uncovering the parents of Henriette de Court

This one has been a stumper for me, although I have spent countless hourse trying to weed through nearly every entry in the parish registers of Temple Calviniste de Villeneuve, St. Barthelemy, Notre Dame and even two parishes on The Ile de Re.

So here is the problem...

Marie de Moucheron (mother to our Anne-Helene) was not baptized in any of the the churches of La Rochelle. All are complete for the 1650's and onward (she was listed as age 24 by the priest on her marriage entry in August of 1682, thus born roughly 1658). Nor will you find the marriage of her parents in La Rochelle, the period (1650-1656) mostly (but not entirely) complete. I suspect a marriage contract must exist, but to date, I do not have the resources or access to Notarial Records. There are some indexes published online, but as you would guess, not the one we seek. I do find a 1656 Contract for Guillaume de Moucheron and his wife Henriette de Court, but it is between them and another.

As far as Guillaume de Moucheron, I already have his baptism (post coming soon) and a lot of information on his parents, Pierre de Moucheron and Marie Jay dit Geay. But that will come later, for now let's focus on the tedious process of discovering the parentage of Henriette de Court, wife of Guillaume de Moucheron. We'll start with the most interesting document, the record of her burial. It gives us some very interesting clues.

Shed died at La Rochelle the 3rd and was buried from The Temple Calviniste the 4th of May, 1677. Here is the image... (click to enlarge or save)

One thing which seems to be very common in these period burials is the witnesses, they are almost always identified in terms of their relationship to the decedent. So we have the following clues based upon this document.. (three witnesses)

Benjamin Caillon, brother in law. He's an easy one, married to her husband Guillaume's sister Marie.
Sieur Pierre Jay, cousin germain (most of the time this means maternal)..
Leonard Bernon, Sieur de Bernonville, cousin removed and germain (indicating a maternal cousin not of the same generation as the subject)

We also have their signatures (very important to distinguish them from other's of the same name, and in this case there were)

Pierre Jay

Leonard Bernon

________________________

Pierre Jay was a very important man in La Rochelle. He was the ancestor of the American Jay family who played such an important role in our history.  He was married to Judith Francois.  And I have found references (mainly on websites and old publications from The United States) that he was the son of Silvester Jay and Marthe Bouhier. Silvester is "claimed" to be the son of a Jean Jay and Marie de la Barre. In any case, I might also add that Pierre Jay is related to both Henriette and her husband Guillaume de Moucheron. Normally I would write it off that the Priest made an error and that he was referring to a relationship by marriage, but given the documents I have examined, Bernon, de Court AND Jay were all cousins. Pierre Jay is very active as witness and godfather to Leonard's parents, grandparents, and children.   More on this relationship later...

Leonard Bernon "Sieur de Bernonville" was the son of Andre Bernon, son of yet another Andre Bernon who married in 1604 to Jeanne de Court.  Unlike the Jay line, this is easily proven through primary sources. Essentially Jeanne de Court (wife of Andre Bernon Sr.) is the Aunt of our Henriette de Court, sister to her father. I know neither who Jeanne de Court's parents are, or which of the many protestant de Court men living in La Rochelle during the period of 1620-1630 was her brother (and father to our Henriette)  There was Etienne (the elder), David and Guy de Court which are very good candidates and were definitely related to Bernon through various documents, but nothing conclusively tying them to Henriette.  

More on this difficult line later...