Huguenots in the United StatesEdit This Page
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The Huguenot Church began in France and eventually faced fierce persecution there. The first large migration of French Protestants (Huguenots) began after the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572. In 1598 the Edict of Nantes granted religious freedom. In 1685 the revocation of the Edict of Nantes removed all religious freedom and caused Protestants to flee by the thousands to foreign nations, including the United States, Germany, and England. About 200,000 Huguenots left France as a result. Often Huguenot families would settle in one country, then move to another.
For additional early history, see:
- Experiences of the French Huguenots in America - The King's Refugees is a document written in about 1908. It contains information about French Huguenots and their flight to America. It also features several of the earliest French Huguenot immigrants and their descendants.
- National Huguenot Society Has lists of registered Huguenot refugees and useful websites. "Although requirements for membership in different Huguenot organizations vary, membership in state member societies affiliated with The National Huguenot Society or as a Member-at-Large of the Society is dependent upon proven Huguenot lineage and remaining true to the Protestant faith."
- Finnell, Arthur Louis, ed. National Huguenot Society Bible records : abstracted from the files of the Society, FHL book 973 D2nh and online.
History in the United States
In what is now the United States, Huguenots settled in:
- New Jersey
- New York, New Amsterdam (now New York City)
- North Carolina
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
Huguenots (French Reformed) 1st to Germany, England, Nethelands—1620 Chesterfield and Powhatan Co VA; bef. 1685 Charleston SC; 1700 Manakintown VA; 1704 Bath NC
FloridaFrom South Carolina French Huguenots led by Laudonnière settled in Florida in 1564. An initial plantation of 300 established Fort Caroline now part of present day Jacksonville. By 1565, Spanish military efforts had wiped out the colony martyring many Huguenot settlers.
In 1564 the French Protestants (Huguenots) attempted to colonize North America, building a colony nearby the modern day Jacksonville, Florida. The Spanish had already staked claim in that locality and soon rid the area of the French
- Original Papers Concerning the Huguenot and Walloon Lines. Frankfort, KY: Historical Society, [196–?]. (Family History Library FHL film 551317.) About half of the early pioneers of Kentucky were descended from French-speaking Protestants, including the Huguenots from southern France and the Walloons from southern Belgium. These unindexed papers contain the history of these two groups of people.
See Boston Massachusetts Churches for information about the French Huguenot Church in Boston, 1686-1748/1764. Unfortunately no records of this church survive.
Between 1677 and the early 1700s, Dutch-speaking French Huguenots from Harlem and Staten Island, New York, settled at Schraalenburgh (now Bergenfield) in the Hackensack Valley of Bergen County. Other Huguenots settled in Monmouth County.
Huguenots settled on Staten Island and in New Harlem, Bushwick, and Flushing in 1657 and 1658. New Paltz, Ulster County, was founded in 1677 by Huguenots. In 1688 the Huguenots established New Rochelle in Westchester County.
- Huguenot Historical Society. Site details objective of the Society, as well as current projects, and research facilities. New Paltz, New York
In the early 1700s, small groups of French Huguenot, German Palatine, and Swiss immigrants founded towns on the coast.
- Stapleton, Ammon. Memorials of the Huguenots in America, With Special Reference to Their Emigration [sic] to Pennsylvania. 1901; Reprint: Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1969. FHL film 1321463 item 16.
French Huguenot and Swiss families mingled with the Germans. Some Huguenots from New York migrated to Pennsylvania and settled in Berks and Lancaster counties.
The liberal religious culture, laws, and policies in colonial Rhode Island created a wonderful location for French Huguenots.
South CarolinaJean Ribault established a French Huguenot colony in South Carolina in 1562. American Presbyterianism can trace its origins to this foundation.
The Huguenot Society of South Carolina was formed in 1885 "to preserve the memory of the Huguenots who left France prior to the promulgation of the Edict of Toleration, November 28, 1787. Today, the Society has nearly 2,000 members who are descendants of those Huguenots."
A group was of French origin, mostly descendants of Huguenots, came to the area beginning in 1680.
