I’ve always been rather fascinated by the Quakers - not that I necessarily agree with all of their theological interpretations, but I find many of their beliefs intriguing. First and foremost, I admire many of their political stances based on their strong belief in equality – they have proven themselves to be on the right side of history on multiple occasions. Quakers played a key role in the abolitionist movement and in helping slaves escape through the Underground Railroad. They were leaders in the women’s rights movement, helping to secure women the right to vote (Alice Paul, Lucretia Mott, and the Grimke sisters were all Quakers). They believed in spiritual equality for men and women, allowing and encouraging women to speak up in worship services - and even serve as ministers! - when that was certainly not the norm. Furthermore, as pacifists, they have frequently spoken up against war and violence, looking for ways to find peaceful solutions whenever possible.
So, I was pleasantly surprised upon digging into my Irish ancestry to discover I had some “Irish Quakers” in my family tree. Similar to the Ulster Presbyterian ancestors I wrote about in a previous post, these ancestors were not actually “Irish,” but were originally rooted elsewhere. While my Ulster Presbyterian ancestors mostly came from Scotland, the Irish Quakers mostly came from England – but both groups lived in various parts of Ireland before ultimately immigrating to Pennsylvania in the early 1700’s for both religious and economic reasons.
I discovered my own Irish Quaker connections while doing research prior to Mike’s and my visit to Ireland this past summer. As I looked up the names and places of our various Irish ancestors, I discovered that several of mine who came from Northern Ireland were listed among the “Religious Society of Friends” (aka. Quaker) meeting houses. I hadn’t yet had time to do much research, but when given the option during our visit to the Irish EPIC Immigration Museum in Dublin to input one of my own ancestors’ names into their database, I scanned my list of options and decided on Katherine Lightfoot. You can see here the photo I took after her name appeared on the screen.
So, who is Katherine (in some records, Catherine) Lightfoot? Some distant relative of Gordon Lightfoot? Perhaps - lol. I haven’t found that connection yet. But, I do know she was my 8th great grandmother, born on September 12, 1682 in County Antrim in Northern Ireland to Rev. Thomas Lightfoot (b. 1645 in Cambridge, England) and his wife Mary.
In 1700 Katherine married James Robert Miller, who was born in Timahoe, Kildare, Leinster, Ireland. They had one son and six daughters (I descend through their daughter Mary, b. 1713). She at some point became a Quaker minister, with her family being members of the Timahoe Meeting in County Kildare, then later the Quaker Meeting in Dublin. In September of 1729, after various other family members had already done so, she and her husband James immigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with five of their children on the Sizargh of Whitehaven, captained by Jeremiah Cowman. There, sadly, just a few weeks after their arrival, she died on October 17. She is buried at the Friends Arch Street Meeting House Burial Grounds in Philadelphia.
Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia
The current Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia, built between 1803-1805, sits on land donated to the Society of Friends in 1701 by Pennsylvania founder and Quaker William Penn. The land served as the first burial ground for Quakers in Philadelphia, and Katherine Lightfoot is among those buried here. The meeting house was “built to reflect Friends' testimonies of simplicity and equality … [and] is little changed after more than two centuries of continuous use” (1).
Katherine’s husband James and their children settled in New Garden. One of their daughters, Sarah, married Thomas Milhous - they are some level of great grandparents to former President Richard Milhous Nixon (not the greatest family connection, I know - and he is certainly not what I think of when I think of a Quaker! LOL). Another of their daughters, Ann, married William Farquhar, and they have ties to another president: Herbert Hoover. Richard Nixon and Herbert Hoover are the two presidents who identified as Quakers - at least in their family connections, if not always in their religious beliefs and practices.
Inscription: About 1735 William Farquhar and Ann his wife held a Friends
(Quaker) Meeting at his house. In 1771 he deeded two acres of land
on which the Meeting House and burying ground are located.
Ex-President Hoover’s ancestors were members of this Meeting. (2)
Katherine Lightfoot is another ancestor of my great grandmother Fleeta Jackson Brandt, whom I wrote about in another previous post, through her father Joseph Erastus “Rasy” Jackson (1863-1925), who entered the world six generations later. Like Katherine, her daughter Mary also became a Quaker minister - which made me wonder what it took to become a Quaker minister.
From my reading, I learned that the founder of the Society of Friends, George Fox (1624-1691), had “very strong opinions about [traditional] ministers … and would often confront ministers about the shallowness of their own spiritual lives. He sometimes called them ‘Hireling Priests’ because they lived well at the expense of their parishioners (who were required to pay a tithe).... [He argued that] an education at Oxford or Cambridge does not qualify a person to be a minister of Christ.” As one might imagine, this did not win him much support among the clergy - and in Ireland, it caused priests to argue for severe restrictions to be placed on the Quakers. Fox contrasted these “hireling priests” with “true ministers,” stating, “At the hearing of the speech of the true minister, there is a joy to all that seek and thirst after righteousness: for the preaching of the gospel is the glad tidings, the joyful news, and is a comfort to soul, body and spirit, to all that receive it" (3).
