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Archiver > PA-QUAKERS > 2003-06 > 1055300474


From:
Subject: Re: [PA-QUAKERS] Where do I start???
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 23:01:14 EDT


I do not know if this will help or not, but I have been working off
and on with my Quaker roots and have found the following:

1. The family history written by a member who lived from 1836 to 1934 was
priceless. I have checked his material against other sources and his to date has
been right.

2. My Quakers knew how to read and write and kept good Bible records.

3. My main Quaker line KIRK arrived in New Castle Delaware from Northern
Ireland in 168? They then went to Chester, PA>York, PA>Bald Eagle
Valley/Millesburg PA>Clearfield County where they mostly stayed put. I have found that this
was a common progression.

4. One of my other lines which I think may have been Quaker did a Southern
version of this route from Maryland to York to Huntington County to Clearfield
County. Note at the time of these migrations Center County was contained by
Clinton and Huntington Counties. This line was the NORRIS family.

5. Four of my lines which moved west into Clearfield County were vets of the
Revolutionary War. Did their Quaker meetings throw them out for being in the
war? Were they given land grants for fighting? Were they just people who
wanted to move on? I do know that most were no longer Quaker by the mid 1800s.

6. There are books of minutes of Quaker Meetings. Many of these people
married each other. I was surprised to find out how many ways my parents shared
common relatives. I have been surprised to find out how many people my cousins
have married are related to the same people I am back a few generations.

7. It has not been uncommon for two large families living near each other to
have two or more marriages between the families. Frequently the first born
male had a middle name which was the surname of one of his mother's relatives.
Frequently unusual names will repeat in a family. Mose, Aletta and Inez are
repeating names in my family to this day.

8. If your relatives had money, property or businesses there were a rash of
books published in the 1880s which featured county history and families who
paid to be written about. Historical societies and county libraries sometimes
have these.

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