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Who Were the Huguenots?

Huguenot immigrants began arriving in North America as early as the sixteenth century, establishing small communities in French Canada. As time progressed, and the relationship between the Protestant Huguenots and Catholic France became more tenuous, immigration to the colonies of British North America increased. Huguenot communities began to develop in North and South Carolina, Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania. The British colonists quickly embraced this growing group of immigrants, which included many skilled craftsmen, professionals and nobility, and many became influential and important members of the communities in which they settled.

The Huguenots, not unlike many other groups immigrating to America at the time, were fleeing religious persecution. Their troubles with the Catholic French monarchy dated back to the French Wars of Religion in the mid- to late-sixteenth century, in which thousands of Huguenots were killed. The Wars were ended when Henry IV passed the Edict of Nantes on April 13, 1598, giving the French Protestants limited religious freedom. However, this uneasy peace was ended when Louis XIV revoked the Edict in October of 1685. This new wave of persecution and religious intolerance sparked a wave of Huguenot emigration from France to other parts of Europe, particularly the Palatinate area of Germany, the Netherlands, and Great Britain. It wasn't until the Promulgation of the Edict of Toleration in November of 1787 that it became safe for Huguenots to practice their religion in France. By then, however, many Huguenots had already settled in their new communities, not only in British North America, but also as far off as South Africa.

Approximately ten men and women of known Huguenot descent founded The Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania, one of the first societies for the descendants of Huguenots established in the United States. They settled on April 13, 1918 (the 320th anniversary of the Edict of Nantes) for their first official meeting, and set out to write a charter, find interested members, and decide upon the organization's structure. At this meeting in Reading, Pennsylvania, they developed a group of objectives for the organization, which included perpetuating and maintaining the history, principles, and beliefs of the Huguenots; "publicly commemorating at stated times the principal events in the history of the Huguenot;" maintaining a library and museum of materials pertaining to Huguenots in America and specifically in Pennsylvania; promoting scholarly study of their history; and above all, celebrating and preserving the spirit of a people who withstood persecution and intolerance "because of their adherence to the basic tenets of the Protestant faith and their devotion to liberty." Some of their first official acts as an organization included making General John J. Pershing, a direct Huguenot descendant, an honorary member of the Society, and giving their symbolic support to the Republic of France in their "fight for democracy."

Along with developing objectives and tending to other orders of business, the new society established eligibility requirements for membership. In 1918, to be a member of The Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania, one had to be a "descendant of the Huguenot families which emigrated [sic] to America prior to the promulgation of the Edict of Toleration, November 28, 1787," a representative of a French family whose "profession of the Protestant faith antedates the Edict of Toleration," or a person or scholar who had made Huguenots and their history his or her area of study. There was also a junior membership classification, in which one could apply as a minor, be exempted from dues, and promoted to senior membership on one's 18th birthday. Members frequently submitted applications for junior membership on behalf of their young children and grandchildren, helping to ensure the family's continued involvement in the Huguenot tradition.

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