Poking About Among The Quakers...

Well, I've had my nose to the grindstone...the keyboard actually...all day and I'm not much further forward.

Lurching back and forth reading about the Quaker settlers in America...practically the only ship which hasn't yet had its passenger list transcribed is the very ship I want of course...one of the passengers gave birth to a baby while the ship was still in dock and then her husband died on the voyage...so now I'm stuck, because from then on she was described as 'the Widow Iden' which is little help when I need her first name...

And some bright spark put a spanner in the works by deciding that the baby's name was Hieronymus when it was nothing of the sort...baby Hieronymus was born in the dock at Plymouth and my baby was born at Bristol dock...but there you are...it's a bit like stepping carefully through a minefield.

The Quaker records are excellent...they go into such detail, even giving the cause of death with the burial records and how deep the grave was...usually six foot deep but some were eight foot because they were buried with a deceased relative...

If you decided to move on from the township where you were living, you had to ask permission from the Elders...they made certain you'd paid any debts due before you went...they gave you a letter of introduction to the Elders of where you were moving to...must have been a comfort in the 1600's to know you'd find a welcome in your new home.

What the Quakers also did was keep a record of where all your children had been born...so if you'd sailed with six children who had all been born in Somerset, that was written down in their records once you reached Pennsylvania...those records are missing of course for my Widow...or maybe I just haven't found them yet...

Something which immediately endeared me to the early Quaker settlers was the fact they lived side by side with the Native Americans in peace...there was no squabbling over land or religion or such-like...quite unlike the Puritans who thought nothing of murdering the Indians and of stealing their food...straight out of their burial places in some instances.

Whereas the Quakers were peaceable, with a live and let live outlook, the Puritans, for all their holier than thou attitude, were not nice people...

Those women must have been tough...I can't imagine boarding a wooden ship with a newborn baby and several small children...never mind managing to survive the loss of a husband with his burial at sea...they must have been made of stern stuff.

[scorpiolass]

Stern stuff indeed, from the quakers going to the new world , convicts transported to Australia, people transported as slaves, chained in small boats, pitching & rocking. Thank God we are of today, even with many imperfections. I hope you trace widow Iden, is she an ancestor? Interesting Vashti. Love Margaretx

[Hidden in reply to scorpiolass]

The Widow Iden is so elusive...! She is the relative of a friend of mine...

[pergola]

That was so interesting, vashti. Did you find any relatives such a long time ago. Quakers are such interesting people - I have thought about attending a service but understand they are in silence xx

[Hidden in reply to pergola]

I think they just sit until someone thinks of something to say don't they? They kept incredibly detailed records...not my people this time but a friends.

[Hidden]

Another very interesting peace of history,where do you go for all that information?amazing! xx

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

It's all on the wonderful net...!

[Colours23]

Typical of this day and age where "Puritan so called" are the worst kinda people, the nice people would get murdered. Pure ignorance!! Negative power!

[Hidden in reply to Colours23]

Sorry Colours...not quite sure what you mean

[emmo]

Do so agree, the early settlers were touch. Having read a lot about them in the past I have a soft spot for Quakers, their history in Ireland was very good as well as America.

If I ever become at all religious I think I will become a Quaker, but that's not likely to happen!

[Hidden in reply to emmo]

They were so kind to the people suffering during the Irish famine...came over and set up soup kitchens out of their own pockets.

[Azure_Sky]

Colman's Mustard and Bournville were started by Quakers. They really looked after people.