Who are you calling a Wallon?

Philippe du Trieux and his family were Walloons.

What is a Walloon?
During the Reformation (the 16th and 17th century) those in the Flanders region who aligned themselves with the Protestant movement became known as Walloons. The Flanders region consists of the confluence of people between northern France and southern Belgium. They spoke a French dialect.

These were times when Protestants in general, and Walloons specifically, were severely persecuted. Exile, torture, and death were sometimes the consequence of professing your alliance to the Protestant beliefs. As a result, thousands fled the area. They spread out across the known world, to places like Germany, England, Ireland, and North America. In a sense, those who tried to end their movement simply ensured its spread.

You sometimes see the Walloons identified alongside the group known as Huguenots. The terms may even be used interchangably. However, there are distinctions. Although Huguenots also aligned themselves with John Calvin's Protestant movement, they were originally from the central portion of France, as opposed to the Walloons, who lived closer to, or in, Belgium.

Among the Walloons who fled to North America were Philippe du Trieux and his family.