A group of us have contributed funds to an on-going research project in France to locate any records for our Depuy ancestors in the area of Arras. The documents from the Leiden Walloon Church states that our Nicholas de Puwy was a "camletworker [tapestry weaver] young man from near Atrecht [Dutch for Arras, France]", so that seems to indicate that the family must have lived in a surrounding village.

During the past year, I have been working with a professional genealogist there that has just completed his archival research of the 12 Catholic Churches of Arras that existed during the 17th century and earlier. The Huguenots were not officially allowed to have their own churches back then, so they usually recorded births, baptisms, and deaths in the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful in discovering any records of our Depuy family.

We are pursuing the next phase of this research and will have to hire another person to search through the departmental archives of Pas-de-Calais (used to be Artois) for any mention of our Depuy family in the surrounding towns and villages of Arras from that time. I am asking for contributions from anyone who might be interested in discovering more information about Nicholas and Francois Depuy/Depew/Depue and their parents, Jean de Puij and Marij Moptij. You can contact me at maineshep@verizon.net

Thanks,

Wayne Shepard