Would you like to join the Quakers project ? [closed]

Question

The Quakers Project exists to bring together WikiTreers interested in the Religious Society of Friends - the Quakers.

The Quakers can be a very rewarding group to work with because they kept meticulous records and generally married within the community. 

Project members work to identify repositories and other sources for Quaker records, manage profiles for historically significant Quakers and link individuals with Meetings to which they belonged. 

If you would like to help build a collaborative environment for researching your Quaker ancestors, just Answer this question below to tell us about your interests and we will get you a badge.

New join thread https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/774125/would-you-like-to-join-the-quakers-project

Comments

Thanks for joining the project, Nathan. You've been awarded the project badge. Please let us know if you need any help.

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My great-grandfather Edward Alphens Stanley born 1865 was the last in my line to be born into the Society of Friends (Quakers).  I have traced his Stanley line back to James Stanley who married in 1728 Katherine (Catherine) Hutchins.  I have many projects I am working on, plus I am a volunteer at the Kansas City Irish Center, but I will try to put in proper format at least the proofs for my own Quaker ancestors.  I am a 5th cousin once removed of one famous Quaker, Levi Coffin "President of the Underground Railroad".  We recently visited the museum and his home in Indiana.  It was very interesting and well worth the trip.  Also moving was visiting the Guilford Courthouse National Park in North Carolina.  My ancestor Richard Williams (5th great grandfather) gave the land for the old meeting house where he helped care for  wounded and sick soldiers who were left behind after the Revolutionary War battle at that location.  In a book about the battle and its impact, he is listed as dying 05 May 1781, after contracting small pox from some of those soldiers.  William Stanley (another 5th great-grandfather) was one of 7 Quakers carried off by force during the French and Indian War who refused to fight, or work on a fort and are mentioned in several letters between a young George Washington to his commander. (source supporting that my William was one of these seven is the journal of John Woolman.)

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I would love to help! I'm a birthright Quaker from North Carolina and can definitely recommend resources and answer questions about the history of Quakers as a whole and some individual meetings. I'm a college student so my research time is limited, but I will certainly work on the NC folks when I can, and I'm always available to answer any questions y'all have! I've been a part of the North Carolina Yearly Meeting all my life, too, so I can speak to that history and connect others with resources there. Sign me up!

Thanks!

Cassidy

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Finding my link to the Quakers was very difficult for my grandfather was adopted and his biological family was well hidden.  It was the clue "Grandma Kelsey" that broke down the wall, for the Kelsey Ancestry was also well covered up.  Old newspaper articles found at www.nnyln.org broke down more walls, everything found in those news articles were proven to be accurate.  The woman who raised my grandfather is every inch a member of my family, as is the biological mother of my grandfather., for both women need the recognition and closure to their lives.  They felt the pain of living on this earth, and also the joys in making sense of their lives.  It is up to me to get it right and to bring closure, the very reason why I share my ancestors with the wiki family.  My Quaker connection is the burial of Rufus Spencer 1761-1836, buried in Old Quaker Cemetery in Lewis County, New York, recognized by the now defunct chapter of DAR  that once existed in Lewis County.  His brother Peleg Spencer went to Spencerville, Canada where his home is listed on the Canadian National Register.

Sincerely, Joan Mina

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I would like to join the Quakers club as my gggf William Rayner was a Quaker and was a founding member of friends school in Hobart Tasmania.

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Joyce, Cassidy, Joan, and Robyn, thank you for sharing your families stories. To keep things consistent, would you look at that first post and click the Answer button if you would like to be part of the project. If you are just sharing your families stories, a comment here is great and you don't have to do anything else.

Robyn, it looks like you weren't signed in to WikiTree when you commented. Be sure to sign in before answering so that we can find your WikiTreeID and add the Project badge.

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I am also interested in joining the Quaker project. I have been doing research on the Smith's of Dartmouth, MA.  I'm not sure what I need to do to be apart of this project.

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Hi Tracey,

could you please just click on "answer" just below the top post with the question and add your answer. This is for us to have a good visibility and make sure we haven't missed any answers. You will be fine!

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I would love to join this project, because I have found some Quakers in my family tree. I'm very interested in finding more.

Thanks E J Gooden

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Hi E J,

Sorry for the slow response. I was on holiday spoiling the newest member of our family.

Would you please just click on "answer" just below the top post with the question and add your answer. This is for us to have a good visibility and make sure we haven't missed any answers.

Thanks so much,

 

Debi

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Yes, I'd love to join the project. I have come across a few ancestors that were Quakers. It would be great to be in this Project.

