This year’s Annual Meeting, which was held on April 9, 2026 again at the Knickerbocker Club adjacent to Central Park was full of up-to-date information concerning The Huguenot Society of America as well as an excellent guest speaker.
Setting the tone for the meeting and given the Huguenot Society’s being a French-American organization, it started off with pianist Bob Dawson playing the Star-Spangled Banner and then “La Marseillaise” (words were distributed).
Our society is working with the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society and American Ancestors so that the first five generations will be on their websites – just like the Mayflower Society.
Reports from various committee heads showed the interest applicants are demonstrating in joining the Society and furthering their knowledge of their genealogy. Reports were given of the scholarships and grants HSA has been giving, and they are both increasing steadily.
President Karen Kane is working actively to increase membership and requested that participants invite their friends and relatives to join. She is also eager to broaden the scope of HSA by attending international Huguenot societies and spreading the word. Last fall, Karen participated in the Amitiés internationales huguenotes where she met representatives of the Huguenot Societies of the United Kingdom and Ireland and Australia. The tour visited Huguenot sites and churches in the Dijon (France) area. This fall she will visit Geneva with another international Huguenot group which will visit the Museum of the Reformation and archaeological sites. The watchmaking industry is, of course, very strong in Geneva, and Huguenots have made many contributions in the field.
We had a treat with this year’s guest speaker. Adam Patrick is the Manager and Buyer of A La Vieille Russie (In Old Russia), the prestigious antique gallery on New York’s Fifth Avenue. His talk was on “Tiffany and Other Huguenot Jewelers” which include Fabergé and Schlumberger. All three jewelers had Huguenot origins, a fact not generally known. Guests were intrigued to learn about the Huguenot Tiffany and the company he founded. The first Tiffany to reach American shores was the progenitor of the Tiphaine, or Tiffany family, James (Jacques) Tiphaine who, with his wife Elizabeth and their children, were French Protestants who had emigrated from the Sedan to London. The eminent Huguenot historian, Charles Baird, states that Tiphaine’s son Pierre, with his wife Susanne Renel, came to New York and that Jacques, their son, was baptized in the French Church du Saint-Esprit in New York, October 15, 1704.
The Tiffany company was founded in Kiev (Ukraine) in 1851. It opened in New York City at Rockefeller Center, then occupied the Sherry Netherland building for 62 years. Eight years ago, the company moved to 745 Fifth Avenue where it is still located. Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of the founder, developed the glass and enamels business which sparked the Art Nouveau movement. The company appeared to enormous crowds at the Exposition universelle (World Exhibition) in Paris in 1889 where the Eiffel Tower was featured.
Jean Schlumberger, also of Huguenot extraction (1909-1987), was known for creating whimsical, playful pieces. He hired excellent artists such as Angela Cummings, Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso.
Reverend Nigel Massey spoke about the French Church du Saint-Esprit, founded in 1628 and which will celebrate its 400th Centenary in 2028. A three-day conference is planned with a professor from the Sorbonne in Paris, an expert on refugees, and will present thank you letters from well-known people including Eleanor Roosevelt. He mentioned Huguenot Sunday which will take place on April 12th with guests from the French Consulate, Curate Joris Borhmann will perform his first baptism.
JANUARY 2026 RECEPTION AT A PRIVATE CLUB IN MANHATTAN
JANUARY 22, 2026
There seemed to be more guests than ever at the January Reception: 42 guests. The private club where it was held wisely moved our event to a larger venue–a ballroom—to accommodate the guests, a bookseller and a piano.
At the Ceremony of the Loving Cups which began the program, all raised their glasses to toast the Huguenot ancestors. President Karen Kane greeted everyone, mentioning her initiatives to meet other Huguenot-related organizations in Europe and the U.S. Last September, she joined the Amitiés huguenotes internationales and visited Huguenot sites in the Dijon area in France. This summer she will visit other sites in Geneva with the Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Ms. Kane introduced the guest speaker, Kostya Kennedy, who talked about his book: “Paul Revere and The Ride that Saved America”, which is a thrilling read. He revealed many interesting facts most people really don’t know about this well-known figure: Paul Revere was already a distinguished silversmith, engraver and a self-trained dentist when he made his ride to warn the patriots that the British were coming. Kennedy mentioned that despite having vertigo, he wanted to climb to the top of the Old North Church in Boston where the patriots hung out two large lanterns to warn the people about the British: “One (lattern) if by land, two if by sea”. They needed to display the lanterns for the patriots to see them, but not too long so the British wouldn’t. His ascent to the top was hard fought but worth it: It was easy for Kostya Kennedy to imagine the landscape of the era.
