A couple of years ago, i discovered Quakers in my family history, on my mother's father's side.
They were members of Lost Creek Friends, Eastern Tennessee.
http://www.tngenweb.org/campbell/history/Quakers.html
These folks moved to Indiana just before the U.S. Civil War, a time when many Quakers moved to be north of the Mason/Dixon Line.
At some point, i came across a book, "The Calverts who were Quakers," by J.R. Buckey.
i finally got a copy this week. i remembered seeing the Calvert name in early family records .. again, along my mother's father's line.
There is family link in this book (i was not sure there would be a connection) - there are a few pages on this family. They began as Quakers in mid-1600's England, moved to Ireland, then, with land acquired from William Penn, moved to PA. (i had no idea.)
They then moved to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, were among 36 founding members of the Hopewell Meeting House: (it's still there)
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~quakers/hopewell.htmHOPEWELL was the first Quaker meeting established in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It was originally known as Opeckan and was set off from the Concord Quarterly Meeting of Pennsylvania in 1734. The actual date of first settlement is thought to be around 1730. The meeting house is located about 6 miles north of Winchester, Frederick Co., Virginia.
Are Quakers Anabaptists? ..
i've read they are, i've read they are not. i've read, they do not baptise, i've read, they do.
Without question, early Quakers, England, mid-1600's, were influenced by Anabaptists.
They have been persecuted in ways Anabaptists have been, esp for CO beliefs.
There are some commonalities with today's liberal Mennonites, esp regarding unapologetic involvement in politics. (This may be a clue regarding Nixon's Quaker connections? Possibly about the Sidwell Friends private school in D.C.?)
Quaker Anabaptists? / Neu Bruderthaler
http://bruderthaler.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... tists.html
For Brother Rushby, this is likely all elementary. for me, confusing.
Finding these documents causes me to wonder more about overall history+details, and, Anabaptist connections.
My parents were deliberately hush-hush about family history, esp religious history.
They did not believe in infant baptism, wanted each of us (6) to choose our paths as adults.
i'm sure they had their reasons to feel so strongly. not all pleasant.
how much of early Quaker beliefs exist today? evidently, it varies by group (?)
would the early Quakers recognize today's Quakers?
one interesting note of many.
their marriage certificates were witnessed/signed by many (presumably the adult) members.
marriages required the group's prior approval.
your turn -