Hi Laurie, That was in 1998 if I recall! I have also heard elsewhere that local Quakers met in unmarked houses because of fears of persecution but it also make sense that they simply did not believe in ornamentation of any type. It could well be that people have attached a meaning based on history - ie the Quakers were persceuted almost everywhere they went and therefore they tried to hide their identities. I descend from Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick who were sent to Long Island from Mass to die in the wilderness for their Quaker beliefs. Donna ---- LAURIE4756@aol.com wrote: > > In a message dated 6/9/2006 9:57:48 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, > uriramfan@cox.net writes: > > Hi Laurie and others, > I seem to remember the day that you (Laurie) and I and some others went to > the old Quaker meeting house in Portmouth and that Sheila Barker's uncle had > told us that the meeting house was kept plain and the graves were not marked > in the very early years because even in RI they still feared persecution. > Later on the graves were marked and there were a lot of stones there but I know > there were rows of unmarked graves there as well. > Donna > > > > > Hi Donna- > I recall the visit (was that back in 1998??? Yikes the years have flown!) I > don't recall the mention of persecution fear! The plainness I always believed > was based on their religious tradition of simplicity . Simplicity and > plainness (no stained glass, no ornamentation, no music was based on their belief > that these things "detracted one from silently waiting upon God". I have a > great book.."The Quakers" by Barbour and Frost..a fantastic book for people who > want to learn more about Quaker traditions, history, etc.) Unfortunetly there > is no mention about gravestones that I can find. > > My great grandmother taught school in the Middletown Quaker school in the > latter 1800s and Prov. Friends and her father was a teacher at Providence's > Friends School (now Moses Brown) 1860s onward.. since the discussion yesterday > about head stones I've pulled out my boxes of journals/letters they wrote > (seems every page mentioned a funeral of someone!) to see if there is mention of > stones (they themselves both have them). So far no mention. > > ~ Laurie > > > ==== RIGENWEB Mailing List ==== > Kent County RIGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~rikent/ > Search the RIGenWeb Pages http://www.rootsweb.com/~rigenweb/search.html >