THE

CAROLINA HERALD

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

NUMBER 4

THE HUGUENOT SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
AND ITS LIBRARY
By Martha B. Burns (Mrs. Edmund Allan Burns)
Secretary and Treasurer of the Society

The Huguenot Society of South Carolina maintains a library and research facilities at its headquarters located at 25 Chalmers Street in Charleston.  The library is open Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10:30 AM and 1:30 PM for the accommodation of members and persons interested in Huguenot history and genealogy.  The Society is not local in scope; its membership includes persons of approved Huguenot descent from all parts of the world.  Much research and checking of ancestry is accomplished through correspondence.  Whether you are able to visit the library in person or by letter, the Society will be happy to assist in helping you to establish your particular Huguenot lineage.

Tracing Huguenot ancestry is comparatively simple once the initial hurdle has been overcome; this hurdle is the complication regarding names.  The name of a Huguenot family sometimes reflects a nationality other than French.  Corruption of Huguenot names began with the gradual exodus of French Protestants long prior to 1685, the date of the Revocation of the Edit of Nantes.  These people sought and found refuge in neighboring countries - Switzerland, Germany, the Scandinavian countries, Holland, and the British Isles.  Gradually they were scattered among the nations of Europe, even among the newly established colonies of Great Britain along our Atlantic coast.  Often the sojourn in these European countries led to permanent settlement; sometimes it lasted through a generation or two.  Immediately before and following the Revocation it became a respite for recouping financial resources to make the final journey to this country.  Thus, our Huguenot family names today in many instances are Dutch, Polish, Swiss -- in short, many flavored.

Fear for life and property, and mainly for the welfare of family members unable to leave France, prompted many to disguise their French names, and the disguised versions have endured.  Upon arrival in America the expediency of Anglicizing names soon became apparent.  This was particularly applicable to Huguenot settlers in our own province of Carolina.  Happily for us, this complication of names, rendered even more distracting through phonetic transcription, is offset by a factor fortunate in terms of research.  No matter how warm the welcome extended to our Huguenot ancestors, the fact remained that they were aliens, and a great deal of the information we derive concerning them comes from the records kept because of their status as such.  Lists and documents reciting their names and other records of various kinds are coming to light more an d more.  England has done much toward preserving parish records of baptisms, marriages, and deaths for past centuries.  Publications of the Huguenot Society of London, available in our library, give access to parish registers and histories of nearly all Huguenot congregations of England and Ireland since 1580.

Originally Huguenot settlements in America were in New York City, Staten Island, Long Island, New Rochelle, New Paltz, Boston, New Oxford, Narragansett, Maine, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, and Florida.  Points of settlement in South Carolina were Charleston, Goose Creek, Orange Quarter (St. Denis), French Santee, St. John's Berkeley, Purrysburg, and New Bordeaux.  With regard to Huguenot settlement in America, much information has been compiled by writers interested in the subject and by various historical groups devoted to such study and research.

Naturally the library of the Huguenot Society contains much of this specialized material, as well as many published and unpublished Huguenot genealogies, but this comprises only a small part of its research content.  The Society was founded in 1885, and every application favorably acted upon by the Executive Committee for membership in the Society since that date remains in the library files.  These applications with their genealogical records are the irreplaceable and invaluable sources of family research in the library.  With few exceptions they may be examined by anyone desirous of tracing Huguenot ancestry.  Published Transactions of the Society are second in importance to applications.  Transactions of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, Number 1, was issued in 1889; Number 78 (1973) is now in the process of being prepared for publication.

