Re: Congregational churches

["John S. Quarterman" <jsq@mids.org>]

Beverly,

>Thank you that was very interesting. I keep seeing common threads between the 
>Quarterman's and my non-Quarterman relations. 

One of the things that I keep seeing in the records is that people of
similar social and religious backgrounds tended to marry each other
and to live nearby for generation after generation.

>The Midway Church was a Congregational Church. My grandmother's (Mary Ada 
>Gerrish Quarterman) family (the Gerrish's) were Congregationalist hundred's 
>of years before she married Joseph F. Quarterman.

As were the Midway people's ancestors.  The Midway group moved from
Dorchester, S.C. in 1752-4, where they had moved from Dorchester, Mass.
in 1695, where they arrived from England in 1630.  They had assembled
in Dorchester, Dorset, England

 http://www.dorset-cc.gov.uk/dorch.htm

for the purpose of emigrating.  They arrived in Massachusetts several
months before Gov. Bradford's fleet.  Most of them came from
Oxfordshire originally.  They were Congregational from at least the
1620s onward.

Our earliest known Quarterman ancestor, Robert, appears in South Carolina
in 1695 or 1698.  One reason we think he probably came from Oxfordshire
is that he joined a group of Congregationalists with historical roots
in Oxfordshire.  Well, that and the Quatremaine family in England is
known to have first appeared in Oxfordshire.

>I was christen the lst Congregational Church of Jacksonville, Florida.

Which I wouldn't be surprised if it was founded by Midway people.

> Later, 
>as a child I attended the new Congregational Church in south Jacksonville, 
>Florida which was partial funded by the Cummer family of Jacksonville, which 
>are related to the Gerrishs through Mary Ada Gerrish Cummer my grandmother's 
>name sake.

>To this day, I consider myself a Congregational which as you know is not a 
>common church.

Most of the Puritans were Congregationalists.  Many if not most New England
Congregationalists churches became Unitarian.  Many other Congregationalists
became Presbyterian or Methodist.  All but two of the ministers of
Midway Church were Presbyterian, although by far not all people who
preached at Midway were either its own ministers or Presbyterian;
Methodists were probably the second most numerous preachers there.

>The first Gerrish - Capt. William Gerrish. born 8. 20th 1617 (born in 
>Bristol, England), settled in Newburry, Mass and died in Salem, Mass.  From 
>what I understand, they were instrumental the first Congregational Church in 
>Mass.

Newbury was an offshoot of Dorchester, which was the site of the
first Congregational Church in Mass., which was formed in 1630
by the ancestors of the Midway people.

Many residents of Salem were also Dorchester people.  Our Way ancestors
lived around there.  They didn't take to the witchcraft trials of 1692;
one of our ancestors is on record as opposing those trials.  In the book
is a chart of how we are related to the various accused witches.  It is
generally accepted that our Way ancestors emigrated to S.C. primarily
because of disgust at the witchcraft hysteria, although I've never seen
a quotation where any of those Ways spelled it out in so many words.
Many of their exact words opposing the trials are recorded, however.

At any rate, your Gerrish ancestors were in many ways similar from what
you say to our Way and other Mass. ancestors, and they were clearly neighbors.
So it's not surprising that some of them intermarried.  There may well be
earlier intermarriages that you simply haven't discovered yet.  That's
certainly how it worked with researching the Midway group.

>All this is so interesting.....

Genealogy is not just marriages and begats.  It is also sociology,
history, and story.

>Thanks again for your hard work....

You're welcome.  Please note that I'm mostly just reiterating research
that is in the book, which numerous people (many of them on this list)
contributed to.

Incidentally, if you're worried about being related to supposed witches,
remember there's worse: we know we're related to Yankees. :-)

>Beverly Jones Saunders (daughter Dorothy Quarterman Jones)

John S. Quarterman <jsq@mids.org>