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Lessons from the Big House
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Hardcover
First published September 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 17, 2019
I discovered the existence of this book as I was digging through my Ancestry tree on line. As it turns out the author and I share a common Gaillard ancestor so I couldn't wait to read it.
This is a lovely little gem of a history book that covers one family's journey who fled France where they were being persecuted for their Protestantism in the 1600's. The Gaillard's, like so many other Huguenots, wanted to be free to practice their faith freely without fear of persecution. Once they left their homeland, many arrived at the port of what is now Charleston, S. C.
These brave families settled areas in the southeast part of the country. The Gaillard's developed land and built plantations all around the Santee River area near Charleston. It is an unfortunate and disturbing truth that the taking of lands from the native tribes, the warfare, and the slavery that followed were also a part of the legacy of the many people who immigrated to America.
Mr. Gaillard takes you through events of the American Revolutionary war, through the Civil War, through the reconstruction of the South and to the social changes that did not come easy for white people used to a certain way of life - some even in his own family. Mr. Gaillard, as a young man, began to wake up to the realization of what so much of our Southern families had participated in, some defended, and taken for granted- believing it their right.
You don't have to be a Gaillard to enjoy this book! It is well-written and I learned a great deal. It may be a narrowed lens as experienced through his family, but it gives a great deal of perspective on how politics and/or religion can change the very landscape of a country. As we now face a changing climate, and countries still slaughtering their own peoples in wars, the world will continue to grow and change whether we like it or not. We must read about the past because we must know how we got to the present. This America that I know must deal with the uglier sides of its past and Mr. Gaillard gives us hope for this understanding of human nature and how to rise up and love one another. As a Gaillard relative, I give him my deepest thanks for sharing this history.
This is a lovely little gem of a history book that covers one family's journey who fled France where they were being persecuted for their Protestantism in the 1600's. The Gaillard's, like so many other Huguenots, wanted to be free to practice their faith freely without fear of persecution. Once they left their homeland, many arrived at the port of what is now Charleston, S. C.
These brave families settled areas in the southeast part of the country. The Gaillard's developed land and built plantations all around the Santee River area near Charleston. It is an unfortunate and disturbing truth that the taking of lands from the native tribes, the warfare, and the slavery that followed were also a part of the legacy of the many people who immigrated to America.
Mr. Gaillard takes you through events of the American Revolutionary war, through the Civil War, through the reconstruction of the South and to the social changes that did not come easy for white people used to a certain way of life - some even in his own family. Mr. Gaillard, as a young man, began to wake up to the realization of what so much of our Southern families had participated in, some defended, and taken for granted- believing it their right.
You don't have to be a Gaillard to enjoy this book! It is well-written and I learned a great deal. It may be a narrowed lens as experienced through his family, but it gives a great deal of perspective on how politics and/or religion can change the very landscape of a country. As we now face a changing climate, and countries still slaughtering their own peoples in wars, the world will continue to grow and change whether we like it or not. We must read about the past because we must know how we got to the present. This America that I know must deal with the uglier sides of its past and Mr. Gaillard gives us hope for this understanding of human nature and how to rise up and love one another. As a Gaillard relative, I give him my deepest thanks for sharing this history.
September 6, 2023
Solid family memoir featuring the Gaillard family over a couple centuries. Done in snippets of notable events--like wars and civil rights--with an even hand of truth without too much flattery. Heavy with South Carolina and Alabama history.
July 17, 2014
Good perspective of the South from the point of view of the Southern slave holder.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews