A French revolutionary and an American Patriot

Theres not alot of information on the Weed family after our "Founding Father" Jonas. He married a woman by the name of Mary. Thats about all the info I can find on her. They had a son named Daniel Weed who married a woman named Ruth. Their son was named Abraham. Abraham married a woman named Susan Bell from Stamford, Connecticut around 1686 in December. Here is were it gets interesting. Abraham and Susan had a daughter named Ruth who from a couple of different accounts was mentally handicapped. Ruth was never married but was being taken care of by a brother who had custody. Somehow Ruth ended up with 2 illegitimate daughters; Patience was born in 1738, and Lois was born in 1741. At this point i will flash back to a small town in eastern France. Besancon, is located on the Doubs river close to the Germany border and is considered the gateway to the Alps. In May 1741 in that same French town, A child was born named Francois Joseph Durand. The Durand Family was a very prominent aristocratic family in the region and was very prominent in the area politics. All of the Durand males were born into privelage and were, in every sense of the word, noblemen. At the age of 16 Francois renounced his noble status and left France for America. At some point between then and 1762 Francois, who at this point had changed his name to Francis, met Patience Weed. They were married in May 1762. It seems they had a residence in Norwalk Co. and possibly another in Stamford. I have traced the Brown line back to the Durands and the best part of it for me is the knowledge that it is very probable he served as an aide or as an officer under the famous Marquis de Lafayette As an American Colonist! I did find one excerpt from a journal entry from the famous French General Lafeyette:

Lafayette’s journals mention of the Norwalk burning;

“About fourteen days ago, one British regiment (the forty-fourth completed) and three Hessian regiments were embarked, and
are gone, as is supposed, to Halifax. The operations of the enemy this
campaign have been confined to the establishment of works of defence,
taking a post at King’s Ferry, and burning the defenceless towns of New
Haven, Fairfield, and Norwalk, on the Sound, within reach of their
shipping, where little else was, or could be, opposed to them, than the
cries of distressed women and helpless children; but these were offered
in vain. Since these notable exploits, they have never stepped out of
their works or beyond their lines. How a conduct of this kind is to
effect the conquest of America, the wisdom of a North, a Germain, or a
Sandwich can best decide, it is too deep and refined for the
comprehension of common understandings and the general run of
politicians.”

And then there’s this intriguing mention of the history of Francois Joseph Durand,

“We know almost nothing of that home of Francois (Francis) Joseph in Norwalk. He dropped the name of Francois, which to him could be his name only as pronounced in French (”Frahnswah”), awkward in America and an unwise distinction. The name however, was renewed in that of his oldest son, Joseph (Francois) called by his first name. The second son was called Alexandre, from that time the French names were dropped and the names of the other children were strictly of New England. It is known that (I’ll just use the Francis Joseph from now on) Francis Joseph bought and sold land in Norwalk, and it also appears that he had a home at Stamford, near Norwalk, where many of the Weed (his wife’s family) were living In the census of 1790, Joseph Durand is listed as Norwalk and Stamford. Norwalk was almost entirely burned by the British in 1779, only a few houses remaining which may account for the Stamford home. In this Connecticut home, the family was brought; the older sons were married and their children were growing up about them, when a change came.”

Fun stuff and i love finding out that i am a descendant of Revolutionary War Veterans! I do have alittle more info on the Durand Family. If you have any questions please e-mail me at:

jon.speakerforthedead@gmail.com or brown6pak@msn.com!