Huguenots made settlements in Colonial South Carolina at Goose Creek, Orange Quarter, St. John's Berkeley, French Santee, New Bordeaux, and Purrysburgh.
- Many French Huguenots made South Carolina their home. The 114+ volume Transactions of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina is a great starting point for research: FHL book 975.7 C4h. Google books has several volumes.
- McCormick County: Bobby F. Edmonds, The Huguenots of New Bordeaux (McCormick, SC: Cedar Hill, 2005) ((FHL Book 975.736 F2e) WorldCat entry.
- Rowland, Lawrence S. The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina (Columbia, South Carolina : University of S.C., c1996), 521 pages. Three historians of the Palmetto State recount more that three centuries of Spanish and French exploration, English and Huguenot agriculture and African slave labor. Book (Vol.1) at FHL 975.799 H2rand Other Libraries.
St. Johns Berkeley Parish, South Carolina Huguenots were the bulk of the earliest St. John's Berkeley parishioners. (abt 1701)
- Dubose, Samuel, and Frederick A. Porcher. A Contribution to the History of the Huguenots of South Carolina, Consisting of Pamphlets ([S.l.]: T. Gaillard Thomas, c1972), 48 pages. Historical sketches of the Huguenot families which settled in the alluvial regions within fifty miles of Charleston. FHL book at FHL 975.7 F2d ▲ WorldCat 70262880. Digital copies at Google Books and Internet Archives.
The Huguenots had their beginnings in Charleston in 1681. In 1687 a second church was built along the Cooper River. Both of these structures fell victim to fire, but they were rebuilt. By 1686 Huguenot settlements existed in Charleston, Santee River, St. John's Berkeley and Cooper River. Rev. Elias Prioleau was the first recoginzed and regular pastor of the French church.FHL book 975.7915 D3l or FHL film 1598278 item 2
- The Liturgy, or Forms of Divine Service, of The French Protestant Church, of Charleston, S.C. Charleston, S.C.: James S. Burges, 1836. Digital version of 1836 edition at Google Books; digital version of 1853 edition at Google Books; digital version of 1869 edition at Google Books.
The purpose of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina is to preserve the memory of the Huguenots who left France prior to 1787. They have a research library containing over 4,500 books, journals, and files covering the history of French Protestants and on South Carolina history and families. The library is open to non-members for a research fee of $10. It is suggested to contact the library so materials will be available. The society also provides research for a fee. Research Form
Huguenot Society of South Carolina
138 Logan Street
Charleston, SC 29401
The Huguenot Society's publication is Transactions of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina and they began publishing in 1888. For publication information, see South Carolina Periodicals. The Huguenot Society also has a newsletter with some of them available online.
Huguenots came in 1700. Their settlement, in King William Parish, near Richmond on the James River, was known as Manakin Town. They and many of their descendants lived in Henrico, Goochland, Cumberland, and Powhatan counties.
- The Huguenot. 1924-. Published by the Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia, Inc., 981 Huguenot Trail, Midlothian, Virginia 23113, Telephone: 804-794-5702. 975.5 B2hm. Indexed in Master Index to The Huguenot (Bryan, Texas: Family History Foundation, 1986; FHL Book 975.5 B2hm index; Film 1697534.
Huguenot Church Records
Types of Church Records
Baptisms Marriages Burials
Where they are Located
Huguenots often merged with other Protestant religious groups. Records for Huguenots can be found in the records of these churches.
|New Jersey||Dutch Reformed Church|
| New York
New Amsterdam (now New York City)
|Dutch Reformed Church|
|North Carolina|| |
|Rhode Island|| |
|South Carolina|| |
Books about Huguenot Families
- Baird, Charles W. History of the Huguenot emigration to America.
- Lart, Charles E. Huguenot pedigrees. (vols. 1-2).
- Lawton, Mrs. James M., comp. Family names of Huguenot refugees to America.
- Reaman, G. Elmore. The Trail of the Huguenots in Europe, the U.S., South Africa and Canada.
- Reeve, Vera. compiler. Register of Qualified Huguenot Ancestors: The National Huguenot Society. Third Edition, Washington, DC: the Society, 1983. (Family History Library book 973 D2rq.) Genealogies and sources. See also the 1995 supplement (Family History Library book 973 D2rq 1992 suppl.)
