Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 13 - Section XI
D’Olier.
The refugee family of D’Olier descends from a French Protestant exile who bore the ancient surname of Olier. Isaac Olier was a Huguenot martyr of eminent piety and courage, who escaped to Holland about the period of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, but suffered during the remainder of his life from the effects of the cruelties and tortures of his Romish persecutors. Wishing that himself and his descendants should be recognised as of French Protestant descent, he assumed the prefix of D’. The genealogical memoir of his family was drawn up in the year 1818 by the Chevalier de Saint-Allais, the great French genealogist,[1] and by M. Blanchard, historiographer of the King of France; and the armorial bearings were recorded in the office of the Ulster King of Arms at Dublin, by Sir William Betham.
The pedigree of the family of Olier can be traced to the beginning of the sixteenth century, when it had become established in the Province of He de France, of which Paris was the capital. Its origin seems to have been in the south. “Wilhelmus Olcrius” is named in a quittance granted by Raimond de Baure to Pierre Rigaud, Seigneur de la Bocide, for twenty sous (Toulouse money), dated 4th May 1249. Bertrand Olier, professor of medicine, was one of the capitouls of Toulouse in 1364, as was Bernard Olier in 1376. And in 1386 Juibert Olier was Master of the Mint of Toulouse. These memoranda illustrate the antiquity of the clan. But descending to genealogy, I note that the Olier pedigree contains details concerning four branches, all descended from Jean Olier, Seigneur de Vaudelle, and Marguerite Brisebarre, his wife, who were married before 12th June 1505. His only son and heir was Francois Olier, Seigneur de Vaudelle et de Naintele, who was made Secretary to the King of France on 12th July 1556; he was afterwards Audiencier in the Chancellerie, and died 1st August 1597; his wife’s maiden name was Madeline Molé. He was succeeded as head of the family by his eldest son, Francois Olier, Seigneur de Nointel, &c, who had become secretary to the king on the resignation of his father on 22d March 1586. This royal secretary filled other important offices; his wife’s maiden name was Francoise Bouhier de Beauregard; he died in 1629, and was succeeded in his seigneurie and in his secretaryship by his son, Edouard Olier. This Seigneur married Catherine de Malon in 1639; he was raised to the rank of Marquis de Nointel (or in French phraseology, the land and seigneurie of Nointel was erected into a marquisate for himself and his heirs male and female), 3d September 1654. Me died in 1683, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles Francois Olier, second Marquis dc Nointel, celebrated as the French Ambassador to Constantinople, and collector of the Grecian Marbles in the Bibliotheque Royale. The second Marquis died unmarried on 31st March 1685, and the marquisate disappeared. The last named dark and cloudy year suggests much. But we must go twenty years back. The last Marquis had three brothers whom the pedigree names in this order — Pierre, Ferdinand, and Paul. Paul, styled “Paul Olier de Nointel.” was installed as a Knight of Malta, 22nd May 1C63. Ferdinand, styled “Seigneur de Gicourt,” last appears as a Lieutenant in the Guards. Pierre was designed to be a Knight of Malta, but he became a Protestant, and took to himself a wife in the year 1665. At this date his father was alive, and lived eighteen years longer, and his elder brother lived till 1685. Probably he was disowned by the family, and retired to the south as “Pierre Olier, ecuyer” (so he is styled in the pedigree); and he enjoyed the status of a younger son only. His wife was Genevieve, daughter of Philippe Genaud, Seigneur de Guiberville, by Genevieve Le Brun, his wife. Their union was only of three years’ duration, as she died, 24th November 1668. She left a son, Isaac. At what date Pierre died, we are not informed. He seems to have settled at Montauban,[2] and Isaac, if the year 1664 was the date of his birth, was twenty-one at the Revocation epoch. The sufferings of his family we have not the means of recording. It is well known that the cruel and cowardly dragonnades began in 1681, but were confined to the Province of Poitou. In 1682 Montauban was threatened, but was spared on a hint from Paris that “they should not put too much fuel on the fire at one time.” The respite was short, and year after year, the desolation of churches, the pillage of houses, and the torturing of individual Protestants raged all around. Isaac Olier suffered very severely both in person and in property, but escaped with his life, and found a refuge in Holland along with thousands of his fellow-sufferers. We meet with him in Amsterdam in 1686, and there, as already explained, he varied the spelling of his family name. The Dutch Government, like the English, had, in 1681, given facilities for the naturalization of French Protestant refugees. And in terms of the regulations of that year, Isaac D’Olier, of Montauban, merchant, was admitted a burgess of Amsterdam on 21st May 1686, gratis. The expedition of 1688 led him to follow the Prince of Orange into England, and