Hi All, again! This message came from another list, about the beginning of the Quaker religion in the colonies: I do have other data and all leads me to believe that there is no way George & Catherine or any other early settler could have been Quakers in the 1630; a) George Fox didn't found the Quakers until the early 1650's. as I understand; b) The Quaker Invasion of Massachusetts: Richard Hallowell states pg 32. "It is believed that numbers of the people of the town of Salem [so maybe Haverhill as well?], (together with others of the Plymouth Colony) had embraced the tenets of the Quakers prior to the arrival of some missionaries in 1656, but there is apparently no evidence to indicate that they had proclaimed themselves or adopted the name of the despised sect...." and then on pg34 "Ann Austin & Mary Fisher [the first two Quaker visitors] came in July of 1656. My inferences from above (and from reading other parts of Hallowell) is that there was already religious unrest, conflict, and persecution in Mass Bay & Plymouth Colonies early on (perhaps early in the 1640s. And that people were following personal practices that later were "institutionalized by the Quakers but that formal Quaker conversions did not happen until after the missionaries arrived. Perhaps even well after they arrived. ------------------------- Another source abt. Quakers: I agree that they probably weren't any members of the 'Society of Friends' Church before the missionaries arrived but there were certainly those that held similar beliefs and/or embraced at least some of the teachings of Fox. The definition of whether they were Quaker depends on whether you are talking about the faith or the organization. >From what I have read it appears that the Puritan's did not mind people practicing their own religion originally unless they tried to persuade others against the official Church. Reference Rev. Bachiler's ability to continue to preach at Lynn in the 1630's with the stipulation that he only minister to those who came with him from Holland. The real persecution did not begin until the missionaries (heretics) arrived and began trying to convert large numbers (1656). ------------------------- Above: I am just passing this little Quaker History on ; These are NOT my writtings... I do not have R. Hallowell's book: so cannot verify the above. I feel if George-1 had any difficulties with the so called " 1st Church" that he may have removed from Braintree, Ma. and settled in R.I. joining Roger Williams, instead of coming to Mendon, Ma., where all adhered to the Congregational or First Church.. In some writings it says "That George-1- left Mendon a short while and went Swansea, Ma. as did another first settler Benjamin Albee..bef. 1670; Swansea was the location of the first- 1st Baptist Church in Ma. Returning to Mendon before 1675; Did George-1 , for a time , embrass the Baptist religion- later descendants of the family were known as Ana-Baptist, and later Quakers.??? Food for thought, :) Happy New Year, Alice alicep@ma.ultranet.com " Message From Massachusetts"