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        Bourgon Broucard was born at Bungary, near La Rochelle, France, which is on the very Western seacoast on the Bay of Biscay. He evidently grew up there. In the years following 1500, criticism of the church developed, in Europe, which movement later developed into open warfare. This criticism was developed by Calvin, in France, and by Luther, in Germany. Those led by Calvin became known as Calvinists and his followers, in France, as Huguenots. The "Register of Ancestors " of the Huguenot Society of New Jersey states that the family of the name of Broucard lived in La Rochelle, France, and that Broucard was at one time an honored and most noted name, in France. The insignia of the Huguenot Society, was worn by the Huguenot ancestors as an emblem of their faith. The eight corners of the four arms of the Cross of Malta were regarded as signifying the Eight Beatitudes, and the Fleur--de--lis the Mother Country of France, and the suspended Dove, the Church under the Cross.
    It was in La Rochelle, France in this setting we first find Bourgon Broucard when he married Marie du May they had one child Marie born on November 1, 1665 in Manheim, France. After Marie's death he married Catherine Lefevre on December 18, 1666 in Manheim, France. She was the daughter of Abraham Lefevre and Antoinette Jerrian. Some time between 1672 and March 1675 they removed to Amsterdam, Holland, where they were for a short time. During the year 1675 the Broucards and the Durie (Duryea) families and others of the Huguenot Faith, left Holland and came to America where they settled at what is now Brooklyn, New York. In Riker's " "Annals of Newtown, " "Long Island, he lists Magdalena Le Febre, wife of Joost Durie and Catherine Le Febre, wife of Bourgon Broucard as possibly sisters, who came to America on the same boat the ""Gilded Otter. " "And in the "Duryee Family", by Gustave Anjou, he lists the parentage of Magdalena Le Febre (or Le Fevre) as of Abraham and Antoinette (Jerrian) Le Fevre. Others list her as daughter of Isaac and Fannetje (Borderick) Le Fevre, or of Abraham and Antoinette. Mr. Harold Duryee of Canton, Ohio, who has done much research on the Duryee-Duryea family, says that he is of the opinion that the parents were Abraham and Antoinette, as in old Dutch family manner the parents named their children a lot after their parents. The name Isaac appears only in the Broucard family, but Abraham appears in both the Broucard and Duryee families, and Antoinette in the Duryee family and Fannetje in neither. He also says that Magdalena and Catherine Le Fevre were sisters.
    In 1676 Bourgan Broucard, living in Brooklyn, was assessed as owning 11-1/2 morgens (about 23 acres) of land and valley and two cows. Then in the year following he was in Midwout, at which time his wife was transferred from the Dutch Reformed Church of Brooklyn, to the French Church in Manhattan, by certificate, but her name does not appear in the early French records of that church. ''(NYG & B Rec., v. 86, p. 6-revised.)"
    In 1684 he moved to Cripplebush in Bushwick, Long Island, where he bought a farm. Four years later he sold this farm and moved to Dutch Kills, now a part of Long Island City, and there in 1692 he bought a large estate, a part of which was the plantation originally owned by Burger Jorizz. In a deed dated, June 21, 1690, it shows that he and Hans Tunis Couert (Covert) of Bedford in Kings County, yeoman, bought land in Maspeth Kills, Newtown, and on July 16, 1643, he bought 19 morgens and 400 rods of land there, called the Mill Land. (Queens Co.County Deeds, B. 2,pp. 352-53. ) A morgen was an old Dutch measure of 2-1/2 acres.
    On Oct. 30, 1700, a bill was brought before the Assembly for the quieting of title to the lands of  "ancient freeholders," including those of Bergoon Bragan, who were inhabitants of Hellgate Neck, within the bounds of Newtown, Long Island.  This bill was rejected and when again brought before the Assembly, in May 1703, his name does not appear as by that time he had moved to Somerset Co.County, New Jersey. (Annals of Newtown, pp. 131-33 and NYG & B Rec., v. 86, p. 6. )
    In 1702 Bourgon sold his land in Newtown to William Post, which land was later bought back by Bourgon's son Isaac. On May 9, 1702, Bourgon and his son in-law, Jan (John) Coverson (Covert) bought for L 400, of William Dockwra, a merchant of London, two thousand acres of land in Somerset Co.County, N.J.New Jersey, bounded on the north and northwest by the Rarity and Millstone Rivers. (Deed Bk. Lib. C. -2, p. 447, in Off. of State, Trenton, N. J.New Jersey ), and there after we have no record of him unless he was the Bourgon Brokaw appearing as a witness, June 2, 1717, at the baptism of Johannes, son of Thomas and Antie Cosyn at the Dutch Church in Jamaica, Long Island. It is possible this was his grandson, Bourgon, who could not have been over twenty at that date. His wife appears at the Raritan Dutch Church, Aug. 6, 1712, at the baptism-n o£ her grandchild, Catalyntie, daughter of Abraham. She is then called  "wife of Beugon" not widow. (NYG &. B Rec., 86, p.6.)

An excellent Broucard Page can be found at - MY BROKAW FAMILY LINE, by Deborah E. Kroll
Huguenot History
Who were the Huguenots
Important dates in Huguenot history
Presentation on Huguenot Settlement of New France
The Huguenot Ring of websites devoted to Huguenot history and heritage

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