LeBlonds in the French Protestant Church at Threadneedle Street

Starting in 1896, the Huguenot Society of London published a number of volumes listing the baptisms, marriages, and deaths from the French Protestant Church at Threadneedle Street in Spitalfields, London, England. The series was called The registers of the French Church, Threadneedle Street, London. The editors were Eglise de Threadneedle Street (London, England); the Huguenot Society of London; William John Charles Moens (1833-1904); and Thomas C. Colyer-Fergusson, (1865-1951).

Church Background

England welcomed Huguenots escaping from France during the years of their persecution there and again in 1685 after Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes. Many Huguenots settled in London where they established a church on Threadneedle Street in 1550. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 but rebuilt within three years. During the influx of French Protestants in and after 1685, many churches were founded in London, but none survives today. In 1841, the church moved from Threadneedle Street to St. Martine-Le-Grand where it remained until 1887. Thereafter it was moved to Soho square because many French residents and industries were to be found in Soho at the close of the 19th century.

I’ve extracted all the LeBlonds from the records and list them here.

Baptism, Marriage, Burial Registers

These are from four volumes titled Registers of the French Church of Threadneedle Street — Quarto Series vols. IX, XIII, XVI, and XXIII.

Volume 9

Volume 9 contains marriages from January 22, 1600, to December 26, 1636, and the Baptisms, January 13, 1600, to December 26, 1639. It was published in 1896. This book is online here: https://archive.org/details/registersoffrenc09egli

Below are images of the pertinent pages.

Below is a transcribed list of the entries that contain the LeBlond name followed by the year, page number, and type of record, in parentheses.

• Le Blond ou Blonne, Pierre, fils de Noel Le B., et de , sa femme. Tém. Jaques Maillio, Pierre de Cobec, la femme de Germain Del Malaize, la femme de Jaques Caborn. Août 9. (Baptisms, 1612, page 86.)
• Le Grin, Elizabeth, fille de Gerard le G. Tém. George Caron, Anne Bertrand, Judic le Blond. Mars 24. (1615, p99, baptisms)
• Du Vauchet, Ezechias, fils de Jan du V., et de Catherine Black, sa femme. Tém. Abraham de Lobell, Judic Le Blond, Françoise Herne. Juin 2. (1616, p102, baptisms)
• Lecoeur, Marie, fille de Robert L., et d’Anne Le Blond, sa femme. Tém. Denis Caillot, la femme [de] Jan Quipe, Catherine Barachet, femme de . Août 25. (1622, p129, baptisms)
• Le Coeur, Marie, fille de Robert Le C., et d’Anne Le Blond, sa femme. Tém. Simon Le Coeur, Marie Pinçon, femme de Emanuel Smith, Marie Caillot, fille. Mai 5. (1625, p141, baptisms)
• Galopin, Nicolas, fils de Pierre G. Tém. Nicolas Enpsal, Judic Knisse, femme de Roger Englebert, Susane le Blond. Déc. 21. (1634, p195, baptisms)

Volume 4

Published 1916

• Shelin.—éc. 10. Judith ff. de Charles S. et Marthe Leblond s. f. P. Le pere. M. Judith Gainnard. Née 20 Nov. (p124, baptisms, 1727)
• I Heude.—
  ars 13. Isaac f. d’Isaac H. et Elizabeth Hickerson. P. Guillaume Leblond. M. Elizabeth Creton. Né 8 Mars. Non membres. (p148, 1731, baptisms)
• Chelling.—Oct. 24. Elizabeth ff. de Charles C. et Marthe Leblond. P. Charles Chelling. M. Marthe Leblond. Née 27 Sept. (p182, 1736, baptisms)
• Martin.—Mars 28. George f. de François M. et Anne le Blond.5 P. George Vale. M. Susanne Hodges. Né 7 Mars. ( p328, 1785, baptisms)

Tesmoignages

The LeBlond names here are taken from the book titled Tesmoignages de l’Eglise de Threadneedle Street 1669-1789 which translates to Register of Members of the French Protestant Church at Threadneedle Street. It was published by the Huguenot Society of London in 1909. This is volume 21. You can find it online at archive.org. This book is a transcription of original records of the Threadneedle Street Church in London and records admissions and membership information.

The Transcription

In the church archives are two books that list the names of its members. Entries date from 1669 to 1789. Parts of the book show water and fire damage and are missing or not legible. There are close to 13,00 entries total. The Huguenot Society of London (established 1885) transcribed the entries from these two books and published the work in a volume given the above title in 1909. Only 450 copies were printed by the Spottiswoode & Co. Ltd., New-Street Square, E.C. (The Winterthur Library has a copy, catalog number DA25 H89.) The entries were arranged alphabetically by surname.

Candidates for Admission

Because of the persecution of French Protestants and the danger of spies and informers, a candidate for admission to the congregation was required to present a témoignage, or certificate from the church from which he came, guaranteeing that he was of the faith. In this case the entry reads, “T. xxx” where xxx is the name of the location from where the témoignage comes or the name of the person providing it. If the candidate had no such certificate he could be vouched for by someone who knew him – “connu”.

LeBlonds listed in registers:

Le Blon, Geneuieue: natiue Rouen: fille de Francois: 16 ans | 22 June 1687
Le Blon, Elizabeth: 16 ans: de Londres. T. Madle Moutier | 31 March 1731
Le Blon, Gilleaume. T. Messrs. Giles et Gilhie | 26 November 1752
Le Blon, Guillaume | 29 June 1755
Le Blond, Catherine | 30 July 1679
Le Blond, Pierre. T. Rouen | 30 July 1679
Le Blond, Elisabeth: fem. d’Isaac Le Leu. T. Rouen | 25 June 1684
Le Blond, Madelaine: Confesseur | 7 December 1692
Le Blond, Isaac et Marth, sa fem. T. Mr Butell | 26 December 1703
Le Blond, Jean: 18 ans: né à Londres | 30 August 1721
Le Blond, Elizabet: Londres. T. Mr Gougars | 27 April 1740
Le Blond, Robert & Madelaine, sa fem. | 25 September 1743
LeBlons, Robert: 18 ans. T. son père | 30 July 1749
Le Blond, Jacques | 30 October 1698

My line of LeBlonds is the Robert and Madelaine, his wife, listed as members on September 25, 1743. These are my greatx8 grandparents. The other Robert in the list, Robert LeBlons, I believe to be the son of Robert and Madelaine. Born in 1732 in London, he would have been 18 years old in 1749, the date shown for him in the register. Names were spelled phonetically so the different surname does not preclude Robert from being a LeBlond. I believe the Guillaume Le Blon to be the third son of Robert and Madelaine. Born in 1736, he would have been about 18 years old on 29 June 1755, the date for his entry in the register. Missing from the register are the names of Robert and Madelaine’s second and fourth sons, Pierre, born 1734, and Abraham, born 1738.

All of the LeBlonds I have discovered who have geographical data pertaining to them come from the area of Normandy, France. So far, I have not found any LeBlonds from other areas of France. My current assumption is that my line of LeBlonds came from Normandy.

Of the fourteen LeBlonds listed above, three come from Rouen, in Normandy (department is Seine-Maritime). In the Threadneedle register (where a location is noted) there are listed 269 people from Rouen and 834 from the department of what is today Seine-Maritime (region Haute Normandie).

Only 126 entries have an occupation listed. 51 of these list a textile trade as the occupation. The remainder are mostly artisans.