The ancestors of my 6th great-grandmother, Anne (Moore) Eve, have been pretty easy to find. This isn’t always the case for ancestors so far back, but this branch of my tree happen to be early members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, and they kept and preserved excellent records.

Anne¹ was the daughter of William and Martha (Knight) Moore. Her parents immigrated to Philadelphia in 1712 and 1713, respectively. Quaker records, found in FindMyPast (for Ireland) and Ancestry (for Philadelphia), show identical certificates of removal for William from the town of Waterford, County Waterford, Ireland. The letter was signed by several individuals, including William’s father and brother, and the husband of one of Martha’s cousins².

                                               The River Bandon in the town of Bandon ©genealogyJEM

Martha came from the town of Bandon Bridge, County Cork, most likely with her sister and her sister’s family. William and Martha declared their intention to marry in a Quaker meeting on 26 June 1713, but were asked to wait at the meeting on 31 July 1713 because Martha’s certificate of removal had not arrived³. A record of the marriage hasn’t been found. A cousin who did research in Philadelphia was told that it was likely they were married by a minister of another faith, which was common for Quakers who didn’t want to wait for the meeting to approve their marriage intentions.

Irish Quaker records show that several of Martha’s sisters were disciplined by the Quaker meeting. One sister was reprimanded for marrying her “first and second cousin” (her first cousin, once removed) after being advised not to because of the closeness of their kinship⁴. Another sister and her husband were recorded as being repentant of being married by a priest of another faith⁵. A third sister was disfellowshipped for “leaving her father’s house under scandalous circumstances.”⁶

Other records include entire genealogies for the family. One example is for William’s parents⁷:

James Moore the son of Nicholas & Katherin Moore was born in Waterford 25th of 5 mo 1657 & took to wife Mary Tallee ye daughter of John and Mary Tallee who was born in Mileburn Port in Summersetshire the 27th 12 mo 1656 and were married in Casshell [sic] in the County Tipperary the 7th 5 mo 1678 and had the following children —
Mary the daughter of James & Mary Moore was born in Casshell the 27th 11 mo 1681
Ann the daughter of Do [meaning ditto] was born in Casshell 22d 9 mo 1683
William the son of Do was born in Casshell 29th 6 mo 1685
Nicholas son of Do was born in Casshell 1st 9 mo 1687
Katherin daughter of Do was born in Waterford 8th 12 mo 1689
John son of Do born in Waterford 7th 10 mo 1691
James son of Do born in Waterford 7th 12 mo 1693
Elizabeth daughter of Do born in Waterford 9th 5 mo 1695
James 2d son of Do born in Waterford 13th 3 mo 1699…

There is so much information in this entry that takes up a page in the Quaker record book. The rest of the page includes all the known death dates. Other meeting minute books record all Quaker births and deaths as they occurred.

Quakerism was relatively new at this time: it’s founder, George Fox, began proselyting in the early 1650s. He visited County Cork in 1669 according to a book recording the visits of Quaker ministers⁸. This same book records a meeting with four Quaker ministers taking place in my ancestor’s home in 1680 because it was five miles closer to Bandon than the regular meeting place.

These records have been an invaluable source for piecing together stories for several ancestors and their descendants. I’m grateful to those that made and preserved these records⁹.

1. Anne was disfellowshipped for marrying Oswell Eve, who was not a Quaker. They were married 2 June 1744 at Christ Church in Philadelphia.
2. Waterford Minutes of Men’s Meeting 1711-42 (MM XI A1); Ireland, Society of Friends (Quaker) Congregational Records; digital images, FindMyPast.com (https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FCONG%2F719485 ; accessed 25 July 2019).
   Haverford College; Haverford, Pennsylvania; Minutes, 1682-1714; Collection: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Minutes, image 320, paragraph 3; digital images, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2189&h=8346985&ssrc=pt&tid=34614813&pid=350068453847&usePUB=true ; accessed 25 July 2019).
3. Haverford College; Haverford, Pennsylvania; Minutes, 1682-1714; Collection: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Minutes, image 324, entry 3; digital images, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2189&h=98347067&ssrc=pt&tid=34614813&pid=350068453862&usePUB=true ; accessed 25 July 2019).
   Haverford College; Haverford, Pennsylvania; Minutes, 1682-1714; Collection: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Minutes, image 325; digital images, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2189&h=8349254&ssrc=pt&tid=34614813&pid=350068453862&usePUB=true : accessed 25 July 2019).
4. Minutes of the Cork Men’s three-weeks 1722-1731 (MM VIII A4); Ireland, Society of Friends (Quaker) Congregational Records, image 60, paragraph 4; digital images, FindMyPast.com (https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FCONG%2F535237 ; accessed 25 July 2019).
5. Munster Men’s 6 weeks meeting Proceedings 1739-1757 (QM II A4); Ireland, Society of Friends (Quaker) Congregational Records, image, paragraph ; digital images, FindMyPast.com (https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FCONG%2F893085 : accessed 25 July 2019).
6. Cork Testimonies and Epistles 1673-1724 (QM II F); Ireland, Society of Friends (Quaker) Congregational Records, image 88, paragraph 2; digital images, FindMyPast.com (https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FCONG%2F944105 : accessed 25 July 2019).
7. Waterford MM Births and burials 1649-1862 (MM XI M1); Society of Friends (Quaker) Congregational Records; digital images, FindMyPast.com (https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=IRE/QUAKER/BIRTH/20491 : accessed 25 July 2019).
8. Names of Friends in Ministry 1655-1781 (YM C3); Ireland, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Congregational Records; digital images, FindMyPast.com (https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=IRE/QUAKER/CONG/1136668 : accessed 25 July 2019).
9. The first Quaker in Ireland was William Edmundson. He was an Englishman who was introduced to Quakerism in Scotland during the English Civil War (1642–1651). William moved to Ireland and began establishing the religion there. He is called the “father of Irish Quakers” and is responsible for the comprehensive record keeping that has made so many birth, marriage, and death records accessible. (See the note under “Discover More About These Records” on FindMyPast.)