I know that the Heugenots are French Protestants and that they were driven from France because of religious persecution. But racially speaking what were they?
Someone told me they were primarily the well to do members of French society like aristocrats and that they were mainly Nordid.
Somebody else told me most French Huguenots came from the South of France where I assume admixture would be greatest.
Then another person told me that there is a strong element of Sephardic Jews among them.
I have blood connections to French Huguenots if I interpreted my family history correctly. I've always assumed them to be of Norman stock and saved from Latin influence. Anymore info on them would be helpful.
I have also read that they were from the south of France. Alpind?
There is no one region from which all Huguenots originated, although the largest single group emerged from La Rochelle, along the west coast on the Bay of Biscay, which was a Protestant stronghold in the 17th century. Huguenots were present across France, from Normandy to Provence, from the Atlantic coast to Wallonia.Originally Posted by Way of Deception
In The Passing of the Great Race, Madison Grant postulated that the Huguenots indeed hailed from Nordish enclaves of France, whereas the colonists of New France (French-Canadians) were generally of Alpinid stock. On the contrary, many French-Canadians also have roots in Normandy, Brittany, and other largely Nordish regions of France, and a simple examination of immigration patterns disproves Grant's assertion.
Again, the Huguenots cannot be lumped into any one phenotypical category. They hailed from all corners of France.
I have quite a few Huguenots in my own lineage, most of them having fled to the Netherlands and subsequently intermarrying with Dutch families, later settling in New Netherland (New York). I have not been able to locate any noble roots for those families.
Another of my Huguenot ancestors, who came from the last group of Protestants to flee France in the mid-18th century, settled in Switzerland and married a Swiss-German Mennonite. Her surname had a "de la" prefix, and I have not been able to determine if she hailed from a noble family.
Another Huguenot in my lineage was among the first to leave France, and fled to England in the early 17th century. Once there, he married an English woman and departed for the New England colony. The story goes that his father was a Count, the title being "Count de Chamilly", to be precise. However, the historical evidence for that is questionable, and we will continue to be uncertain until new information emerges. More information on this individual can be found HERE.
I know exactly who told you this, and I can assure you it is nonsense. The person in question has a pathological hatred of Calvinists, and the Huguenots, being Calvinists, are an ideal target for his rants. There is no greater presence of Sephardi blood in the Huguenots than in the rest of the French population.Then another person told me that there is a strong element of Sephardic Jews among them.
A lot of them were indeed of norman stock and of the higher strsta of society.
I can only speak on what is in my genealogy, and my Huguenot ancestors primarily came from Normandy and Isle de France. They claimed connections to some early medieval higher ups but outside of that they were just average folks, so nothing special here in terms of "high birth", just your average freemen.
It should be noted though that Huguenot's came from all over with various lineage and identity, trying to isolate them to one area of France or one social group is futile.
My Hugenot ancestors are on my paternal Grandmother's side, and they came to southern Germany from Straussbourg in the 1500s. I do know that some of my extended family on that side were wealthy and semi-nobility. They were also very active in financial support of the party from the beginning. The big man even set my Great-Great Uncle up with a factory in (today) Poland as a reward.
I have some Huguenots in my family tree from the 17th century. They too mostly mixed with Dutch families that settled in New York and New Jersey. I know that some who bore the surname Du Trieux came from Roubaix in the far north of France, near Belgium. Related to this line was the Du Chesne family from the north of the Champagne region. Another Huguenot family that I descend from are the Bodines, from Bethune, which is currently in Pas-de-Calais in northern France. Related to this family is the Crocheron family from Wallonia.
So it would seem that most of my French Huguenot ancestors came from the north, however, as others pointed out, they really were just any French Protestants from anywhere in France and French-speaking Belgium etc.
It's true that at some periods in French history, a very high percentage of the nobility were Protestants, probably a lot higher (relatively speaking) than in the population as a whole. However, given that the nobility were presumably only a small fraction of French society anyway, the vast majority of Huguenots would nevertheless have been common folk.
I have always heard they were very dark looking but I could be wrong. The French aristocracy was very widespread, I even have connections to the French De Vere's who settled in Scotland in the 1500s but most of them were Normans. I think many people could find blood from the French aristocracy in their genealogy.
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