The father of Jeanne, Hester, Antoinette, Francois, and Marie was very probably Jacques Mahieu. He was a witness to the betrothal of Francoise Mahieu and Daniel Cricket. He and his wife (name not recorded) received communion in the Leiden Walloon Church on 10 Jun 1590, with letters of transfer from the Walloon Church in London, dated 30 April 1590. He came from Lille, now in the northern part of France. Formerly it was of Walloon Flanders. Heavily protestant, the area was captured by Catholic armies under Parma in 1578, and many Walloon Calvinists fled to England directly, while others fled north towards teh Protestant cities of Bruges and Antwerp. When those cities fell in 1585, refugees went across to England or north to Zeeland and Holland. Apparently the Jacques Mahieu was among these refugees, taking with him young daughters Mary and Franciose. Jeanne’s record also refers to her “step-mother” Jeanne, so perhaps her mother died in Lille and Jacques remarried when he got to Canterbury. (Source: The Pilgrims and Other English in Leiden Records: Some New Pilgrim Documents, Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, NEHGR 143:195, 199 (July 1989).

This man may also be named Jean. In the Canterbury records, there is an Anthony Mahieu, son of Jean le Mahieu, native of Coulon, near Calais, France, married to Martha Conart. They had two children baptized in Canterbury. (Moriarty, G. Andrews. Genealogical Research in England: Hester Le Mahieu, Wife of Francis Cooke, NEHGR 107:61)

The witness to the betrothal of Hester, Jeanne, Mary, Francoise and Antoinette was Jenne/Jeanne/Jane (Lamam?) Mahieu. Jeanne’s record in 1602 lists her as the step-mother [schoonmoeder] along with step-sister [schoonzr] Antonette.