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The Quaker Star (19th C) |
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The Quaker Star (19th C) |
Why did our Quaker forefathers migrate to America? By the 1600s, Britain was the domain of the Church of England. Although not persecuted to the extent of the Catholics, religious dissenters were barely tolerated. And, William Penn had established the Province of Pennsylvania as a haven for Quakers.
After peace was reached between the British and French in 1764, King George III prohibited settlement beyond the Appalachians. This decree forced settlers seeking new lands to look south into the newly opened lands of the Valley of Virginia. As family migration was the rule as opposed to the exception, it is reasonable to believe that our Quaker families migrated en masse to Orange Co NC. Their journey would have taken them down the Great Wagon Road south and west into the Valley of Virginia and central North Carolina.
The family of Moses Embree was one of the most geographically mobile. The elder Moses moved to Exeter from Radnor Monthly Meeting in Chester County in 1740 and was part of the migration to Cane Creek, North Carolina, in the 1750s. His brother John followed in 1760, and eleven years later moved to Bush River, South Carolina. Meanwhile, Moses and his family settled in Fredericksburg, South Carolina, in 1768. In 1775, John and his family became some of the first Quaker residents of Wrightsborough, Georgia. In addition, a younger Moses Embree, nephew of Moses and John, also briefly lived at Cane Creek Monthly Meeting, but he primarily resided in Virginia. He moved to Hopewell in 1786 and to South River Monthly Meeting a year later. By 1789, then, members of the Embree family were active members of Quaker meetings in four states.The settlement of former Exeter Friends especially affected several monthly meetings in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. Between 1748 and 1759, thirty-seven Exeter Friends moved to Cane Creek Monthly Meeting in North Carolina; approximately 150 Quakers total migrated there during this period. Among these settlers were James and Frances Taylor, who had received certificates of removal from Exeter Monthly Meeting in 1748 and were among the founding members of the new monthly meeting in 1751. Settlement at Cane Creek also appeared to be a family affair, as the group included two members of the Embree, Jones, Mooney, and Taylor families, nine Stewarts, ten Moores, and ten Elemans (including two married daughters). Two of these early migrants to Cane Creek later became some of the earliest members of Bush River Monthly Meeting in South Carolina, and two others were among the earliest settlers at Wrightsborough, Georgia. Only one of these founding members, however, had been among the leaders of Exeter Monthly Meeting; in fact, three of them had faced disciplinary action for violating the Quaker discipline.
"A Restless Desire," https://journals.psu.edu/phj/article/viewFile/25838/25607> 16 August 2020
So, our Quaker families sojourned in North Carolina.
Then they settled in South Carolina.
Why did our Quaker families migrate west out of the Carolinas?
| Joseph
Cook b. 12/23/1763 Old 96 Dist (now Newberry Co) SC
Joseph
married Mary Herbert on 11-30-1782 at Bush River MM Newberry Co. South
Carolina. |
On my mother's side, we descend from the Weavers who married the Wilkinsons who were originally Irish Quakers. And, the Wilkinsons married the Quaker Elemans who married the Quaker Embrees.
On my father's side, we descend from the Lewises who married the McPhearsons who married the Savages who married the Cox family of ____ who were Quakers.
Thus, both my families traces our lineage through Quaker settlers who migrated to Cane Creek MM, Orange Co NC.
Let us examine "Who might have known whom?"
***Research the Cox family.
The Fincher family was at Bush River
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| Moses Embree
Moses Embree was born 11/26/1719 in Burlington Co NJ. On 6/25/1752 Moses and Margaret Elleman Embree were married at Exeter MM in Berks Co PA. Moses and Margaret were released by certificate to Cane Creek MM near Snow Camp, Orange (now Alamance) Co NC where they were received on 7/26/1753. In 1768 Moses and Margaret were released by certificate to Fredericksburg MM SC. Fredericksburg Monthly Meeting, also called Wateree, was set up in this county about 1755 or earlier. The monthly meeting was laid down about 1782, and the meetings for worship disappeared not long afterward. http://genealogytrails.com/scar/newberry/bush_river_quakers.htm> 16 August 2020 By 1772 Bush River MM, Newberry Co SC became active. And, Moses Embree is listed as an "early member."
