Etienne Stephen Chenault

A Huguenot who fled the province of Languenoe (or Lauguedoc), France, to avoid religious persecution upon the revocation of the Edict of Nautes. He escaped to England, and then came to Virginia in the on the ship Nassau, which sailed from Blackwell, London, on December 8, 1700. The passenger list for that ship records "Estienne Cheneau et sa femme". Through an error in navigation, possibly deliberate, the "Le Nasseau" failed to find the Rappahannock River which led to Monikintown, and instead docked at Yorktown at the mouth of the York River March 5, 1701. Only 23 of the 191 passengers seem to have gone to Monikintown, and Estienne was not among them. The spiritual leader during the voyage, Mons'r Latane, took charge of the Farnham Parish in Essex County, Virginia, on April 5, 1701. Estienne apparently followed him to Essex Co. and he and his wife raised their family there and died there. Excellent source: "Etienne Du Cheneau" written by Charlton B. Rogers Jr., compiled from data supplied by W.W. and Clara Chenault and Leroy Johnson, 1978 edition. He is a confirmed Huguenot immigrant. Source: "Register of Qualified Huguenot Ancestors", The National Huguenot Society, 3rd edition. Compiled by Vera Reeve, Wash. DC, 1983. Other sources of information: Hynes, Lee Powers, "Our Heritage: A record of info about the Hynes, Wait, Powers, Chenault, Maxey, Brewster, Starr, and McIntosh families" Haddonfield, NJ. 1957 "American Ancestry: Giving the Name & Descent, in the Male Line, of Americans whos ancesters settled in the United States previous to the Declaration of Independence". Also called Munsell's American Ancestry. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1968. 5 Apr 1714: "Stephen Chenault" witnessed the will of John Boulware in Essex County. He signed with his mark, indicating he was not literate in English. On February 23, 1715, NS, "Stephen Cheynault" witnessed the will of John Williams of St. Ann's Parish in Essex County". [research by R. Stanley Harsh of Winchester, Va., included in Roger's book's update.] In 1747, "Stephen Chenault Jr." witnessed a land sale for John Garnett. This is the last known reference to a "Stephen Jr.", so by one theory Estienne Stephen Sr.) was probably still alive, but probably not for long after this date. R. Stanley Harsh argues, however, that Estienne died not long after 1715 when he witnessed the will above. Records dated 1721, 1727, 1740, and 1747 may have been misinterpreted, being off by an entire generation. The 1721 and 1727 records occur at a time when the son Stephen should be in adulthood, yet those records do not use Jr. or Sr. designators.