31-07-2010 19:32:45

A Short History of the Huguenot Society of Maryland

The Huguenot Society of Maryland was organized on 31 March 1968 in Baltimore, Maryland, in the home of William Henry Lloyd, who at the time was the Corresponding Secretary of the National Huguenot Society. After his presentation, the President General conducted the investiture of the following officers of the newly-formed Huguenot Society of Maryland:

  • President - William Henry Lloyd.
  • Vice President - Joseph H. Tillou.
  • Chaplain - Mary Allen Latane Stiff (Mrs. Ashby G. Stiff).
  • Recording Secretary - Mary Stewart Belitz (Mrs. Walter B. Belitz, Jr.)
  • Corresponding Secretary - Jean Renneburg Stein (Mrs. Charles F. Stein, Jr.)
  • Treasurer - Caleb Winslow, Sr.

The Huguenot Society of Maryland became a member of the National Huguenot Society at the 32nd Annual Congress on 20 April 1968.

At the 33rd Congress (1969), it was announced that the National Huguenot Society had been incorporated in the State of Maryland. Also at this congress, the Huguenot Society of Maryland was honoured by having its Counselor, Charles Francis Stein, Jr., elected Counselor General, a position he held until his death in 1979.

On 21 September 1969, the fledgling Huguenot Society of Maryland suffered an incalculable loss in the sudden death of its founder and President, William Henry Lloyd. In his memory, the Maryland Society presented a Maryland flag at the 34th Congress for inclusion in the Stand of Colours of the National Society.

In 1979, Mrs. Frances Maitland DuBois, the Recording Secretary of the Maryland Society, was elected Assistant Registrar General, serving until 1983. In that year, she was elected Second Vice President General, an office she held until 1987.

On 4 July 1976, as a Bicentennial Project, the Huguenot Society of Maryland held a special ceremony at the Washington Monument in Baltimore, during which President John Bryan Jones place a wreath in honour of George Washington.

On 20 October 1985, the Maryland Society held a Tercentenary Commemorative Service in the Eccleston Chapel at Emmanuel Church in remembrance of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

In 1991, the National Huguenot Society awarded the Huguenot Society of Maryland the 1990 David V. Prugh Award for membership growth in category 1. The Maryland Huguenot Society won the same award for increase in its membership in 1987.

In 1993 at the Fifty-seventh Annual Congress of the National Huguenot Society, Richard L. Goodbar, President of the Huguenot Society of Maryland, was elected Assistant Chaplain General of the National Society.

In 1995 at the Fifty-ninth Annual Congress of the National Huguenot Society, Mrs. Frances Maitland DuBois was elected Assistant Chaplain General, Jane (Mrs. William P.) Trolinger was elected Recording Secretary General, and Richard L. Goodbar was elected Corresponding Secretary General.

The Huguenot Society of Maryland withdrew from the National Huguenot Society in 2007.