EARLY LEDREW REFERENCES
Channel Islands
 
Oral tradition held that the LE DREW family came from Jersey. This was a strong tradition, held by several branches of the LE DREW family as well as by local historians.
 
There is a lack of published documentation giving information on Channel Islands/Newfoundland connections. The main source of published information appears to be found in the book The Quiet Adventurers In America - Channel Island Settlers in the American Colonies and in the United States, by Marion TURK, published by Genie Repros in 1975. TURK’s book is compiled from a collection of sources - other published works as well as oral tradition. All of these sources are discussed in detail in the respective chapters of this book. A serious effort was made to pin point the actual location of the LE DREW name. TURK’s reference to the Channel Island origin of the name, via the surname LE DROIT has been suggested by E.R. SEARY, in his book Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland. Part of the purpose of this study has been to make connections with historians in the Channel Islands and in the United Kingdom in the pursuit of the LE DREW genealogy.
Oral tradition plays an important role in family history. Often the truth an be elicited from the stories which have been passed down through many generations. In this study the point to keep in mind is the possibility that the family have resided in the island of Newfoundland for many generations before history was recorded and documents created to be used by historians.

The Jersey fishermen had a long history of plying their trade in the Newfoundland waters. They established bases at Gaspe and in Newfoundland; in the eighteenth century the leading Jersey cod trade firm was that of the JANVRIN family: Jacques CARTIER sailed from St. Malo to the coast of Canada from St. Malo, France in 1534. In 1583 Newfoundland was officially claimed for England by Humphrey GILBERT. It is believed that settlement had occurred before that date. Although many generations of fishermen had sailed each Spring to fish during the summer season and return home with a full catch each Fall, it happened that men would occasionally winter over in Newfoundland. This would be an exceptional occurrence. Men were required at home to work their farms over the winter.

As early as 1591 there is a reference in French court records of a John GUILLIAUME being fined for selling in France fish which he had brought from Newfoundland. In the early 1600’s settlement was forbidden. However settlement did indeed take place. In 1610 John GUY brought 39 settlers from England to form the first official settlement in Newfoundland. It was established in Conception Bay at Cupids (Cuperes Cove). In 1615 the first Court of Admiralty was held in Trinity harbour by Captain Richard WHITBOURNE. He called together 170 masters of English ships anchored there. John MASON, the Captain who had replaced GUY as Governor by 1616, is remembered for his 1629 map of Newfoundland.

Now the difficulty for genealogists attempting to trace ancestors who lived in Newfoundland in the seventeenth century is simple. There exists but little documentation for that century. There are scattered census returns such as:
the Sir John BERRY Census of 1675 which lists planters from Cape de Razo to Cape Bonavista and names planters for thirty harbours; the Captain RUSSELL Census for 1676 which is an account of English inhabitants between Bonaventure and Petty Harbour, includes names in 18 settlements; the 1677 Sir John BERRY Census; the 1677 Sir William POOLE Census - Cape Bonavista to Trepassey covering 28 settlements and including names of inhabitants, numbers of wives, sons etc; to name a few of the better known census returns.

To further explain the lack of documentation, it is well known that Newfoundland lacked permanent missionaries until 1703 when the first missionary sponsored by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel arrived. The earliest surviving parish registers are those for Saint Paul’s Anglican Church, Trinity, Trinity Bay dating from 1753.

Since we know that the earliest surviving record for a LEDROS is that found in the Queen Anne Petition of Carbonear Island 1708/09. research on the LEDREW name outside Newfoundland was concentrated on an earlier time frame.
Information from the Société Jersiaise, Saint Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands is as follows:
We have experienced great difficulty in finding any information about the name LEDREW (LEDROS). We have checked the Extentes from 1274 onward and cannot find any trace of the name DRIEU or LEDROUAL. We did find, however, Jean LE DRU and Radulphus LE DRU in the parish of St. Saviour in 1331. Checking through some past correspondence, we found a mention of the family DRIEU in Caratan, France. At the moment we have no record of any LEDREW (LEDROS) family but if they were here before 1762 the name might appear in the church registers.
M.J.DELAHAYE,(Miss) Librarian.

