Society Saturday - Huguenots in Illinois

The Illinois chapter of the National Huguenot Society met in Northbrook, IL for our semi-annual meeting.  The room had a lovely view of the DesPlaines river - too bad it was pouring rain outside.

Members of the National Huguenot Society descend from a Huguenot - a French Protestant who, due to religious persecution, was forced to flee France to other countries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Our speaker at this meeting was Jeannine Sheldon Kallal, former Registrar General for the Society.  She spoke on the history of the Huguenots beginning with the Protestant Reformation in 1517 and continuing until the Edict of Toleration in 1787.  It was a well-researched and interesting talk.

http://www.huguenot.netnation.com/

Society Saturday - The "Witch Book"

I've been terrible about keeping up with my blogging lately, but I have a good excuse.  Every evening has been devoted to finishing my book.  It is the "Associated Daughters of Early American Witches Roll of Ancestors".  I have compiled genealogical information on over 300 people who were accused, tried, or convicted of witchcraft in 17th century America.  They are all eligible ancestors for ADEAW.  I finished the book just in time for the 25th Anniversary celebration of the society on April 14.  Since that time, I have been busy collecting orders and shipping the books.

Writing this book has been quite an experience - I started about 5 years ago when I was the Registrar of the organization.  I have spent quite a lot of time in libraries and online researching their accusations as well as three generations of their lineage.  Then came the editing, decisions on formatting, etc.  Of course, the editing, indexing, adding the forword, etc. all took longer than expected.  Next came time to pick a publisher and apply for copyright.  All in all, it was worth it - now I just need to get the books out of my foyer and to the post office.

Did I mention that since the book was sent to the publisher, we found two more eligible ancestors?  I have already started a file for the second edition - but I need to catch up with every thing else in my life first :-)

If you are interested in more information about Associated Daughters of Early American Witches or our Roll of Ancestors, our website is http://www.adeaw.us/.