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| Henry Peronneau via findagrave.com |
Henry Peronneau. As I was scrolling through findagrave.com,
I came across this man and his family and I was surprised about what I found!
He came from France and combines almost everything I learned in the FYE-class,
so it is a perfect final research post! So enjoy as I will lead you through his life!
Henry Peronneau was born on May 28th, 1667 in
Rochel in France, as I read in the book Historic Gravestone Art in Charleston, South Carolina. He immigrated to Charleston in the summer of 1687, at a time
when a lot of French Huguenots fled to America after the French King revoked
their religious right in their country.
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| Circular Congregational Church |
He was a merchant and an early member
of the Circular Church. At that time, Charleston was still called Charles Town
and he was one of the most well-known citizens!
I even read on scpictureproject.org that at one point, he was even said
to be the richest man in the colonies!
Reading a post on Facebook, I found out that he "lobbied for the British to make a royal colony rather than a Lord Proprietorship".
In 1716, he even joined other local leaders to participate in a petition on this point on view, which got sent to the Crown, as I got to know further exploring the above-mentioned book.
I continued reading, learning that in 1698 he married Desire Peronneau née Holmes, who was 13 years
younger. They had four children: Henry, Elizabeth, Alexander, and Samuel Peronneau.
Son Alexander Peronneau followed his father´s footsteps and would become one
of the ten richest men in America, as I found out on findagrave.com. He even built two of the earliest townhouses in
Charleston at around 1740 (at 141 and 143-145 Church Street). They were made out of Bermuda stone which came all
the way from the Caribbean.
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| old Picture of the two Houses via scpictureproject.org |
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| Current Picture of the two Houses via wikipedia.org |
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| Wife Desire Peronneau´s Tombstone via wriphe.com |
The wealth of the family can also be seen on their gravestones.
As I got to know reading the book, Henry´s wife died three years before him at age 60.
Her gravestone was made by
one of the best known New-England gravestone-carving families, the Lamsons. It
has a great skull carving surrounded by beautiful decorative swirling designs.
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| Grandson John Peranneau´s Tombstone via findagrave.com |
The rest of the family´s gravestones are also beautifully
decorated by the most sought-after artisans. Henry Porenneau´s grandson, John
Peronneau, even has the first winged effigy found in Charleston.
Henry Peronneau´s gravestone is a thick red slate tombstone containing a portray
carved in the style of a bust on a pedestal. Once again, he is the first,
having one of Charleston´s earliest carvings of this style as I found out in the book.
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| Henry Peronneau´s Tombstone via adventuresincemeteryhopping.com |
He and his family´s graves can all be found at the Circular Congregational Church at 150 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC.
Even though there was nothing written about him directly at findagrave.com, I found it all the more exciting to find out more about him and his family during my research.
Hope you enjoyed it too!
How did Henry Peronneau achieve his wealth? He was a slave trader and slave owner, actively engaged in human trafficking. I would like to know the name and location of his plantation(s), what crops were planted, how many slaves he owned, and what any names of his slaves were. Most of the information I see about Henry Peronneau has been severely whitewashed and sanitized. What's the real story?
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