- Koehler, Albert F. The Huguenots, or the early French in New Jersey.
- Le Fevre, Ralph. History of New Pfalz, New York, and it's old families (from 1678 to 1820).
- Stapleton, A. Memorials of the Huguenots in America with special reference to their emigration to Pennsylvania. Internet Archive
- Potter, Elisha R. Memoir concerning the French settlements and French settlers in the colony of Rhode Island. Internet Archive
- Clut, Robert F. The Annals and parish register of St. Thomas and St. Denis parish in South Carolina, from 1680-1884. Internet Archive
- Hirsch, Arthur Henry. The Huguenots in colonial South Carolina, by Hirsch.
- Liste des Francois et Suisses from an old manuscript list of French and Swiss protestants settled in Charleston on the Santee and at the Orange quarter in Carolina who desired naturalization prepared probably about 1695-6. (List starts on page 20.) Internet Archive
- Brock, R.A., ed. Documents, Chiefly Unpublished, Relating to the Huguenot Emigration to Virginia and to the Settlement at Manakin-Town, with an Appendix of Genealogies Presenting Data of the Fontaine, Maury, Dupuy, Trabue, Marye, Chastain, Cocke, and Other Families. 1886; reprint, Baltimore, Md., 1973. Internet Archive FHL Book 975.5 H2cv new ser. v. 5 1973. Digital versions at Internet Archive; The Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia; New River Notes; World Vital Records ($).
- Harper, Lillie DuPuy VanCulin. Colonial Men and Times: Containing the Journal of Col. Daniel Trabue, Some Account of His Ancestry, Life and Travels in Virginia and the Present State of Kentucky During the Revolutionary Period; the Huguenots, Genealogy, with Brief Sketches of the Allied Families. Philadelphia, Pa.: Innes and Sons, 1916. Digital version at Internet Archive; FHL Film 1421709 Item 2.
See also, Henrico County, Virginia Genealogy.
Huguenot Historical Society
Blanco Road, Suite 104
San Antonio, TX 78216-4970
Education section of web site includes Who were the Huguenots, Important dates in history, and bibliography Resources section includes Huguenot ancestral name listings, Selected publication for Huguenot reseach, Other Huguenot specific web sites
Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia
Manakin Huguenot Society
981 Huguenot Trail, Midlothian, VA 23113
- This society published the periodical, The Huguenot. A full index to The Huguenot is available online.
- The Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania has as it's purpose to perpetuate the memory of the Huguenots. Members of the society include descendants of Huguenot families immigrating to America before November 1787 and anyone who has made the Huguenots a subject of research papers, etc. The society was organized in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1918. They published: Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania, (series) vols. 1- 15 (Norristown, PA.: The Society, 1918-1939) and the continuation Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania, v. 16-39 (Norristown, PA.: The Society, 1942-1967; Family History Library FHL book 974.8 C4h; film for v. 1-3 and 7-9 is FHL film 1697274 item 5-6).
France Church Records - Protestants (Huguenots and others) has ideas about finding migration paths of the Huguenots who came to America.
- ↑ National Huguenot Society, History and Objectives of the National Society. (Accessed 13 June 2013).
- ↑ "New Netherland" in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Netherland (accessed 4 November 2008).
- ↑ Mary LeRoy Upshaw Pike and J. Sanders Pike. The Huguenot Crosses of South Carolina. Charleston, S.C.: Huguenot Society of South Carolina, 2001. FHL book 975.7 H2p
- ↑ Thomas Petigru Lesesne. History of Charleston County, South Carolina. Charleston, S.C.: A.H. Cawston
- ↑ "Manakin Town: The French Huguenot Settlement in Virginia 1700-ca. 1750," National Humanities Center Resource Toolbox. Becoming American: The British Atlantic Colonies, 1690-1763, http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/growth/text4/frenchvirginia.pdf, accessed 23 June 2012.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 Huguenot settlers in North America and Europe, 1600s-1900s, ([S.l.]&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;nbsp;: Brøderbund, c1998). FHL CD-ROM no. 9 pt. 600
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