Huguenot genealogy

Huguenot genealogy deals with the family history of the French religious refugees and their origins in France .

history

Church book of Pastor Guillaume Barjon in Karlshafen from 1699

Many descendants of the Huguenots who immigrated to Germany are proud of their ancestors. These came to Germany as religious refugees (Réfugiés) because they were harassed, persecuted and killed in their French homeland. The "Sun King" Louis XIV . (1638–1715) issued the Edict of Fontainebleau on October 18, 1685 , which definitively and radically forbade the Huguenots in his kingdom to practice the Protestant faith in France and triggered a mass exodus. Approx. 200,000 Huguenots left their homeland, of which around 40,000 came to Germany. With the support of Protestant German princes, they founded French Reformed parishes in which church registers were kept that recorded baptisms, weddings, funerals and admission to the Lord's Supper (confirmation). This makes it possible for the Huguenot descendants to research the past and origins of their family.

Genealogical research center

The German Huguenot Society's genealogical research center has been located in the German Huguenot Center in Bad Karlshafen since 1989 . Available:

numerous French Reformed church registers, colony lists and family trees

Microfiches , microfilms and digitized documents about Huguenot immigrants to Germany

List and maps of the places of origin and landscapes of the Huguenots in France

List of Huguenot professions

List of the Germanized names of the Huguenots

Huguenot magazines and special literature

Genealogical aids and finding aids

The use of the above aids is primarily reserved for members of the German Huguenot Society. In return for an appropriate share of the costs, non-members will also be given expert advice on site or on request by e-mail / fax / letter.

The Huguenot Database

The Huguenot database of the German Huguenot Society was founded by Robert Peyrot. It currently includes around 300,000 data records. Thanks to the input of the employees of the working group for Huguenot genealogy within the German Huguenot Society, new data will continue to be entered from the French Reformed church records in the German-speaking area. The aim is to collect all accessible data from church registers , colony lists, distribution books , presbyterial records , local clan books and other sources. Data from around 1650 to 1820 are taken into account. If you are interested, printouts can be requested from the office of the German Huguenot Society in Bad Karlshafen. It is advisable to include as much information about family history as possible that is already known to you.

The Huguenot researcher Wilhelm Beuleke

The nestor of German Huguenot research, Wilhelm Beuleke (1906–1985), laid the foundations for Huguenot genealogy over many years. He started doing it before the Second World War . During the division of Germany, he obtained genealogical information from the Huguenot communities in the GDR through confidants such as Johanna Oqueka and others. Beuleke published the results of his research in numerous publications. His extensive estate is kept in the German Huguenot Center in Bad Karlshafen together with the documents that Johanna Oqueka has received and is accessible to visitors there. Other bequests and Huguenot family trees in alphabetical order can also be viewed. We owe the research of the Waldensian genealogy , which is complicated because the names are often identical, to Theo Kiefner , who has published a number of local clan books of the Waldensian communities, mainly in Württemberg .

Cross-border genealogy

Huguenot family research can only meaningfully be carried out across borders. The Huguenots who immigrated to Germany came from France, the Huguenots from northern Italy and southern France , and the Walloons from what is now Belgium . If possible, your descendants want to know more about the ancestors in the regions of origin. Information and help from the genealogical societies in France, Italy and Belgium are an advantage. The journals of these societies are available in the Huguenot special library in the German Huguenot Center. Addresses of French genealogists etc. a. can be requested there. Historical maps of the regions of origin make it easier to locate the origin of the Huguenot family you are looking for. The cross-border genealogy also includes finding the escape route for refugees. That is u. a. possible because the Réfugiés were supported on their arduous journey to Germany by parishes in Switzerland or the Netherlands. The donations were recorded in "distribution lists" and some of them provide interesting genealogical information about the beneficiaries.

literature

Beuleke, Wilhelm: The origin of the Hamelin Huguenots (= GDHV XV. Tithe, issue 1–2). Berlin 1937.
Beuleke, Wilhelm: The Huguenots in Lower Saxony (= sources and representations on the history of Lower Saxony. Vol. 58). Hildesheim 1960.
Beuleke, Wilhelm: The Huguenot community Braunschweig I-IV. In: Braunschweigisches Jahrbuch. Vol. 42-46. 1961-1966.
Beuleke, Wilhelm: Studies on the Refuge in Germany and on the home of its members (= GDHV XVI. Zehnt, Issue 3). Sick 1966.
Beuleke, Wilhelm: The Huguenot colony Wolfhagen-Leckringhausen. In: HFK 9 (1968), Sp. 129-146.
Beuleke, Wilhelm: The founders and members of the Huguenot colony Daubhausen-Greifenthal. In: Archiv für Sippenforschung 41 (1975), pp. 215-262.
Beuleke, Wilhelm: The southern French in the Huguenot colonies of Prenzlau, Potzlow and Strasburg (= GDHV XVIII. 10th. Issue 7). Sicily in 1980.
Beuleke, Wilhelm: The Huguenot colony at Strasburg in the Uckermark (= GDHV XVIII. Tenth. Issue 9/10). Sick 1982.
Bischoff, Johannes E .: Lexicon of German Huguenot places with references to literature and sources for their evangelical reformed Réfugiés communities of Flemings, French, Waldensians and Walloons with 7 maps by Eberhard von Harsdorf (= GDHV Volume XXII). Bad Karlshafen 1994.
Desel, Jochen: Huguenots and Waldensians and their families in the Kassel district from immigration in 1685 to around 1800 (= GDHG. Volume 45). Bad Karlshafen 2009.
Dreusicke, Hugo: The French communities in Kassel 1687–1867 (= German local family books. Vol. 27). Frankfurt am Main 1962.
Kiefner, Theo: The local family books of the German Waldensian colonies. Total register. German Ortssippenbücher Volume A 403.Wuerttemberg series No. 73, part 2. Calw 2007.
History sheets of the German Huguenot Association (GDHV). Magdeburg 1890-Bad Karlshafen 1995.
History sheets of the German Huguenot Society (GDHG) Bad Karlshafen 1998 ff.
The German Huguenot (DDH) 1929–1997 (from 1998: Huguenots).
The French colony. Journal for the past and present of the French Reformed congregations in Germany, vol. 1–18. Berlin 1887–1904.
Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire du Protestantisme Français. Paris 1852 ff.
Cahiers du Center de Généalogie Protestante. Paris 1983 ff.