Also on the "new info" front is material on the family of Pierre Billiou. Pierre was a patentee of Staten Island and the father of Marie Billiou, who married Arent Jansen Prall in Kingston, NY in 1670. Louis du Bois gave permission for his niece's betrothal.
Research had it that Pierre was the son of Thomas Billiou and his wife Aimie. He was the brother of Abigail and Ann Billiou, who married John Dunham and Nathaniel Walker, respectively. The Dunhams and Walkers immigrated to New England. The problem was that Pierre was born after his sisters were married. Dunham was a Pilgrim, but sailed for Plymouth over a decade after the Mayflower.
A marriage record was eventually located for Pierre and Francoise du Bois naming Jeacq du Bois as Pierre's father.
I developed a theory that the Billiou family [appearing as Ballou and Barlow in various sources] might have been from England and joined other Pilgrim families who left England for the Netherlands.
The Pilgrims pretty stayed associated with their own. Thomas Billiou's daughters had decidedly English names of Abigail and Ann. His wife's name Aimie seemed very French in spelling.
Could Thomas have had a first wife who bore the two girls and died around the time the family left England? Then, after arriving in the Netherlands, remarried to a young woman of French Huguenot extraction?
That was my theory. The mother of Abigail and Ann died and Thomas married Aimie. Jeacq was the product of this marriage.
I had no proof that this scenario was reality, but it seemed possible. Then a few days ago, I came across a website that supported my theory!
[to be continued...]
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