Re: North Carolina Quakers
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In reply to:
North Carolina Quakers
Dennis Lewallen 4/05/00
I don't know this family specifically, and I'm not an expert in general.However, in my research on the Quaker lines in my husband's family and in my own - they both lived in Guilford County, NC (from which Randolph County was formed in 1779) - I believe I can make some good guesses.Of course, Guilford County did not exist until 1771.But the Quakers kept their own records, so they don't show up in county records as much as other denominations.You don't mention whether you've traced the family through Hinshaw's "Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy," which often allows one to trace the migrations of Quaker families.
Because of North Carolina's coastline and barrier islands, which do not offer suitable major ports, most Quaker migrations in early days were into the port of Philadelphia, because of William Penn's sponsored settlements starting in 1682 (with a few before then).There were many Quaker families who arrived in Philadelphia, and then - sometimes after a generation or two - moved down the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road to the Valley of Virginia and the central area of NC (Guilford, Randolph, etc).There is an excellent book, "The Great Wagon Road," which discusses these migrations.
You are most likely to find a Quaker family in the early 1700's in the records for Philadelphia and surrounding areas.There were other small and later migrations into Baltimore, Norfolk VA, and eventually Charleston SC; but Quakers would be heading for Philadelphia in the early 1700's, where they knew they would be amongst their Friends; they tended to migrate in groups and not singly.
I believe the GenWeb project for Pennsylvania or Philadelphia has some passenger lists on-line, but I don't have the web address.However, you should be able to find that on the Pennsylvania/Philadelphia pages of this forum.Unfortunately, William Penn did not keep passenger lists, and so those have to be reconstructed from other records.The Welcome Society of Pennsylvania has some excellent publications on those early migrations, and there are other early Pennsylvania publications as well, including ones on Welsh Quakers.Most genealogical libraries and history rooms worth their salt should have some of those available.But do try Hinshaw first.Sometimes the records will even show where they came from in the Old World, because the source of the certificate for transfer of their membership is sometimes shown.
More Replies:
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Re: North Carolina Quakers
Donna Weaver 4/20/00
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Re: The Great Wagon Road
Katherine Benbow 4/20/00
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Re: The Great Wagon Road
6/23/01
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Re: The Great Wagon Road
11/03/01
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Re: The Great Wagon Road
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Re: The Great Wagon Road
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Re: North Carolina Quakers
Claudia Wormley Wilson 9/18/00
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Re: The Great Wagon Road