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Immigration of the Irish Quakers
into Pennsylvania
1682 - 1750
With Their Early History in Ireland
by
Albert Cook Myers, M. L.
Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
"There is not one of the family but what likes the country very well
and wod. If we were in Ireland again come here Directly
it being the best country for working folk & tradesmen of any in the
world, but for Drunkards and Idlers, they cannot live well any
where." - Letter of an
Irish Quaker, 1725
The Author
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
1902
PART 3*
CHAPTER II.
SOCIAL LIFE OF THE IRISH FRIENDS
Page 186
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Introductory |
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OF the social conditions among the Irish Friends in early
Pennsylvania some idea will have been formed from the preceding
chapters, particularly from Robert Parke's long letter1;
now let us consider this phase of our history more in detail,
dwelling especially upon some of the more important sides of
country life. The diaries, wills and inventories of the
time, and then ancient records of friends, abound in quaint and
interesting items reflecting the manners and customs of the
period, and it is the rich stores chiefly that have been drawn
upon. On many points, however, authentic material was not
at hand, and this in part accounts for the somewhat inadequate
and fragmentary character of portions of the chapter.
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Irish Friends Well Adapted for Pioneer Life - |
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The Irish Friends were in active and
enterprising people, particularly well adapted for pioneer life
doubtless more so than the English and Welsh Friends; for the
unsettled state of Ireland through so long a period, - that of
the Cromwellian Settlement, the raids of the Rapparees, the
troubles |
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1. Pp. 71-79. |
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[Pg. 187]
between James II. and William III., and the religious
persecutions and other causes of emigration - had inured them to
privation and hardship and prepared them to contend with the
difficulties of the new country.
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Although the majority of these Friends
were of English stock, yet those families that had been in
Ireland for a generation or more had become modified by their
Irish environment and by contact with their restless and
aggressive Celtic- and Scotch-Irish neighbors, and developing
habits and characteristics that distinguished them from the
English Friends of the Province.
These characteristics crop out in the old meeting
records, which show that the younger Irish Friends especially
were impulsive and full of spirit, chafing under the restraint
of the strict and repressive discipline of the Society as
enforced in those days; and it is quite common, as we shall see,
to find them "Marrying out by ye priest: and
otherwise breaking the rules. In this connection it is
also worthy of note that in those meetings in which the Irish
element was strong there was a tendency to be more liberal in
belief and less stringent in the administration of some of the
rules of discipline.
In those neighborhoods where the clan spirit was
strong, and where most of the marriages occurred among their own
number, these Friends |
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Mostly of English Stock but Modified by Irish Environment |
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[Pg. 188]
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preserved much of their Irish identity for generations; but by the
early years of the nineteenth century then had lost much of this
peculiarity and were becoming rapiddly absorbed in the new
composite American race. |
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The Arrival |
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On their first arrival from Ireland, and
before their own homes could be provided, immigrant Friends did
not want for food and shelter; in that |
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Hospitality of Old Settlers |
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era of simple kindliness and free-hearted hospitality the old
settlers were ever ready with open door to receive the newcomers
and to assist and counsel them in choosing a location. The
great |
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Small Capital of Immigrants |
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body of these Friends brought only small capital with them, but
they were young and vigorous and the favorable opportunities
offered here enabled the most of them to begin a fairly
comfortable |
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Household |
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settlement. Men with families usually brought their
household goods with them, purchasing in the Colony, horses,
cattle, and such other necessaries that could be bought to
better advantage on this side of the water.
It was customary for those Friends who in- |
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Temporary Home near Landing Place |
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tended to establish themselves upon inland plantations, first to
provide temporary homes for their families near the place of
landing, and then to go, often several in a company, prospecting
for farm land in the interior. |
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The Settlement |
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Ties of kin and of friendship had an
important bearing on the selection of lands; those who had |
[Pg. 189]
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been kinsmen or old friends in Ireland naturally desired to locate
near each other in Pennsylvania, and in consequence we find such
distinctive Irish Quaker settlements as those of Newark and
Centre in New Castle County, New Garden in Chester County,
Sadsbury in Lancaster County, and Menallen in the original York
County. |
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Selection of Land Affected by Ties of Kin and Friendship. |
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Once the land was selected and steps
taken to secure the title thereto, usually by warrant1 from the
Proprietary, haste was made to remove the families thither so
that the settlement might be well advanced before the winter
season had begun.2 Pack-horses, almost the only
means of transportation, were now made ready with saddles and
pillions, and the women and children and farm and household
effects were loaded upon them, the men frequently travelling on
foot, leading the horses and driving the flocks and herds before
them. Thus equipped the little procession would set off
through the dark and lonely woods, follow- |
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Journey to New Home |
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1. The planter applied at
the land office for the warrant, which was issued by the
Proprietary, or the Commissioners, and addressed to the
Receiver-General, authoring that official that official to have
a survey made on terms described in the document. The
warrant then passed to the Surveyor-General, who made a copy,
returning the original to the warrantee to be held as evidence
of title until the patent was issued. The Surveyor-General
gave the copy of the warrant with an order to the
Deputy-Surveyor of the county in which the land was located,
directing the survey to be made. After the Deputy-Surveyor
had completed his measurements, he reported to the office of the
Surveyor-General, who then issued a patent to the purchaser of
the land. It usually happened that the patent was not
issued until some years after the warrant.
2.
In this connection see Robert Parke's letter, pages 71-79. |
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[Pg. 190]
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ing the Indian trails and the paths marked by blazed trees to the
new abode. |
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Clearing the Land |
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The site of the dwelling on the
plantation was generally near a spring of water, either on low
ground or on the warm southern slope of a hill, for the sake of
protection from the bleak and piercing winds of winter.
With an energy and enthusiasm born of the thought that they were
no longer tenants but absolute owners of the soil, the whole
family now worked to win a home from the unconquered wilds.
The trees fell quickly under the sturdy blows of the woodman's
sharp-edged axe, and soon a little clearing appeared amidst the
encircling forest. The next concern was the erection of a
house. This first habitation was only a rude cabin built
of timber hewn and sawed by hand from the fallen trees; but
before many years had elapsed, with the large increase that
blessed his labors, the farmer was enabled to erect a more
comfortable and commodious dwelling of brick or stone, often
making it an addition to the original house. |
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House Building |
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There were several methods of
constructing the first wooden house. One of those
suggested by Pennin his Direction to Such Persons as are
inclined to America,1 issued about 1682, was
doubtless |
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The Clapboard House |
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followed by many of the early settlers. He writes:2 |
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1.
Reprinted in Penna. Mag., IV., 329-342; see also
Oldmixon's British Empire in America printed in 1708),
reprinted in Hazard's Register Phila., 1830), V., 177.
2. Penna. Mag., I.,
334-5 |
[Pg. 191]
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To build them, an House of
thirty foot long and eighteen foot broad, with a partition neer
the middle, and an other to divide one end of the House into two
small Rooms, there must be eight Trees of about sixteen Inches
square, and cut off, to Posts of about fifteen long, which the
House must stand upon, and four pieces, two of thirty foot long,
and two of eighteen foot long, for Plates, which must lie upon
the top of those Posts, the whole length and breadth of the
House, for the Gists to rest upon false Plates of thirty-foot
long to lie upon the ends of the Gists for the Rafters to be
fixed upon, twelve pare of Rafters of about twenty foot, to bear
the Roof of the House, with several other small pieces; as
Windbeams, Braces, Studs, etc. which are made out of the Waste
Timber. For Covering the House, Ends, and Sides, and for
the Waste Timber. For Covering the House, Ends, and Sides,
and for the Loft, we use Clabboard, which is Rived
feather-edged, of five foot and a half long, that well Drawn,
lyes close and smooth: The Lodging Room may be lined with
the same, and filled up between, which is very Warm. These
homes usually endure ten years without Repair . . . . The lower
flour is the Ground, the upper Clabboard. This may seem a
mean way of Building but 'tis sufficient and safest for ordinary
beginners. Dankers and Sluyter1
the Dutch Labadists, on their journey from New York to the
Delaware, in 1679, met with this form of house at the Falls of
Delaware, now Trenton, New Jersey, and have left the following
description:
Nov. 17th. - Most of
the English, and many others, have their houses made of nothing
but clapboards, as they call them there, in this manner: they
first made a wooden frame, the same as they do in Westphalia,
and at Altona, but most so strong; they then split the boards of
Clapboard, so that they are like cooper's pipe staves, except
they are not bent. These are made very thin with a large
knife, so that the thickest end is about a pinck (little
finger) thick, and the other is made sharp, like the edge of a
knife. They are about five or six feet long, and are
nailed on the outside of the frame, with the ends lapped over
each other. They are not usually laid so close together,
as to prevent you from sticking a finger between them, in
consequence either of their not being well joined, or the boards
being crooked. When it is cold and windy the best people
plaster |
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1.
