Thank you Deb....I will forward this to the SISSON list and Mary Jo's attention since she is the one doing most of the searching in Rhode Island.? She lives there and hopefully this will help her.? Regards,? Joan -----Original Message----- From: dgustafson5@juno.com <dgustafson5@juno.com> To: inn118@aol.com Sent: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 11:17 am Subject: Re: [SISSON] SISSON Digest, Vol 3, Issue 18 Hi Joan, I read your post on the list.? Yes, some of the Lawtons were Quakers, and they married into a lot of the early Portsmouth RI Quaker families.? I have all these lines in my ancestry also.? A guy named James Arnold spent his life going around to all the towns and early newspapers, preachers, churches, etc. assembling Vital Records for RI from 1636 to 1850 or so.? 20 Volumes!!? Perhaps you are familiar with them??? There is one for Friends Records, but that just gives the bare basics, (and perhaps?he "missed" a few marriage entries?)? Do you know if there is an online posting/transcription of those Quaker Records that we could access?? They DO hold a LOT of information.? (If you know how to work their transfer of membership information, I am told you can track the migration?paths of whole families across the USA.)? My Grandmother was clerk of the Portsmouth Friends Church for many years, and I know that all of the records were at one time (1960's era) in the Newport Historical Society.? (Perhaps they are in Providence by now, though).? But alas, I am no longer home (in Portsmouth) and having to do my genealogy long distance like the rest of us.? So I have never seen those early Monthly Minutes of the Friends-- and I am not sure whether they would have been under Portsmouth, Newport or Rhode Island Meetings.? Portsmouth Meeting would be the easiest to research, less info.? Perhaps someone living in the Portsmouth/Newport area would have the time to dig into them for us? Sincerely, Deb Gustafson?? (with about 8 lines back to Richard and Mary Sisson of Portsmouth) ? ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com