ous and moral of these French Protestants found safety in Amer- 

 ica. Of these, in 1714, there settled in Virginia among the Eng- 

 lish already more than a century there, the Fontaines and the 

 Maurys, names long famous in French literature, French archi- 

 tecture and in the best annals of the French Church. 



Matthew Fontaine Maury was of the fifth generation of 

 these families in Virginia; his father, Richard Maury, was the 

 sixth son of the Rev. James Maury, an Episcopal clergyman and 

 teacher of Walker Parish, Albemarle County, Virginia, who left 

 the impress of his influence in the simple ritual which still pre- 

 vails in that Diocese and, no less, his influence as a teacher upon 

 the founders of the Republic; he numbered among his students 

 five signers of the Declaration of Independence and two or three 

 future Presidents of the United States, Jefferson, the immortal 

 exponent of modern democracy, 'belonging to both groups. The 

 father of the Rev. James Maury was Matthew Maury, "a Hugue- 

 not gentleman" ; his mother, Mary Ann Fontaine, the only daugh- 

 ter of the Rev. James Fontaine, who in 1722 occupied his leisure 

 writing his autobiography, for the use and edification of his chil- 

 dren. He began the family record with the birth, in 1500, of 

 Jean de la Fontaine, who, with his wife, was cruelly murdered 

 sixty-three years later, by religious fanatics. Their three sons 

 escaped and lived to rear large families. The Reverend Auto- 

 biographer, with much fervor, exhorted his descendants never to 

 forget that the blood of martyrs coursed in their veins. In 1872, 

 one hundred and fifty years later, this manuscript was discovered 

 in the home of Mr. James Fontaine, near Richmond, Virginia. It 

 was translated and published under the title, "The Memoirs of a 

 Huguenot Family," by Miss Ann-Fun Idim Maury, the great-great- 

 granddaughter of the autobiographer. 



While Jefferson was still a lad the grandfather of the sub- 

 ject of this sketch was already teaching the wonderful political 

 future awaiting America; he was preaching a bona-fide Ameri- 

 canism to which the present-day type is but a counterfeit. W^ho 

 can doubt that Jefferson profited by his teachings ! 



Richard Maury shared with the Master-BuilderJof the Re- 

 public his father's wise instruction and beneficent example. In 

 1790 he married Diana Minor, the daughter of Major John Minor, 



