FROM OPPRESSION TO FREEDOM: JOHN JAY AND HIS HUGUENOT HERITAGE
A new exhibition, “From Oppression
to Freedom: John Jay and His Huguenot Heritage,” is currently on
display in the Back Parlor Gallery. John Jay's grandfather, Auguste (later Augustus)
Jay was a French Huguenot who had emigrated to New York after King Louis
XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had protected French Protestants
from religious persecution. The story of the Jay family's
maltreatment had a powerful effect on John Jay, and had much to do with
his efforts as a Founding Father to make America a place of freedom.
A transcription of John Jay’s account of his grandfather’s story is
available for download here.
The exhibition highlights John Jay
Homestead’s recent acquisition, Auguste Jay's letter of
denization, dated 1686. This
document established Auguste’s legal right as a French refugee to live and conduct
business in the British colony of New York. The exhibit also
displays his folio-sized Book of
Common Prayer, which he inscribed with the Anglicized revision of his
name in 1726, after becoming a member of the Church of England. Other notable objects on display are a painted portrait of
Augustus Jay, historic books and engravings, and the silver seal
of Peter Jay, John Jay’s father, dated
1722.
The
exhibit can be viewed both as part of
a regular tour of the historic house, and by itself, during special
gallery hours held on Fridays from 10:00 to noon, and on Sundays from noon
to 2:00.
Friends - P.O. Box 148, Katonah, NY 10536 - phone: 914.232.8119 - fax: 914.232.5974 - e-mail: friends@johnjayhomestead.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Site - P.O. Box 832 - 400 Jay Street, Katonah, NY 10536 - phone: 914.232.5651 - fax: 914.232.8085 - www.nysparks.com