THE CAROLINA HERALD

Volume 2 Number 2 Spring 1973

THE CAROLINA HERALD is the quarterly newsletter of the
South Carolina Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 11353, Columbia, S. C. 29211
President: Lawrence R. Fanning

Annual Subscription: $2
Single Copy: 75¢
Free to members of the South Carolina
Genealogical Society
Editor: James L. Haynsworth
Co-editor: Theresa M. Hicks
 

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

Our decision to devote this issue of The Carolina Herald mainly to the French element in South Carolina was prompted by the remarkable Porcher genealogical chart of pages 4 and 5, prepared by Mrs. Frances Marion Kirk, a member of this society.  Even though French names abound in our state, it is doubtful that one could find another "pure" French pedigree surviving until modern times through 300 years in alien surroundings.  Unlike the Lutheran Germans of the Dutch Fork, or the Presbyterian Scotch-Irish of the Piedmont, the Huguenots were quickly absorbed into both the English church and English society.  Yet their influence permeated Low Country plantation life.  In agriculture, commerce, journalism and finance their contributions far out-weighted their numerical strength.  Judith Manigault, as the story goes, grubbed stumps and sawed timber with her husband, yet produced a son who became one of the richest men in America.  During the Revolution, fifteen percent of South Carolina's Continental officers bore French surnames, among them the heroes Marion, Huger, Horry, and Laurens--and countless others were of French descent.

There were later French migrations to the state--the Acadians, the Santo Domingans--groups of whom we know little. But we do know these new Émigrés, like their Huguenot predecessors, became citizens of remarkable worth and influence.

GENEALOGICAL WORKSHOP

The SCGS will sponsor its second genealogical workshop on Saturday, June 16.  Mrs. Mary Warren who publishes The Carolina Genealogist, The Georgia Genealogist, and Family Puzzlers, will conduct the day long session.  Her theme will be "Where Your Ancestors Came From and Where They Went".  Participants will register between 9 and 9:30 on June 16, but are requested to mail their registration fees of $7.50 to the Society before June 12.  Registration and workshop will be held in the Columbia College Arena Theater, and the fee includes refreshments and lunch.

GOING PUBLIC

Just 8 years ago a respected genealogical journal (published in California) announced gloomily that "when the present genealogists are no longer with us, their place will not be taken".  Not so around these parts!  Scratch a Carolinian and you'll uncover a genealogist--or so it seems, nowadays.  Groups in three cities--Greenville, Charleston, and Florence--have suggested forming local chapters of the SCGS, and our directors have worked out the necessary revisions of the by-laws to allow it.  Only the approval of the membership remains.  Any other interested group should contact our president, Mr. Lawrence Fanning.

KERSHAW COUNTY CENSUSES

We are informed that the Kershaw County Historical Society plans to publish the censuses of that county from 1800 through 1860.  Those for 1800 and 1810 hae already been published, and 1820 will soon be available.  For information, write:
Kershaw County Historical Society
Mrs. Allison DuBose, Exec. Sec.
(address removed by webmaster)

THE PORCHER BROTHERS:
LAST OF THE HUGUENOTS
By Videau Legare Beckwith Kirk

When Isaac and Percival Porcher of St. John's Berkeley died in the early nineteen thirties, the last of South Carolina's sons of "pure Huguenot descent" passed away.  It would be difficult to accept their ancestral chart if one failed to recognize the isolations of the community in which these families settled and the fact that associations were often made because of family pride.

Growing up as they did in the Reconstruction period, these boys were fortunate to become students at the Holy Communion Church Institute in Charleston, later renamed Porter Military Academy.  Dr. A. T. Porter founded the school to provide education for sons of Confederate veterans.  He recognized the high mental abilities of the older brother, Isaac Porcher, and was able to secure for him a scholarship to Union College in Schenectady, N. Y.  But Isaac was needed at home and he returned at the end of his junior year to operate his mother's plantation.

Isaac had a reverence for history and a keen wit with a simplicity of manner whcih made him appreciated by the "thinkers" of his acquaintance.  Editors, college presidents, authors and theologians were included in his circle of friends.  Education was so important to Isaac that he served for more than a decade on the County Board of Education for Berkeley County.  In that capacity he is credited with a tremendous increase in facilities for Negro education in the county and also for the highly successful concept of dormitory life for high school students who were boarded in town and returned home for the weekends.  He served as a trustee for Porter Academy and was active in the Episcopal Church, the St. John's Hunting Club, The St. Cecilia Society, and the Huguenot Society of South Carolina.

