| Notes |
- A surgeon from the noble family "Du Plessis de Mornay" in Poitiers, France. [1]
- Capt. W. H. Hinde claims in his paper, "The Huguenot Settlement at the Cape of Good Hope" that he delivered at the Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London, that in the early 1800's Napoleon I offered the oldest of the Du Plessis family at the Cape, the restoration of his ducal title and property in France, but he declined.
He was told by Mr. George McCall Theal, well-known historian, that Jean Prieur Du Plessis apparently did return to France to enquire about his estates etc. This must have been somewhere between 1690 and 1704 as he was married to his second wife in the "Domkerk", Amsterdam, in 1700 and their daughter Judith was also born there. Their second child was born in Stellenbosch in 1704. [1, 2, 3]
- "The settlement formed at the Cape of Good Hope was of considerable importance. It was led by a nephew of Admiral Duquesne, and included members of some of the most distinguished families of Franee ? Du Plessis de Mornay, Roubaix de la Fontaine, De Chavannes, De Villiers, Du Pre?, Le Roux, Rousseau, D?Abling, De Cilliers, Le Sueur, Maude?, and many more. The names of some of these are to be found among the roll of governors of the colony under the Dutch. The refugees mostly settled in the Berg Valley, afterwards known as French Valley, and now as De Fransche Hoek. Weiss says their descendants number as many as 4000 persons; and that they are still Huguenots in religion, and proud of their descent. The old families treasure their original French Bibles, and Clement Marot?s hymn books, brought from France by their ancestors.
A simple-minded farmer of Stellenbosch, near Cape Town, now represents the ancient ducal house of Du Plessis. It is said that when Napoleon I., in the early part of his reign, wished to rally round his throne all the old French families he could induce to acknowledge his pretensions, he offered to the Du Piessis at the Cape the restoral of his family title and estates; but the offer was declined. The Cape boer, in whose mind all recollection of his family traditions had died away, preferred his quiet vineyard on the Berg River to the brilliant saloons of the Tuileries" - Samuel Smiles
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