Thanks

E.J.

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Yes.  I first became interested in Quaker genealogy when I observed on census records that my mixed-race ancestors continued to be surrounded by the same Quaker families whenever they migrated.  Those same Quaker names appeared as Witnesses on their Free Negro Registrations.  I then learned the history of Quakers buying/assisting slaves and free blacks and getting them to free states.  When I turned to my father's line, I found that they were among the earliest Quakers to arrive (mid1600s).  Haddonfied, New Jersey was named for my 7th g-grandfather, John Haddon, whose daughter, Elizabeth came alone to America to manage her father's lands and established that town.  I descend through her adopted son (her sister's youngest son), Ebenezer Hopkins, then the Jennings line.  Because of the famous unclaimed inheritance of William Jennens/Jennings of Acton, many families on both sides of the Atlantic and Australia have thoroughly researched this family in an attempt to connect.  A copy of that branch of our tree has been in my family for years.  I am eager to connect with others from this line of NJ Quakers (later moved to Warren Co. OH, then to Wabash and Huntington Co IN. where they suddenly turned into Methodists.

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Hi Sherla, EJ,

Could you please copy your comment to an "answer" (click "answer" just below the question on top) so we can keep track of all the people who asked to join. This helps us make sure we don't miss anything.

Thanks !

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I would like to join.  I am a direct descendant of Rev. Thomas Beals, 1719

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Could you please copy your comment to an "answer" (click "answer" just below the question on top) so we can keep track of all the people who asked to join. This helps us make sure we don't miss anything.

Thanks !

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Hi, I'd like to join the Quaker's. I've been told I am related to Hetty Green "The Witch of Wall St" who was a Quaker. I'd like to find my connection to her. My family is a Mayflower family descended from Resolved White. The names I have that could relate to Hetty (that I know of) are Butts, Johnson and Pinkham.

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Thank you for introducing me to Hetty Green. I must have been daydreaming the day we learned about her in school *grin*  It looks like you weren't signed in to WikiTree when you commented. Be sure to sign in and then leave an answer so that we can find your WikiTreeID and add the Project badge. 

 

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Answer added :-)

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I had to re-read the question but yes, it is there, though briefly stated.

There is now more emphasis in WikiTree to expect badged project members to actively participate in the projects they're members of. This is why we ask "candidates" to explain us in a bit more detail why they wish to join/which are their areas of interest. This is useful especially as it allows us to customize the comments when we award the project badges.

Also, project badges are not automatic. There are only two of us who can award Quaker project badges, and we both have a life outside of WikiTree. We hope you can excuse the delay.

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Hi,

I've been marking my Quakers as I find them in my tree. I've also been adding copies or pictures to most of those I find. I add images of old Quakers Rolls so others can study them and maybe find their ancestors. I hope that helps with my Badge.

Thank E J Gooden

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Hi, E J. This is going to seem bureaucratic but would you please go to the very first message on this page and click the "Answer" link. Answers are one of the ways that the leadership team makes sure that we've got everyone badged.You can paste in the message you just left as it tells what you're going to be working on and that's really helpful.

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Thanks to #AncestryDNA, I learned that my Uncle is the Jersey Devil. Yes, my seventh Great Grandparents (Quakers), Japheth and Deborah Leeds gave birth to the legendary monster. Mother Leeds, old and destitute, was pregnant with her 13th child when she cursed her own misfortune. "Let it be the devil's child," she screamed, and so it was -- a monster with a horse's head, cloven hooves, bat wings and a pointed tail. It flew up and out the chimney, and has haunted the Jersey Pine Barrens ever since. Even Benjamin Franklin had once spotted the beast. 

My grandmother told me not to research her side of the family because of a family secret and I wonder. Her family also directly descended from the Royal Houses of Tudor, Plantagenant, Stuart and Spencer. Now I really wonder! Fortunately, the family were Quakers with excellent records, here in Burlington, NJ. 

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What an amazing find, Gary ... talk about skeletons in the closet. If you'd like to join the Quakers Project, please click the answer link at the bottom of the first post in this thread. Seems bureaucratic but it's the way Isabelle and I keep track of all the members that get added.

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Hi I related to Col. Ninan Beall and Wasson and Lear and bunch bunch more quakers I like to join the Quaker project to help out what I find.

Billie

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Love it!

Ancestry DNA should feature you in one of their commercials.

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Hello! I'd like to join the Quakers, as my paternal grandmother (maiden name Tilton) is descended from Quakers. I'd love to learn more about Quakers in general, as well as tracing the family as far back as I can.

Thank you very much!

