Notes for: Frederick de Veaux
He supposedly died at about age 98.
From http://lewis-genealogy.org/genealogy/Weaver/Devore-98.htm:
When the small party left their home they made a rapid flight for several days and nights, and supposed they had a good start unknown to the authorities; then, by traveling through the forests as opportunity offered in the daytime, and the fields and bypaths at night, they had great hopes of having eluded any troops which might have been sent after them. . .and they safely arrived in the town of Manheim, Germany, where they found some of the earlier fugitives of the family who had escaped at various periods before.
DeVoe, Thos. F., "Genealogy of the DeVeaux Family," 1885, p. 50-51.
The previous narrative comes from family oral history which was corroborated by many of son Frederick's descendants. Evidently, Frederick, who lived to about 98 years old, had an amazing memory; as he recounted facts about the family flight from the Spanish Netherlands to the Palatinate of the Rhine to several generations.
And with more detail from https://terpconnect.umd.edu/~hdevoe/FamHist/p151.htm:
Frederick's parents and their family escaped from Festubert in Artois probably around 1658, arriving in Mannheim, Germany by 1667.1,5 The genealogy by Thomas F. De Voe describes Frederick's dramatic escape from France:
When a boy of 12 or 14 years of age he, with his parents and two brothers, at least, set out from their home to escape the various inflictions put upon them by the authorities, and, after much difficulty and suffering, they arrived at Manheim, in Germany.
Their absence from their home soon became known to the king’s murderous troopers, who trailed them over the country, and were so close on these Huguenot refugees that it was only by the friendship of a woman that they escaped; after which they dared only to travel at night and hide in the day, and this with almost starvation among them, as they were not provided for such an emergency.
The incident of their narrow escape has been handed down through the several generations of those who settled near New York, which appeared as follows: When the small party left their home they made a rapid flight for several days and nights, and supposed they had a good start unknown to the authorities; then, by travelling through the forests as opportunity offered in the daytime, and the fields and bypaths at night, they had great hopes of having eluded any troops which might have been sent after them. On one occasion, however, they had become short of food and were almost starving, but on arriving near a friendly-looking farm-house early one morning one of the party cautiously advanced toward the house, when he saw a woman come out, who became very much alarmed when she discovered him. She, however, knew by his haggard looks who and what he was, and what he wanted. She then motioned him to hide behind one of the small out-buildings in which swine were kept, when she turned back into the house and in a few minutes brought out a pan of milk and made towards the pen as if to feed her hogs, but conveyed it around to him, at the same time informing him that there were a number of the king’s troopers then lying asleep on the floor of her house who, no doubt, had been on their trail.
The Huguenot took the pan of milk and carried it to the others who were hid, when it was soon emptied by them. In the meantime the woman had returned with other food, gave it to them, and hurried them off in a new direction, and they safely arrived in the town of Manheim, Germany, where they found some of the earlier fugitives of the family who had escaped at various periods before.6
From https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/De_Veaux-5:
"Families of the Colonial Town of Philipsburgh" by Grenville C. MacKinzie in 1966 states:
"Accompanied his parents and brothers Nicholas, Daniel and Jacob to Manheim, Germany. In 1675 he [Frederic] went to England and came thence to New York. He settled in Harlem where he married. He lived in Harlem until about 1683 when he moved to Westchester (Fordham Manor) where he lived on land which his wife had received from her father. This land was on the Harlem River below the present 149th Street. On June 13, 1721 he deeded this land to his son Ferderick, and probably at this time went to live with his daughter Susannah Nodine in Yonkers. His will, dated Jan 23, 1741, describes him as of Westchester, NY. He died in the home of his son Frederick in 1743."
Church records of Mannheim, Germany list Frederic as a native of Festhubert, province of Artois (France). No record of Frederic (de Veaux) exists in Mannheim, Germany after 1674. Several sources cite Frederick's migration in 1675 via Holland and England to Harlem, NY to join his older brother Nicholas.
Frederic De VEAUX and Hester Torneur TOURNEUR married in the Dutch Reformed Church in New York (Manhattan). Marriage records in Dutch read:
"3 Jun. Frederick de Vou, Wedr. Walslant, en Hester Tourneurs, j. d. Van N. Haerlem. 24 Jun. op N. Haerlem."