THE WALDENSES IN THE NEW WORLD
George B. Watts '13. Duke Univ. Press, 1941,273 pp.,$3.50
FOR MOST AMERICANS the name Waldensian carries no significance, but to those familiar with the record of this small Alpine Protestant sect it stands for rare devotion to a faith, good works and persistent enterprise in the face of centuries of persecution and poverty. Their deeds and tribulations have inspired song and story; a fairly rich literature about them has accumulated through the years. Until the publication of the present volume, however, there has been no systematic or comprehensive account of Waldensian migrations and settlements in the New World.
Waldensian migrations to America date from 1657 when there arrived at New Amsterdam a few refugees, some of whom located on the Delaware River, others probably on Staten Island. In the 18th century settlements were made at Manikin-Town on the James (1700) and soon afterwards in Georgia and South Carolina where it was hoped that wine-making and the silk industry might be developed. The experience of these pioneers was not such, however, as to encourage others of their people to follow, and with the relaxation of religious oppression at home migrations to America virtually ceased for a century. But by the 1850s overcrowding in the narrow valleys of the Cottian Alps and a series of bad crops, together with Mormon proselyting which met with some temporary success among the densians, prompted a new exodus overseas. After many vicissitudes communities were established in Uruguay and Argentina; others took root in Utah, Missouri, Texas, New York and North Carolina, while smaller groups made their way into Canada and as far west as the Pacific Coast. Dr. Watts has been at pains to bring together the record of each of these communities and groups and to include in an appendix data on individual members of the sect in America.
Except perhaps ,for the colony established at Valdese, N. C., in 1893, none of the Waldensian communities in the United States has ever exercised more than a modest influence, but everywhere these simple folk appear to have impressed their neighbors as "truly rich in spirit" although "very poor in relation to this world's goods." In the main they have devoted themselves to farming and other manual occupations, and when no parish of their own creation was at hand they have generally affiliated with the Presbyterian Church or some evangelical sect akin to their own.
While this volume is not likely to attract many general readers, it is nevertheless, as a distinguished church historian has said, "an interesting and valuable account of a neglected movement.... a distinct contribution to American Church history."
