaction I had that day, resulting in this photo:

THE LAST UNICORN and THE WAY HOME are a matched pair of wonderful fairy stories. THE WAY HOME has two novellettes in it, and the first - 'Two Hearts' - won the Hugo award. It will also destroy you.

A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE was Peter's first ever novel, and it's wistful and romantic and so beautiful.

THE INNKEEPER'S SONG is his epic fantasy quest, it's an adventure story that reads almost lyrically. Also there's an orgy in the middle which caught me by surprise when I was reading it for the first time on the train into work.

HIGH VAULTAGE by Chris and Jen Sugden

It's possible that someone on this website doesn't know I was involved with this book but don't worry, I will HUNT THEM DOWN AND TELL THEM. This is the first book I took all the way through the editorial process from end to end and I am SO PROUD of it and Chris and Jen and their wonderful world of @victoriocity. Officially one of the seven funniest books published in the UK this year, shortlisted for the Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. It's a chaotic, bonkers murder mystery set in an alternate Victorian London which is the most gleeful dystopia I have ever encountered.

Featuring:

Grumpy Sunshine besties

The Victorian Equivalent of the Chuck Norris Meme

A robot who undertook a course in People Management

An indefatigable beagle

This is another book that you can get from Gollancz all over the world, and you SHOULD because it's amazing. Go into your local bookshop and ask them to order it into stock. It's a great Christmas present. It's my firstborn book baby (like that's a completely normal thing to say when I didn't even write it). Also if you're a fan of the podcast, why not tell the Guardian how great it is, and make a nuisance of yourself until they review. (I would, but the form asks for your name and then they'd know I didn't suddenly discover Victoriocity this year. Either that or think I was a very careless editor.) If you've not listened to the podcast yet, you absolutely should. It pings all my Douglas Adams receptors in the best way. If you like HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE, if you like CABIN PRESSURE, VICTORIOCITY is the perfect addition.

HAMMAJANG LUCK by Makana Yamamoto

SLIGHTLY cheating because HAMMAJANG LUCK isn't out in North America until January (pre-orders make great Christmas presents guys), but it IS out in the UK and the rest of the world next week! This is my second big editorial project and it's a Big Gay Space Heist ft. disaster lesbians, trans characters, and a tech billionaire getting put in his place. It's joyous and energetic and crammed full of Hawaiian pidgin as a love letter to the diaspora. @makana-yama is a phenomenal writer and this is their love letter to their communities, families both born and found, while also a statement on the victims of gentrification (and how those are disproportionally BIPOC communities). PLUS:

friends to enemies to cautious allies to lovers

trans cyborgs

Suck It Space Elon

You know that One Scene in Charlie's Angels where Cameron Diaz is in the white body suit and breaking into the safe and has to stretch out to hit two buttons at once? Yeah. That's the vibe.

Being able to work with Makana is a delight, and HAMMAJANG tapped into all the feelings I got watching LEVERAGE for the first time, so I went to watch it again while I was editing. Also OCEAN'S 8.

DEEP BLACK by Miles Cameron

So, barring Branderson, Miles Cameron may be one of our most prolific authors. He writes a minimum two books a year, one SFF and one historical fiction (as Christian Cameron) and he is... An absolute phenomenon. He IS the Chuck Norris meme. I'm obsessed with him. He's former US military intelligence turned naturalised Canadian Hippy, has written over fifty novels, can turn his hand to any genre and write it fantastically, is a practical archaeologist - running large scale re-enactments from a variety of periods ranging from Bronze Age right the way up to the Victorian era, using traditional techniques to allow academics to study how the practicalities of weapons, clothes, food etc. would have worked in practice. Two years ago he won a medieval combat tournament in Verona, a clear ten years older at least than the next oldest competitor, he teaches Historical European Martial Arts, but ties it into the history of martial arts globally. He can make his own clothes, ink, leatherwork. He's a ballet dancer. I once took him for a day out and he ended it in a different shirt and shoes from the ones he'd started in. I asked him for an author photo and he sent me this:

DEEP BLACK is the sequel to his critically acclaimed SF debut ARTIFACT SPACE, where he has taken his research and experience of global historical cultures and extrapolated to create an interplanetary future where the best of all are celebrated. And then Aliens Happen. And then, in reaction, Capitalism Happens (which is covered in the short story collection BEYOND THE FRINGE).

