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From: <>
Subject: Re: Old Hymn
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 17:52:14 EDT


Hello Quaker Friends,

I really liked seeing that hymn again "How Can I Keep From Singing". It has
been one of my favorites for a long time.

I am new to the list and have not posted anything because on separate surname
lists and US Genweb sites I have received a wealth of information I am still
digesting on my Quaker ancestors from various cousins with origins in Greene
Co, TN (Orange, NC, Bucks Co, PA, etc).

I am a descendant (I have just recently found out) of at least two Quaker
families that settled in Greene Co. (1) Abraham/Abram MARSHALL/MARSHILL and
Martha DOANE/DOAN; and (2) Jacob FORTNER/FAULKNER, ETC and Elizabeth CHAMBERS.
I also have Isaac Horton/Agnes Houston/Miller Sexton among my direct line
Greene Co ancestor names in the earlyto-mid 1800s, but have not made any
direct Quaker connection for these families (any ideas).

Most of the family/cousins I have known from childhood from these names moved
to Lawrence/Dade Co MO in the mid to late 1800s. My Marshall gg grandfather
Thomas was apparently disowned by the church in Greene for "offering to
fight". Other records show great great grandparents and great great
aunts/luncles who left the church when they married out of the faith (or
possibly other more serious reasons).

I was raised as a Methodist. I have no idea whether many ex-Quakers became
Methodists but compared to many other protestant religions the two seem to
have a fair amount in common (my apologies if I am very wrong here, but I am
familiar with Baptists and Episcopalians; Methodists and Quakers seem to have
more in common than the other two).

What I do know is the song "How Can I Keep From Singing" is one that I sang
way back in my teen years in the 1960s both within my church and it was sung
during some anti-war movement (Vietnam) events that I participated in. In
addition, I have enjoyed it since leaving church youth activities; it has been
recorded by (I think) a folksinger/songwriter John McCutcheon (but I'm not at
home with my record collection at the moment) and possibly others. I'll look
later and get back). Now that I come to think about it one reason I may be
familiar with it is that I went to Whittier College in CA back then, a college
founded by Quakers (a fact I had forgotten Whittier's beginnings until just
about this moment).

I think this Quaker-Roots is an outstanding list and it has sent me to other
resources to study more on my Quaker background. I particularly like the
combination of genealogy and history found here. The only other one quite
like this is VA-Southside, which has many more genealogy postings, but also at
the moment an interesting debate on exactly who settled mid-to-Western VA and
saved us from the French (Governor Spottswood/rich aristocrats vs. some less
illustrious immigrants).

If there are any cousins out there I haven't touched base with, or who have
information to share on the above please feel free to contact me. I am
particularly interested if any one knows the family of Elizabeth CHAMBERS who
married Jacob Fortner, son of Sugar Faulkner/Fortner (who everybody out there
seems to know pretty well) . I have been told a wealth of information on my
Faulkner heritage, but nothing on CHAMBERS. They were in Greene in the early
1800s. (Please accept my apologies for not having dates, etc. with me. The
hymn prompted me to write this.)

Janet (Baugh) Hunter

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