Protestant Exiles from France/Book First - Chapter 15 - Le Quesne
Le Quesne.
In the “Searche” for 1571, we are informed that James Le Quesne, a native of Tournay, took refuge in England in 1568:— “London, St. Nicholas Aeon, ward of Langborne. James Le Quyen, and Anne, his wife, and Marie, their daughter, born in Tournay, came into this realm about three years past for religion. Dated 10th Nov. 1571.” He probably had no heir-male. But Abraham Le Quesne, a native of Rouen, was apparently a refugee in London — at least his son, Isaac Le Quesne, was a merchant in London in 1636, and in that year an ancien of the French Church, and a widower. On 23d August he remarried with Sara Du Quesne, second surviving daughter of Jean Du Quesne and Sara de Francqueville. The marriage ceremony “aux Anglois” was performed at Highgate, “par M. Crook, ministre de Woolchurch en Londres.” She died 15th March 1654 (n.s.), aged forty-five, leaving two sons (two sons and three daughters having predeceased her). The children were Isaac (born 1637, died 1661), Sara (born 1639, died 1641), Jehan (born 1641), Abraham (born 1643, died 1645), Jacques (born 1644, died 1646), Benjamin (born 1646), and Jane (born 1648, died 1649). As to Isaac Le Quesne, the father of this family, we learn from the baptismal entries that he had three brothers — Abraham, Jehan, and Laurens; Jehan was sponsor to his nephew named after him; Laurens lived at Rouen, and the infant Jacques, died in his house 2d July 1646. The families of Le Quesne and De la Forterie were connected through the Du Quesnes.
The infant Jehan grew up to manhood, but died unmarried. The other surviving son, Benjamin Le Quesne, married a daughter of a sister of “the five brothers Houblon,” namely, Esther Milner, daughter of an Alderman of London. Alderman Milner was the second husband of Madame Jurien, née Elizabeth [or Marie? or Dorothée?] Houblon. Returning to the head of the family, Isaac Le Quesne, we note that his children, Isaac, Sara, and Jacques, were buried in Bow Church, City of London, while his youngest child, Jane, died at Greenwich, and was buried in the parish church there on 29th June 1649. (See Sir Edmund Frederick Du Cane’s account of the Du Quesne family, page 42.)