Mays Family Tree - Person Sheet
NameHenri Boneval de LA TROBE 
1547
1547Birth Date26 Sep 1670
Birth PlaceVillemur, Haute-Garonne, Mid-Pyrenees, FRANCE
Chr Date12 Oct 1670 Age: <1
Chr PlaceVerhac, Tarn-Et-Garonne, Mid-Pyrenees, FRANCE
Death Date1760-1765
Burial PlaceDublin, Dublin, IRELAND
OccupationLinen Manufacturer, Waterford, IRELAND, 1715-1730
MotherAdelaide de MONTGOMERY
Misc. Notes
General source identifies him as “Count Jean Henri Latrobe”
After 1685 he left France for Holland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Before 1690 joined Army of the Prince of Orange, Holland.
1690 fought under William III at Battle of Boyne, Ireland.
Resident of Dublin, Ireland.
Presently, he is referred to as John Bonneval de La Trobe and/or John the Refugee. According to John Henry de La Trobe, he signed his name "Bonneval de Latrobe", but no one knows why as there is no connection between the Latrobe and Bonneval families.
He is listed as James de La Trobe in Talbot Hamlin's book Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Jean "John" Latrobe is the ancestor of the English, American, Australian and German branches of the Latrobe family.
He is also listed as Jean Henri Latrobe, the elder son of Michel Henri Latrobe in the Papers of Robert Penel.
He is the nearest common ancestor to all non-French Latrobe descendants living today.
In his "Livre de Famille" written in 1830, Jean-Joachim Latrobe only shows the meager knowledge he had received by word of mouth about the oldest brother of his grandfather which was as follows:
"Jean, the oldest son (of Michel Latrobe and Maffré Raimond), born at Villemur on September 26th, 1670, christened on the following October 12th by Mr. Resseguerie, Protestant minister, preacher of the Reformed Church of Verhlac; godfather, Jean Barthe, inhabitant of Montauban; godmother, Jeanne de Raimond, wife of François Pécholier, inhabitant of Villemur (from him has descended the Pécholier family of Caussade)."
"There is no other information about this Jean, except that he was dismissed on November 28th, 1688, from the 'Compagnie du Chevalier de Cominges', where he had served during two months only."
"A tradition of my family bears that this Jean received a beautiful education; that he left his mother already widow with a view to go to America; that he embarked in Bordeaux together with Pécholier, his first cousin, son of an Alexis Raimond's daughter; and that one has got no news about him since that time."
In a footnote, Jean-Joachim adds: "In all likelihood, from this Jean has descended the Latrobe family of England. N. B. Michel Latrobe bought from Anne Delhoste of Montauban the house and farm of Varennes on July 3rd, 1675. In the garden of this house is the grave of my ancestors, who all have been Protestant."
Jean-Joachim is totally right to express his information with great cautiousness. We know today that a part of it is wrong. For instance we know that Michel Latrobe was still alive in 1698, ten years after Jean left.
We have investigated about the 'Compagnie du Chevalier de Cominges' in order to know the reason why Jean was dismissed so quickly.
First of all we have found the draft of a letter written in 1677 (see #418 by a minister of the King, most probably Louvois, to the 'Commandant du Régiment de Cominge' which confirms that a unit of troops with this name existed at that time. Moreover Cominge (which later on was written Cominges, then Comminges) is the name of a Pyrenean county, 90 miles south-west from Montauban, that belonged to the royal domain since mid 1400's. The name given to this Régiment could be related either to the place of origin of its troops, or to its owner (since a Chevalier de Cominge, aide-de-camp of Louis XIV, also existed at that time), or to both. Anyhow, the reference to Cominges transmitted by word of mouth down to Jean-Joachim is most probably right.
But Jean-Joachim talks of 'Compagnie' instead of 'Régiment'. It seems that corresponds to a certain measure taken by the King in the frame of his policy aiming at the conversion of Huguenots, as explained in #435. At that time, the young gentlemen 16 to 20 years old enlisted in the 'Régiments' could be dispatched to certain 'Compagnies de Cadets' in order to be educated so as to become officers. Louis XIV decided to attract the Huguenot young gentlemen in these 'Compagnies de Cadets' in offering to them a pension in addition to the education as officer against their abjuring.
We may imagine that Jean Latrobe had a vocation for soldiering, as he showed later on when fighting within the army of William of Orange. Therefore it seems that he wanted to initiate a military career, and for that purpose he joined the 'Régiment de Cominge' in September 1688 with a view to be enlisted in a 'Compagnie de Cadets' so as to be educated as an officer. But there, according to the royal policy, he was subjected to a strong pressure for abjuring. He refused. So that after less than two months he was considered as an inflexible Protestant and therefore dismissed from "Régiment de Cominge". From that moment, it had become dangerous for him to stay in France. Since his grandnephew, Jean-Joachim Latrobe, has known, by word of mouth, his intention to leave to America (which he finally did not), we should imagine that after being dismissed he went to Varennes to kiss his parents before quickly leaving for Bordeaux tor board a ship toward exile. The cause of his death was a fall in the garden. He was buried in St. Stephen's Green, Dublin (Huguenot cemetery).
He was christened by M. Resseguerie, Protestant minister, pastor of the Reformed Church of Verhlac. His godfather was his paternal uncle, Jean Barthe, husband of his father's sister, Thézare, living in Montauban, and his godmother was Jeanne Raimond, presumably his maternal aunt, wife of François Pécholier, Villemur inhabitant. There are some descendants of the Pécholier family living in the vicinity of Caussade which is 22 km to the northeast of Montauban.
_________________________________________________________________
Henri Boneval de La Trobe, after the confiscation of the family estates following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,* emigrated from Bordeaux and fled to Holland.
Here he entered the service of William of Orange, afterward William III of England, and accompanied him to Ireland. He was severely wounded at the battle of the Boyne, and subsequently settled in Waterford, Ireland, where he married Malfre de Raymond, a fellow exile, and died at ninety-six years of age. He left one son, James.1546
____________
In Talbot Hamlin's Book,* Benjamin Henry Latrobe, there is the following paragraph: The Latrobes were an exceptional family.
At the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, the family of Boneval de La Trobe was divided, brother against brother, one a Protestant and the other a Roman Catholic. The Protestant, Count John Henri, fled the country with his wife and went to Holland, where he joined the army of the Prince of Orange.
An uncle of his, a Catholic, later became famous (or at least notorious) in his own right; a wanderer, an eccentric, bored with France, he journeyed to Constantinople, embraced Mohammedanism, was created a Pasha by the Sultan, and had a luxurious palace complete with a large harem on the Bosphorus. Casanova visited him there in 1741 and later left in his Memoires an extensive if somewhat scandalous account of the visit.
Nor was the life of the young Protestant count without adventure. He accompanied William III to England, then joined the Irish expedition, and was wounded at the Battle of the Boyne. Later he made Ireland his home and settled in Dublin, where he prospered.4835
____________
NOTE: This general source departs entirely from my source material (4778) in regards to Henri’s ancestors and identifies Michel Latrobe (b. 1640) as his father and Maffre (Marthe) Ramond (b. abt 1645) as his mother. The record then extends another six generations, with no similarities.4836
*The Edict of Nantes, issued on April 13, 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinistic Protestants of France (also known as Huguenots) substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. The main concern was civil unity, and the Edict separated civil from religious unity, treated such Protestants for the first time as more than schismatics and heretics, and opened a path for secularism and tolerance.
In October 1685 Louis XIV, the grandson of Henry IV, renounced the Edict and declared Protestantism illegal with the Edict of Fontainebleau. This act, commonly called the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, had very damaging results for France. While the wars of religion did not re-ignite, as many as 400,000 Protestants chose to leave France, most moving to Great Britain, Prussia, the Dutch Republic, Switzerland and the new French colonies in North America.1580
*Cites Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Talbot Hamlin, (Name: New York, Oxford University Press, 1955;), Pages 4, 29-30, 142.
After 1685 he left France for Holland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Before 1690 joined Army of the Prince of Orange, Holland.
1690 fought under William III at Battle of Boyne, Ireland.
Resident of Dublin, Ireland.
Presently, he is referred to as John Bonneval de La Trobe and/or John the Refugee. According to John Henry de La Trobe, he signed his name "Bonneval de Latrobe", but no one knows why as there is no connection between the Latrobe and Bonneval families.
He is listed as James de La Trobe in Talbot Hamlin's book Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Jean "John" Latrobe is the ancestor of the English, American, Australian and German branches of the Latrobe family.
He is also listed as Jean Henri Latrobe, the elder son of Michel Henri Latrobe in the Papers of Robert Penel.
He is the nearest common ancestor to all non-French Latrobe descendants living today.
In his "Livre de Famille" written in 1830, Jean-Joachim Latrobe only shows the meager knowledge he had received by word of mouth about the oldest brother of his grandfather which was as follows:
"Jean, the oldest son (of Michel Latrobe and Maffré Raimond), born at Villemur on September 26th, 1670, christened on the following October 12th by Mr. Resseguerie, Protestant minister, preacher of the Reformed Church of Verhlac; godfather, Jean Barthe, inhabitant of Montauban; godmother, Jeanne de Raimond, wife of François Pécholier, inhabitant of Villemur (from him has descended the Pécholier family of Caussade)."
"There is no other information about this Jean, except that he was dismissed on November 28th, 1688, from the 'Compagnie du Chevalier de Cominges', where he had served during two months only."
"A tradition of my family bears that this Jean received a beautiful education; that he left his mother already widow with a view to go to America; that he embarked in Bordeaux together with Pécholier, his first cousin, son of an Alexis Raimond's daughter; and that one has got no news about him since that time."
In a footnote, Jean-Joachim adds: "In all likelihood, from this Jean has descended the Latrobe family of England. N. B. Michel Latrobe bought from Anne Delhoste of Montauban the house and farm of Varennes on July 3rd, 1675. In the garden of this house is the grave of my ancestors, who all have been Protestant."
Jean-Joachim is totally right to express his information with great cautiousness. We know today that a part of it is wrong. For instance we know that Michel Latrobe was still alive in 1698, ten years after Jean left.
