QUAKER-ROOTS-L Archives

Archiver > QUAKER-ROOTS > 2000-02 > 0949511001


From: Alan Crosman <>
Subject: Re: [Q-R] Marriage Customs - Part 2
Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2000 12:03:21 -0500


Jerry,

Thank you for your detailed responses to the list. I have only a couple of
minor nits to pic:

You Wrote:



[1] If the intended bride were pregnant and the couple did manage to
"Pass the Mtg" and married in mtg, and if a child were born 7 or 8
months later, both husband and wife were summarily disowned. In
some cases the reason is suppressed in Hinshaw. Where it is given
it would be "unchastity" as I recall.

--> In the few examples I have seen with this situation, the process was
the same as for other discipline - the couple was visited with concern and
if they did not acknowledge their improper behavior to the meeting they
were disowned. I recall both an example of acknowledgement where the
couple remained in the meeting and another of being disowned. Rarely was an
action taken without some effort being made to get the individual involved
to acknowledge his or her misbehavior, and if they made appology to be
forgiven.


[3] In respect to illegitimate children, it is a mixed situation and
oftentimes
quite difficult to uncover the true facts. Typically the mother is
disowned,
the offense charged being either "unchastity" or "fornication". In some
cases the reason for disownment is suppressed in Hinshaw. If the father
is identified and he is a Friend, he would be disowned charged typically
with "fornication". My sense is that if the woman did identify the
father,
she stood a better chance of getting the meeting to accept her
condemnation
of her misconduct.

-->My wife is working on a South Jersey Quaker family where the father of a
child born to a woman not is wife was disowned in the early 19th century -
not for "fornication" - but for refusing to acknowledge that he was the
father and not accepting financial responsibility for the consequences of
his actions. Again, there are a variety of situations and meetings dealt
with each one individualy.


Alan Crosman
Haverford College
370 W. Lancaster Ave
Haverford, PA 19041
(610)896-1250

This thread: