The Basilica at Saint-Quentin
The following is a copy of a letter from the St. Quentin Historical Society written in August, 1938:
Translation of the above:
Société Académique de Saint-Quentin
Founded in 1825
Acknowledged by Royal Ordinance of August 13, 1831
Saint-Quentin, August 10, 1938Miss A. Crommelin
Your letter of July 31 arrived here only today. I hasten to answer it as well as possible.The portrait which caught your attention at the museum, most likely represents the wife of Samuel Crommelin, (Suzanne Crommelin) [Note: Incorrect! This Suzanne Crommelin was actually the wife of Jean Rondeau. Also, it was Samuel who was the mayor of Saint-Quentin, not Pierre-Samuel (his father) as mentioned in the letter above.] Samuel was mayor of Saint-Quentin in 1731 and 1732 and died in 1775 at the age of 92 years.
I also know that a previous Samuel Crommelin lived in 1680, had married Madelaine Testart of Saint-Quentin and became father of 23 children.
It was in 1679 that Armand, the first of the French Crommelins settled in Saint-Quentin, where one of the public places bears his name since about that time.
A Crommelin donated the large hewn marble baptismal font, which can still be seen in our cathedral.
[Maryse Trannois writes: "I don't have the first name of the Crommelin who donated the baptismal fonts to the cathedral in Saint-Quentin, but he was a member of the administrative body of the cathedral. He donated them in 1763. They are made of marble."]
In volumes 11 and 12, series 4e of the proceedings of our Academic Society one finds details of the Crommelin family under the title as follows: Isaac Mathieu Crommelin, the last of his generation in France, by Berlemont.
Specifically for volume 11, this volume has become very rare because of the German ravages and costs about 40 francs and it is not certain that one can find one. Mr. Lambert Dupont, a librarian of Saint-Quentin on Raspail Street, could try to find one. Volume 51, another volume of our proceedings which appeared since the war of 1914, also devotes several pages (pages 166 thru 333) to Crommelin. You can send for them from the Société Académique at 15 francs including mailing.
In 1931 or 1932, I corresponded with your cousin, Miss May de la Chérois Crommelin at Saint-Quentin, an author in her eighties who came to see the city of her ancestors. She gave me her address as: Miss May Crommelin, Albemarle Club, Dover Street, W.I. London.
Two years later a Mr. Obreen, a representative of a Mr. Crommelin in Holland, came to do some research in possible nobility titles of the Crommelins. One of our local historians has written a report to the effect that Armand Crommelin was enobled by King Henry IV in 1589. However he does not refer to any documents on which he bases this and your ancestors have probably lost their letters of nobility if they ever had any.
Signed: Ch. Journel.
Past president of the Société Académique.
9 rue Villebois-Mareuil, Saint-Quentin, Aisne
