SNIPPET: Was your ancestor a Quaker? If so, you are fortunate in that there is very good documentation available for your genealogy research to include a collection of published Quaker family histories and a collection of 232 pedigrees covering the major Irish Quaker families! Society of Friends (Quakers) Monthly meetings were held in the following areas: Antrim, Ballyhagan, Carlow, Cootehill, Cork, Dublin, Edenderry, Grange, Lisburn, Limerick, Lurgan, Moate, Mountmellick, Richhill, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wickow. Registers for Antrim and Cootehill may not have survived. Quakers began to arrive in Ireland in the mid-17th century as Cromwellian settlers, and some authorities estimate that by 1690 their numbers had topped 5,000. The Society of Friends reached its financial and social peak in the 1840s, though their numbers had declined to a little over 3,000. They are best remembered for their relief work during the Great Famine in Ireland as well as their anti-slavery campaigns in the United States. During the Irish Famine Quakers collected monies to finance several carefully thought-out schemes, some to bring immediate help to the starving, others with an eye to the longer term. All aid was dispensed without denomination of the recipients. The Society of Friends is a body of Christians owing its origins to the teachings of George FOX, an English lay preacher. He began to preach the doctrine of "Christ within." From the time of their inception the Friends were persecuted. Because they rejected any organized church, they refused to pay tithes. They refused to take oaths, and they preached against war, even to resist attack. These factors brought them into conflict with the authorities. Certain modes of behavior also marked Quakers as being distinct. Great emphasis was placed on simplicity, especially in dress, manner and speech. Until late in the 19th century Friends retained certain forms of speech known as plain speech, which employed "thee" as opposed to the more formal "you." At present their world membership stands at about 200,000 distributed in about 30 countries. Quaker congregations met for worship on a weekly basis and all members in the locality were encouraged to attend. Apart from the meeting for worship, meetings for business were also held. Births, deaths and marriages were reported at monthly meetings and details of these events were recorded. The minutes of these meetings are held at the Dublin Friends Historical Library. It is not necessary to search these manuscripts for this kind of information because, in the 1860s, the details of births, deaths, and marriages were transcribed from the original records and made available in abstract form. These abstracts contain vital information going back to the 1670s and before. They, too, are held at the DFHL. In addition to the family histories and pedigrees mentioned above, there are some 3,000 letters connected to such well-known Irish Quaker families as CHANDLEE, GRUBB, LECKY, NEWSOM and SHACKLETON. There are also original letters of George FOX and William PENN, as well as 1,70! 0 documents on other subjects and a number of curios illustrating Quaker dress, occupations and interests. Some families with common "Irish surnames" were of the Quaker faith, but the majority were not. . . Check also with your local LDS (Mormon) Family History Centers to see what they have available on microfilm. . -- Excerpts, Cork's "Irish Roots" periodical