18th Century Quakers

[PhotoFamily]

Is anyone else researching their Quaker ancestors?

I have a family that lived in Berkshire, briefly went to Gloucestershire, and the son who lived in London and Bridgwater.

The husband joined the Society of Friends as an adult - wouldn't that have been recorded in the Quaker records? They have such detail in them. His son's birth was recorded in their records.

Any good resources?

[Caroline]

We've got some links on the Reference Library which might help:

https://www.familytreeforum.com/content.php/324-Religion-and-the-Clergy

[PhotoFamily]

When I searched the reference library, I had skipped that topic because it said Religion and the Clergy.
But I had already found the pertinent links.

Still wondering what entry might be made in the records when an individual became a Friend?

[Elizabeth Herts]

I have Quaker ancestors from Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Some of the early records for my family don't seem to have survived.

What surnames are you searching?

[AntonyM]

I would recommend contacting the Library of the Society of Friends in London ( http://www.quaker.org.uk/resources/library) which is opposite Euston Station. I have done research there in the past and they are very helpful. If your ancestor was active in the London/Middlesex area they may well have information for you from the records of monthly meetings - often the records of meetings will also list visitors/relatives coming to meetings from from other areas which helps to connect the families.

[PhotoFamily]

I have Quaker ancestors from Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Some of the early records for my family don't seem to have survived.

What surnames are you searching?

Chant. He was a convert to the Society, had few descendants. His son was buried in the Friend's burial ground in Reading, but had had trouble with the Friends during his lifetime. His children left the Society.

Right now I'm more focused on where John Chant Sr came from - and perhaps a record from his entry into the Society would give me a clue.

Does anyone know what information would have been written about a newly-converted Friend?

[Chrissie Smiff]

Have you seen Antony's message #5?

[PhotoFamily]

Hi, Chrissie - yes, I had seen the post (thanks, Antony), but hoped there were friends or Friends here that might have some info.

I guess Quaker ancestry isn't that common?

[Darksecretz]

I guess Quaker ancestry isn't that common?

My husbands family are/were Quakers but I haven't got around to looking into their family History yet. [sorry]

[Janet in Yorkshire]

I have Quakers on one line of my family tree, but the allegiance to Friends seemed to cease from c1830 - 1850.
One of my family married into a Friends family in Norfolk c 1735 and I have been very lucky in finding a range of Quaker records (local meeting house, monthly meetings, quarterly meetings) for various circuits in Norfolk, although not one of the sets is complete. The most useful to me was a set of birth records at local level, for it named parents, date and place of birth and the name of the doctor present, but most importantly to me, the names of two ladies attending/assisting/witnessing the birth. I'm pretty sure these two would have been married ladies and family members, rather than young, unmarried females. In which case the name of one lady seems to confirm that a marriage record for a Sarah to James and subsequent early death and burial record of Sarah, (followed by a marriage of widower James to another Sarah) all tie in the said James with "my" family. One of my luckiest finds (solving a twenty year conundrum) unearthed by a blanket search of Quaker records for Norfolk on familysearch.com.

I know there are some surviving records for Yorkshire Quakers scattered around the various Yorkshire record offices, but I've never had need to access these, as my Quakers were confined to Norfolk, apart from attendance at Ackworth school (near Rotherham.)

ETA - perhaps what would help you would be records of local meetings, listing Friends who attended? But like all record sets, it seems to vary greatly as to what paperwork has survived. If they were in the Reading area, perhaps the online catalogue for the Berkshire record office might show which (if any) Quaker records are deposited?

Jay

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Just to add that I never found a birth record (c1708) for the Quaker lady whom my relly married, nor any documentation about their marriage.
However, I found a record of the marriage of the bride's parents, but this was recorded in the church parish register:
Welbourne, Norfolk
"1696 Joseph Sparsall a Quaker and Mary Bone a Quaker were joined together."

So, it's amazing what turns up in seemingly unlikely places. I think I looked at the parish register to see if there were any records of earlier Sparsall baptisms, as a much later brief autobiography by my relly's son suggests that the 1696 event was Joseph Sparsall's second marriage. According to the autobiography there had been an earlier marriage, with children, one of whom (a John Sparsall) my relly had worked for before later marrying the younger half-sister of the boss.
The bride appears to have been the only member of her family to have married apparently outside of the Friends. So I wonder if relly began to attend meetings with his boss and became a Friend before the marriage; also the bride was about 29 when they married and the groom was younger - perhaps John was glad to have this remaining half-sister marry and free him from the responsibility of caring for her.

Jay

[Elizabeth Herts]

Some Quaker records are on FindMyPast, with images.

You need to go into the A-Z of record sets (top right-hand corner) and type in Quaker.
I found Chants in Reading.

[PhotoFamily]

Thank you both. I have some of the Reading records, but will - some day! - have to embark on a search to find his entry into the Society.

[Sylvia C]

One branch of OH's family were Quakers, and create interesting problems in researching that line!

His 4xgt grandfather Robert Hayhurst (1767-1842) was a devout Quaker who preached at Brigg Flatts Meeting House in Sedbergh. This was started by George Fox and is one of the oldest Meeting Houses in northern England (built 1675).

HOWEVER, he and all of his descendants were baptised, married and buried in the Anglican church.

The Hayhurst family were millers who moved back and forth between mills in the Whittington area of Lancashire, and Yorkshire, ofen simply exchanging occupancy with their ?cousins .......... both groups used the same forenames, Gilbert and Christopher in particular, and often married women with the same forenames.

There is believed to be a connection with a Cuthbert Hayhurst who sailed to Pennsylvania in 1682 on the Lamb, sailing from Liverpool in the second fleet of William Penn. Cuthbert & family settled in Bucks County, Pa on Neshaminy Creek. He died 3/5/1683, in Bucks Co., PA, of cholera six months after arriving in Pennsylvania. His wife Mary died 24 September 1686 in Neshaminy. Their descendents were mostly excommunicated later.

It is believed that most of the Hayhurst's in the US are probably descended from this Cuthbert Hayhurst (Hairst). Despite this, and the work that has been done by the US groups, it seems impossible to "leap" the gap between ca 1680 and 1725 when I believe OH's 5x gt grandfather Cuthbert was born.

I have pretty conclusive evidence that this Cuthbert is indeed Robert's father.

I've done quite a lot of searching in records in Lancashire and Yorkshire, but nothing confirms the oft-repeated story that the two sets of cousins moved back and forth due to religious harrassment

[PhotoFamily]

My mother has two early Quaker lines that came to the New World in the 1600s - but there's enough research on them that I'm focused on my obscure lines. I had no idea that my fathe had Quaker ancestry, but thanks to a workhouse record, I'm reasonably convinced of his link to this family.

Thank you for the info.