Hmmm, well, about this Luther...... This morning, I had a bit of time on my hands so I began roaming around on the internet for things Huguenot. Never know what interesting tidbits you're going to find, right? Right..... Seems Luther was a Protestant and a Huguenot after all. Not only that, he was the leader. Yes. No sign of poor Jean in this. He seems to have disappeared. Or, at any rate, not mentioned. How do I know this? Well, as I said, I found it on the internet. And it's presumably been published in a book as well. Must be true, then......Seems to be a very reputable website, too. The Genealogical Society of Victoria Inc. (That's Victoria in Australia.) Here's the relevent paragraph: "The Huguenots were French Protestants persecuted by the Catholic Kings of France from around 1520 until the French Revolution of 1789. Their leader was Martin LUTHER (1483-1546), the first Protestant. Many hundreds of thousands of Huguenots fled from France to countries such as the British Isles, Netherlands, South Africa and America in fear of their lives. Most fled to England in the 1680s and 90s. An estimated 300,000 Australians today are of Huguenot descent." Interesting how many Huguenot descendants ended up in Australia, isn't it? Anyway, this info comes from a review of a book titled Huguenot Hints: A beginner's guide to Huguenot Research in England and France by author Nick Vine Hall. It's available from the website and described as a "research guide to tracing French Huguenot ancestry from the Australian viewpoint." Notice that I said the info came from *a review* of the book, not the book itself. But where did the reviewer get the info? Presumably from the book? See the review for yourself and judge accordingly. The info is here: http://www.familyhistorybookshop.org.au/prod4364.htm If anyone else comes across some interesting Huguenot tidbits, I hope you'll post them. Perhaps one of our several hundred HWE lurkers?? Andrea

Hello Andrea It seems you have found the bad thing about the internet. Information can be wrong, so we have to sort all the pieces of information using our knowledge and brains. Sometimes we find excellent quality,and sometimes not. Hopefully noone belives, what Mr. Hall tries to tell about Martin Luther. But I am sure, we all try to do our best, when we put something into the internet. Most important is, that we can learn from doing our mistakes! Friendly greetings Hanne Thorup Koudal

Which goes to prove never to trust anything you read on the Internet! or for that matter in print either without checking other sources. The late Nick Vine Hall was a professional genealogist with Huguenot ancestry. I talked to him about Huguenots at the Australasian Genealogical Congress in Melbourne in 2003. The New Zealand Society of Genealogists may hold the book in their (postal) library so I shall endeavour to check who made the error - the reviewer or the author. BTW there is an Australian Huguenot Society now. Shirley ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andrea Vogel" <andreav@island.net> Subject: Re: [HWE] Luther was a Huguenot ??????????? > I> found it on the internet. And it's presumably > been published in a book as well. Must be > true, then......Seems to be a very reputable > website, too. The Genealogical Society > of Victoria Inc. (That's Victoria in Australia.) > this info comes from a review > of a book titled Huguenot Hints: A beginner's > guide to Huguenot Research in England and France by author Nick Vine Hall. > > Notice that I said the info came from > *a review* of the book, not the book itself.