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Quaker
Records on CD-ROM
Genealogical
Records: The Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy, 1750-1930
(Family Archive 192)
Reviewed by Marthe Arends
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Researchers with Quaker ancestors know how valuable the records
kept at the Friends Meetings are; with few vital records available
before 1850 (the Quakers did not submit information about their
vital statistics to civil offices before that time), the mentions
of births, deaths, and marriages gleaned from meeting records
can provide invaluable information about families that might otherwise
not be available elsewhere.
The Introduction to this CD states "...almost half of all persons
who can trace their ancestry in America prior to 1850 have Quaker
ancestors." Although the source of this statement is not given,
I agree that a great many researchers with early U.S. ancestry
may benefit from this CD.
The CD contains all six volumes of William Wade Hinshaw's important
work Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy (edited
by Thomas Worth Marshall and published by the Genealogical Publishing
Company from 1936 to 1950). The CD focuses on New Jersey, North
and South Carolina, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia
in a period of time ranging from the early 1800s to the late 1900s.
Quaker researchers will be familiar with the name of William
Wade Hinshaw; for many years Hinshaw compiled information from
monthly meeting records, creating one of the most important works
on Quaker genealogy. Hinshaw compiled data on births, deaths,
marriages, and certificates of removal; this last item is especially
helpful in keeping track of individuals who relocated from one
meeting to another.
With almost half a million names on the CD, organization of information
is of great import; the CD is arranged in a manner that presents
each meeting (with a brief historical sketch and history of the
yearly meeting), and an alphabetical listing by family name. Events
are recorded chronologically under each family name.
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October
13, 1999
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Abbreviations are used, but explained at the beginning of each
volume. The CD contains images of the actual pages from the Encyclopedia,
but as with other Family Archive CDs, you may conduct a comprehensive
search of all six volumes contained via the Search Expert. All
of the volumes contain introductory material explaining the sources
of information, research notes, and historical background, and
an index to that section. A note in the introduction states that
four pages escaped indexing; a supplemental file is included on
the CD with the names contained on those four pages.
Contents for the first volume include monthly meetings (in North
Carolina unless otherwise stated) for:
- Perquimans (Piney Woods)
- Pasquotank (Symons Creek)
- Suttons Creek
- Rich Square (including Jack Swamp)
- Core Sound
- Contentea (Nahunta)
- Neuse
- Woodland
- Cane Creek
- Spring
- Holly Spring
- New Garden
- Dover
- Hopewell
- Greensboro Center
- Back Creek
- Marlborough
- Deep River
- Springfield
- Union
- High Point
- Westfield
- Deep Creek
- Mt. Pleasant (Chestnut Creek), VA
- Bush River, SC
- Wrightsborough, SC
- Cane Creek, SC
- Piney Grove, SC
- Charleston, SC
- New Hope, TN
- Lost Creek, TN
- Newberry (Friendsville), TN
Volume II contents (monthly meetings):
- Salem, NJ
- Burlington, NJ
- Philadelphia, PA
- Falls, PA
Volume III contents (monthly meetings):
- New York
- Flushing
- Westbury
- Jerico
Volume IV contents (monthly meetings):
- Westland, PA
- Redstone, PA
- Providence, PA
- Sewickley, PA
- Concord, OH
- Short Creek (Mt. Pleasant), OH
- Plainfield, OH
- Stillwater, OH
- Plymouth-Smithfield, OH
- Flushing, OH
- Somerset, OH
- Middleton, OH
- Salem, OH
- New Garden, OH
- Carmel, OH
- Marlborough, OH
- Sandy Spring, OH
- Upper Springfield, OH
- West, OH
- East Goshen, OH
- Deerfield (Pennsville), OH
- Chesterfield, OH
- Plymouth, OH
- Alum Creek, OH
- Gilead, OH
- Greenwich, OH
- Columbus, OH
- Goshen, OH
- Cleveland, OH
- Adrian, MI
Volume V contents (monthly meetings):
- Miami, OH
- Caesars Creek, OH
- Fairfield, OH
- Fall Creek, OH
- Clear Creek, OH
- Newberry, OH
- Lees Creek, OH
- Hopewell, OH
- Center, OH
- Springfield, OH
- Dover, OH
- Wilmington, OH
- West Branch, OH
- Mill Creek, OH
- Union, OH
- Elk, OH
- Westfield, OH
- Cincinnati, OH
- Green Plain, OH
- Springborough, OH
- Van Wert, OH
Volume VI contents (Virginia monthly meetings unless otherwise
noted):
- Virginia Yearly Meeting
- Chuckatuck (Nansemond)
- Pagan Creek (Nansemond and Levy Neck)
- Western Branch (Lower & Buskin's)
- Black Water (Surry, Burley & Gravelly Run)
- Upper (Gravelly Run & Burleigh)
- Henrico (Curles, New Kent, Upper, Upland, White Oak Swamp,
Weyanoke)
- Cedar Creek
- Camp Creek
- South River
- Goose Creek
- Hopewell
- Fairfax
- Crooked Run
- Goose Creek
- Alexandria
- Campbell Co. Marriage Bonds
- Bedford Co. Marriage Bonds
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Genealogical Records: The Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy,
1750-1930 is an invaluable resource to Quaker researchers.
The information compiled by Hinshaw is exact and comprehensive,
and offers researchers the chance to utilize the most important
Quaker resource available, records of Monthly Meetings.
Although I found the title a little confusing (the CD does
not contain articles about the lifestyles, dress, manners,
and religion of the Quakers as I had expected), it is an
important research tool and would be a welcome addition
to Quaker researchers. If you are stuck trying to research
Quaker ancestors in the nineteenth and eighteen century,
I highly recommend this CD.
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Marthe Arends has
been involved in genealogy for 18 years and is the editor of the computer genealogy
newsletter Online Pioneers. She has lectured on computers and genealogy
to many groups, has been the SysOp of a Fidonet genealogy BBS, has written articles
for a variety of genealogy publications, and currently teaches several online
genealogy classes. Marthe has also written Genealogy
Software Guide and Genealogy
on CD-ROM, both published by the Genealogical
Publishing Company.
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