Hello, listers -- since I have been posting quite a few surnames from the tésmoignages of the Threadneedle St. Church (London), I thought some details about this source might be in order. What are "tésmoignages"? Here is a quote from the Foreword of the publication -- "Protection was one of the chief needs of the Reformed Churches, and protection in a double sense. They had to see that none were admitted to membership who did not bring with them some guarantee that they were of the faith: for in the early days in France, the danger from spies and informers was great; and secondly, the maintenance of the true faith demanded an assurance that every candidate for admission held that faith in all its purity. To ensure these ends, no candidate was admitted a member of any congregation unless they brought with them a Témoignage. In its simplest form, the Témoignage was a certificate from the church from which the postulant came; but under the stress of emigration, such a Témoignage was often impossible, and the necessary assurance that the candidate was worthy of acceptance took many different forms...." In the case of a person or family having no Témoignage, the Foreword then goes on to explain that some were admitted because they were vouched for by someone else who was already a member of the congregation. Others who knew no one who could vouch for them were admitted on compassionate grounds, after their stories were heard. And the children of members were admitted when they reached a certain age. Here is some information about the places of origin of those seeking tésmoignages, and how many came from each location -- * Switzerland 1577 (described as having the greatest number because it had "ease of access from so many parts of France". Geneva had the most with 84 and all others were "from places in French-speaking Switzerland".) * Holland and the Low Countries 1502 (Amsterdam 677, Leiden 278, Haarlem 169, Rotterdam 119, Delft 56, etc.) * England 1196 (most from Canterbury with 937) * Ireland 158 * Channel Islands 103 * Germany 86 (most from Berlin) * Scotland 12 * North America 8 (6 from NY, 1 from Charleston "where we know there was a strong Huguenot colony", 1 from Halifax) * Sweden 4 (all from Stockholm) * Denmark 3 (all from Copenhagen) * Port of Turkey 1 (ie. Constantinople: "it seems a strange land for a Huguenot to drift to at that date and stranger still that he should bring a Témoignage thence".) These records can be accessed in Volume 21 of the Quarto series published by the Huguenot Society of London (Livre des Tésmoignages de l'Église de Threadneedle Street, 1669-1789) or on LDS film # 0962137 if you have a Mormon Family History Centre (FHC) near you. Andrea