Why did Kostya Kennedy become interested in writing about Paul Revere? He said since there are few people who are known for the rest of their lives for a single night or act: that was Paul Revere’s ride on April 18, 1775. It was also Revere’s charisma and forceful character. When he told people to get ready – “the British are coming”, they did and gathered muskets and pistols.
He recounted how the patriots took on the most powerful nation in the world at that time – England–and showed slides of the flimsy looking rowboat that carried Paul Revere to the other side of the Charles River where he started his ride.
After Mr. Kennedy’s talk, came the musical part of the evening. It started with the “Paul Revere song” about Revere’s horse, from the Broadway musical, Guys and Dolls. After enjoying hors d’oeuvre and drinks, guests gathered again to sing French songs (“Milord”, “La Vie en rose”, the Marseillaise and “Les Champs-Elysées”), accompanied by pianist Bob Dawson. Meanwhile, Kostya Kennedy signed copies of his book.
We’ve been opening our library/office doors for the past few years for a Fall Reception when the “social season” begins. It provides a great opportunity to bring together Huguenot Society members–usually NYC residents as well as some who have traveled–together with Council members and officers. At this year’s reception, on October 9, 2025, there were more guests than ever, among them quite a few younger members (whom we were delighted to welcome), long-time members and those who just joined in the previous month. The delicious catered food and good wine and other drinks added to the ambiance. Guests moved easily around the room; conversations flowed. Echoing the feeling at the reception, Bob Dawson, a pianist who has played for the building where the Huguenot Society is housed, remarked: “This was a very friendly party”.
One of our scholarship recipients, Sasha Faison, was invited to the reception as a special guest. She received a Fulbright Scholarship and was working in Sénégal, and so could not attend the reception. Her father Seth Faison, represented her.
Karen Kane, the Society’s president, spoke about her participation in September in the 20th International Meeting of Huguenot Descendants in Dijon, France and other areas in Burgundy. The gathering was through the organization Les Amitiés huguenotes internationales (International Huguenot Friendships). The group enjoyed a unique tour of some traces of Huguenot history since these are not major areas for Protestantism. Ms. Kane was among 100 participants and met people from Huguenot societies of Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, Germany, Switzerland as well as South Carolina.
Karen Kane, our new president, marched with our new Huguenot flag at the 103rd Annual Flag Service of Historical and Genealogical Societies of New York at Saint Thomas Church.
The recent move to our new headquarters, after eighty years at the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society building, brought about the discovery of treasures in our library and archives. One of these finds was a wooden box containing sixty glass lantern slides handcrafted and painted by French artist and humanitarian Samuel Bastide circa 1920, along with his original captions and presentation script in French.
This collection is an artistic record–combining etching, photographic techniques, and painting–of the persecution and exodus of the Huguenots of France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685.
Below is a selection of images taken from the sixty lantern slides that comprises Bastide’s illustrated lecture.
Destruction of the Protestant Temple of Charenton
The Huguenots of Mornal fleeing on three boats in 1687
Geneva–a city of refuge for many Huguenots
The Netherlands–a Protestant country to which many Huguenots fled
A number of Huguenot refugees sailed for the Cape Colony in South Africa.
Guides in the forests of Jura (Switzerland) met Huguenot fugitives to lead them to safety.
The last slide in the presentation–New York’s Statue of Liberty–alludes to the fact that many Huguenots and their ancestors landed on our shores. The statue, a symbol of freedom and democracy, was given to the people of the United States by the people of France in 1884.
An Armory of American Families of Dutch Descent, by William J. Hoffman, edited with introduction and index by Francis J. Sypher, published by the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society, 2010.
Donor: Francis J. Sypher
John Jay: A Family Affair, Nominated from New York: The Empire State’s Contributions to the Supreme Court Bench, published by the Supreme Court Historical Society & the Hisotorical Society of the Courts of New York, 2011.
Donor: Hon. Alvert Rosenblatt
The Geneva Bible 1599, a leather bond copy published by the Tolle Lege Press, 2011, this Bible was first translated into English in 1560 by English reformers in Geneva escaped from the Catholic Queen Mary of England, They used as their sources John Calvin and Theodore de Beza. This Bible was carried by the Pilgrims to the New World on the Mayflower.
Donor : Henry C.B. Lindh
Belle Ardeche: Merveilleux Pays,by Jean-Francois Lacour & Simon Bugnon, published by subscription in Spain by Sagrafic SA, 2010.
Donor : Raquel Granda
Gallatin, America’s Swiss Founding Father, bu Nicholas Dungan, co-published by New York University Press and the Swiss Confederation, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, 2010, containing the life of Albert Gallatin, who had Huguenot roots, his emigration to America and his rise from Congress to the Treasury and to the world of diplomacy.
