Quaker Abbreviations

When researching my REESE line in North and South Carolina, I looked for Quaker records in areas like Craven District, SC.  I know in the 1700s my Rees (no "e" on the end) line coming out of Virginia were Quakers, migrating south to North Carolina, then South Carolina, and finally settling in Georgia.  I found a few but did not know how to decipher the Quaker abbreviations.  So what does dis mou mean?  Based on the list below it means disowned because married out of unity to a non-quaker

REES.

1783,11,29.Solomon dis mou  *disowned because married out of unity to a non-quaker

1785, 2,26.Elizabeth dis.

1786, 3.25.John dis mou.

of course I didn't take the time to read first then search, the following is recommended:

Your first Quaker reference books should always be the "Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy" by William Wade Hinshaw or Willard Heiss's Abstracts from the Records of the Society of Friends in Indiana. These volumes are available at most Genealogy libraries and LDS Family History Centers.

Quaker records are sometimes difficult to interpret unless you
are familiar with some frequently used abbreviations, such as:

• altm = at liberty to marry
• apd = attending places of diversion
• apd = appointed, appealed
• apt = appointed
• att = attached to, attended
• b = born
• BG = burial grounds
• btw = between
• bur = buried
• bef = before
• c = circa, about
• cem = cemetery
• cert = certificate
• cd = contrary to the Discipline
• ch = child, children, church
• chm = condemned his/her misconduct
• chr = charter
• co = chosen overseer (s), county
• com = complained, complained of
• comm = committee
• comp = complained, complained of
• con = condemned
• ct = certificate, certificate to
• d = died, day
• dau = daughter
• dec = deceased
• dis = disowned, disowned for
• div = divorced
• dp = dropped plain dress and/or speech
• dr = drinking spiritous liquor to excess
• drpd = dropped
• dt = daughter, daughters
• dtd = dated
• e = east
• end = endorsed
• FBG = Friends burial grounds
• fam = family
• form = formerly
• fr = from
• Frds = Friends
• gc = granted certificate
• gct = granted certificate to
• gl = granted letter
• glt = granted letter to
• gr dau = grand daughter
• gr s = grand son
• Gr Yd = grave yard
• h or hus = husband
• j = joined
• jas = joined another society
• JP = justice of the peace
• ltm = liberated to marry, left at liberty to marry
• lvd = lived
• lvg = living
• m = marry, married, marrying, marriage, month
• mbr = member
• mbrp = membership
• mcd = married contrary to Discipline
• MG = minister of the Gospel
• MH = meeting house, church
• mi = miles
• MM = monthly meeting
• mos = married out of society
• mou = married out of unity
• mt = married to
• mtg = meeting
• mvd = moved
• n = north
• na = not attending meeting
• neg att = neglecting attendance
• nmn = no middle name
• NW Terr = Northwest Territory
• O = Orthodox, Ohio
• ou = out of unity
• PM = preparative meeting
• PO = post office address
• prc = produced a certificate
• prcf = produced a certificate from
• prob = probably
• Qkr = Quaker
• QM = quarterly meeting
• rcd = recorded
• rec/rcd = receive, received
• recrq = received by request
• relfc = released from care for
• relrq = released by request
• rem = remove, removed
• ret = returned, retired (rarely used)
• ret mbrp = retained membership
• rev = reversed
• rm = reported married
• rmt = reported married to
• roc = received on certificate
• rocf = received on certificate from
• rol = received on letter
• rolf = received on letter from
• rpd = reported
• rrq = request, requests, requested
• rqc = requested certificate
• rqct = requested certificate to
• rqcuc = requested to come under care (of mtg.)
• rst = reinstate, reinstated
• s = son, south
• sep = separated
• sis = sister
• temp = temporarily
• transfrd = transferred
• twp = township
• uc = under care (of mtg)
• unm = unmarried
• upl = using profane language
• w = wife, west
• w/c = with consent of
• wid = widow
• w/pwr = with power
• wrkd = worked
• y = year
• YM = yearly meeting

Disciplinary complaints consisted of: fiddling, dancing, drinking intoxicating liquor to excess, serving in the militia or other armed forces, using profane language, fighting, failure to meet financial obligations, marrying contrary to the order used by Friends, deviation from plainness in apparel or speech, joining another religious society, etc. Unless the offending member expressed sorrow for his misconduct and brought a signed paper condemning the same, he was usually disowned.

A Mayflower Descendant

While building my LOVE lines from various sources (cousin Priscilla, online applications, genealogical societies), I discovered that many of my anscestors came to America in the mid-1600s on ships, such as Speedwell, Mary & John, and Hopewell but I never saw a link to the Mayflower.  Cousin Priscilla, the woman who got me started in genealogy at the age of 12, came through again, having certified her mother's line to Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower.  

She did the hard work of documenting her twelve generations to herself and filed her application with the New Jersey Mayflower Society.  I was able to submit her application along with documentation for the last 3 generations specific to me, to the Pennsylvania Mayflower Society (SMDPA ... sail1620.org).  This meant providing birth certificates or records, marriage certificates, and death certificates or records to complete my lineage, 13 generations from Stephen Hopkins.  


