Thomas married Margaret REEKIE on 22 Dec 1749 in Strathmiglo, Fife, Scotland. Margaret (daughter of Andrew REEKIE) was born in in Fife, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

NOTE 1./ Huguenot History Review as researched by RAM 3-02-2007

Napoleon Bonaparte who died in 1824, was named as a General during the French Revolution. The French Revolution finally ended the 200 + years of persecution of the Huguenots. The persecution and flight of the Huguenots greatly damaged the reputation of France and Louis XIV abroad, particularly in England; the two kingdoms, which had enjoyed peaceful relations prior to 1685, became bitter enemies and fought against each other in a series of wars from 1689 onward.

The Huguenots, as a class, were the bone and sinew of France. The nobility were wealthy, the merchants and manufacturers, both the prosperous, and poorer classes of the sober and industrious. It is estimated that the loss to France by the Huguenot persecutions, first and last, was about 400,000. Manufactures and the arts were paralyzed, and the whole country suffered from its effects for one hundred years. Louis and his predecessors sowed the vipers' eggs that a century later brought Louis XVI and his court to the guillotine. Thus, in a measure, did time avenge the martyred Huguenots.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Huguenot was applied to a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of France, historically known as the French Calvinists. Persecution of Protestants continued in France after 1724 (see article Persecution of Huguenots under Louis XV), but ended in 1764 and the French Revolution of 1789 finally made them full-fledged citizens.

Over fifty thousand Huguenots escaped France between 1670 and 1710 and migrated around the world, including the Americas. The Huguenot presence in the city of Cork, Cork County, Waterford and Wexford, Carlow, Portarlington, western Ireland, and Dublin, with the more successful Huguenot families settling in those localities in the wake of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

Summary quick FAQ:
1. What are the Huguenots? (sometimes spelt Hugenots)
Huguenots practiced a form of Protestantism in France aligned with John Calvins theological view that salvation in the Christian religion could be found by reading the Bible and interpreting what you read yourself. You could go to heaven with your own individual faith without needing to go to any church.
2. When did it start?
In the early 1500s and Louis XIV.
3. There have been hundreds of denominations of religions that have been forgotten. Why are they well known?
The religion was against the Catholic and Monarchists systems of the time. The governmental system passed laws to restrict the religion as it may lead to civil war. (It did!) This resulted in many battles and the deaths of thousands of Huguenots over many years. The Huguenots held to their religion fervently and escaped France spreading to other many other countries.
4. What is the Edict of Nantes?
Henry IV created the Edict of Nantes in 1598 to give the Huguenots a small amount of religious freedom.
5. What happened to the Edict of Nantes?
It was revoked in 1685 and replaced with the Edict of Fontainbleau - laws that oppressed, stigmatized and penalized Huguenots. While not to the extent that the Nazi's attempted to commit genocide on Jewish people, the laws were similar in that it would remove the Huguenots by attrition.
6. Where are they now?
Huguenots escaped France between 1670 and 1710 and migrated around the world.
7. What happened after that?
The Promulgation of the Edict of Toleration ended the persecution of the Huguenots in France 1787.

To Melanie: So it seems as though the dating of the artifacts in your possession from Napoleon, may would indicate the range of years of emigration of the Millie's from France to Scotland. ...... probably before 1789. We have a good idea of the movement into Ireland.