Donor : New York University Press
Gallatin Iconography, by Albert Eugene Gallatin, published privately, 1934.
Donor : Mary Collins
Lady Historian Martha J. Lamb, by Susan Elizabeth Lyman, published by The Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Library, Northampton MA 1969.
The Sophia Smith Collection (Women’s History Archive), edited by Mary-Elizabeth Murdock, Ph.D., published by Smith College, Northampton MA 1976.
Donor : Firth H. Fabend
Gallatin, America’s Swiss Founding Father, by Nicholas Dungan, co-published by New York University Press and the Swiss Confederation, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs 2010 containing a history of Albert Gallatin’s rise from Congress to the Treasury and the world of diplomacy.
Donor : New York University Press
Gallatin Iconography, by Albert Eugene Gallatin, published privately 1934
Donor : Mary Collins, Librarian of the Holland Society of New York
The Cadwallader-Colden Papers, Volumes I to X, 1711-1775, published by The New York-Historical Society through the years 1876-1935, and containing the letters and papers of the Tory Lieutenant Governor of the Province of New York up to his death just before the Revolutionary War.
Donor : Michael S. Neill, 8th generation descendant of Cadwallader Colden
The Rescue: A Story of the Huguenots, published by The Religious Tract Society, St. Paul’s Churchyard, London, and printed by Knight, Middle Street E.C. 1880. A story with illustrations of Huguenot refugees in Spain.
Donor : Mrs. Marthabelle Nelson
Paul Revere-Artisan, Businessman, and Patriot. The Man behind the Myth, published as a catalogue for the exhibition at the Museum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, Massachusetts, detailing the life of Paul Revere with illustrations.
Donor : The Paul Revere Memorial Association
From a Far Country: Camisards and Huguenots in the Atlantic World, by Catharine Randall, published by The University of Georgia Press 2009
Donor : Regan Huff, The University of Georgia Press
Imagine New Amsterdam, by Courtney Alfred Haff, published 2009 by the author. An examintation of Dutch-influenced land policies and finance strategies in the development of New York City.
Donor : Courtney A. Haff
Turff & Twigg, Volume One, The French Lands, by Priscilla H. Cabell, published 2006 and illustrated by the author. A study of ten thousand acres donated by King William III to the French refugees who settled at Manakintowne, Virginia in 1700.
Letters Written from America: 1849-1853 of Leo Lesquereux, published by the Picton Press 2006 with biography and illustrations by Dr. Donald G. Tritt, Advisory Committee, Swiss American Historical Society.
Excerpts from a talk at the Huguenot Society Annual Luncheon 2009 by Susan Kriete, Reference Librarian at the New-York Historical Society.
My relationship with Martha Lamb began while I was searching for something in our library’s catalog. I came across a record for the Martha Lamb Papers and noticed that her dates spanned the nineteenth century. This caught my eye, because we have very few papers from women of that era….a dark time when people had the temerity to believe that nothing a woman said could possibly be worth saving. I decided to do a little further investigation, and quickly uncovered the following fascinating facts about Mrs. Lamb:
She was the author of the highly-acclaimed, three-volume History of New York City, originally published 1877-1881. In 1883, she became the editor of The Magazine of American History, the first American periodical devoted to history. She also wrote a novel with the racy-sounding name of Spicey. She was a divorcée. She accomplished all of this after she moved to New York City in her middle age.
Based on this information, my initial impression of Martha Lamb was of a radical figure, a sort of fireball feminist. Far from being a radical, I was discovering, Martha Lamb could be described as conservative, genteel, patrician, and respectful of tradition. Somehow, this defender of traditional values managed to become an independent, highly successful author, effectively breaking all the rules of nineteenth-century polite society while remaining very much a part of it.
Martha Lamb was simply following a path that was blazed in her blood by her Huguenot heritage. As stated on the Society’s Web site: “The Protestant movement in France was not a proletarian upheaval or a liberal agitation. On the contrary, it was a solid, conservative movement of notable respectability on the part of many of the most responsible and most accomplished people in France.”
Martha Lamb played a significant role in the founding of the Huguenot Society of America. Shortly after the Civil War, she moved to New York City and embarked on what was to be a highly successful and prolific writing career. The Huguenot Society was founded in 1883, with John Jay as its first President. Martha Lamb became Chair of the Ladies Committee the following year. She recruited new members in New York City and spearheaded efforts to collect information and materials from persons of Huguenot descent throughout the country. As Chair of the Library Committee, she managed something of a coup: with help from John Jay, she persuaded Melvil Dewey–famous as the father of the Dewey Decimal System, and head of Columbia College Library–to house the Huguenot Society’s collection in the College building with the proviso that meetings could be held therein. She oversaw and wrote the introduction to the library’s first catalog and personally contributed a number of the volumes in the collection. By 1891, the library numbered some 800 volumes. And, as a final contribution, and a mark of her special affection, Martha bequeathed all of her genealogical books, as many as 100, to the Huguenot Society of America.
THE VIRTUAL MUSEUM OF FRENCH PROTESTANTISM has begun posting online English translations of its 16th and 17th century material, and is also adding video clips and sound recordings. Its wide ranging collections span the 16th to 20th centuries.
As well as a permanent collection and guided tours, the site hosts temporary exhibitions www.museeprotestant.org.
THE HUGUENOT TRAIL is a sign-posted European trail, 1800 km long stretching from Le Poet-Laval in Dauphine, France, and from the Waldensian Alps in Italy to Bad Karlshafen in Hesse, Germany, via Geneva, Switzerland. Details and maps are available on www.surlespasdeshuguenots.eu.
The setting up of this commemorative trail, which will continue to be developed, is the result of a major cooperative venture between France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany.
The French Hospital in England / Its Huguenot History and Collections by Tessa Murdoch and Randolph Vigne
The French Hospital, known by generations of residents as La Providence, was founded in London in 1718 as a charity offering sanctuary to refugee French Huguenots escaping persecution in France. This book marks the tercentenary of Jacques de Gastigny’s founding bequest. Its survival and continuing existence today bear witness to the tenacity of the Huguenot refugees and their descendants. The richly illustrated text covers many aspects of life from the early eighteenth century onward. It provides information to a wide audience including those interested in art and social history, as well as Huguenot heritage. Books can be purchased directly from the The French Hospital’s website.
The final underwater dig off the coast of Florida & an identity report.
An investigation of the remains of a shipwreck conducted from 8/24/15 to 6/28/16 revealed some forty bronz cannons and design emblems dating from the mid 1500s to 1600. Mr Mendel Peterson, former head of the Smithsonian Institution’s Underwater Archaeology kept extensive records. These artifacts were tragically lost to the fledgling French colony settled in 1562 by the Huguenot Renee de Laudonniere and may well have enabled the colonists to withstand the fatal attack by the Spanish in 1565. However, it should be remembered as an example of a new spirit of colonization that, in the years ahead, becane the force for establishing religious liberty and personal freedom as the great trademark of the United States
Author and managing editor of Navy Times John Grady has published a definitive new biography: Oceanography, a Biography 1806-1873, published in 2015 in Jefferson, North Carolina.
This new book includes details on Maury’s life growing up in Tennessee. The 354 page book includes the biography and an index. Maury charted sea lanes and bested Great Britain’s admiralty in securing the fastest and safest to India and Australia. He helped bind the continents with the laying of the transatlantic cable. He preached manifest destiny from the Arctic to Cape Horn. This book is available for purchase from Amazon.com.
THE CORRESPONDENCE OF DE LA BEAUMELLE, Vol. 12 in a projected 18 volume set, edited and published by the Voltaire foundation 2017, for more information visit: www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk
This is the first edition of the correspondence of French Huguenot, La Beaumelle (1726-1773) and contains unpublished documents from a private collection. They are an important primary source that enables the re-evaluation of the intellectual developments in politics, literature, philosophy, history and religion associated with the eighteenth century. Beaumelle was a fine letter-writer, translator of Horace and Tacitus, freemason, private tutor, journalist, historian, Voltaire’s dreaded polemicist author, editor of Mme de Maintenon’s memoirs, and champion of tolerance. He was, strikingly one of the few Huguenot men of letters. His career took him from the rural Cevennes to Geneva, Copenhagen, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Nimes, Montpellier, and Toulouse. From the thirteen year-old schoolboy in Ales to student days in Geneva, we follow him to his position as an historian and man of letters until he became a prisoner in the Bastille, then an exile in his native southern France, to, ultimately, the King’s librarian at Versailles.
We’ve been opening our library/office doors for the past few years for a Fall Reception when the “social season” begins. It provides a great opportunity to bring together Huguenot Society members–usually NYC residents as well as some who have traveled–together with Council members and officers. At this year’s reception, on October 9, 2025, there were more guests than ever, among them quite a few younger members (whom we were delighted to welcome), long-time members and those who just joined in the previous month. The delicious catered food and good wine and other drinks added to the ambiance. Guests moved easily around the room; conversations flowed. Echoing the feeling at the reception, Bob Dawson, a pianist who has played for the building where the Huguenot Society is housed, remarked: “This was a very friendly party”.
