Pierre Billiou 1 
WILLIAM PRALL 
It is with an especial pleasure that I stand here today and say 
a few words of appreciation at the unveiling of the memorial 
pillar to Pierre Billiou and his wife Francoise du Bois. 
First, because it is always a satisfaction to rescue an half-for- 
gotten worthy from undeserved oblivion. 
Second, because Pierre Billiou was my six times great-grand- 
father, and my Prall ancestors from Arendt Jansen, from father 
to son, were born and lived and died on Staten Island, until my 
father’s generation; and he too was born on the island. 
When I became a member of the Staten Island Institute, its 
learned director Mr. Charles W. Leng brought forward the his- 
tory of the island and spoke of the prominent part Pierre Billiou 
had taken in its permanent settlement. He said he could not 
understand why his name should have been overlooked by the an- 
nalists. I suggested that it was either because his male descend- 
ants had deserted the island or because his French lls cannot he 
transferred to the English tongue, so that his name became written 
as Biyou and Bileau, and then disappeared. In Dutch it was 
usually written Biljouw. Let me say that a great many other 
French names have been lost to view for similar reasons. 
Pierre Billiou and his wife were born at La Bassée, or Wicres, 
in French Flanders, afterwards a part of Artois, which was then 
a possession of the King of Spain. They were therefore Wal- 
loons, that is French-speaking Netherlanders. They were mar- 
ried in the Walloon church at Leyden April 20, 1649. Francoise 
was a daughter of Chrétien and a-sister of Louis du Bois called 
“the Walloon,” who settled at Wiltwyck and became eventually 
1 Address by Rev. William Prall, Ph.D., S.T.D., made at the dedication 
of the Huguenot Church, Huguenot Park, May 18, 1924. 
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