He's such a thoughtful and erudite speaker, if you're curious about his work, I'd recommend listening to his episodes on the Friends Talking Fantasy podcast, and also his appearance on The Publishing Rodeo.

If SF isn't your bag, he's also got:

Arthurian fantasy

Bronze Age fantasy

Medieval Mages fantasy

A CURSE OF CROWS - Lauren Dedroog

I actually inherited Lauren when a colleague of mine departed for fresh pastures, which gave me the great opportunity to work on this series which is so vastly different from my usual fare. It's epic, sweeping, romantic and lush, with such detailed description and complex political machinations, while also being brutal, dark and heavy (tw: for sexual assault, torture etc, etc.). If you like Sarah J Maas and Cassandra Clare, this should hit the sweet spot. Lauren is an ICU nurse when not writing, and this was somehow created when she was putting in a million hours in hospitals during COVID. The feat boggles my mind.

A CURSE OF CROWS is out now in the UK, Australia and Europe, and it won the People's Choice for Standaard Boek's Book of the Year award in 2023, in her home country of Belgium. It will be hitting shelves in North America next September! A DANCE OF SERPENTS is where I get to pick up the editorial mantle, and that has just landed in my inbox this week so I am excited to dig in.

Featuring:

Harold, they're lesbians

Murder baby is actually a cinnamon roll

Sensitive wings are sexy

For serious, though, I'm lucky enough to work with a lot of authors I'm genuinely obsessed and astounded by. And yes, I do get to work on Joe Abercrombie, Brandon Sanderson and Andrzej Sapkowski, but they're not MY authors - they're led by the incredible Gillian and Marcus who I'm not 100% certain sleep. There are so many people on the Gollancz list who I could recommend for DAYS (and will, if you so request), but this is my stable of superstars.

[wistfulwatcher]

in a n o t h e r life

[glenscowboyhat]

going through my camera roll and i found this video that i screen recorded from glen’s sisters instagram 😂

source: laurenpowellwhatton on instagram, november 30, 2024

[rmsstevielol]

i am sobbing so hard at this

painting lessons

[petalsfordany]

Courtney Eaton unintentionally being a comedian and wonderful

[thefrsers]

#WE ARE SO BACK😭😭😭

[yr-obedt-cicero]

Do you have any info on John's French ancestry? His grand or great grandparents were French and I am fascinated by what influence they could have had on him/his relationship with being French, especially during his """diplomacy""" trip

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that Laurens had any major influence by his heritage in general.

Laurens was French Huguenot on his father's side. The immigration of French Huguenots moving to Charleston was actually quite common and predated Laurens's ancestors. A colony of Huguenots arrived in South Carolina, Charleston, having been sent out by the English Government to enltivate oil, wine and silk. But the larger immigration came in 1685-6, when French Protestants flocked to the State in great numbers. They formed four settlements, one in the City of Charleston, and the other three in the country, where they erected Churches in each settlement. [x]

There appears to be no ground for the late 20th century claim that the family descended from André du Laurens, the physician of both Henry IV. and his queen, Marie de' Medici, Chancellor of the University of Montpellier, the author of extensive medical works and belonging to the lower nobility. Henry Laurens knew nothing of such a connection, and never supported it. But while it is also highly improbable, there is also to consider that someone like Henry - descended far too down the line to properly recollect such an account - would have known or not known of it with any sincerity. The theory mostly stems from John Laurens's similarly named great-grandfather, André Laurens, who left France only seventy-three years after the death of André du Laurens. But hypothetically, he would also have been quite likely to keep his name Du Laurens, as that of the physician, like all the other descents had. And there would be no reason to doubt he would have cherished this relation from one of the most distinguished savants of his time.

