FYI...Char ----- Original Message ----- From: Valeria Wigington Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2001 9:56 PM To: Charlotte Coats Subject: Fw: Quakers ----- Original Message ----- From: Valeria Wigington To: meyermary@hotmail.com ; Lou Randall ; James Abernathy ; Morgan ; Lynn Davis ; Janet Wade ; 'Clarence Hodnett' ; kristen@randle.com ; SDJGenLady@cs.com ; Rnellbd@aol.com ; PDWAT@aol.com ; valadez@home.com Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2001 12:39 AM Subject: Quakers A bit more info from the Medlin book. Quakers have been in SC since 1666, and few groups have had such an impact for their size as have these simple, peaceful Friends. From the founding of Charleston in 1670 until the establishment of the Church of England in 1705, the Friends played a major role ------------ The total number of Quaker families throughout the 175 yr. period from 1666 to 1840 was only around 1000 in both SC and Ga., with a total of around 9000 inidviduals. Nearly 1900 of these 2000 families are identified in this book About two-thirds of these Quakers were located in the Piedmont region during the brief period from 1750 to 1820. In 1801 most Friends began leaving for the Midwest because of their opposition to slavery. By 1840 there were no Meetings still strong enough to have regularly scheduled worship and many of the remaining members joined other churches. By 1900 there were probably no more than a dozen Quakers left in SC and Ga. While Quaker records are generally more detailed and more complete than those of other churches for this period of time, they have been subjected to loss by fires, floods etc. Most of the surviving records for SC and Ga are housed atGuilford College in Greensboro, NC , at Haverford College in Pa, and at Wilmington College in Ohio. The author will pay a reward of $1000 for the lost records of Wateree Meeting at Camden. Some persons entered the Society of Friends in SC and Ga by convincement, or by applying for membership. A number of these appear to have been attracted by sympathy with the Quaker testimonies against war and slavery and by the Friends high personal moral standards. Some became Quakers because they wished to marry a Quaker. It should be noted that a number of those applying for membership in SC had been born Quakers but disowned by Meetings in other colonies, and were merely seeking restoration here. There were many "broken families" in Sc. with one parent still a Quaker, and one still disowned. (This is very interesting!!)----The most prominent Quaker at Wateree , Samuel Wyly, died in 1768 with personal property appraised at 8135 pounds. Surprisingly, he OWNED 25 SLAVES. (there follows a quite extensive list of possessions, including books valued at 30 pounds, Quaker classics.He was a successful merchant and surveyor) A number of Upcountry Friends combined a service occupation with their farming. Thus, Samuel Russell and Israel Gaunt did blacksmithing, John Wright,Sr. was a shoemaker, John Edmundson and Joseph Smith manufactured screw augers, William O'Neal taught school, Thomas Pearson made saddles and harnesses, Samuel Wyly and John Belton were surveyors, and Samuel Pearson and Jesse Minton were millwrights. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are Beltons on the Bush River Baptist records. --------------------------------------- Enough for now.<br clear=all><hr>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <a href="http://explorer.msn.com">http://explorer.msn.com</a><br></p>