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October 25, 2002 - More Information On Quakers In Jamaica
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This information was kindly sent along to Clan Stirling Online by Dorothy Kew. If you have more information on the Quakers in Jamaica, please let us know! There is a great deal of active research on the ties of many Stirlings in Jamaica, and the United States. James Stirling of Cornwall Connecticut was an active Quaker in the 1760's-1829. A small group of Quakers were early settlers of Jamaica from England, particularly in St. Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Spanish Town and Kingston, and are recorded from 1679 in Port Royal. Most of the Friends however left the island for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by 1749 and only a few references to transferring lands previously owned by Quakers were recorded up to the 1790s .... Minutes for the Meetings for Sufferings, Minutes of the Yearly Meeting, Letters Received and Sent and as well as some miscellaneous papers may be seen in the Society of Friends Library, London. More information on the documents available in the above library, including pages and volume numbers, may be found in "Sources of Jamaican History 1655-1838 by K. E. Ingram.... American researchers who cannot make the connection between Pennsylvania Quaker families and those in England might consider the possibility that their families made a home in Jamaica before removing to the United States. Any existing records would be in London, except for land patents and deeds of land sales that are in Jamaica. Burial grounds of Quakers in Jamaica are mentioned in the letters, but it is unlikely that any monumental inscriptions survive in Jamaica".....p. 16-17.
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