Dear Subscribers: I am new to genealogy and after reading the postings on his site for awhile now, I see how knowledgeable folks are who subscribe here. Therefore, I have a question for you. I have old letters from an ancestor-Abraham Tuckniss , written in 1785, April 24, in Philadelphia. In the letter he says : ". the reason for my embargo is because I did not go to Church this Morng. & indeed my clothes are too bad to go-This excuse I pleaded to my worthy Old Don but he is so overstock with Religion that it had no weight." Now, when I went to the Burlington Historical Society to try to research my NJ/Phil. Ancestors the kind librarian, Mrs. Hoffman, ( no relation to me) told me that he could not have been referring to a Quaker service since they did not use the word "Church." Now, I did find one reference to Abraham Tuckniss in the Quaker records of Philadelphia and that was to his being disassociated in 1787 because he wanted to "practice the art of war." So, I know he was with the Quakers until then. Did Quakers attend other churches while still Quaker members? The other letter passed down through the years from him was written in 1790 from Demerera ( British West Indies). Was there a big Quaker settlement there? I guess he went to fight for the British but I have no idea. There is no mention of him again that I can find. My 3g grandma was Ann Tuckniss. I assume Abraham was her much older brother, but I do not know. His letters are addressed to a sister Mary, not Ann, so that is curious. Anyway, I have enjoyed learning through this site and maybe someone can clue me in as to why he used the word "Church"! E V Hoffman

Abraham sounds to me like someone who was born a Friend, and still technically had a membership, but has taken up the ways of "the world." That might explain his use of "church" and his reference to his father (presumably) as "worthy Old Don. My sense is that a lot of young people who were birthright members didn't especially value their membership and rather enjoyed outraging their elders in some way and getting disowned. Tom Hamm >Dear Subscribers: > > > >I am new to genealogy and after reading the postings on his site for awhile >now, I see how knowledgeable folks are who subscribe here. Therefore, I >have a question for you. I have old letters from an ancestor-Abraham >Tuckniss , written in 1785, April 24, in Philadelphia. In the letter he >says : ". the reason for my embargo is because I did not go to Church this >Morng. & indeed my clothes are too bad to go-This excuse I pleaded to my >worthy Old Don but he is so overstock with Religion that it had no weight." >Now, when I went to the Burlington Historical Society to try to research my >NJ/Phil. Ancestors the kind librarian, Mrs. Hoffman, ( no relation to me) >told me that he could not have been referring to a Quaker service since they >did not use the word "Church." Now, I did find one reference to Abraham >Tuckniss in the Quaker records of Philadelphia and that was to his being >disassociated in 1787 because he wanted to "practice the art of war." So, I >know he was with the Quakers until then. Did Quakers attend other churches >while still Quaker members? The other letter passed down through the years >from him was written in 1790 from Demerera ( British West Indies). Was >there a big Quaker settlement there? I guess he went to fight for the >British but I have no idea. There is no mention of him again that I can >find. > > > >My 3g grandma was Ann Tuckniss. I assume Abraham was her much older >brother, but I do not know. His letters are addressed to a sister Mary, not >Ann, so that is curious. > > > >Anyway, I have enjoyed learning through this site and maybe someone can clue >me in as to why he used the word "Church"! > > > > > >E V Hoffman > > > >==== QUAKER-ROOTS Mailing List ==== >Quaker-Roots Archives - Search List Messages From 1996 On >http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl