My Reynolds grandparents and great-grandparents were part of a Quaker community called Elwood in eastern IL a little over a century ago, and Izetta (Miller) Reynolds, my uncle's wife, served the Elwood Meeting there (founded 1826, dropped Quaker affiliation 2004) as pastor for several years around 1950. I have always assumed that the popularity of the name Elwood/Ellwood among Friends derived ultimately from their admiration for the early English Quaker Thomas Ellwood. Thomas Ellwood (1639-1713)from Oxfordshire, was a well-educated scholar and author, at one time secretary to the poet Milton, leaving some published poetry himself. Thomas signed the certificate at the April 1672 marriage of Wm. Penn to Gulielma Springett, whose family had employed him as a tutor. Thomas and Mary (Ellis) Ellwood were listed as “gentleman and wife” among the “first purchasers” of Pennsylvania land in l682, receiving 500 acres each for a payment of £10 each, but I do not think they ever came to America. A Friend from 1659, suffering several times for his faith, Thomas Ellwood was chief among the original editors of George Fox's Journal. I do not have any information about Quaker Elwoods/Ellwoods in the generations since, except for a "Quaker brewer" and merchant in Workington, Cumberland, named John Ellwood (1731-1790), son of Jacob and Dinah of Allonby, Cumb., described in a local paper at his death as "one of the most respectable characters that this neighbourhood ever could boast." -- S. Newton in California [Responding to:] Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2008 From: Ron Haworth <[email protected]> Subject: [Q-R] Elwood Name To: [email protected] I am the host of a family web page and recently, a person asked about the name "Elwood". He noted that in our family, the name Elwood was used a number of times. At the same time, he noted that there are a number of meetings with the same name. He asks if meetings are named for a family name? Or, if this is a family tradition of giving a person the name of a meeting? He descends from Charity Haworth and Thomas Elwood Posegate.