Memory stream Dipping into Philadelphia's illustrated past

In 1918, in Reading, about 10 men and women founded the Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania, one of the first societies for the descendants of Huguenots established in the United States.

Their first official meeting date was April 13, 1918, the 320th anniversary of Henry IV's Edict of Nantes, which ended the French Wars of Religion and gave the Huguenots limited religious freedom. The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France from the 16th to 18th centuries, and many of them emigrated from France to escape persecution and religious intolerance.

At the society's first meeting in Reading, the members developed a list of objectives, which included perpetuating and maintaining the history, principles, and beliefs of the Huguenots, as well as celebrating and preserving the spirit of their ancestors. Some of the society's first official acts were to make Gen. John J. Pershing, a Huguenot descendant, an honorary member, and to give symbolic support to France during World War I.

In 1931, the society, along with similar groups from New Jersey and Washington, formed the Federation of Huguenot Societies, which met annually in Washington, and by 1946, included societies from Ohio, California, Michigan, West Virginia, and North Carolina. In 1951, the federation became the National Huguenot Society, which encompasses more than 40 state member societies.