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Quaker connection?

Discussion in 'Quaker ancestors' started by cinders, Apr 24, 2016.

  1. cinders

    cinders New Member

    My late father told me that his mother Ada Alice Penn b.1890 was a Quaker. However having researched the Penn family back to 1725 I can find no evidence to support this. My Penn family lived in Staffordshire, Monmouthshire and Lancashire. Ada Alice Penn married in a Register Office in Runcorn Cheshire. Is there anywhere I can look for a Quaker connection?
     
  2. Bob Spiers

    Bob Spiers LostCousins Superstar

    I'm not sure if this applies, but might Ada and her husband (I assume one James Bate married 1915/Runcorn) have converted to the Quaker religion at some point after marrying? So perhaps not an inherited family thing? I say this because in my own line (mid 1800's) I am aware that a family previously strong Baptists and the father in particular falling foul of strict Baptist rules concerning attendance, reputedly decided the family would consider becoming Quakers. As far as I can tell only one of the sons actually took to the Quaker persuasion, but that's a bye the bye, I just wanted to draw attention that people do convert to other religions.

    The other thing of course is to say the name Penn -and William Penn in particular (1644-1718) - was a famous early Quaker and of course gave his name to Pennslvania. Perhaps you can trace your Penn line via him or his descendants and perhaps your father had knowledge of this.

    Ancestry by the way has an awful lot about the life and work of William Penn and fair number of records concerning Quakers in its Card Catalogue although with a lean to US Quakers. FMP also has Quaker records within its Record sets.
     
  3. Puddles

    Puddles LostCousins Member

    My Grandfather would almost always say to visitors to his home "We're all friends here, you'll be asked once and then you help yourself". It was something we heard day in and day out and I didn't think much about it until I found Quaker connections going back to 1659, a marriage between William Farrer and Mary Dixon in Greyrigge, Kendal (Greyrigg). It's not my direct line and I can't yet find a connection but because the names of people who married into and out of this line and mine are so similar (and perhaps unusual or possibly regional) I think there must be a connection. I have photos of people on the Quaker line and the similarities between them and our line are remarkable.

    William James Farrer (1845 - 1906), known as "the man who fed Australia" is a dead ringer for my Great-Grandfather Farrer, they could be twins but they aren't. One day I will go to the Farrer district of Canberra to see William's statue and to lay flowers on his grave ..... it's just one reason to do a round the world trip.

    William James's mother was a lady names Sarah Brunskill and the Brunskill family appear in my own branch of the tree - either as relatives by marriage or in property dealings. I have not established who many Farrers and how many Brunskills there are in the correct area over time and I should do so just in case they were common regional last names.
     

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