So, back to the question: how does one become a “true minister” in the Society of Friends? Here is one explanation I found online:
“As Friends, we reject the idea that some outward trait or experience could qualify someone to be a minister…. Instead, we believe that anyone may be called to pastoral ministry. Rather than setting human-engineered prerequisites, Quakers have chosen simply to observe those who work as ministers. When it becomes clear that a person is indeed doing pastoral ministry, then we make an official record of what God seems to be doing. That person is "recorded" as a minister among Friends.
“As Friends, we believe that all people are absolutely equal in worth. We also believe that God is directly present to any who open themselves to God's Spirit. So, whatever else can be said about ministers within the Friends tradition, it should be clear that being a minister does not give someone a higher 'rank.' Nor does it mean that the person is somehow closer to God than "ordinary people." We are equals, and God is available to all. In fact, Quakers have always emphasized the fact that we are all called to be ministers” (4).
As explained by Robert Barclay, a preeminent theologian among the early Society of Friends, Quakers believed that “the fruitful exercise of a person's gift should not depend on whether he or she holds a recognized ‘office’ (or ‘title’) in the church.” Therefore, people should use whatever gifts they have been given, whether ministry, teaching, hospitality, or something else. "That which we oppose,” he explained, “is the distinction of laity and clergy, which in the scripture is not to be found, whereby none are admitted to the work of ministry, but such as are educated at schools on purpose, and instructed in logic and philosophy, etc., and so are at their apprenticeship to learn art and trade of preaching, even as a man learns any other art” (5).
Katherine’s father, Thomas, and brother, Michael, were also Quaker ministers, so it seems many in the family followed that route. It was her father who chose to leave England for Ireland sometime before 1680 to avoid religious persecution, and he settled in Northern Ireland near the Lisburn Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Lisburn is a city in County Antrim in the Province of Ulster. It lies about eight miles southwest of Belfast’s city center on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down.
Map showing location of Lisburn (6)
Thomas became an active participant in Quaker circles and in 1692 was appointed a member of a committee to secure a piece of ground to be used for burials. It was in Lisburn that he met his first wife, Mary, and they produced four children: Katherine, Michael, William, and Abigail. After Mary died (sometime after 1685), Thomas moved to County Westmeath in the Province of Leinster, where he married a second wife, Sarah Wiley, and they produced five additional children: Elizabeth, Sarah, Samuel, Margaret, and Jacob. Sarah died in 1706.
A lot of the information I found about the Lightfoot family came from this book. (7)
In 1716, when he was 71, Thomas immigrated to New Garden in Pennsylvania, where his son Michael had settled four years earlier. He married a third time to widow Margaret Blunston, continued to serve as a Quaker minister, and died April 9, 1725, in Darby, Delaware County, Pennsylvania - “greatly beloved for his Piety and Virtue, his sweet disposition, and his lively Ministry,” according to his good friend Thomas Chalkley (8). He is buried in the Darby Friends Cemetery.
Here’s a photo of the Darby Friends Burial Ground where Thomas Lightfoot is buried (9).
So, what exactly do Quakers believe? Why did they choose to leave Ireland, and why did so many choose to settle in Pennsylvania? Why did their laws and practices sometimes clash with the Ulster Presbyterians who also settled there, especially along the western frontier? Tune in to my future posts to learn more about Quaker beliefs and practices; Pennsylvania’s Quaker founder, William Penn; how Quaker pacifism added to tensions on the frontier; and where some of my other Irish Quaker ancestors ended up. I might even throw in some thoughts on the Quaker characters introduced in Outlander!
Endnotes:
- “Arch Street Friends Meeting House.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_Street_Friends_Meeting_House.
- Pfingsten, William. ““Pipe Creek Meeting” Historical Marker.” The Historical Marker Database, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=3015.
- “Quaker Pastors — West Hills Friends.” West Hills Friends, https://westhillsfriends.org/quaker-pastors.
- “Quaker Pastors — West Hills Friends.” West Hills Friends, https://westhillsfriends.org/quaker-pastors.
- “Quaker Pastors — West Hills Friends.” West Hills Friends, https://westhillsfriends.org/quaker-pastors.
- Evans, Dorothy. “Lisburn.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisburn.
- Myers, Albert Cook. Immigration of the Irish Quakers Into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750: With Their Early History in Ireland (Classic Reprint). FB&C Limited, 2016.
- Myers, Albert Cook. Immigration of the Irish Quakers Into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750: With Their Early History in Ireland (Classic Reprint). FB&C Limited, 2016.
- “Darby Friends Cemetery in Darby, Pennsylvania.” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2163102/darby-friends-cemetery.
No comments:
Post a Comment