Family-histories and genealogies : containing a series of ...

Meanwhile, having learnt that the family were Italian and having
traced them to Geneva, Switzerland, we had recourse, also, to a branch of
the Diodatis still residing in Geneva, through the kind intervention of
Rev. Dr. Leonard Woolsey Bacon, then a sojourner in that city. This
led to the discovery of a large mass of most interesting family-papers,
showing the Diodatis to have been an old Italian family, tracing back their
history to Lucca, in the Middle Ages, and distinguishing the race as of
high rank, in all its generations, with so many individual names of distinc-
tion belonging to it as have rarely appertained to a single family. The
family-papers also preserve, in honor, the memory of the English offset,
though without knowledge of the American branch. We owe the privi-
lege of using these papers chiefly to Count Gabriel C. Diodati" of Geneva,
who most courteously met and aided the inquiries of our friend Dr. Bacon,
beside assisting us otherwise. Dr. Bacon also sent us a Life of John
Diodati ("Vie de Jean Diodati, Th^ologien Gdnevois. 1576-1649. Par
E. de Budd Lausanne, 1869"), by which we have been farther aided in
tracing William Diodate's descent. We have drawn, also, from a Dutch
monograph entitled "Jean Diodati. Door Dr. G. D. J. Schotel. 'sGraven-
hage, 1844," to which De Bud^ refers for details, which is, evidently, the
basis of his own publication, and for which the author had the use of
family-papers. David L. Gardiner Esq. of New Haven, connected with
the Diodati family through his wife, who some years since spent much
time in Geneva, has also helped us in our investigations.
Our information from all sources harmonizes so satisfactorily that no
essential fact would seem to be wanting. But the settlement of the nearer
ancestry of William Diodate is mainly due to the thorough researches
of Col. Chester.
^ Count Gabriel C. Diodati is the present possessor, by collateral inheritance, of the title first conferred
by Ferdinand ii. (see below), though known in republican Geneva as simple " Monsieur." He
owns the " Villa Diodati," where is kept the muniment-chest in which the family-archives are preserved.
He has been several times in America ;
the last time, in 1882, he visited the Gardiners and the writers in
their homes. He with one brother and three nephews are all of the family, now living, who bear the
name of Diodati.
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