Margaret died before 1788 at Bush River and is buried in the church graveyard. Moses is last found in the 1790 census for Washington Co NC (now TN) on the Nolachucky River.
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| John Elleman
John Elleman, Sr. was born 6/5/1696 Oxfordshire, England. John is possibly the son of John Ellyman who is enumerated in a 1662 Hearth Tax for Oxfordshire. Sometime prior to 1724, John migrated to the Colony of Pennsylvania, a haven for Quakers. The first record for John is found in 5/1724 where he was appointed a representative from Uwchland Preparative Meeting, Chester Co PA. On 3/25/1724 at Goshen MM in Chester Co PA, John posted bands to wed Mary John b. 10/15/1706 in Wales. And, the marriage was performed on 3/25/1725. The next record for John is found in 1745 in Berne Twp, Lancaster (now Berks) Co PA where John was granted two acres to establish a Quaker Meeting House. This was probably Maiden Creek Meeting House, a Preparatory Meeting vic. Leesport PA. John may not have moved his family until 1746 after the marriage of daughter Dorcas. Later John and family are cited attending Exeter MM in Exter Twp. This was the Meeting House where Daniel Boone and Abraham Lincoln's grandfather attended. The Elleman family's migration from Pennsylvania to Orange Co NC can be traced through records of Moses Embree who married daughter Margaret. In 1752 Moses and Margaret were married at Exeter MM in Berks Co PA. On 7/26/1753 they were released by certificate to Cane Creek MM near Snow Camp, Orange (now Alamance) Co NC where they were received in 1754. Family migration was the rule as opposed to the exception. It is reasonable to believe that the Elleman Family migrated either in the company of or directly following Moses Embree to Orange Co NC. And, John and Mary were received at Cane Creek MM which is near Snow Camp, Orange (now Alamance) Co NC. The family next migrated by 6/3/1769 to Bush River, Newberry Co SC where they were received at Bush River MM. John and Mary lived the remainder of their lives in Newberry Co SC where John died on 9/5/1775. And, John is buried in the Quaker cemetery.
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Samuel Wilkinson was born c. 1720 to the Wilkinson Family of Ballinacree, County Antrim, Ireland. Samuel's personal circumstances in Ireland are unknown. However as an Irish Quaker, Samuel joined the Scot-Irish Migration Stream to America. The biography of John W. Wilkinson's (b. 5/27/1793 in North Carolina) states that Samuel, three brothers--Joseph, Thomas, William--cousin Francis, and three unnamed sisters migrated en masse to Pennsylvania by 12/1737. Proof of Samuel's place of birth is found in the Quaker records of Chester Co PA. Note, this history was written in 1902 and is not a list of 1712-1715 Quaker families:
Samuel is first documented on 2/23/1737 in Ballinacree, County Antrim, Ireland, where he received a letter of release from the Ballinacree Quaker Meeting to immigrate to America. Note, this is the same day brother Joseph received his letter of release. On 12/6/1737 Samuel was received at Sadsbury MM (vic. Gap PA). And, Samuel lived out near Gap until 2/15/1742 when he was released by letter to Goshen MM (now West Chester PA).
On 2/24/1746 in Goshen, Chester Co PA Samuel married Dorcas Elleman b. 5/12/1728 Goshen, Chester Co PA. From that point, Samuel was tied to the larger Elleman Family and their migration south to the Carolinas. Samuel's family's migration from Goshen, Chester Co PA to Orange Co NC can be traced through records of Moses Embree who married Dorcas' sister, Margaret Elleman. In 1752 Moses and Margaret were married at Exeter MM in Berks Co PA. On 7/26/1753 Moses and Margaret were released by certificate to Cane Creek MM near Snow Camp, Orange (now Alamance) Co NC where they were received in 1754. On 6/2/1759 Samuel and Dorcas were also received at Cane Creek MM, Orange Co NC. |
