History and lore
Marie and Gideon married in 1644 in Leiden’s Walloon Church, which served French-speaking Protestant refugees. They were Huguenots, part of a flight from religious persecution in France that became a mass exodus after Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685.
Read the full article: The Huguenots: Why Our Family Left France
Marie married Gideon La Plante Merle in the Walloon Church at Leiden on 21 August 1644. In 1662 she crossed the Atlantic with him and four of their sons aboard Der Permerlander Kerck, sailing from Amsterdam on 12 October 1662 and reaching New Amsterdam in February 1663, while her daughter Marie stayed behind in Holland. The family settled on Staten Island, where her youngest child, Anne, was born in 1666.
Read the full article: Across the Atlantic in 1662: The Merle Family Comes to New Netherland