The doll shown below belonged to MATILDA DUVAL BASKETTE (1834-1924) daughter of Alexander De La Plaunche DuVal and Margaret Gwin. She lived at Woodlawn Plantation in Mississippi. During the Civil War, just before the Battle of Vicksburg, the beloved home was sacked and pillaged by the invading armies of the North, and suffered the fate of so many of the old southern homes, either burned to ashes, leaving only lone chimneys as mute reminders of the cruel devastation of war; or else passed into alien hands who owned them as mere cotton growing, money – making investments ( p.45, The DuVals of Kentucky from Virginia ).

Errors in the DuVal genealogy were discovered in the 1980’s by the DuVal Family Association genealogist, Joseph Stephen Hays of Smith’s Grove, Kentucky. After extensive research, additional information was discovered by Lt. Col. Jack Thacker. Col. Thacker wrote an article entitled “Correcting the Genealogy of Samuel DuVal, Jr.” which was published in The Longhunter, Vol. XI, No 2 in 1988. This correction also appears in “The Descendents of Col. William Claiborne – the 1st Eight Generations.” Compiled by John Frederick Dorman Certified Genealogist, FASG, in collaboration with Claiborne T. Smith, Jr.,M.D. published in 1995.

This corrected genealogy has been recognized by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, the National Society Sons of the American Revolution, the Jamestown Society and the Huguenot Society. MANY thanks to Jack Thacker for bringing this information to our attention and to DFA Genealogist Joseph Stephen Hays for providing the information below.

•    Daniel DuVal

•    Samuel DuVal – Lucie Claiborne
•    (1714-1784)

•    Samuel DuVal, Jr. * – Margaret Sheppard
•    (1751-1825)
a    a) Lucie Claiborne DuVal
b) Samuel Sheppard DuVal
* Margaret Buchanan incorrectly lists Samuel DuVal Jr. as Samuel Shepherd DuVal and his wife as Margaret Binns daughter of Christopher Binns.

•    Samuel Shepherd DuVal – Anne Everard Bolling **
•    (1775-1800)
•    a) Samuel Shepherd DuVal, Jr.
b) Archibald Bolling DuVal

**Anne Everard Bolling was a direct descendant of Pocahontas

•    Samuel Shepherd DuVal, Jr. – Catherine Eliza DuVal
•    (1798-1867)
a) Nicholas DuVal b.cir 1823
b) John DuVal b. cir 1826
c) American DuVal b. 1827
d) Archibald DuVal b. cir 1828
e) Caroline DuVal b. cir 1834
f) Alexander DuVal b. cir
g) Ann A. DuVal b. cir 1838
h) Lucy J. DuVal b. cir 1842
i) Virginia DuVal b. cir 1846

The following letter was written by the late Pearl Buchanan, daughter of Margaret Gwin Buchanan, and was sent to Mrs. Buchanan’s niece, Elizabeth Baskette along with the French perfume bottle brought to Virginia in 1701 by Philadelphia DuBois DuVal.

Richmond, KY
July 7, 1966

Dear Elizabeth,

I have just sent you a package by insured parcel post which should reach you early next week. A small package is inside the large one because I wanted to be sure that the contents of the small package arrived safely. This is one of my most treasured possessions: Philadelphia DuBois’ French perfume bottle. You will find the story of Philadelphia DuBois on pages 1, 5 and 63 of Mother’s book.

The neck of the perfume bottle had a small v-shaped piece broken out of it not much larger than this: v. I was afraid that the bottle might become further damaged, so I went to the Metropolitan Art Museum when I was in New York one winter and asked what I should do about it. I was advised to have a silver collar made to go entirely around the neck and extend below the chipped place both inside and outside the bottle. That is why there’s a silver covering around the bottle. Originally the bottle was entirely blue.

For twenty-three years this was the pride and joy of my Mother and for twenty years it has been mine. Now I want you to have it for I believe you will appreciate the little heirloom and treasurer it and see that it passes into good hands should it ever go out of yours. Once, I thought of taking it to Williamsburg, Virginia, and giving it to the curator to be placed in some of the Restoration homes but I decided that you ought to have it. I believe it will be happy with you.

Let me know whether the package arrives safely.

