In a message dated 98-05-05 16:22:30 EDT, you write: << An aside to George: Dorcas/Tabitha was a subject of one of last Sunday's texts. Does anyone else have a Dorcas in their family line? We visited Haverford's Quaker collection, and I am now almost convinced that Dorcas Cartwright/ Cartwrite was not born into a Nantucket Quaker family. Is Dorcas more like a name from the Puritan tradition rather than that of a Quaker family? She is the mother of Abel(5) Aldrich, son of Abel, son of Seth (whom we know to be a Quaker), son of Jacob, son of George. Her ancestor Peter Folger is definitely identified as Congregational in the history of Quakerism on Nantucket Island. >> I have recently been doing research on the topic of naming practices. The name Dorcas, being a good Biblical name, would have been used by either Puritans or Quakers. The best bet is to look at the church records for both groups to see where you find her. Sue