I'm looking for guidance to help find additional information about Thomas Wilson (5th GG) who received a certificate of removal from the Grange Friends meeting in Charlemont, County Armagh and emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1736, ultimately settling in York County.
From the Stinton Family Trees, An Historical Sketch of the Grange Meeting: It is estimated that during the years 1682 to 1750 over 2,000 Irish Friends went to Pennsylvania, and of these 41 went from Grange. Some of the Grange emigrants include Thomas Wilson; John and Elizabeth Marsh; Joshua and Elizabeth Marsh and children Jonathan, Peter, and Abigail (1736). I've found similar information in The Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750. It appears that Thomas travelled to America with the Marsh family, some of whom also made their way to York County.
To date, I haven't found any information on the relationship between Thomas and the Marsh family (it's not clear why Joshua Marsh submitted the request for the certificate of removal on Thomas' behalf), Thomas' family, or any other information about Thomas in the Grange meeting or N. Ireland in general. Any guidance on additional sources that might yield more information on Thomas' life in N. Ireland is appreciated.
Thanks.
Tom
Tuesday 23rd Jan 2024, 01:50AMMessage Board Replies
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There are copies of the Armagh Grange Quaker records in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. You might want to go through them to see if you can find any additional mentions of the families. The records contain details of what was discussed at their regular meetings, reprimands (for drinking alcohol, for example), expulsions, penalties for not paying their tithes and so on. Since the tithes were normally a tenth your income you can calculate what they were earning. Can make interesting reading. There are a lot of records and I would allow half a day at least to go through them. They are on microfilm. They are not on-line so a personal visit is required to view them. If you are unable to go yourself, you could employ a researcher. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net
Births, deaths and marriages were copied to the Friends provincial office in Lisburn (which was responsible for Ulster). So those events should show up twice. Findmypast have the BDMs on their site.
Most of the Quaker congregations in Ulster were fairly small with around 10 to 15 families at most. So they all knew each other well. At that time you had to marry another Quaker, which meant they often intermarried. If you didn’t you were expelled. So there’s a fair few expulsions for “marrying out” in the records. Instead of the 2 or so witnesses you get at most other denominations' marriages, Quaker records at that time usually contain the names of everyone present.
Note that there was also another Grange Quaker meeting house in Milltown near Toome in Co. Antrim. No connection other than it had the same name. But useful to know so you don't get them mixed up. Most of the Quakers in Ireland arrived from England in the 1600s, usually for commercial reasons. For example, many of the Antrim Grange congregation were wheelwrights from Yorkshire and were needed to build and maintain water powered mills in the Milltown area.
The word Grange indicates it was land once owned by the church (Long ago. 1500s or earlier). That’s why there are dozens of Granges all over Ireland.
Researching in the 1600s and 1700s in Ireland is notoriously difficult and there are unlikely to be many other records of your families.
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Tuesday 23rd Jan 2024, 09:15AM -
Thank you for your reply, Elwyn. I appreciate your guidance very much. Tom
Tom
Tuesday 23rd Jan 2024, 12:36PM