It's hard to trace the Laurenses with the little record surviving of them, the name was common in the west and southeast of France and was borne by many families having no known connection at all, so much so, that many years before John Laurens's family left France there were numbers of Laurenses in New York, sometimes with the same Christian names as the ones from JL's folks. But it is known André was native of the Catholic France—And his family hailed from Annonay, Vivaris Province. André's father, Jean Laurent (Laurens), was a merchant in Rochelle, and died before 1681, leaving his widow, Elizabeth Menigaut (Manigault) and their son André. They resided in the parish of Saint Sauveur. Among the closest and oldest friends of the Laurenses was the family of Daniel Lucas, also a merchant of Rochelle, who owned a small farm nearby Périgny. Like other Huguenots, the Laurenses left France for the hope of religious freedom—In the wake of Louis XIV's efforts to stamp out Protestantism, when the pressure of persecution was becoming heavier; André, his mother, and Daniel alongside his wife, Jeanne Marchand, with their four children, fled to England in 1682. Jeanne Lucas soon died in her new home, but the friendship between the families grew into a closer bond when her daughter, Marie Lucas, and André were married in the French church in Threadneedle Street, February 22, 1688. [x]

The Laurenses tried their fortunes in Ireland, and then later, Marie and André settled first in New Jersey, then in New York City. [x] Where many of their kin had immigrated to priorly, some of the family fled from the persecution in France to Holland. The new-comers in New York were not among strangers, for the numerous colonies whose interests centered around the French church were a sympathetic community, living very much its own distinct life, and there are several reasons for supposing that they had Laurens relatives in the town. In the Collections Huguenot Society of America there is plenty of correspondence from André and his family to others, and even an account of a mother and son in 1700 as witnesses at the marriage of a Jean Laurens and Marie Benereau.

It was there on the 30th of March, 1697, Marie gave birth to the third of their five children, Jean Samuel Laurens (Possible namesake of their new friend, Samuel Grasset). While in New York, the Laurenses befriended another family of Huguenot refugees, the Grassets, who fled from France about the same time as the Laurenses and Lucases. Jean - age nineteen - married Esther Grasset - age fifteen or sixteen - shortly before André decided to uproot his family again. Finally, they sailed and moved to Carolina around 1715, where many Huguenots had already settled. Charleston served as the provincial capital as well as the economic heart of the low country.

André died soonly after arriving in Charleston. David Duncan Wallace describes him as; “as a man of piety, shrewdness and force. At the time when the humble foundations were being laid for the great fortunes and family careers which the next two generations were to witness, he did his part in giving his children their start in the race.” [x] His grandson, Henry Laurens, later recalled that he; “had Saved So much Money as enabled him” to provide his five children “with Such portions as put them above low dependance.” [x]

But after André's death, little cultural preservation is noticable in the family. Henry says “Some of them retained the French pride of Family, & were content to die poor. My Father [Jean S. Laurens] was of different Sentiments, he learned a Trade, & by great Industry acquired an Estate with a good Character & Reestablished the Name of his Family.” [x] After the family moved to Charleston, Jean chose to anglicanize his name, and he became known as John, whom John Laurens was named after. Both Jean and his wife were born Americans, ‘the French pride of family’ died out in a generation or two with little resemblance left. Instead to keep his family afloat; like most Huguenots, Jean immersed himself in the South Carolinaian traditions and culture. He learned the trade of saddler at the bench and followed it with such industry as to make himself a much-respected citizen. Over time he prospered in his trade and invested in real estate. He also joined the established Anglican church, where he served as warden of St. Philip’s Parish, and he owned at least five slaves. Yet he remained ambivalent toward the institution that formed the basis of South Carolina's prosperity. On one occasion, he made a cryptic prediction that slavery would eventually collapse. [x]