Isaac remained a bachelor, but his associations were numerous and he is well remembered throughout the state forty years after his death.  Percival married , had two sons and a daughter, and "lived for his family".  He had no civic pride or interest.  And there was a local joke that he always was "indisposed" on Sunday morning, seldom darkening the church door.  Both were astute business men, accumulated large land holdings and made wise investments.

Next issue:  YOUR REVOLUTIONARY ANCESTORS

Here's how some confusing French names as pronounced in South Carolina:

SEARCHING SOUTH CAROLINA RECORDS

GENEALOGICAL MATERIAL IN THE
STATUTES AT LARGE

By Theresa Hicks

The laws or statues of South Carolina can be a valuable source of genealogical material.  They frequently contain lists of names, such as commissioners of various kinds, Revolutionary pensioners, confiscated estates, etc. which enable one to determine the date and place in which an ancestor was active.  Perhaps the best known edition of the Statues At Large is that of Thomas Cooper and David J. McCord.  The following list, however, is from an earlier collection published by Nicholas Trott in 1736, and is typical of the wealth of material available from this source.

These persons had petitioned the General Assembly for citizenship, and in 1696 an "Act Making Aliens Free" was passed.  The spelling of the names shown here is as they appear in Trott.  The well-known Ravenel Liste contains most, but not all of these names, and does not show the occupation.

****(Note:  The names list below are probably not correct as well as some of the addresses as they were accumulated in 1973).

HUGUENOT RESEARCH SOURCES IN
EUROPE AND AMERICA

By Anne C. Gibert

The following libraries, museums, and churches, both here and abroad, have for their primary subject matter some aspect of Huguenot history:

The French Protestant Library
19 Ware Street, Cambridge, Mass 02158
Nancy L. Roelker, Secretary-Treasurer

The National Huguenot Society
Goffstown, New Hampshire 03045
David V. Prugh, President-General

The Huguenot Society of London
67 Victoria Road, London W. 8
Miss Irene Scouloudo, General Editor

Canterbury Cathedral
Cathedral Crypt Library
Canterbury, England

M. H. H. Bolhuis, Professeru au Hervomd
   Lyceum d'Amsterdam
Sarpathipark 32
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Musee du Desert en Cevennes
Mas Soubeyran, France

World Huguenot Centre
47 Rue de Clichy
75009 Paris, France

Bibliotheque Naationale, Paris
38 Rue Ste-Croix de la Bretonnerie
Paris, France

Bibliotheque de la Societe de l'Histore du
     Protestantisme Francais
54 Rue des Saints-Peres
Paris, France

Since most of the records in these libraries are written in French, and often Old french, information is sometimes difficult to obtain, even when the researcher has a good command of the language.

PUBLISHED MATERIAL USEFUL IN HUGUENOT RESEARCH

David C. A. Agnew, Protestant Exiles From France
Charles W. Baird, History of the Huguenot Emigration to America
Robert Alonzo Brock, Huguenot Emigration to Virginia
R. F. Clute, Annals and Registers of St. Thomas and St. Denis Parish, S. C.
Der Deutsche Huguenot
Die Huguenottenkirche
James Fontaine, Memoirs of a Huguenot Family
Lucian J. Fosdick, The French Blood in America
M. a. Giuseppi, Naturalization of Foreign Protestants in the American and West Indian Colonies
Arthur H. Hircsch, Huguenots of Colonial South Carolina
William M. Jones, The Douglas Register
S. J. Knox, Ireland's Debt to the Huguenots
Charles E. Lart, Huguenot Pedigrees
Mrs. James M. Lawton, Family Names of Huguenot Refugees to America
Hannah F. Lee,  The Huguenots in France and America
Ralph Le Fevre, History of New Palz, N. Y. and Its Old Families (From 1678 to 1892)
Julia P. M. Morand, Catalogue or Bibliography of the Library of the Huguenot Society of America
New Jersey Register of Huguenot Ancestors
Elisha R. Potter, Memoir Concerning the French Settlers in the Colony of R. I.
Danl. Ravenel, Liste Des Francois et Suisses
G. E. Reaman, The Trail of the Huguenots
Samuel Smiles, The Huguenots
Ammon Stapleton, Memorials of the Huguenots in America
Alfred V. Whittmeyer, Registers of the Births, Marriages, and Deaths of the "Eglise Francoise a la Nouvelle York"

