Sally and Caleb Turner

Photo by Hulda Jowett, 2011, used with permission

Caleb and Sally

Hulda Jowett's ancestor, Sally Aylsworth, who was sister to my Ada Ann Aylsworth, is buried in the same part of Maple St. Cemetery as her parents Warner and Susanna Aylsworth. As a rule, that is not an unusual finding but in this case, it may explain everything.

Quaker folks do not always have gravestones. It is part of the "plain" religion to not make a big fuss about death and remembrance. But, Sally, brought up as a Quaker, married Caleb Battey Turner, a Baptist.  Hulda says she looked through family papers and he was a Quaker.

Hulda has concluded that Caleb insisted on placing gravestones for his wife's parents in the plot. Thank you Caleb. But, it must have been hard on Warner to have his daughter marry an outsider.

What does intrigue me is that Caleb 's middle name was Battey! Could it be that the Battey family was the first Quaker family to leave the Smithfield Meeting and move to Adams? Battey is listed on the Smithfield Meeting Web page as a surname. If this is correct, then perhaps this was the influence that prompted the Aylsworth family to become Quakers. This will take additional research some other time.

"Among names familiar to this earlier generation of Friends may be mentioned those of Aldrich, Ballou, Battey, Bushee, Cranston, Ewen, Fisher, France, Marble, Morse, Mowry, Osborne, Paine, Read, Robinson, Steere, Thayer, Todd, Varney and many others. Names of a still later generation may be found upon the records of our work today."

Caleb and Sally had seven children.

Monthly Meeting

Inside the Meeting

Hulda Jowett brought my attention to this Web page that shows the interior of the Adams Quaker Meeting House. Be sure not to miss that the heat and the light (fireplace) is on the Women's side of the Meetinghouse. 

The Berry book that I am reading emphasizes that I should know which meeting my family belonged to. It didn't take me long to find this out for those people who lived in Adams and for the brother of my ancestor that moved to Michigan. It could be that Robert Marks Ayleworth, who moved away did so because he wanted to raise his family in a more "plain" fashion. Hulda and I are going to move into cluster research to find out what happened to the children and grandchildren of our common ancestor Warner and Susanna (Battey) Aylsworth.

I found some of the meeting records at Ancestry by searching the Card Catalog for "Quaker". If you have Quakers, stop reading this blog and go look. Now.

This is what those records look like and you need an annotated abbreviation list to figure them out. It is at the beginning of each volume and it is in Berry's book. 

Then, by a stroke of luck I found the New England Meeting information and a PDF to help me learn more. Also, Caroline Hazard's ebook on The Narragansett (RI) meetings a Google Books.

Suddenly, I am drowning in information! This means I must stop blogging and go back to learning. I have blog posts about the gravestone pre-written for your viewing pleasure while I do just that!

Anthony the Quaker

page cxxxvi of Alysworth genealogy

Huh? How do you spell that?

Aylsworth genealogy, p. iv

Well, no wonder, I was having trouble spelling the name to find vital records in Rhode Island. Fortunately, with each generation, the wife of each man has a first and maiden name. I can find a few marriage records.

Aylsworth genealogy, p. 80, asterisk for date of emigration is not proved. They were there in 1790 census.

When my daughter wanted to name her first son, Anthony, after her husband's side of the family, I told her that, we too, had a Anthony. That made everyone happy. 

Notice, that this Anthony is the one who went to Adams, MA and listed as buried in the "Friends" cemetery and that they were Quakers. I was sure that I would find no headstones, even for generations after this. I comforted myself that I knew where they were resting. 

But, my inner light keeps pushing me forward. 

Quaker Meeting House

Quaker Meeting House, a photo by Hulda Jowett, 2011, used with permission

Quaker Meeting House and home to Adams Historical Society.

The first Web page that I looked at (some time ago) gave me hope that I was going to be able to trace the family of my great grandmother, Ada Ann Evans. Notice it took them 15 years to build a meeting house. 

I am working with the Aylsworth genealogy. (which is out of copyright) It is slow going. I laughed when I saw this tiny graphic of a snail. I am reading it on my iPad mini one page at a time. The list of surnames is in the BEGINNING of the book.

The first generation doesn't begin until page 36 which is half way through the book. My Aylsworth line is Ada Ann6,  Warner5, Anthony4, Anthony3, John2, Arthur1.

Snail graphic from Aylesworth genealogy

They were Quakers!

This is the first break I have had in years for one branch of my tree that were Quakers. 

I found a record (at Ancestry.com) of Quaker "Monthly Meeting" in Adrian, Michigan. 

By searching for Adrian Monthly meeting, I was presented with this Web page. I am very excited!


Family name: Aylesworth or Aylsworth

My friend, Russ Worthington, also has Quaker roots. He looked up his family in this blog reference. I thought you might like to see that post.