Other Sources
The basic sources for extending a Waldensian pedigree are, as you have undoubtedly already noticed, are (a) the parish registers and (b) the notary records.
As we have noted elsewhere on this site the surviving parish registers begin in 1709 for some localities and shortly after that for other places. The surviving notary records begin about a century earlier, about 1610, again depending on the locality.
The Waldensians had parish registers and notary records earlier than those years, but those earlier records were destroyed in the persecution of the people. Evidence for this is found in the several notary acts still available that refer to another act about the same matter, that earlier act being dated in the 1500s.
There is a gap in the notary records from the extermination attempt begun in 1685 and the reestablishment of a sufficiently ordered society to permit the people to focus on keeping official records.
This section presents other resources that will be useful as you search for your Waldensian ancestors.
1 - The Exile Records
When the Waldensians who had survived the extermination attempt and the long imprisonment that followed it arrived in Switzerland, the Swiss realized they needed some means of keeping track of how many additional people they needed to provide for. They therefore had the exiles register with city or town officials.
Two modern Waldensian scholars, A. Armand Hugon and E. A. Rivoire, spent years studying the Swiss archives in order to compile an exhaustive roster of those exiles.
Because the Swiss also recorded the age of almost all the exiles—in order to determine how many of them could join the work force—the published roster of those exiles fills a great gap in the other records.
When you have traced your Waldensian ancestry back to the beginning of the parish registers (generally, the early 1700s) and are ready to begin searching the notary record abstracts to extend your family tree, it will be important for you to have access to this book:
Gli Esuli Valdesi in Svizzera (1686-1690) (The Waldensian Exiles in Switzerland (1686-1690), Torre Pellice; Subalpina, 1974 by A. Armand Hugon & E. A. Rivoire)
This book is out of print, but it is accessible at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah (International floor 945.1 D4h) and also on microfilm through the same library (FHL film 1,181,530 item 4). As noted elsewhere, you can arrange to borrow the microfilm(s) at your nearest Family History Center. You can order the microfilm online but must view it at the Family History Center of your choice. You can find the location of your local Family History Center by clicking HERE. You can order a microfilm by clicking HERE.
It may also possibly be available through the Interlibrary Loan system; check with your nearest large library that belongs to the Interlibrary Loan program.
You will want to have a list of each of your Waldensian ancestral surnames so you can look up the exiles with each of those surnames as you seek to determine which might be your own ancestors.
I suggest that, for each page of that book listing Waldensians surname(s) on your pedigree, you make a photocopy, or a digital copy of each page if you are using microfilm, with a surname from your family tree so you can refer back to it when you no longer have access to the book (or film).
2 - Published Articles
Since 1896, the Waldensian Historical Society has published a bulletin of scholarly articles. Many of these deal with the life and times of the people, including studies about the Exiles (including the Second Exile in 1698-1699.)
The articles were in French until the modern nation of Italy was again reunited, well into the 1800s, after which they switched to Italian. If you don’t read either of those languages, you can benefit from several of the articles by scanning the pages for your ancestral surnames. Of course, just because someone had the same surname as your ancestor, you shouldn’t merely assume the person is your ancestor; you would want to use the notary and other records in order to verify that.the person listed is indeed your ancestor.
The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has this journal. The call number is International book 945 F5. Specific volumes would also be available through the Interlibrary Loan system.
Here are the titles of sample articles from the Bulletin:
- “Liste de Vaudois exilés en 1698 et 1699” (“List of Waldensians Exiled in 1698 and 1699”) BSHV No. 10-11 (1893-18944) pages 21-74.
- “Registres de l’ancioenne Eglise Evangelique Vaudoise de Mentoulles, en Val Cluson , de Juin 1629 jusqu’a Octobre 1685” (“Register of the Ancient Waldensian Evangelical Church of Mentoulles in Cluson Valley, from June 1629 until October 1685").
With the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, all Protestants in France were in grave peril. In 1685 they were given the choice of becoming Catholic or dying, and the law prohibited them from leaving the country. But many of them did leave. When the Catholic priest took over the parish register, it was a fairly new book and, rather than buy another one simply to keep Protestant and Catholic records separate, the priest began writing his entries in the same book.
Because of that, when old records were collected and centralized in the State Archives in Torino, the Mentoulles parish register was deemed a Catholic record. It wasn’t included with the Waldensian parish records when they were microfilmed.
- “La Soumission des Vallees Vaudoises a Charles Emmanuel Ier in 1594” (“The Submission of the Waldensian Valleys to Charles Emmanuel 1st in 1594”)
Charles Emmanuel, the Duke of Savoy at that time, signed a peace treaty with the Waldensians in 1594. Click HERE for a list of the Waldensian town officials who signed that treaty.
- “Divisione del Luogo d’Angrogna tra’ fratelli Berengario e Riccardo di Luserna (1232). (“Division of Angrogna among the Brothers Berengario and Riccardo of Luserna-1232” )
The lords of Luserna were the Waldensians’ overlords through the Medieval period—with the Duke of Savoy over the lords of Luserna as well as over the Waldensians. You might someday be interested in knowing if any if your Waldensian surnames was represented there in 1232. BSHV No. 4 (1888) pages 4-6.
- “Les Vaudois efugies de Piemont en Suisse en 1731” (“The Waldensian Refugies from Piedmont in Switzerland in 1731”), BSHV No. 29 (1911) pages 14-30.
3 - Compiled Genealogies
- The Waldensian Archives contains books (and, nowadays, computer files) of genealogies compiled by various Waldensians.
- Documented Waldnsian Genealogies
- Genealogies of family researchers of the Piedmont Families Organization
- In GEDCOM format for downloading
- Compare the surnames of your Waldensian ancestors to the list of the surnames of our family researchers to see where you can benefit from research already completed.
- The Reverend Jean Jalla Family Summaries
So far as we know, no online catalog of these works is available. To access them, you might want to plan a trip to the Valleys.
Jean Jalla (1868-1935) was a prominent Waldensian minister and scholar. He felt great interest in finding his ancestry. To give the results the greatest security possible at the time, he chose to write his Summaries on expensive, specially tanned animal hides.
We provide most of the Jean Jalla Summaries on this site. This is another time when you would want to compare your list of Waldensian surnames with the list of Reverend Jalla.