In addition, the following organizations issue publications of various kinds:

Huguenot Society of London
Huguenot Society of New Paltz, N. Y.
Huguenot Society of South Africa
Huguenot Society of South Carolina
National Huguenot Society

CAROLINA HERALDRY

On December 19, 1771 a grant of arms was made to "Daniel Huger, of South Carolina, Esquire, son and heir of Daniel Huger, late of the same place, Esquire, deceased, by Mary, his second wife, daughter of Isaack Cordes, of the Island of Barbadoes, Esquire...and to the descendants of his late father aforesaid..."

Daniel Huger (1742-1799) , married Sabina Elliott in 1772.  He was a member of both the S. C. House of Representatives and the Senate, of the Continental Congress, and the U. S. House of Representatives.  He was a brother of General Isaac Huger, Col. Francis Huger, and Major Benjamin Huger of the Continental Line.

The grant of arms, still owned by his descendants, describes the arms thus: "Argent, as Human Heart emitting flame between two Laurel Branches fructed Saltirewise in Chief, and an Anchor erect in Base, all proper, accompanied by as many Flances Azure, each charged with a Fleur de Lis Or; and for the Crest, on a Wreath of the Colours, on a sprig, a Virginia Nightingale perched proper."

Next Issue:  YOUR REVOLUTIONARY ANCESTORS

***Due to privacy reasons, the following list is names only, no addresses***

MEMBERS OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

Ackerman, Mrs. Harvey A., Sumter, SC
Archives and History, S. C. Dept of, Columbia, SC
Atkinson, Mrs. Harry W., Atlanta, GA
Barnwell, Mrs. Harriet B. Fripp, Ridge Spring, SC
Bell, Mr. Frank M., Decatur, GA
Bethea, Mrs. Charles E., Latta, SC
Bivins, Mrs. Robert P., Portsmouth, VA
Boozer, Miss Mary E., White Rock, SC
Bowers, Mr. Ralph L., Jr., Greenville, SC
Brown, Mrs. Roy L., Andrews, TX
Brush, Mrs. Julie Anne, Clemens, MI
Brush, Mr. Herbert S., Jr., Mount Clemens, MI
Bryan, Mrs. G. Howard, Jacksonville, FL
Bryant, Mrs. Bee M., Greenville, SC
Clark, Mrs. James S., Lexington, SC
Clark, Mr. Thomas W., Columbia, SC
Clark, Mrs. Thomas W., Columbia, SC
Clayton, Miss Faith, Central, SC
Cochran, Mrs. James W., Pinson, AL
Covington, Mr. Frank H., Bennettsville, SC
Cox, Miss Sadie Elizabeth, Columbia, SC
Craig, Mrs. Lily R. H., Columbia, SC
Crosland, Mr. Lee K., Columbia, SC
Daniels, Mrs. Alberta H., Summit City, CA
Davidson, Mr. Robert F., Jr., Rhinecliff, NY
Davis, Mrs. Arthur G., Columbia, SC
Davis, Mr. Jefferson M., Camden, SC
Donaldson, Miss Catherine M., Columbia, SC
Elliott, Mrs. Rufus D., Chattanooga, TN
Fair, Mrs. S. Clyde, Orangeburg, SC
Fanning, Mr. Lawrence R., Columbia, SC
Ferrell, Mr. Robert B., Columbia, SC
Gibert, Mrs. John A., Columbia, SC
Gibert, Miss Anne C., Columbia, SC
Green, Mr. James W., III, Winnsboro, SC
Greenville County Library, Greenville, SC
Guerard, Mrs. Edwin P., Columbia, SC
Harding, Mrs. Sarah T., Jackson, TN