Memoirs of the Long Island Historical
Society, I., 172. |
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[Pg. 192]
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them with clay. Such are most all the English
houses in the country, except those they have which were built
by people of other nations. Now this house was new and
airy; and as the night was very windy from the north, and
extremey cold.
The description is confirmed in "An Account of East
Jersey, in 1684": 1 Country Houses are built of Wood
only Trees split and set up on end on the ground, and coverings
to their Houses are mostly Shingles made of Oak, Chestnut and
Cedar Wood, which makes a very neat covering:"
The most common form of the early dwelling, however, was the
more permanent log |
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The Log House |
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cabin,2 built of squared logs, placed horizontally one
upon the other and notched together at the corners. The
interstices between the logs were filled in or "chinked" with
stones or wedges of wood, and then plastered over with mortar or
clay. The roof was covered with boards or oak shingles,
either pinned by wooden pins or pegs or held in place by "Weight
tibmers"3 Says Ash- |
1.
Hart's American History told by Contemporaries, I., 569.
2. Dankers and Sluyter (Memoirs
L. I. Hist. Soc., I., 175) in their journey of 1679, give
an account of the log house of Jacob Hendricks, a Swede,
of Burlington, New Jersey, stating that it was "made
according to the Swedish mode, and as they usually build
their houses here, which are block houses, being nothing else
than entire trees, split through the middle, or squared out of
the rough, and placed in the form of a square, upon each other,
as high as they wish to have the house; the ends of these
timbers are let into each other, about a foot from the ends,
half of one into half of the other. The whole structure is
thus made, without a nail or a spike. The ceiling and roof
do not exhibit much finer work, except among the most careful
people, who have the ceiling planked and a glass window.
The doors are wide enough, but very low, so that you have to
stoop in entering. These houses are quite light and warm;
but the chimney is placed in a corner."
3. Isaac Weld, Travels through
the States of North America, in 1795, 21-22; Peter Kalm,
Travels into America, in 1748, p. 166; Lodge's
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[Pg. 193]
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Mead:1 "Locks in ordinary use were unknown; the doors
[were hung on wooden hinges or straps of hide and] were opened
by strings which on being pulled from the outside raised heavy
wooden latches within, to which they were made fast, and
intrusion was prevented when the inmates pulled the
latch-strings in at the outer doors. From this common
practice originated the ancient saying descriptive of generous
hospitality, 'the latchstring is always out.' " |
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A Stone Chimney of immense size, capable
of receiving a whole cord stick on the hearth, was built into
one end of the house. The great fireplace was used for
cooking and heating. Here |
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Equipment of House and Farm. |
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were to be found frying-pans, chafing-dishes, and spits, and
suspended over the andirons by pothooks from an iron bar or
crane, were the pots and kettles, which were so highly prized by
the settlers that they were frequently bequeathed by will.
George Harlan, of Kennett, in his will of 1714, devised
to his son Aaron a "great brass kettle," and William
Halliday of New Garden, in 1741, left "unto my Daughter
Deborah Lindly my big pott that I brought from Ireland."
We made be sure that his bequest was all the more highly
regarded because it had come over sea. |
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The Hearth |
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Colonies, 248;
Ashmead's Delaware County, 179; Alice Morse
Earle's Home Life in Colonial Days; Acrelius,
History New Sweden in Memoirs Hist. Soc. Penna., XI., 157.
1. Delaware County, 179. |
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[Pg. 194]
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Halliday also gave to his daughter-in-law, Mabel
Halliday, "a gridle."