Further inquiries to the Priaulx Library, Candie Road, St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands drew the following response:
The name does not occur in Guernsey historical records at all. A Mr. DREW, who is assistant curator of the Jersey Museum, has apparently found the name DRIEU and LE DROUAL in the 14th century Estantes of Jersey. His own family (DREW) are mentioned in Jersey as tar back as the 17th century. Each island keeps separate records of its local families.
Research undertaken by the President of the Channel Islands Family History Society, Jersey, Channel Islands was initiated in August 1986. After two years of waiting for a response, this writer appealed to the Federation of Family History Societies to intervene. The President of the Channel Island Family History Society replied to my research request on June 30th 1988. The following is an extract from this letter:
The name LEDREW does not exist in Jersey records. LE GROS, DE RUE are ancient Jersey names, as to a limited degree are LE DROIT, DRIEU and DREW but the latter three seem to have existed at certain limited periods rather than being continuous. It is almost certain that some of the DREWS derive their name from DE RUE. The problem your request set was "Which one?" - Any one of these and possibly others could have developed to LE DREW. One alternative was the Guernsey family DE LA RUE which I shall refer to later.
I gradually waded through the baptismal registers seeking out all the above names and any others which might be variations of the name but without any luck. Over the course of the months I have tried various other sources and methods to satisfy myself that as far as our local records are
concerned there is no apparent connection with any name which would become corrupted to LE DREW. I have checked, as far as is possible a number of records in the Land Registry, including powers of attorney granted for ex-patriots and land transactions, but again without success. My last try was to go through the baptismal registers once again from a
different point. I looked through the baptismal names for William (Guillaume eto) and then checked the parents names particularly for one whose mother was Mary or Marie with the period 1720 to 1755 but again without any success.
The only glimmer of success which I have discovered is in a book on the DE LA Rue family of Guernsey called The House that Jack Built, by Loins Houseman, published in 1 968 by the London publishers Chalto and Windus. In a pedigree published in the book is an Eleazor DE LA RUE who died about 1748 and married a Marie ROBERT daughter of Guillaume ROBERT about 1721. The youngest of their four children was William who married Marie DE GARIS (a very prominent family in Guernsey and still extant). William was born/baptised? 16 October 1735. Whether it is purely a coincidence or whether it might just be the lead you need there are references within the text to various members of the WARREN and GREENSLADE families, which names occur in the tree you sent with your enquiry. On pages 11-12 a James WARREN is mentioned as coming from the same Devonshire village as GREENSLADE - Bishop’s Nympton. Tom GREENSLADE had been DE LA RUE’s first partner in the publication of the Guernsey Journal and in 1812 of Le Publiciste. There are other references to several other alliances between the GREENSLADE and WARREN families.
In your letter of 12 August 1987 you make a comment with regard to Huguenot connections and the family coming to Canada from Jersey. This of course leads one to another possibility (again only theoretical) that the family may have come to Jersey, but like some many at other periods as well, may have used Jersey simply as a staging-post to escape from France and then moved on without leaving much evidence of their stay. Once again there are not references in the local archives that I can discover - but not every document has been researched or indexed. This in itself could take a lifetime. Possibly contact with the Huguenot Society in London might be considered to see if they have any reference to the LEDREW family in the extensive records.
After considerable research I have finally come to the conclusion that the LEDREW family which you are researching did not come from Jersey -certainly I can find nothing which supports their existence in this Island. The DE LA RUE connection in Guernsey is a possible lead, but I would not like to commit myself further in that regard. I simply pass on the information for your consideration.
Another source of information on Newfoundland - Channel Islands connections is a fine book A People of the Sea, The Maritime Histoiy of the Channel Is lands, edited by A.G. Jamieson, published by Methuen in 1986. This book provides a wealth of information on the activities of the Channel Island fisherman along the North Atlantic coast, especially in the chapters by Dr Rosemary Ommer and A.G. Jamieson. However there is no reference of the name LEDREW in this book.
Huguenot Origins
To understand the origins of Huguenots (or French Protestants) Debreft’s Family Historian, by Noel Currer-Briggs offers this brief explanation:
The origins of French Protestantism are to be found in the teaching of Erasmus and Luther. As elsewhere in northern Europe it was the availability of printed bibles almost more than anything else which had such a profound effect on the academic, professional and artisan classes of society. The Church reacted vigorously and the faculty of theology of the Sorbonne obtained from Frangois I an ordinance in 1535 for the suppression of printing. However the demand for bibles grew rapidly, and wherever they were read in the vernacular, the movement for reform grew apace.
The Huguenots had been assured that liberty of conscience would be granted, and showed themselves to be loyal subjects on the accessions of Louis XIV, when their rights under the Edit of Nantes were reaffirmed. Once Louis XIV gained his majority, persecution began to increase and rights offered by the Edict of Nantes were eroded until its final revocation in 1685. More than 400 proclamations, edicts and declarations attacking