Haynsworth, Mr. James L., Columbia, SC
Hensley, Mrs. Cornelia H., Columbia, SC
Hicks, Mrs. William L., Columbia, SC
Hooker, Miss Catherine, Hamer, SC
Huey, Mrs. William A., Columbia, SC
Isaacs, Mrs. Nell Jean M., Chester, SC
Jarrett, Mrs. Frances C., Spartanburg, SC
Jefferies, Mrs. F. A., Columbia, SC
Jennings, Mrs. Katherine A., Columbia, SC
Jeter, Mrs. Merle W., Beaufort, SC
Kirk, Mrs. Videau L. B., Columbia, SC
Lawrence, Mrs. Margaret S., Bamberg, SC
Lefvendahl, Mrs. Georgie A., Orangeburg, SC
Leonard, Mrs. Paul H., Columbia, SC
Livingston, Mrs. Mary Helen, Columbia, SC
Livingston, Mrs. Virginia P., Chester, SC
Lloyd, Mr. Richard W., Camden, SC
McCall, Mr. Clare M., Columbia, SC
McClain, Mrs. William E., Jr., Birmingham, AL
McColl, Miss Eleanor Thomas, Bennettsville, SC
McCollum, Mrs. Louise E., Columbia, SC
McDonald, Mr. Coit A., Jr., College Park, GA
MacDowell, Mrs. Dorothy K., Aiken, SC
McElveen, Miss Margaret, Sumter, SC
McHugh, Mr. Matthew L., Columbia, SC
McKenna, Mr. Patrick, New York, NY
McNulty, Mrs. W. E., Columbia, SC
McPherson, Columbia, SC
Mack, Mr. Francis Murray, Fort Mill, SC
Magoffin, Mr. Ralph M., Columbia, SC
Merritt, Mrs. Lloyd C., Sumter, SC
Mims, Mrs. Matthew H., Edgefield, SC
Mobley, Mr. Johnson B., Jr., Columbia, SC
Moore, Mrs. Harold A., Charleston, SC
Morgan, Mr. Lloyd H., Columbia, SC
Morton, Mr. W. C., Columbia, SC
Moxley, Rev. Maurice, Columbia, SC
Moxley, Mrs. Maurice, Columbia, SC
Neuffer, Prof. Claude H., Columbia, SC
Orr, Mr. Calvin B., Columbia, SC
Pace, Miss Mabel B., Charleston, SC
Peden, Mr. James W., Columbia, SC
Pence, Mrs. Thomas Lee, Camden, SC
Peters, Col. Frederick I., Carlisle, MA
Plyler, Mrs. H. Dewitt, Lancaster, SC
Price, Mrs. Charles M., Ninety Six, SC
Pulley, Mrs. Charles B., Waterloo, SC
Rawlinson, Mr. Alfred H., West Columbia, SC
Reese, Mrs. Emmie E. R., Laurel Bay, SC
Shealy, Mrs. H. B., Columbia, SC
Shealy, Miss Melba P., Lexington, SC
Smith, Miss Eva Barrett, Columbia, SC
Sneary, Dr. Eugene C., Taylors, SC
Stephenson, Miss Jean, Washington, DC
Stewart, Mrs. Malvin, Huntsville, TN
Sullivan, Mr. David H., Lexington, SC
Tate, Mr. Harold S., Columbia, SC
Tiller, Mrs. Harvey W., Jr., Mayesville, SC
Tonge, Mrs. Maner L., Spartanburg, SC
Tychsen, Mrs. Lucile C., Columbia, SC
Valley, Mr. John Charles S. W., Greenville, SC
Waites, Mrs. Thomas B., Columbia, SC
Wall, Mr. William B., Columbia, SC
Wells, Mr. Laurence K., Kingstree, SC
West, Mr. Charles D., Spartanburg, SC
White, Miss Marjean, Tulsa, OK
Wickett, Mrs. Kenneth L., Fort Worth, TX
Wilder, Mrs. James S., Jr., Jackson, TN
Wingard, Mrs. Philip K., Lexington, SC
Woodson, Mrs. Julia H., Liberty, SC

NEW MEMBERS
Berry, Miss Nita, Columbia, SC
Hollingsworth, Mr. Leon S., Decatur, GA
Meyer, Mrs. George F., Columbia, SC
Ritzheimer, Mrs. Anne O., Columbia, SC
Wade, Mrs. Wilhelmina Salley, Columbia, SC

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