With much love,

Pearl

Family tradition relates that descending within the family was a gold soup tureen that was brought here from the old country. It has been suggested that it was a wedding gift to our immigrant ancestors. Unlike many family traditions, this tureen appears to be real. It has been written about in three distinct sources:

1) Described in the Horsley-Easley Bible (cir. 1840-1880):

Maj. Wm. DuVal’s daughter, Mrs. Adams, saw a family relic, a gold tureen which had the Arms of the DuBois & DuVals intertwined. A lily surrounded by thorns and the motto ‘Lillia inter pinas’. Many reliable and prominent men have seen the tureen heirloom of the DuVals which descended to Samuel DuVal, then to his oldest son, Maj. Wm D., then to his daughter. On the outside was engraved the blooded Arms of DuBois and DuVal. It was handed down to the oldest child, Mrs. Price, and now in Philadelphia, Pa.

2) Bessie Grabowskii included in her book a description of it by Dr. William P. Palmer (cir. 1850) of Richmond, Va.:

It had surmounting the top a tuft of lilies and thorns, with the motto lilia inter Pinas, and also bore the coat of arms. It was kept in a red morocco case with a red velvet lining.” He remembered it being shown to him when as a boy he went with his mother to visit a Mrs. DuVal in Richmond, Virgina. When last heard of it was in the possession of one James Price, a lawyer, who went to Ohio to live, and who was a great grandson of Maj. William DuVal of Richmond, but all trace of it has now been lost.

3) From Nellie Howard Gillian we have an excerpt of a letter with a description:

I, too, have heard about the gold tureen often. It was last heard of in Austin, Texas, having descended to William Price, son of Cousin Marcia DuVal Price. William married a northern woman… After cousin William Price’s death she sold all of the family silver and the tureen by private sale, and returned to her home in the north. None of the family knew of the sale and have never known who bought the silver and the tureen.

This account by Mrs. Gillean seems to be the most accurate. The northern woman was Achsah Catherine “Kate” Starr. After the death of William Price she married Otto H. Woehsner a hatter in Austin, Texas where they were living in 1880. They later moved to Cleveland, Ohio. The question is did it go to Cleveland, Ohio or remain in Austin, Texas?

Discussion: The soup tureen would have been the size and shape of what we now know as a large covered vegetable dish with legs. Described as a gold tureen it could have been a solid silver item that was gilded (washed with gold). Having its own velvet lined, leather covered case attests to its worth, even when it was new. Soup tureens are a distinctively French innovation appearing in the 1690’s which is in keeping with both our French family heritage and the approximate marriage date of Daniel Duval. Although recorded that engraved upon the tureen was our quartered coat-of-arms with the motto: Lillia inter pinas it is more correctly: Lilium Inter Spinas meaning “Lily Among Thorns” and has its origins in Solomon’s Song of Songs. This motto and subsequent various crests have a very ancient and varied history. The French fleur-de-lis or “flower of the Lily” is synonymous with the Lily in the motto.

The tureen may have looked similar to the one above. This example from London, England is of Huguenot origin. If anyone has ANY idea where the descendants of Daniel DuVal might search for this item please e-mail:  Joseph Stephen Hays

Information regarding the ship “Nassau”

The information below was submitted by Thomas Langford.

The following is a common statement by the Admiralty for permits issued at that time:PRO Class Adm. 1/5148: 18 January 1701/2 Permit for the “Nassau” to proceed notwithstanding the embargo.PRO Class T. 70/43: 6 February 1701 Letter sent via (possibly) the “Nassau”, Capt. Tregian, bound for Virginia.PRO Class P.C. 2/78 (Privy Council): 18 January 1701/2 The “Nassau” received permission to depart Kensington for Virginia with 150 passengers. (P. 307)At least this provides the ship’s master, Capt. Tregian, a count (likely approximate) of passengers, and an approximate date of sailing (6 Feb.). Here is the source which may contain a list of the passengers:”Documents, Chiefly Unpublished, Relating to the Huguenot Emigration to Virginia and to the Settlement at Manakin-Town, with an Appendix of Genealogies, ….” by R.A. Brock (Richmond, Virginia Historical Society 1886)247 p. Reissued copy by the Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1962.

This book is likely available from a normal genealogical book source.

Tom Langford

Genealogy,

American Plantations and Colonies,

Ships and Passengers

Did you know that on March 25, 1775 George Washington dined at Galt’s Tavern in Richmond, VA but stayed with Samuel DuVal whose home was called Mount Comfort on upper Shockoe Creek, northeast of Richmond? (From Inside Richmond – Annual Guide for Visitors)

Lucie Claiborne DuVal, wife of Samuel DuVal, was the great great grandaughter of William Claiborne who arrived in Virginia in 1621 and who was appointed first Secretary of the Colony of Virginia.

William Pope DuVal (pictured), son of Major William DuVal and Ann Pope, was appointed United States District Judge for the Territory of Florida in 1821, and served as Territorial Governor of Florida from 1822 to 1834.