| H. S. E. cui Cunas dedit SOMERSETIA, Octob. 23d 1640 | ||||
| Patrem e praeclarâ familia de St Michel ANDEGAVIA |
Matrem e nobili stirpe Cliffodorum CUMBRIA | |||
| ELIZABETHA PEPYS Samuelis Pepys (Classi Regiae ab Actis) Uxor Quae in Coenobio primùm, Aulà dein educata Gallicâ, Utriusque unâ claruit virtutibus Formâ, Artibus, Linguis, cultissima. Prolem enixa, quia parem non potuit, nullam. Hinc demùm placidè cum valedixerat (Confecto per amaeniora ferè; Europae itinere) Potiorem abiit redux lustratura mundum Obiit 10 Novembris | ||||
| Anno | AEtatis 29. Conjugii 15. Domini 1669. |
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Her father and mother seem to have survived her; for in 1672 Balthazar alludes to his mother as but recently a widow. I quote from his letter to Pepys, dated, “Deale, August 14th, 1672.” — “Hond. Sir, you dayly and howerly soe comble me with, not only expressions, but alisoe deeds of your worthyness and goodness, as well to myselfe as the rest of your most devoted humble creaturs heare, that I am as well as my poor drooping mother whoose continuall illness since the death of my father gives me but litell hopes shee will survive him long, &c Litell Samuel, whoe speakes now very pretely, desiers to have his most humble duty presented to his most honrd. Uncle and Godfather which please to accept from your most humble litell disiple.” In 1686 Balthazar St Michel became Resident Commissioner of the Navy at Deptford and Woolwich with £500 per annum. He was married, but that his wife was the person whom Pepys called his wife’s brother’s lady, “my lady Kingston” (15th March, 1661), is not probable : (there were other brothers). He appears among the relatives at Pepys’ funeral in 1703 as Captain St Michel; his son, Samuel St Michel, and his daughter, Mary, are mentioned. Perhaps he had been promoted to the rank of Post-Captain in 1702, as on that year a successor took his post of Commissioner.[1]
The surname of Le Keux flourished among the refugees at Canterbury. Jacques Le Keux of Canterbury had a son, Philippe Le Keux, Pasteur of the French Church at Dover, who was ordained in 1646, the Pasteur Philippe Delme (who died in 1653) being Moderator; he afterwards removed to Canterbury, where Monsieur Pierre Le Keux was also pasteur (1645). On 25th Dec. 1645, John Le Keux was married in the French Protestant Church of Canterbury to Anthoinette Le Quien, and left two sons, John and Peter. As the male line of John’s family failed, I begin with Peter; he was baptized at Canterbury on 6th Dec. 1649, and married Mary Maresco on 7th Aug. 1681, in the City of London French Church, having established himself in London; his son Peter, born in 1682, died in 1685. The line was carried on by his surviving son, William. In the Political State of Great Britain I find tlie following announcement:— “2d April 1723, Died, Colonel Peter Le Keux, at his house in Spittlefields, after a lingering illness, at an advanced age [73]; he was one of the Justices of
- ↑ Except for the dates connected with the Commissioneiship, my sole Authority for the above Memoir is Pepys’ Diary, and accompanying materials. The ancestry of St Michel and his sister is described in Balthazar’s Letter to Pepys, dated 8th Feb. 1673-4, and summarized in the Editor’s Life of Pepys. Why that letter is not given there, verbatim and at full length, I do not understand. It seems to have been printed along with one edition of the Diary, for the late Mr Burn gives this quotation from it (Balthazar is alluding to his father), “He for some time, upon that little he had, settled himself in Devonshire, at a place called Bideford, where and thereabouts my sister and we all were born.”
