This is an interesting case. Incidentally, my copy of Hinshaw's abstracts for Deep River shows that Abner was disowned in 1848, not 1838, which would make him an adult. The original monthly meting minutes would give the reason for disownment. Quakers did not practice shunning, and a disowned person usually, unless he had done something really infamous, would not be cut off by his family. In fact a disowned ex-Quaker would have been encouraged to continue attending meetings for worship in the hope that he would see the error of his ways. The Discipline of North Carolina Yearly Meeting stated that an illegitimate child could not be a birthright member. Having a child out of wedlock was a serious offense against the Discipline, and invariably brought disownment, although the mother could later regain her membership by apologizing for the offense. For the child born out of wedlock to be a member, however, the mother would have to request it. From the cases I've seen, the child usually took the mother's last name and remained with the mother, even if she eventually married. Being a gunsmith would not have been a violation of the Discipline. Guilford County was well known as a center of gunsmithing, and some of the gunsmiths were Quakers. Friends had no objection to hunting. Selling rifles for army purposes, however, would have brought disownment. It appears that the only Gordon family that remained at Deep River after 1813 was that of John and Mary (Wheeler) Gordon. They do not have a son Abner listed in the birth and death records, but it is possible that younger children were omitted for some reason. Have you checked for a will or estate settlement for John Wheeler? He died in Guilford County in 1846. Tom Hamm >I am trying to identify the parents of Abner GORDON, b btw. 1822 and 1827, >Guilford Co, NC. Many relatives were involved in the Deep River MM. >Through use of the pre-1840 census records I have narrowed the search. > >I need help with terminology - in 1838 (btw ages 11 and 16) Abner was >disowned according to the minutes. Why would a young man be disowned at >that age? I know he was a gunstocker at the age of 24, obviously part of >the Guilford Co gunmaking industry. > >If a young person was disowned, was he still considered part of the family? > >Would a person be disowned if he was an illegitimate child? What action >would have been taken against his mother? Would he have kept his mother's >name and would the grandparents have raised him? > >Abner later moved to Hendricks Co, IN then on to Boone Co, IN. > >I'd appreciate any ideas on things to look for to solve this problem. > >Diane in CA > > > >==== QUAKER-ROOTS Mailing List ==== >Quaker-Roots Archives - Search List Messages From 1996 On >http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl