Genealogical Analysis
First of all, we are very excited that Katie Hyman has joined HSSC as our office manager and registrar. She will be here twice a week, and has already begun getting us better organized, so we can work more efficiently. Her e-mail is office@huguentosociety.org and she will be the main first contact for the Society, especially for our website. If you are in Charleston, stop by and welcome her and, if you can’t do that, welcome her with an e-mail which will also help us update our database. Please sign up for the on-line version of The Huguenot Herald and let us know you did so – we have no way right now of knowing which members have done so and we want to remove your names from our mailing list.
We just received an article about genealogical analysis in American Ancestors, the magazine produced by the New England Historical and Genealogical Society (Summer 2014, Vol. 15, #3, 37-9). Written by Robert Charles Anderson, Director of the NEHGS Great Migration Study Project, it gives clear and concise methods for solving genealogical problems and conducting research. Anderson’s book, Elements of Genealogical Analysis, is available from NEHGS for those who are interested. His methodology, in a nutshell, involves attending “to the substance and the reliability of records and sources.” (American Ancestors, Vol. 15, #3:37) This is especially true for some of our older member files at HSSC – they often contain only one sheet of paper, the handwritten application form dating anywhere from 1886 forward. Sometimes, that is better than files which contain pages from “unreliable genealogies written by people who have made quick assumptions that a particular record refers to their ancestor – taking a name that seems correct without carefully assessing the dates and the surrounding information, including details of other names in the records.” (American Ancestors, Vol. 15, #3: 37)
The latter situation often happens here – applicants bring in family histories full of wonderful stories and detailed lineages with names, dates and locations. Unfortunately, there is not one shred of documentation, no references as to where the author found the information and lots of evidence that phrases found in other books were simply repeated. I have been told more than once, “But this book says he was a Huguenot.” or, “But it’s on the Internet.” Anderson points out that it is imperative that researchers know their sources and that they also be familiar with the “kinds of records available in a particular time and place.” (American Ancestors, Vol. 15, #3:37)
We hope you will all bear with us as we continue to update our files and attempt to ensure that our ancestors and lineages are correctly and accurately documented. In addition to documenting and updating lineages, we have also found that some of those claimed in the past as ancestors were not French Protestants – one even had notes in the files proudly stating the ancestor’s descent from William the Conqueror (undocumented, but the family was English). Since 1066 is a bit too early to claim “Huguenotness,” the ancestor’s name was so noted. Fortunately, there were no active members under his name, so it was only a disappointment to one potential applicant.