We have investigated about the 'Compagnie du Chevalier de Cominges' in order to know the reason why Jean was dismissed so quickly.
First of all we have found the draft of a letter written in 1677 (see #418 by a minister of the King, most probably Louvois, to the 'Commandant du Régiment de Cominge' which confirms that a unit of troops with this name existed at that time. Moreover Cominge (which later on was written Cominges, then Comminges) is the name of a Pyrenean county, 90 miles south-west from Montauban, that belonged to the royal domain since mid 1400's. The name given to this Régiment could be related either to the place of origin of its troops, or to its owner (since a Chevalier de Cominge, aide-de-camp of Louis XIV, also existed at that time), or to both. Anyhow, the reference to Cominges transmitted by word of mouth down to Jean-Joachim is most probably right.
But Jean-Joachim talks of 'Compagnie' instead of 'Régiment'. It seems that corresponds to a certain measure taken by the King in the frame of his policy aiming at the conversion of Huguenots, as explained in #435. At that time, the young gentlemen 16 to 20 years old enlisted in the 'Régiments' could be dispatched to certain 'Compagnies de Cadets' in order to be educated so as to become officers. Louis XIV decided to attract the Huguenot young gentlemen in these 'Compagnies de Cadets' in offering to them a pension in addition to the education as officer against their abjuring.
We may imagine that Jean Latrobe had a vocation for soldiering, as he showed later on when fighting within the army of William of Orange. Therefore it seems that he wanted to initiate a military career, and for that purpose he joined the 'Régiment de Cominge' in September 1688 with a view to be enlisted in a 'Compagnie de Cadets' so as to be educated as an officer. But there, according to the royal policy, he was subjected to a strong pressure for abjuring. He refused. So that after less than two months he was considered as an inflexible Protestant and therefore dismissed from "Régiment de Cominge". From that moment, it had become dangerous for him to stay in France. Since his grandnephew, Jean-Joachim Latrobe, has known, by word of mouth, his intention to leave to America (which he finally did not), we should imagine that after being dismissed he went to Varennes to kiss his parents before quickly leaving for Bordeaux tor board a ship toward exile. The cause of his death was a fall in the garden. He was buried in St. Stephen's Green, Dublin (Huguenot cemetery).
He was christened by M. Resseguerie, Protestant minister, pastor of the Reformed Church of Verhlac. His godfather was his paternal uncle, Jean Barthe, husband of his father's sister, Thézare, living in Montauban, and his godmother was Jeanne Raimond, presumably his maternal aunt, wife of François Pécholier, Villemur inhabitant. There are some descendants of the Pécholier family living in the vicinity of Caussade which is 22 km to the northeast of Montauban.
_________________________________________________________________
Henri Boneval de La Trobe, after the confiscation of the family estates following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,* emigrated from Bordeaux and fled to Holland.
Here he entered the service of William of Orange, afterward William III of England, and accompanied him to Ireland. He was severely wounded at the battle of the Boyne, and subsequently settled in Waterford, Ireland, where he married Malfre de Raymond, a fellow exile, and died at ninety-six years of age. He left one son, James.1546
____________
In Talbot Hamlin's Book,* Benjamin Henry Latrobe, there is the following paragraph: The Latrobes were an exceptional family.
At the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, the family of Boneval de La Trobe was divided, brother against brother, one a Protestant and the other a Roman Catholic. The Protestant, Count John Henri, fled the country with his wife and went to Holland, where he joined the army of the Prince of Orange.
An uncle of his, a Catholic, later became famous (or at least notorious) in his own right; a wanderer, an eccentric, bored with France, he journeyed to Constantinople, embraced Mohammedanism, was created a Pasha by the Sultan, and had a luxurious palace complete with a large harem on the Bosphorus. Casanova visited him there in 1741 and later left in his Memoires an extensive if somewhat scandalous account of the visit.
Nor was the life of the young Protestant count without adventure. He accompanied William III to England, then joined the Irish expedition, and was wounded at the Battle of the Boyne. Later he made Ireland his home and settled in Dublin, where he prospered.4835
____________
NOTE: This general source departs entirely from my source material (4778) in regards to Henri’s ancestors and identifies Michel Latrobe (b. 1640) as his father and Maffre (Marthe) Ramond (b. abt 1645) as his mother. The record then extends another six generations, with no similarities.4836
*The Edict of Nantes, issued on April 13, 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinistic Protestants of France (also known as Huguenots) substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. The main concern was civil unity, and the Edict separated civil from religious unity, treated such Protestants for the first time as more than schismatics and heretics, and opened a path for secularism and tolerance.
In October 1685 Louis XIV, the grandson of Henry IV, renounced the Edict and declared Protestantism illegal with the Edict of Fontainebleau. This act, commonly called the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, had very damaging results for France. While the wars of religion did not re-ignite, as many as 400,000 Protestants chose to leave France, most moving to Great Britain, Prussia, the Dutch Republic, Switzerland and the new French colonies in North America.1580
*Cites Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Talbot Hamlin, (Name: New York, Oxford University Press, 1955;), Pages 4, 29-30, 142.