Since 1998 - Historical and Genealogical
Resources
for the Upper New River Valley of North Carolina and
Virginia
1. Founding dates of of the Quaker monthly meetings in the Carolinas (from Rufus Jones [1] and Http://www.rootsweb.com/~quakers/quakmtg.htm )
| Bush River SC | 1770 | Newberry SC |
| Cane Creek NC | 1751 | Alamance |
| Cane Creek SC | 1773 | Union SC |
| Carver's Creek | 1746 | |
| Center | 1757 or 1772 | Guilford |
| Contentnea | 1743/8 | Wayne |
| Core Sound | 1733 | Carteret |
| Deep River | 1778 | Guilford |
| Dunn's Creek | 1746 | |
| Falling Creek | 1748 | |
| Fredericksburg (Waterie) | 1750 | Kershaw SC |
| Little River | 1713 | Perquimans |
| New Garden | 1754 | Guilford |
| Perquimans | 1680 | Perquimans |
| Pasquotank | 1698 | Pasquotank |
| Spring | 1773 | Alamance |
| Springfield | 1790 | Guilford |
| Rich Square | 1760 | Northampton |
| Wells | 1764 | |
| Westfield | 1786 | Surry |
2. Founding dates of Quaker monthly meetings in Virginia
| Back Creek | 1777 | Frederick |
| Bear Garden | 1767 | Hampshire |
| Black Water | 1757 | Surry |
| Camp Creek | 1747 | Louisa |
| Cedar Creek | 1739 | Hanover |
| Chuckatuck | Before 1672 | Nansemond |
| Curles (Henrico) | 1698 | Henrico |
| Denby | 1716 | 1716 |
| Fairfax | 1744 | Loudoun |
| Hopewell (Opequan & Providence) | 1735 | Frederick |
| Isle of Wight | 1767 | Isle of Wight |
| Middle Creek | 1775 | Berkeley |
| Nansemond | 1702 | Nansemond |
| Pagan Creek | 1702 | Isle of Wight |
| Piney Grove | 1755 | Marlborough SC |
| South River | 1757 | Bedford |
| Surry | 1702 | Surry |
| Wainoak | 1702 | Charles City |
| Warwick | 1702 | York |
| White Oak Swamp (alias) | Abt 1700 | Henrico |
3. Origin of members of New Garden MM (Guilford Co., NC) (1754-1770) (from Rufus Jones [1])
| Pennsylvania | 45 |
| Virginia | 35 |
| Maryland | 1 |
| NE North Carolina | 4 |
| Total | 85 |
After 1770 a large influx of persons from Nantucket Island, MA occurred.
Commentary by the author of this page (James Quinn)
1. Most of the Quakers from Virginia in the above table are from the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley and settled there from Pennsylvania or Maryland, so further reinforce the Pennsylvania origin of Quaker settlers in the Piedmont of North Carolina.
2. From my studies of Quaker frontier genealogy I would say that Quakers in Virginia during the Revolution could be divided into 4 groups.
The oldest group were in the southeast corner of Virginia (e.g. Norfolk, Isle of Wight Co. etc.) and date from the founding of the Quaker movement. This group owned slaves and spread into the northeast corner of North Carolina. This is perhaps the oldest Quaker colony in America.
The second group started in Henrico Co., VA. A few of these families may have been Quakers from the time of their emigration to America (e.g. Jordan, Womack), but most of these families appear to have be converted in the 1690-1730 time-frame. Some of these families were very wealthy and they were related to many of the leading families of the Virginia Piedmont. This group spread north to Hanover and Louisa counties, then west to the Lynchburg VA area. Some of them were large slave owners. For instance, a John Pleasants freed over 1000 slaves on his death a few years after the Revolution.
The third group came from Pennsylvania and adjoining Maryland to the Northern Shenandoah and the adjoining Potomac Valley beginning about 1728. This became the largest Quaker settlement in Virginia. This group generally disapproved of slavery.
The fourth group is the Chestnut Creek settlement in southwest Virginia which is the subject of this study.
References and Links:
(1) The Quakers in the American Colonies, by Rufus M. Jones (1911)
(2) If you are interested in learning about Quaker's religious beliefs in this time period you might try Friends Early Use of the Bible.
(3)A very interesting article on the Quaker settlement of northwest Virginia can be found at http://www.patp.us/reading/5.shtml (by Jay Worral on Pat Patterson's web site)