Answer 1

Yes, I would enjoy joining and participating in the Quaker Project.  Through the Hull family, I am in the sixth generation to attend Friends Meetings.  My third great grandparents, Daniel Hull & Ruth Barnum, became convinced Quakers at the Oblong Friends Meeting, Dutchess County, New York, and were married there in 1783.  My great great grandmother, Hannah (Southwick) Hull, descends from Lawrence Southwick & Cassandra Burnell, early Quakers of Salem, Massachusetts.  My great grandfather, George Hull (1853-1922) reorganized the Hartland Monthly Meeting in Niagara County, New York, into a programmed Meeting and served as the minister.  I attended that Meeting as a child when visiting my grandparents.  I currently attend a silent Meeting in St. Lawrence County, New York.

I have done online research in the Hazard Index to New York Yearly Meeting Records at Swarthmore College, and would be glad to help others in their search.

Comments

Welcome to the Quakers Project, Bill. I've awarded your badge. 

We have a page about Quakers in New York that we're slowly gathering information for. If you know of any websites or resources which would be appropriate for that page, please feel free to add them. If you're not comfortable doing that yet, you can add it in a comment on the page and one of us will add it

 

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Thank you, Debi.  I will look at the Quakers in New York page and add anything I think helpful.

Answer 2

Yes, I would like to join the Quaker Project, Isabelle.My plate is full at the moment, but I do need to get back to working on the Quaker tree branch, that was a huge surprise to me.  Thought we were all Lutherans, then started growing a couple tree twigs where the only record of their existence was in Quaker meeting books, Quite curious if they were Quakers in England or joined after landing here and how to learn all i can about them.

Comments

Patricia, I just started learning about Quakers research and the wealth of American records involved. What state did you trace them to ? My children's Quaker ancestry goes back to New Jersey and Philadelphia.

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They were in N.C. along the border of Virginia - Pasquotank and Perquimans.  I love those names and found myself singing them, as I researched, very quietly, as 1. I was at the public research center and 2. I can't sing.  

Good luck with your research Maggie

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Thanks for joining Patricia, and welcome.  I'm setting you up with the badge.

Answer 3

I would love to join the Quaker Project, Isabelle. I have a number of Quaker ancestors and am finding more. I have written a number detailed biographies and am in the process of adding more, just need to find the time. For example:

Samuel Levis - First Levis to immigrate to America in 1684.
Christopher Pennock - First Pennock to immigrate to America in 1684.

Comments

This sounds great, John! I have added you to the project.

Answer 4

Isabelle,  Thanks for reaching out and I would like to join the Quakers project.  My roots go back to Jamestown, VA and encompass many of the early converts to Quakerism.  They mostly moved to Maryland to escape the persecution and some were the original settlers of Baltimore, having occupied the land now occupied by Fort McHenry.

Comments

Thanks for joining, Gurney. You've been added to the project members.

Answer 5

Yes. I have spent 10 + years doing Quaker research for both my mother and father's line. I have Quaker relatives in North Carolina/Virginia, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana and Illinois. Some of my main Quaker lines are Parker, Peele, Outland, Copeland, Winslow, White and Haworth(Hayworth)

Comments

Welcome to the Quakers Project, Charlotte. I've awarded your badge. Please let Isabelle or me know if you need any help with how WikiTree works.

Answer 6

I'm not quite ready to join, but I'm interested in the Quaker lines that left Essex County., MA and southern, NH to settle in the China Lake region of Maine.

Comments

This is great Kristine, just give us a shout when you are ready !

Answer 7

Absolutely! My Dixon line starts in southern Pennsylvania (now Delaware) in 1689. The connection to parents in Ireland is tenuous and needs to be sourced. Eventually I'd love to find the line origination in England, but that would be pre-Quakerism.

Like some of the other researchers here, my line branched out from Delaware to North Carolina, then Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, following the frontier until there wasn't one any more.

Comments

Thanks for joining, Glenn, I've awarded your badge

Answer 8

I would like to join the Quaker Project.  I am following some early Quaker families of colonial Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Netherlands (New York).  Thank you.  D. Jenkins

Comments

Thanks, D, for joining us. I've awarded your badge

Answer 9

I don't have the time to join right this minute.. but I have come across some quakers in my research..   I hope this link helps,...  http://fairviewtowncrier.com/2014/08/joshua-whitaker-sr-and-mary-reed-whitaker-part-one/

Comments

Thank you for sharing, Charles. I'm adding the meeting names that are mentioned in the article to help facilitate searches.