The great hearth fire was the center of attraction in
the long winter evenings. Its dancing flames filled the
room with a good cheer, throwing into the shadow the bare and
homely outlines and lighting up with gentle touch the prominent
features, - the rude furniture, the floor bare save for a rug or
two, the overhanging beams, the mantel bright with pewter and
brass,1 and the walls unadorned excepting perhaps for a map or
sampler or a fowling-piece. Here by the fireside the
household and perhaps a few neighbors would assemble to enjoy
the evening fire and to chat of affairs of common interest and
to exchange the marvelous stories current in those days; but no
one has equalled the gentle Whittier in giving the spirit of
this scene of domestic peace and contentment:
Shut in from all the world without,
We sat the clean-winged hearth about,
Content to let the north-wind roar
In baffled rage at pane an door,
While the red logs before us beat
The frost-line back with tropic heat;
And ever, when a louder blast
Shook beam and rafter as it passed,
The merrier up its roaring draught
The great throat of the chimney laughed;
The house-dog on its paws outspread
Laid to the fire his drowsy head, |
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1. Dublin Half Year
Meeting, in writing to Friends on the Delaware, in 1681, advise
them to avoid "Flourishing needless Pewter and Brass" in their
kitchens. |
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[Pg. 195]
The cat's dark silhouette on the wall
A couchant tiger's seemed to fall;
And, for the winter fireside meet,
Between the andirons' straddling feet,
The mug of cider simmered slow,
The apples sputtered in a row,
And, close at hand, the basket stood
With nuts from brown October's wood.
What matter how the night behaved?
What matter how the north-wind raved?
Blow high, blow low, not all its snow
Could quench our hearth-fire's ruddy glow.1 |
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A study of the inventories of the estates
of some of the deceased Irish Friends shows quite accurately the
character and extent of their possessions, and enables us to
form a fairly clear idea of the furnishings of the houses and of
the stock and implements of the farms, and to compare the wealth
of the settlers with that of their |
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Inentories |
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neighbors.2 The inventory3 of "all &
Singlular ye Goods & Chattels Rights & Credits of John Lowdon
Late of New Garden in the County of |
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John Lowden's Goods, 1714 |
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1.
Snow-Bound
2. Extracts from the inventory of
George Harlan, of Kennett, made Oct. 29, 1714: wearing
apparrell £5;
I Bed I Bolster
2 pillows & pillow Cases; 2 _ of Sheets; I Rug and I blanket; I
Bedstead; I Chest; I Table; I Couch; I old warming pan; two
Chests; 6 pieces of pewter; I Bress Skillet; I frying pan; 3
floats 3 pails I Churn I wooden bottle; I gun; 2 Cows I black *
Red; I Stone horse; I Dark brown meare Called Midge & this yeas
horse Colt; I Black Ridgelin (?); I Dark Brown mare with a bay
yearling; saws, augers, planes, axes, etc.; one old Bed tick and
Bolster; one Bay mare about 15 years old in the woods; one Brown
Bay Horse Colt about I year old; I bay horse one bay mare; one
Sorril Colt; I Grey Mare and Colt [Total value of estate £270.
8. 2]
3. Made 3 Mo. 10, 1714, by James Starr
and Michael Lightfoot. - Papers
No. 3, Register's Office, West Chester, Pa. |
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[Pg. 196]
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Chester, weaver," made in 1714, after Lowden had been in this
country about three years, indicates how bare and meagre were
some of these homes:
One Cow and Calf; a horse; wheat 6 acres; a ffeather Bedd and
Bedding; a fflock Bedd and Bedding; Course Sheets; Table Linnen
Wareing Apparell; Linnings; 2 Saddles and a pair of Boots; Iron
Tools; Gun and Gunn Barrell; Small irons; Twoo potts; Pewter &
two Brass Candlesticks; two Chests; An Old Box; Some Wooden
Vessels; A Spade; Three Hundred Acres of Land. [Total value of
estate £ 205-2-0].
The
absence of the items of furniture such as chairs, tables, and
bedsteads, from this and other inventories of the time seems due
to the fact that much of the furniture was of such crude
construction, that it was not considered worthy of inclusion in
the list. John Miller, yeoman and miller, one of
the largest land owners of the New Garden settlement, died in
the same year as |
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John Miller's Inventory |
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Lowdon, but seems to have been more well-to-do. His
househood goods were: 1
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Three Ruggs; two pare of Sheets; fourteen
yards of Cloath; two pillows; two bed ticks; three bedd steds;
twelve napkins & two table Cloaths; twelve felt hats; one
Christ; I beef barrell; I brewing Ceive; one washing tub & a
half Bushell; two dozen of trenshers fourteen noggens and three
platters; one Couch & two tables; three puter dishes; twelve
plates; one tankard a Saltseler & a mustard cup; two brass and
one Iron Candlestick; one beef barrell; A Copper kettle & three
Iron |
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1. Inventory made "ye 122th
of ye I mo 171-4/5" by Simon Hadly, Thomas Garnett, Michael
Lightfoot, and James Starr. -
Papers No. 9, Register's Office, West Chester, Pa. |
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