Albert, Pierre Antoine

Albert, Pierre Antoine a Huguenot minister, was born of a highly respectable family in 1765, at Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1796 he became pastor of the French Protestant Church ins New York. The history of that Church is full of interest. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes brought to the New World a large number of refugees, many of whom settled in New York. There were about two hundred families of these Huguenots, and they were among the most influential in the city. In process of time there was built for their use a commodious chapel on Pine Street, to which they gave the name L'Eglise du Saint-Esprit — The Church of the Holy Ghost. It was the custom of the minister, at the close of the public services, always to say "Remember ye the poor," when old and young dropped their benefactions into the poor- box behind the church doors. For one hundred and thirty years the French Protestants used the forms of religious worship to which their fathers had been accustomed in the public services of the Reformed churches of France and Geneva. In 1804 they became Episcopalians. Of this Church Mr. Albert was rector for nine years (1797-1806). He is said to have been "an accomplished gentleman, an erudite scholar, a profound theologian, and a most eloquent preacher. A stranger, of unobtrusive manners and invincible modesty, he led a very retired life. His worth, however, could not be concealed. He was esteemed and beloved by all his acquaintances." See Disosway, Huguenots in America, in Smiles's Huguenots, p. 433; Allen, Amer. Biog. s.v. (J. C. S.)