Boissevain is the name of a Dutch patrician family of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

origin.

History

The family originates from the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named af ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Lucas Bouyssavy (1660–1705) appears to have been the founder of today's Boissevain family."Origin
Boissevain website. Lucas sold his half of the ancestral property in the village of Couze to his brother Jean on 22 July 1685. On 4 December 1687 he drew up his will in the town of

Bergerac, Dordogne Bergerac (; ) is a subprefecture of the Dordogne department, in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Southwestern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 26,823, which made it the department's second-most populated after the prefecture P ...

. Because of Catholic persecution of the Protestants, he went into exile, first to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, and then to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

(

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

). He settled there in about 1691, using the name Boissevain. Thus, all bearers of the name Boissevain are necessarily descended from Boussavy. In the course of the generations the family spread further over the rest of the Netherlands and Europe. Adolphe Boissevain (1843–1921) acquired an outstanding reputation in financing companies, particularly railway companies, e.g., the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

. Along this line is situated, in

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, the town of

Boissevain, Manitoba Boissevain () is an unincorporated urban community in Manitoba near the North Dakota border that held town status prior to 2015. It is located within the Municipality of Boissevain – Morton. Boissevain is a community of just over 1,500 people an ...

named after Adolphe. The investment bank owned by the family, Boissevain & Company (with offices in New York and Amsterdam) was acquired by

Hallgarten & Company Hallgarten & Company was an investment bank based in New York City that was founded in 1850 by Lazarus Hallgarten, a native of Hesse. History Lazarus Hallgarten arrived in the United States in 1849. His initial activity was as a note and exchang ...

in January 1926. It had been in existence for around 25 years. COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Ambtswoning van de familie Boissevain TMnr 60052530

Daniel Boissevain (1856–1929), who turned against the family wealth and became a farmer and socialist activist in Alberta, CanadaGrain Growers Guide, accessed through the Peel's Prairie Provinces website contributed to the spread of the Boissevains over the North American continent, while Willem Frederik Lamoraal Boissevain (1852–1919) contributed to the presence of the family in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

(present-day

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

). Three children and a grandson of Amsterdam newspaper editor

Charles Boissevain Charles Boissevain (28 October 1842 – 5 May 1927) was a journalist, editor and part-owner of the Amsterdam Algemeen Handelsblad, a leading newspaper of the time. From 1872 he was on the editorial board of the literary journal ''De Gids''. Ca ...

(1842–1927) emigrated to North America. *His son Eugen Jan Boissevain (1880–1949), an importer of coffee from Java, married two notable 20th-century American women:

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

Inez Milholland Inez Milholland Boissevain (August 6, 1886 – November 25, 1916) was a leading American suffragist, lawyer, and peace activist. From her college days at Vassar, she campaigned aggressively for women’s rights as the principal issue of a wide ...

(1886–1916), for whom he emigrated to New York, and

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

–winning poet

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. She wrote much of he ...

(1892–1950). * His son Robert Walrave Boissevain (1872-1938) emigrated to upstate New York. * His daughter Olga Boissevain (1875–1949) married Dutch sea captain and explorer Abraham Jacob van Stockum (1864–1935). Their son, mathematician

Willem Jacob van Stockum Willem Jacob van Stockum (20 November 1910 – 10 June 1944) was a Dutch mathematician who made an important contribution to the early development of general relativity. Biography Van Stockum was born in Hattem in the Netherlands. His father wa ...

(1910–44), discovered solutions of Einstein's equations with closed timelike lines, and their daughter

Hilda van Stockum Hilda Gerarda van Stockum (9 February 1908 – 1 November 2006) was a Dutch-born children's writer and artist. She received a Newbery Honor. Biography She was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Her father was an officer in the Dutch Royal ...

(1908–2006) was a well-known artist and author of children's books who married an American, E. R. Marlin, and emigrated with him (and with her mother Olga) to the United States. * His son Charles Ernest Henri Boissevain was the father of

Charles H. Boissevain Charles Hercules Boissevain (1893–1946) was a Dutch tuberculosis researcher and botanist in the United States. Biography Charles Hercules Boissevain was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on Oct. 18, 1893, to Maria Barbera Pijnappel and Charles ...

, a physician who moved to Colorado, where he became a tuberculosis researcher.

Coat of arms

The family coat of arms features a silver shield with three green trees. Prior to the 20th century, these trees were represented in many different variations; in 1935 the family decided they would be box trees in all future uses,"Family Coat of Arms"
Boissevain website. The Boissevain motto is in French: "Ni regret du passé, ni peur de l'avenir" (Neither regret for the past, nor fear of the future).

References

External links

Family-related websites include:
Boissevain Family

Boissevain Family Tree

North American Boissevains
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boissevain Family Dutch patrician families Surnames