Oktoberfest!
Family History Gathering
presented by
Orangeburg German-Swiss Genealogy Society
Joel Hutto
On Saturday, October 7th, the Orangeburg German-Swiss Genealogy Society hosted its annual Oktoberfest Family history gathering at the First Baptist Family Life Center in Orangeburg, South Carolina. The event featured two guest speakers presenting their research. Ms. Margaret G. Waters presented “Biographical Sketches of Orangeburg District: 1733-1736.” Mr. Joel Hutto presented “European Origins of the Hutto Family of Colonial South Carolina,” a work in which his research of his ancestry brought him to Germany and then France as he learned of a new Huguenot ancestor from Courcelles-Chaussy in northeastern France near Metz. Mr. Hutto became a member of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina on his new ancestor, Isaac Haudot (Hodot, Hutto). Isaac married Maria Catharina Born. Mr. Hutto’s book is due to release before year-end and will be available for purchase via the Orangeburg Historical Society.
Mr. Graham Duncan, Head of Collections, USC South Caroliniana Library, spoke on “Collections at the South Caroliniana Library of Interest to Orangeburghers.” He brought a display that included the Giessendanner Record. This recently conserved church record book of Rev. John Ulrick Giessendanner contains the names of all those who were married and baptized by the Reverend in Orangeburgh. The display of it was very interesting to those in attendance, many of whom had ancestors recorded in the pages.
In attendance from the Huguenot Society of South Carolina was its Executive Director, Elizabeth F. Gay who so enjoyed hearing Mr. Hutto’s presentation and his journey to discovering his Huguenot ancestor. She and Mr. Hutto were able to find a few moments to record a brief conversation and you may listen to it here. “To hear first hand of Joel’s journey to Zweibrucken, Germany and then on to Courcelles-Chaussy was so interesting. For researchers, he shared several good suggestions for research of this nature. Where one might at first see “Hutto” and think German, it was important to research his line fully to uncover the origins of this ancestry,” Elizabeth shared. Listen in to their conversation to learn more of his research and findings. Historian and Researcher, Cheves Leland, had helped Mr. Hutto in his research and membership application to the Society in 2015-2016. This goes to the heart of our mission at the Society - to help researchers uncover their history and document their findings. And when it leads to a new Huguenot ancestor in our records, it is all the more beneficial to our scholarly purpose.
Elizabeth was also able to visit the Lynn Teague, a friend of the Huguenot Society who has spent many an hour researching and working with Cheves. Upon her return from Organgeburg, Elizabeth also shared, “One of the great highlights of the visit for me was to see a dear cousin after many years, Genia Floyd who is a cousin on my father’s side married to Edward Floyd, this just made my day."
While in Orangeburg, Elizabeth was also able to visit the Orangeburg Historical Society, which houses the Salley Archives. Ms. Margaret G. Waters, a volunteer at the archives, kindly provided a tour of the archives and collection displays. Researchers and genealogists know the value of the Salley Archives which houses non-publicly held historical records of the individuals, families and organizations of the County. There are several items of interest on display in including a collection of medical instruments used in the Civil War and a wooden rice pounder bowl & pestle.
