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Southern Classics
The Huguenots of Colonial South Carolina
The definitive study of the Huguenot influence in South Carolina
First published in 1928, The Huguenots of Colonial South Carolina is the authoritative work on the Huguenot presence in one of the most important American colonies. Arthur H. Hirsch provides a thorough description and analysis of the Huguenot migration and settlement in South Carolina throughout the colonial period. He describes how the Huguenot communities and churches throughout the state were founded and how the first-generation Huguenots integrated into the religious, political, and socioeconomic fabric of early South Carolina.
Although the first group of Huguenot settlers numbered no more than six hundred, they arrived in the colony at a time when they could exert a disproportionate and fundamental influence on early colonial institutions. Hirsch explains how they quickly became a political force and aided the Anglicans in establishing the Church of England in South Carolina. He also traces the ways in which successive generations left an indelible mark on the cultural and economic development of the colony and the new state.
Bertrand Van Ruymbeke's new introduction places Hirsch's book in its historiographical context as the product of a 1915 University of Chicago dissertation and the intellectual heir of Charles W. Baird's groundbreaking work on the subject. He examines the book's strengths, notably its accurate identification of assimilation as the major theme of Huguenot history in South Carolina and its integration of archival and family history research. Van Ruymbeke also brings to bear his own prodigious research in French archives on the backgrounds, number, and manner of immigration of the early arrivals. He provides a new look at the way the Huguenots found a place in the political economy of colonial South Carolina.
First published in 1928, The Huguenots of Colonial South Carolina is the authoritative work on the Huguenot presence in one of the most important American colonies. Arthur H. Hirsch provides a thorough description and analysis of the Huguenot migration and settlement in South Carolina throughout the colonial period. He describes how the Huguenot communities and churches throughout the state were founded and how the first-generation Huguenots integrated into the religious, political, and socioeconomic fabric of early South Carolina.
Although the first group of Huguenot settlers numbered no more than six hundred, they arrived in the colony at a time when they could exert a disproportionate and fundamental influence on early colonial institutions. Hirsch explains how they quickly became a political force and aided the Anglicans in establishing the Church of England in South Carolina. He also traces the ways in which successive generations left an indelible mark on the cultural and economic development of the colony and the new state.
Bertrand Van Ruymbeke's new introduction places Hirsch's book in its historiographical context as the product of a 1915 University of Chicago dissertation and the intellectual heir of Charles W. Baird's groundbreaking work on the subject. He examines the book's strengths, notably its accurate identification of assimilation as the major theme of Huguenot history in South Carolina and its integration of archival and family history research. Van Ruymbeke also brings to bear his own prodigious research in French archives on the backgrounds, number, and manner of immigration of the early arrivals. He provides a new look at the way the Huguenots found a place in the political economy of colonial South Carolina.
384 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 7, 2009
While that's what lends some genealogical value, this isn't usually very interesting in the specifics. However, it's an amazingly documented work for its time (1928). Van Ruymbeke--who has contributed a great deal to this field--provides an able introduction, including the corrective observation:
This wasn't exactly "hagiographic and laudatory" (xxxvi), though he was obsessed with certain stereotypes: that there was no pauper class among them (253); their extreme industry (43, 159, 164, 167-168, 186, 264); and that they were "inveterate moneylenders" (140, 169, 188-189, 224, 230, 235). Van Ruymbeke cautions against buying into their "proverbial prosperity" (xxxvii), leading to the adoption of the European phrase "rich as a Huguenot" (169).
A certain amount of pride in their origins isn't amiss, as these poor people had previously appealed to King Louis XIV "for permission to settle in Louisiana, 'for conscience sake'" (94), which request was denied. It's remarkable how one group was wholly transplanted to the New World. After Pastor Elias Prioleau and congregation watched their temple's destruction in Pons, they agreed to head for England. A large number were reconstituted in Charles Town (51-52).
In the British colonies, they felt constant pressure to Anglicize their names and even their religion (and most apparently succumbed). This documents a struggle for naturalization and voting rights. How curious it is that a very prejudicial religious test oath--the true cause for our Founding Fathers' insertion of the Establishment Clause--was required for any position of note, yet one Anglican clergyman expressed confusion that "they Complain of and call Persecution [that:] which is nothing else but the Establishing the Church of England though otherwise they have the full Liberty of their Consciences" (286).
Fearing a mass exodus, the court prohibited lay Huguenots from emigrating. It is therefore essential to remember that the Huguenots were not expelled from France. Those who left did so of their own will and at their own risk. . . . Clearly, the majority of Huguenots remained in France and became New Converts . . ., which is not surprising considering the risks involved in emigrating or resisting royal policy. (xxiii-xxiv)
This wasn't exactly "hagiographic and laudatory" (xxxvi), though he was obsessed with certain stereotypes: that there was no pauper class among them (253); their extreme industry (43, 159, 164, 167-168, 186, 264); and that they were "inveterate moneylenders" (140, 169, 188-189, 224, 230, 235). Van Ruymbeke cautions against buying into their "proverbial prosperity" (xxxvii), leading to the adoption of the European phrase "rich as a Huguenot" (169).
A certain amount of pride in their origins isn't amiss, as these poor people had previously appealed to King Louis XIV "for permission to settle in Louisiana, 'for conscience sake'" (94), which request was denied. It's remarkable how one group was wholly transplanted to the New World. After Pastor Elias Prioleau and congregation watched their temple's destruction in Pons, they agreed to head for England. A large number were reconstituted in Charles Town (51-52).
In the British colonies, they felt constant pressure to Anglicize their names and even their religion (and most apparently succumbed). This documents a struggle for naturalization and voting rights. How curious it is that a very prejudicial religious test oath--the true cause for our Founding Fathers' insertion of the Establishment Clause--was required for any position of note, yet one Anglican clergyman expressed confusion that "they Complain of and call Persecution [that:] which is nothing else but the Establishing the Church of England though otherwise they have the full Liberty of their Consciences" (286).
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December 28, 20231991 reprint of the 1962 reprint - available in Bradford County, Florida, library in genealogy room
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews