On October 29th, 1685, Brandenburgs’s Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm decreed the edict of Potsdam to accommodate the Huguenots who were casted out of France. He guaranteed them the freedom of belief and other privileges. Short time before, the edict of Nantes (freedom of belief) was cancelled by Louis XIV in France. The newcomers were needed urgently since the Great Elector’s country was destroyed and depopulated in the Thirty Years’ War.
In 1688, Antoine Herpin came with his family to Zerrenthin in the Uckermark (map of the Uckermark). Between 1693 and 1696 he was the church elder in Bergholz. Four of his seven children were born in Uckermark. His children and their offspring except Jean Herpin stayed in the Uckermark. In the nineteenth century, some of his descendants settled down in Berlin.
Antoine Herpin’s offspring is well explored in Brandenburg-Berlin. A whole row of descendants are known up to the present day.
His offspring in the Uckermark and Berlin has kept up the notation Herpin. Only separately the notation Harpin or Herping can be found.
Literature:
Richard Béringuier, Die Stammbäume der Mitglieder der Französischen Colonie in Berlin, Berlin 1887
Richard Béringuier, Die Colonielisten von 1699 der Mark Brandenburg, Berlin 1888
Karl Manoury, Geschichte der Provinzgemeinden der Mark Brandenburg, Berlin 1961
Eduard Muret, Geschichte der Französischen Kolonie in Brandenburg-Preußen, Berlin 1885