Family-histories and genealogies : containing a series of ...

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lo This CAROLO ^ Diodati was sent in his youth to Lyons, to serve
an apprentisage in one of the banking-houses of the Buonvisi, his mother's
family ; and became a frequenter of the reformed preaching there, and at
heart a Protestant. But the Massacre of St. Bartholomew drove him out
of France, and he took refuge in Geneva ;
where
he was tenderly received
and entertained by Nicolb Balbani, the Pastor of the church of Italian
refugees, already established there, and was admitted into the church. He
1 1-14 four sons :
became a, citizen of Geneva on the 29*'' of December 1572, and contracted
a second marriage with Marie daughter of Vincenzo Mei, by whom he had
Joseph}^
THEODORE}^ JEAN^^ and Samuel; 10 and three
I5~i7 daughters: Aime}^ Marie'^^ and Madeleine}-^
While preparing our paper on the Diodatis and their alliances, it
occurred to us to inquire whether there might not be some relationship
between the Mei wife of Carolo Diodati, the namesake of Charles V., and
a family, of similar name, of whom one was the first husband of the
second wife of the celebrated theologian De Wette of Basel. Accordingly,
a letter of inquiry on the subject was written to a granddaughter of
De Wette by his first v/ife, who sent the following reply from a corres-
pondent. No affinity appears to exist between the two families ; but the
letter gives authoritative information respecting the Meis who became
allied to the Diodatis by the marriage of Carolo, and is therefore worth
preserving. It is here translated from the French, for the benefit of all
who may be interested in the Diodati genealogy.
. . . The
". . . Here
"Berne, 26 Nov. 1877."
at last is the answer to your inquiry of the 31st of October.
Mey family of Lucca is entirely alien to us, as is easily proved by the
difference of names (theirs being Mey or Mei, ours dei Maggi), and of origin (they
here indicated may show, perhaps, what was the quartering granted by Charles V. The family in
Geneva, at the present time, use a coat of arms substantially the same with the blazon in the Patent
of Joseph ii,; we have reproduced it in our wood-cut, from a copy made by Miss Sarah Diodate Gardiner.
The terms of the grant to Giulio Diodati by Ferdinand ii. would seem to authorize any branch of the
family to use the imperial double eagle as part of their arms.
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