Ruth, I am not sure of the exact origination of "thee" and "thou" speech among Quakers, but I am fairly sure that it was unique to that group. My Quaker ancestors came from both England and Ireland and both spoke that way. In fact my mother remembers grandparents and great aunts and uncles still using the phrases as late as the 1950's at family reunions, etc..They were devout Quaker Friends until about that time. She said they referred to it as Quaker speech. They came through both New Jersey and Chester Co. Penn. and settled in Ohio. I am guessing it was used as a religious way of showing devotion somehow, since those are the pronouns used in the Old English translations of the Bible. Good question! Let us know if you find out more. Kelly V. Nampa, Idaho On Fri, 07 Sep 2001 17:50:41 -0400 Erika Cowan <ecowan@uscom.com> writes: > Ruth, > I don't know about the "thee" and "thou," but your Quaker research > into the > 1700's leads me to ask if you came across any mention of a system > they had > to take care of the poor among them? "Poorhouses" were started > later by > towns and counties but I have not been able to locate any mention of > how > the Quakers dealt with the problem in colonial times. We have an > indenture > of an 11 year old boy, "a poor child of Evesham Township" to > Elizabeth > Woolman in 1785. > > You are correct - The farther back one goes the more difficult > nitty-gritty searching becomes. > > Erika > > "Catherine R. Buck" wrote: > > > This probably is also a question for archeological historians, > professional or hobbyist. Can anyone shed light on the widespread > use of > 'thee' and 'thou' in addressing others. When reading a post from > Habichnest on the Monmouth, NJ, list, subject: Slavery in Monmouth > Co., the > accused in a 1691 trial was addressed as "thou'. Which triggered my > > question about a family legend. > > > > My mother and her siblings always have been under the impression > that > their mother had been a Quaker before her marriage to a Catholic, > because > of some of her speech patterns. As a result, I have spent a lot of > time > looking through Quaker records for tracks of my grandmother's family > and > ancestors. > > > > If using 'thee' and 'thou' was common practice early on, would > cultural > heritage be ingrained enough so that it took 150-200 years to die > out of > common use in the middle Atlantc colonies and states? > > > > In some research on churches existing in Middlesex and Monmouth > Counties > in 1750 +/-, one book referred to the Presbyterians practice of > addressing > others as 'thee' and 'thou'. That was the first time I encountered > a > description of this practice. > > > > Did the Baptists, and maybe the English speaking Dutch Reformed > and > Pennsylvania Germans also follow this practice? In other words, > everyone. > > > > The fact that some of my ancestors lived in Chester or Bucks > Counties, > or certain NJ counties, may mean that they were not neccesarily > Quakers - > that it was a common method of address among all English speakers at > this > time. ?? > > > > All opinions are welcome. The further back one goes, the harder > becomes > the nitty-gritty of searching, doesn't it? > > > > Ruth in GA > > ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.