Quite by chance, during a holiday in June 2001, I came upon the Huguenot Cemetery in Merrion Row, a short distance from St. Stephen's Green, in Dublin. There is no known connection with the Henderson Family, but the 239 family names listed on the memorial may be of interest to other genealogists.
About 300,000 Huguenots fled France in 1685 when the legal protection (the Edict of Nantes) that they had been given in the largely Catholic France ended, and they were faced with imprisonment or death if they did not give up their religion. They went to Protestant countries mainly in Europe but some even went to North America and South Africa; taking with them their skills, especially as silk weavers and silversmiths.
CLICK on any picture below to see a larger image.
 |
 |
 |
||
| The locked entrance to the Huguenot Cemetery in Merrion Row, Dublin, Ireland. | Immediately inside the gate, at the left, is a large modern memorial to the 239 families who are interred in the cemetery. | To the right of the large memorial is a smaller stone to Jaques Fontaine and his wife, given by descendants in America in May 1999. |