Bradford Meeting House
Kennett Square Meeting House

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Many profiles I created already have Kennett meeting (or some neighbor) in the sources, as those are the only sources

Answer 10

I've been surprised to find that a number of my ancestors on both sides were Quakers, and have gotten a lot of help in documentation from the Quaker records online at Ancestry.com.  So I'd like to join the project too.

Comments

Welcome to the Quaker Project, Barbara. I've added the badge.

Answer 11

I am descended from Francis Register of the Third Haven Quaker Monthly Meeting of Talbot County, Maryland through his son, James Register (1753 MD - 1799 TN).  Francis seemed to have rebellious children as a couple of his daughters were "read out" for marrying outside the faith, a couple of other children did so as well, but moved away before action was taken against them.

My James was called before the body to answer charges for drinking, carousing, and fighting, but managed to avoid the elders appointed to go bring him in.  Finally he married Deborah Chance and moved to Greene County, TN.

I would like to trace the ancestry of James Register, son of Francis Register & Margaret Bartlett and supposedly the grandson of Robert Regester & Sarah Neal, and great grandson of a Robert Redchester.

Comments

Welcome to the Quaker Project, EuGene. I've added the badge. I've heard more than one genealogy speaker say that our ancestors who were troublemakers are the easiest to trace because they leave more records *grin*

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I was hoping I would find some sort of group with Quaker ancestors who, like me, are trying to trace and document their Quaker ancestry.

I know very little about mine, except that his family was in the Third Haven Monthly Meeting, but he left the fold and joined the Hand and Hand Company of the Talbot County Militia during the Revolution . . . not exactly a Quaker sort of thing.  He moved to Tennessee and 2 of his daughters are my 4th great grandmothers.

I am not only poor at computer research, but until I stumbled into this project, I had no idea how to pursue Quaker research.  I hope to learn here, and maybe even help others in my own small way.

EuGene

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Debi,

You got that right about the troublesome Quakers leaving a nice paper trail.  James Register's wild ways and the efforts to bring him before the body to answer the charges and (hopefully) repent and mend his ways was the subject in the minutes of every monthly meeting of the elders for about a year.

They really went the "extra mile" to try to bring James back into conformance with the rules, to no avail, as he avoided the elders who came to talk to him and he finally joined the Talbot County (MD) Militia during the Revolution.

I hope to find others who have an interest in the Register family of Maryland and Deleware.

EuGene Smith

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Hi EuGene, Robert Regester is on here as Robert Register (Register-46). I amended his profile with the alternate spelling and also noted in the references that it is commonly seen spelled that way, but also as Redchester. I have added the Quaker Project tags.

Robert's my 10th great-grandfather. I see that Benjamine Robert Register (1680-1790) is one son that needs to be added, and then Joseph Francis Register Sr (1705-1783) is next in the generations of direct descendants. I'll work on this unless you have some great sourcing, as I otherwise have to piece it together. Most of my profiles (of which many exist) live in Ancestry; I have only just begun the migration process, and it is slow going.

Hi Cousin!

Fann Fann

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Amendment: Register-311 seems more accurate as a starting point and going downstream. I feel like I just stepped into a spider web trying to sort out this morass of asynchronous, GEDCOM or FamilySearch-laden "Profiles." When is FamilySearch not a source? When it is listed as a mere source. 

I am going to wade in the cooler waters downstream for a while, then maybe work my way back upstream...

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Yeah, I surely agree that I cannot cite Ancestry, FamilySearch, RootsWeb, and other such genealogy sites as a source, as those sites are mere repositories of the info that folks put in there.  So, I can't cite Family Search for a marriage date, when I need to cite it as "Marriage Book 1, page 325, County Clerk's Office, Podunk County, VA", or something like that.

Those Third Haven Monthly Meeting Records have a lot of info on the Regester/Register family in the Talbot County, Maryland area.  They are available on Ancestry, and possibly other similar genealogy sites,  so cite the Third Haven Records which pertain to the Regester person being profiled, and mention the repository only to show where the record may be found.

Gosh, I need to get off of that soapbox, but seeing Ancestry, FamilySearch, etc. cited as a source drives me up the wall!

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Thanks for the feedback. I worked on several of the Register profiles for a fair bit. Then, I got downstream...

As it turns out, our Friend Robert (c. 1657-1704)? He's merely 4th great-grandfather of wife of 7th cousin 7x removed.

Don't ask. Clearly, I got off the trail, somewhere... Oh well, all's the better for the Registers, anyway. Time well spent is time worth the waste.

