Temple protestant de Bolbec
In the seventeenth century, Bolbec was an important centre of Protestant life in Normandy. Though the Huguenots had endured persecution and dispersion, their faith remained steadfast, and in time a temple was built to serve the Protestant community of the region.
Mrhugues, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The church at Bolbec holds particular significance for Esther Copley's family. Two of her ancestors, Jacques Beuzeville and the Rev. Samuel Beuzeville, made generous bequests toward the cost of its construction. For several years prior to celebrations of its bi-centenary the church elders sought to trace the descendants of those benefactors. In 1997, only months before the bi-centenary of the building, I travelled to Bolbec with my son. What followed was an unexpected and deeply moving encounter — one that seemed to complete a circle begun more than two centuries earlier.
Entry, dated 1791, in the Church Record Book at the Protestant Church of Bolbec in Normandy, recording the bequests of two of Esther Copley's ancestors, Rev. Samuel Beuzeville (£5) and Jacques Guillemard (£200), for the construction of the original building on this site. Because the exchange rate was favourable at the time, these two bequests were sufficient to fund the construction of the church.
A Gift from God!
Much to our surprise, upon our arrival at the church, my son and I were greeted by newspaper reporters and photographers and learned that during the two years prior to our visit the Church Elders been searching the world, hoping to find descendants of the two men who had provided the funds for the original building
Huguenot Psalms