Reese

> Reese, Dorothy Helen Love
> Reese, William Thomas
   > Love, Hazel Winnifred Dean
   > Love, Percy Burdette
      > Dean, Walter Pierce
      > Dean, Alice Scofield
         > Dean, Addie B Peacock
         > Dean, Simeon Pierce
            > Peacock, Sophia Ridley
            > Peacock, Aaron F
               > Ridley, Reuben
               > Ridley, Eliza J Bickford
                  > Ridley, Susanna A Lincoln
                  > Ridley, John
                     > Lincoln, Joseph (Lincolne, Linkhorn, Lincolnue)
                     > Lincoln, Ann Ridley
                        > Lincolne, James
                        > Lincolne, Rebecca Brown
                           > Lincolne, Lydia Snow
                           > Lincolne, James
                              > Snow, Joseph
                              > Snow, Mary [Higgins]
                                 > Snow, Constance Hopkins (Mayflower Passenger)
                                 > Snow, Nicholas
                                    > Hopkins, Stephen (Mayflower Passenger)
                                    > Hopkins, Mary

It takes patience but once you have the data or can tie into someone else's Mayflower approved application you then contact your state Mayflower Society's historian.  This person will guide you through the approval process and supply you with the first five generations.  Once I applied, it took six months for verbal approval and another four months to be an active member of the Pennsylvania Mayflower Society with informational meetings and special events through local chapters now open to me.  The length of time depends on how long it takes you to gather specific information required by the general Mayflower Society (GSMD).  An example was making sure you have birth certificate that shows parents' names.  Many do not.

I'm looking forward to visiting Plymouth one day and would also like to visit Taunton, MA.  One of my anscestors was a founding father of Taunton (along with 10 others).  Stories of early Massachusett's are easy to find but beware because many dates in older genealogical records are wrong.  I have to validate dates but I don't always have the time to be a detective.

In addition to being a Mayflower descendant, I found two anscestor's that will alow me to join the DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution.  But that's another story ...

Is that a Q or a 2?

You finally find your ancestor and you pull up the original document online but now ... you can't read it!  Qs look like 2s and is that an H or an A?  It's impossible to find your ancestor when the interpreter spells the name wrong.  I found some Reese's listed in census as Ruse. This diagram may help you but don't forget to search for different variations of the name ... like Reese, Rees, Rhys, Russ, Reed, Rese, Rice, etc.  I hope you are endowed with extreme patience:

Naming the Children

Do you want to know one of the things that turns a genealogist's hair gray? Decades of an area in a state where the men have the same names due to traditional naming conventions.

The act of naming your children was sometimes followed as a strict rule by European-based families.  For example:

Irish Naming Conventions

The 1st son was usually named after the father's father

The 2nd son was usually named after the mother's father

The 3rd son was usually named after the father

The 4th son was usually named after the father's eldest brother

The 5th son was usually named after the mother's eldest brother

The 1st daughter was usually named after the mother's mother

The 2nd daughter was usually named after the father's mother

The 3rd daughter was usually named after the mother

The 4th daughter was usually named after the mother's eldest sister

The 5th daughter was usually named after the father's eldest sister

This meant that if brothers lived in close proximity all their lives, their sons and daughters might all have the same names and be close in age.  This sometimes help if you know a person is the first born and you want to find the father but it creates a bit of a mess.

A Lifetime of Research

When I was a young girl, a family member I never met sent my mother a package of papers.  On each page was a family profile, moving back in time for generations.  I was captivated and locked in from moment one hoping to help add some information on my branch of the family.  

Back then there was no internet, I didn't have a computer, it was the era of big tube television sets with green screens. At first the only information I could gather was by interviewing other family members.  When I could drive, I went into Philadelphia to the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania on Chestnut Street and sat for hours reading dusty old books and looking through reel after reel of microfiche.  The easiest pathway was through census records, which back as far as 1850 included the names of family members, birth states, occupations, and sometimes even street addresses.  Before 1850 only the male (or female if lone head of household) was listed and then the grid only allowed for the number of family members in age groups.  Now, the census records are online, as well as copies of historical books, and access to other peoples research. My favorite site is Ancestry.com, where I am building a tree.  I also have a website for tracking both mom and dad's lines ... Plotsky Online.

Mom's family came from England & Ireland to Maine and St. Stephen's, New Brunswick, Canada to New York to New Jersey to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  

Dad's family came from Wales & Ireland to Virginia to North Carolina to South Carolina to Georgia and then back to North Carolina.  In 1933 dad, after graduating from North Carolina State, came North to take a job with mom's father (Percy Love), a supervisor in a paper mill in Philadelphia.  He boarded with mom's family and the rest is history, well, my history anyway!

The family member who enriched my life with this hobby, is Priscilla.  My business life and trying to take care of a family took up so much time there was very little left to indulge in genealogy research, so over the years I worked my trees in spurts.  Through Priscilla's data, my mother's line goes back to the Mayflower (ancestor is Stephen Hopkins), and on into Europe, all the way to the crusades in one line.  But, I'm stumped with my father's research at my great-great grandfather's level.  I think I know who it is but can't prove it with records.

I want to use this blog to tell stories and work through some assumptions ... the tree data is on my website but it's the life of the individual that fascinates me.  This is also the hardest information to find unless you get back far enough that your relative is mentioned in historical books.

Priscilla is the true genealogist and she writes articles for the The Maine Genealogist, where her data has to be proven and documented properly before it can be published.