Answer 12

I'd love to join the Quaker Project! My 7th g-grandparents, John Cox and Rachel Embree Cox, who arrived in PA in 1692, were members of the Society of Friends. They attended the Kennett Monthly Meeting in Chester PA. Their family moved south to NC (Cane Creek MM) and eventually went west to Indiana because of persecution. A few were "churched", notably Herman Husband (1724-1795), his young bride, Amelia Allen, and her parents Solomon Cox and Amy Allen Cox. Husband wrote pro-Revolutionary fire-brand essays under the nom-de-plume 'Tuscape Death'. Many Coxes stayed within the faith until the beginning of the 20th Century. 

The 1st and 2nd generations of my Perkins line, were part of the founding group of Seabrook, Rockingham County, New Hampshire in 1630. They were Puritans, but the 3rd generation (Isaac Perkins b 1671) converted to being a Friend, moved to Kent Co DE and lived out his life there.  

I'd love to work with others to unearth answers to questions and add details to sketchy stories!  

Comments

Great to have you as part of the project, Deb. I've added your project badge.

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I have a tree of more than a century of Kennett meeting members some double 2nd cousins, through my grandmother and her 2nd cousin my stepgrandmother.  A Kennett descendant ,my 1C1R,  whom I remember from visiting my greatgrandmother, was known in the family for a remark at my parents' wedding roughly "being a lawyer, I have figured out my relationship to the groom as double 2nd cousin 5x removed"

Answer 13

I would like to join the Quaker Project.  I have discovered numerous 17th and 18th century Quaker ancestors in the Burlington, NJ and Bucks County, PA areas. I am now familiar with Hinshaw and the monthly meeting data.  Thanks

Comments

Hi Thomas. We'd love to have you join us but need your WikiTree ID to add you to the project.

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My Wikitree ID is Wright-25618. Thanks.

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Let me know ...I would like to join the Quaker project., but haven't  heard from you. Wright-25618.  Thanks

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Thanks for checking back, Thomas. I had missed your earlier response in the midst of vacation.

Answer 14

I would like to join this project..I have several Quaker lines and would love to help!

Comments

Hi Jennifer, and welcome to the Quakers Project. I added your badge last night but the internet apparently ate the comment I left telling you so. Sorry about that LOL

Answer 15

I would like to join you, I have so far: created the category Oblong Monthly Meeting, New York and Ninepartners Monthly Meeting, New York.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Oblong_Monthly_Meeting%2C_New_York

I found birth and marriage records and added the source to profiles or in some cases, created profiles for entire families based on these records.

My husbands family were the Hoags who were in the Oblong meetings.

Comments

We are glad you have joined the Project, Terry. Nice work on the Oblong Monthly Meeting category.  I have added the project badge.

Answer 16

I hope I got this right.  My Quakers are from Yorkshire (Willson),  Cumberlandshire (Furnas), moving to Pennsylvania, Virginia,  North Carolina (Stanley), and South Carolina.  From there they went to Ohio and Indiana, some later moved further west to Iowa.

Answer 17

Hopefully I am getting it right this time.  I have many projects on my to do list, but I will at the least attempt to add the appropriately formatted  references to my Quaker families :  Willson from Yorkshire to Chester County, Pennsylvania; Furnas from Cumberlandshire to South Carolina to Ohio, Stanley from Virginia to North Carolina to Indiana to Iowa.

Comments

You did great, Joyce, thank you! I've added your badge.

Answer 18

Rufus Spencer 1761-1836 is buried in Old Quaker Cemetery, Lewis County, New York; his Quaker Family is well documented.  Michael, John,  Peleg, Peleg, Rufus, Daniel, Charles Martin, (my Grandfather Charles B. Spencer 1880-1958); Charles B. was adopted by Calvin Spencer and his 2nd wife Amanda H. Benton (desc. of the 1639 New Haven Colony).  My Grandmother Eugenia Mina Kenyon descends from Rhode Island Kenyon Ancestry (John Kenyon 1655-1732).

Comments

Thanks for joining the Project, Joan. I've added the badge to your profile.

Answer 19

I would like to join the Quaker Project in order to continue researching my ancestors from Southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; namely, Kelley-3544 (my 3rd Great Grandmother), Gidley-107, Wilbore-239, Fish-2626, Rogers-12699, and Kirk-2239.

Comments

Thank you for joining the Quakers Project, Eunice. I have added the badge to your profile.

Answer 20

I would like to join the Quakers project.  I am a birthright Quaker with a family history that includes North Carolina, Bucks County Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Michigan.

Comments

Welcome to the Quakers Project, Robert. I've added the badge to your profile.