to go over to Ireland. There was little inclination for secular business in the following years of campaigning, combined with anxieties as to the Williamite throne and the designs of France. But in 1697 (October 21), Isaac D’Olier, merchant, was admitted a burgess of the City of Dublin. Mr. D’Olier married Martha, daughter of Richard Pilkington, Esq., of Tore, County Westmeath, by whom he had a son, Isaac, ancestor of the D’Olier family, and two daughters, Martha and Joanna. He assumed armorial bearings different from his French coat-of-arms, as a thankful commemoration of his firmness under persecution and of peace and prosperity in the land of his adoption. In the year 1794, some affidavits concerning his grandson were made before the Mayor of Dublin, and one of the matters involved was the identity of the venerated refugee. Two aged gentlemen, Richard and Brathwait Homan, deposed —
That they knew very well and had also been intimately associated with Isaac D’Olier, late merchant in Dublin; that they have often heard and do firmly believe that he was born in France, and that he came to Ireland near the time that William III., King of England, landed there; that that was a thing generally accepted as notorious by all his friends and relations and associates; that he married Martha, daughter of Richard Pilkington of Tore, in the County of Westmeath, who was their aunt; that he spoke English imperfectly, and with a French accent; that he died in Dublin about fifty years ago [i.e., about 1744].
The following is Sir William Betham’s grant or attestation:—
“To all and singular to whom these presents shall come, I, Sir William Betham, Knight, Deputy Ulster King of Arms and Principal Herald of Ireland, send greeting. Whereas, application has been made to me by Isaac Matthew D’Olier of Collegnes, in the County of Dublin, Esquire, setting forth that his great grandfather, a junior branch of the family of D’Olier, formerly resident at Collegnes near Montauban, in the Province of Dauphiny in France, having left his country on account of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantz, and the persecutions of the Professors of the Reformed Religion, came to and settled in Ireland, and that on account of his sufferings in the cause of religion, he assumed certain armorial ensigns, that is to say, azure three Corinthian pillars, each surmounted by a Dove proper, as emblems of the faith he professed, and laid aside the use of his family arms, but did not obtain any legal authority for such assumption. And that the said applicant, being desirous to retain the said family arms, and also to keep in remembrance the circumstances of the sufferings of his said great-grandfather, and of his attachment to his religion, has prayed me that I would make such exemplification of his said arms, as well those of his family as those assumed, as will best hand down to posterity and keep alive this very honourable feeling and true devotion. Know ye, therefore, that I, the said Deputy Ulster King of Arms, having examined into the circumstances, and finding the allegations to be true, am pleased to comply with the same, and by the authority to me granted, do by these presents Grant, Assign, Ratify, Exemplify, and Confirm unto the said Isaac Matthew D’Olier, and the descendants of his great-grandfather, the arms following, that is to say — Quarterly of Four, First, or, on a chevron gules between three bunches of grapes ’sable', a crescent of the first surmounted by a bezant all within a border azure semée of fleurs-de-lys of the first. Second, azure, three columns of the Corinthian order in fess proper, each surmounted with a dove, close, argent. Third, gules, on a fess 'or', three martlets sable within a border ermine. Fourth, as First. Crest, on a wreath a dove, close, argent, holding in his beak an ear of wheat or. The whole, as above more clearly appears depicted, to be used and borne by the said Isaac Matthew D’Olier, Esquire, the descendants of his said great-grandfather and their issue respectively, according to the Laws of Arms, without the let, hindrance, or interruption of any person or persons whatsoever. In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name and title, and affixed the seal of the office of Ulster King of Arms of all Ireland, this fifteenth day of July, in the Fifty-eighth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King Defender of the Faith, and so forth, and in the year of our Salvation One Thousand eight hundred and eighteen.”
The arms (as described above) were depicted, with the motto, la bonté de dieu. It is believed that the father of the refugee, and the refugee himself, resided at Collegnes, a country house in Dauphiny. But the reader must not suppose that they belonged to the branch known as the Oliers of Dauphiny, whose arms were, “azure a chevron argent, accompanied with a lion or langued gules having the chief or charged with a star gules.” Evidently the old seal of the noble Huguenot refugee was engraved with a chevron between three bunches of grapes, and a crescent surmounted by a bezant, and justified the statement of the Chevalier de Saint Allais, that he was descended from a family established for two centuries in the province of Ile de France.