It was said that Jean; “gave his children the best education which (Charleston) afforded.” [x] Jean seems to have had solid expectations for Henry, as his education was directed into merchantry. Henry journeyed overseas to receive further training, in 1744 Jean sent Henry to London to work in the counting house of the respected merchant James Crokatt. In 1747 Henry finished his apprenticeship and returned to South Carolina. He didn't learn Latin or Greek, and barely knew French himself—As he only seems to have had fluently spoken a few expressions, which might indicate that as a man he picked up a small amount of French. But later he requested a friend to translate his letter of 1774 to the Poictiers Laurences into French, stating that he could not write in the language. [x]

And it seems that Henry wasn't interested in reconnecting his family to their French heritage either, as JL did not learn French at a very young age. He only eventually took up the language at age thirteen, on December 28, 1767, which was basic schooling for the wealthy class at the time period;

My Jack has made an Amazing progress in French from the 28th December when he enter'd upon that branch, I say so because those who are good Judges & can't flatter tell me so, & I know a little of the Matter too.

Source — Henry Laurens to John Moultrie, [January 28, 1768]

Laurens's conduct in France was also quite grounded on his identity as an American Patriot (A headstrong one) and cultural unfamiliarity that he broke their etiquette. So, it is quite apparent JL's generation of the family were not tightly knit to their heritage. As it was commonly accustomed - similarly to this day - that immigrants convert their traditions and cultural aspects to match their new country of residence, especially those who traveled to the colonies.

Sources:

John Laurens and the American Revolution, by Gregory D. Massey

Huguenot Church in Charleston, by Margaret Middleton Rivers Eastman, Richard Donohoe & Maurice Eugenie Horne Thompson, with Robert P. Stockton

The Life of Henry Laurens: With a Sketch of the Life of Lieutenant-Colonel John Laurens, by David Duncan Wallace

Collections of the Huguenot Society of America, Volume 1

[affectionately-frankie]

I did more surface level research on Francis Henderson Sr's family. I did some basics back in March, which you can see here. Something else that is important for later information is the research into the possible descendants of Francis Henderson Jr, which you can find here. With new evidence that's popped up, I think it's even more likely that Francis Henderson Jr possibly had a child.

To start, as far as I'm aware, there seems to only be evidence of four children by Francis Sr and his second wife, Elizabeth. William Hoggan Henderson (1816 - 1897), Elizabeth Hoggan Henderson (d. 1828 aged nine), Janet Henderson Carruthers (1822 - 1856), and Robert James Henderson (c. 1826 - c. 1914).

William married a woman named Mary (1817 - 1906). The couple only had one child, Anna, born 1849 and died 1855 at the age of six.

Janet obviously married due to her surname, but I couldn't find any information regarding her marriage, or if she had any children. It's likely that the marriage was short-lived and childless, as she died at 34 and was buried with her parents.

Robert has the most sources out of all of his siblings (including Francis Jr). Robert married a woman named Haley Russel Salisbury. Apparently, she was born in France. They had at least three children, a daughter named Mary Phillips Henderson, born c. 1862, and another daughter born in 1865 probably named Isabel Henderson. They had another son, William H Henderson, born c. 1869.

I couldn't find any later sources for Mary or Isabel (but to be completely honest, I didn't look too hard), but I found one for William. He married a woman named either named Bertha or Elizabeth and had four children. Mary, born c. 1892, William, born c. 1895, George, born c. 1900, and....Mahala, born 1906.

Now, if you read the research I did on the supposed descendants of Francis Jr, you probably had the same reaction I did, of "Hmm??? Mahala???" While I initially wrote it off as a wild coincidence, when I went back to all of my previous research on Mahala (who, for the uninitiated, was allegedly the only surviving grandchild of Francis Jr), it actually lines up shockingly well. Mahala, her husband Coleman, and their children all moved to Rhode Island sometime between 1898 and 1900. I even pointed out in my post that the fact Mahala and her family decided to go to Rhode Island, where their supposed great-grandfather's family lived, was interesting. And Mahala isn't exactly a common name, even in this time period.

I don't know. It seems pretty likely to me that Mahala got into contact with her maybe-cousins and decided to go live with them. It's obviously just speculation; it could just be a wild coincidence.

I haven't done any further research because I was just eager to share after being gone for apparently eight months.