Nuzum Family

Where’s the Love?

Massacre of the Vaudois of Merindol

Many in the Nuzum family were Huguenots— French Calvinists who emigrated to Ulster, Ireland in the late 1600’s. It seems that with the new zeal that came with Calvinism, a lot of people could have done a better job at “Loving thy Neighbor.” Apparently, both sides were harsh critics of their neighbors– some found a new zeal in their faith, and others followed more traditional doctrine and practice of worship. One example of a bad outcome is the Massacre of the Vaudois of Merindo in 1545. Can’t we all just get along?

French Wars of Religion
Unfortunately, this massacre is just one example of the lack of Respect and Tolerance that should have been produced by any decent system of values. For over thirty-six years (from 1562–1598), the French had civil war in the French Wars of Religion. In the end, about 200,000 French Huguenots emigrated from France to other nations, especially in the New World.

St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

In what became known as the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 24 August – 3 October 1572, Catholics killed thousands of Huguenots in Paris. Similar massacres took place in other towns in the weeks following. The main provincial towns and cities experiencing the Massacre were Aix, Bordeaux, Bourges, Lyon, Meaux, Orleans, Rouen, Toulouse, and Troyes.^[23] Nearly 3,000 Protestants were slaughtered in Toulouse alone.^[24] The exact number of fatalities throughout the country is not known. On the 23–24 August, between about 2,000^[25] and 3,000^[26][27][28] Protestants were killed in Paris and between 3,000^[29] and 7,000 more^[30] in the French provinces. By 17 September, almost 25,000 Protestants had been massacred in Paris alone.^[31][32] Outside of Paris, the killings continued until the 3 October.^[31] An amnesty granted in 1573 pardoned the perpetrators. (from the Huguenot wiki)

The Huguenots in Ireland
The first emigration of Huguenots to Ireland was in 1660. In Ireland, they taught the Scotch-Irish how to make linen out of flax, which became an important industry in North Ireland. By the 1700’s, about 10,000 Huguenots had emigrated from France. Many organized their mills and other enterprises into corporations.

Nuzums from Ireland to the New World
Richard Nuzum emigrated from Ireland to Delaware County, Pennsylvania in 1752, and in 1802, he received a grant for 1,000 acres in the current area of Colfax, Marion County, West Virginia. The family soon extended to Harrison County and throughout West Virginia, where they are more prevalent. Nuzums are also found throughout the U.S., Australia, and the world.

Dublin, Ireland

Here is a Nuzum Bros. building, at 201 Pearse Street, Dublin, Ireland. It was built in the 1830’s. Thomas Nuzum is listed as a coal agent on the Dublin Street Directory in 1862. He appears in many advertisements in the Irish Times digital archives as the coal agent for the Earl of Lonsdales Whitehaven Colliery (based in Durham/Cumberland). Thomas Nuzum was originally at 1 Luke St and later at 201 Great Brunswick St. He had a second location at 74 Marlborough Street. Advertisements for Nuzum Brothers appear about 1886 for selling coal. They’re on the 1913 phone list. Later, this street was re-named Pearse Street, and new buildings used a new addressing sequence– for example, right across the street is 27 Pearse Street.

Nuzum farm, Shinn’s Run, Harrison County, 1873.

The Nuzum Family History, a genealogical study going back more than eight generations, begins with the French Huguenots. In the late 1600’s, they immigrated to Ulster, Ireland, and by 1752, the first Nuzum family came to Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, and about 50 years later, to other parts of America, especially Marion County in western Virginia. Other early families in the area include the Pricketts, Morgans, Springers, Steeles and Paxtons.

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More info:

• Marion County, WV History
• Nuzum family at familyhistory.com
• Nuzum– Many of the Huguenots that came to Ireland from France did not have sirnames. A Scotch-Irish folkway that existed at that time, and still exists today, is to refer to a family in the plural like “Steele’s ones,” or “Prickett’s ones.” This gets abbreviated to “Steele’s-uns,” “Prickett’s-uns” and “you-uns.” I have a theory that the name Newsome, or Nuzum, came from “New-ones,” creating the sirname.