Name: Jean DU FOLLET / John
Jean
LEFOLLETTE
Birth: abt 1720 Anjou Prov.,France
Death: abt. 1777 in Morristown, NJ
Burial:
Father: [_?_]
Mother: [_?_]
Family 1:|_?_| |_?_|
Birth: [_?_]
Marriage: [_?_]
Death: [_?_]
Burial: [_?_]
Father: [_?_]
Mother: [_?_]
Children of marriage 1:
1. Joseph LaFollette b: ABT. 1745 in
Anjou,
France
2. George LaFollette
3. Charles LaFollette
Historical note:
According to L'Histore de la Follette
Famile,
the original family name was Uzel, but was sometimes
spelled differently, because of widespread
illiteracy. And there was only one name, since there was
no such thing as a last name until fairly
recent times historically.
The legend goes that in France, during
the
Middle Ages, during a battle between the Duke of Mairne
and Anjou, and the Twin Counts of Toulouse,
a man named Uzel, who was a vassal of the Duke of
Mair ne Anjou, killed one of the Count
of Toulouse. As a reward for his heroism, Uzel was given a
chateau, or a small castle, in the province
of Anjou between the towns of Angers and Lemans. The
name of the chateau was LeFollet, which
means "the reckless one." Thus, his surname: Uzel Du
Follet, or Uzel of the Follet.
Through the many years to follow, a
great
deal of blood was shed for various religious causes. A
young man of this same descent, Jean Du
Follet, was also caught in the controversy. He was a
French Huguenot, a Protestant, in love
with a Catholic girl. Her parents disapproved, and sent the girl
away to a convent. The young man, deeply
in love, "stole" his bride away from her convent home and
fled to the Isle of Jersey, where they
were wed. Three children were born to this union: Joseph,
George and Charles. The family traveled
to America and settle in a Huguenot community near
Newark, New Jersey, sometime during the
French and Indian War (1754-1763). Because many of
the Canadians were French Catholic, the
Huguenots often fought against them. In one such battle, as
the story goes, old Jean LaFollette (the
father) was tied to a stake andburned. The three boys escaped because
they
had gone to the country to get some corn ground.
The LaFollettes, like so many other
pioneers,
then moved south to Virginia and Kentucky. One land
survey shows the location of several
LaFollette
farms along Nolynn Creek in LaRue County,
Kentucky, near a farm owned by Thomas
Lincoln,
father of President Abraham Lincoln. Several
Lincoln histories mention that young
Abraham
and Sarah were childhood playmates with an Isaac
LaFollette and his brothers and sisters,
who were all aboutthe same age.