William Provost (Guilliame Provoost) (fl. 1556–1607) was a Protestant and a merchant who lived in Antwerp, then a city in the Netherlands. William's descendants settled in New Amsterdam (now known as New York (city)) in the early 1600s; he had famous descendants and relatives in North American history; and many North Americans can trace their lineage to William. William and his family appear to have survived the murderous rampage of the Spanish Fury in 1576. A romanticized version of William's life tells (incorrectly) that he was a Huguenot that fled Paris on the day before the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572. Wikipedia
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