Blog

The CQHA 2020 Conference is Postponed

We repost information from the following webpage: Dear CQHA friends,   This is not the message we had hoped to share with you at this point in our planning for the CQHA 2020 conference. Our program committee had worked through proposals and acceptances and was justifiably proud of the program we had put together, based almost entirely in the quality of presentations and their convergence around aspects of Quaker history and culture. We were on the verge of sharing the completed program with presenters, and Read more

By CFHA, ago

Are you subscribed to the Adolphustown-Fredericksburgh Heritage Society newsletter?

The Adolphustown-Fredericksburgh Heritage Society has been around since 1989, chronicling the history of one of Ontario’s oldest United Empire Loyalist settler communities. Adolphustown is of particular interest to Quaker historians as the site of the first Preparative Meeting in Upper (or lower) Canada, started in 1798. Membership in the AFHS costs only $5 for a lifetime, and comes with it a subscription to the members-only newsletter, which has wonderful articles about Adolphustown & Fredericksburgh history. In the April 2020 edition, you will find articles about Read more

By CFHA, ago

Help transcribe ships’ logs from the Nantucket Historical Association

The Nantucket Historical Association is asking for volunteer help to transcribe handwritten documents. Their collection currently available for transcribing includes ships’ logs and particularly eleven logs written by women, likely captains’ wives. The Nantucket area is of particular interest to Canadian Quaker enthusiasts as their whaling and fishing fleets had many connections with Barrington and Dartmouth, NS, which are home to some of the earliest Quaker settlers. You can find ships’ logs and other materials to transcribe here: https://fromthepage.com/nharl/ Setting up an account and getting Read more

By CFHA, ago

Textiles in Upper Canada

Anne Adams on Three Generations of a Quaker Family and Their Textiles Published in the 2006 edition of the Canadian Journal of Quaker History, Anne G. Adams’ article, “‘Done Without Spectacles…’ Three Generations of a Quaker Family and Their Textiles,” follows the textile trail of the British-born Mullett family who settled in Upper Canada in 1821. The Mullett family quickly integrated themselves in the Quaker community of Adolphustown and their eleven children married into local Quaker families, including the Haights and Bowermans. Adams’ article includes letters Read more

By Sydney Harker, ago

Help answer this question: do you know anything about Aaron Tool?

We recently received the following genealogy question via our contact form: A Quaker – Aaron Tool – came from Bucks County, PA, to York County, Ontario. I’ve seen note of him in Yonge St minutes but if there is anything more you can tell me, it would be greatly appreciated. I’ve been to the Friends cemetery in North Toronto and took pictures of the headstones but some were unreadable. Do you have any information about an Aaron Tool (or Toole)? Can you help our researcher Read more

By CFHA, ago

The Record Book of Joseph Edwards, Niagara, 1812-1813

Recently the American National Archives and Records Administration posted this interesting tidbit on their blog: Some Americans in Canada: The Record Book of Joseph Edwards, Niagara, Upper Canada, April 1812-January 1813 If you don’t follow NARA, you may have missed this interesting document – a record book of Joseph Edwards, the Justice of the Peace in Niagara. It includes a hefty list of Americans forced to either depart Upper Canada or swear allegiance to the province. You may recognize a few last names in the Read more

By CFHA, ago

New transcript! Plus: Help the CFHA Document Historical Quakers

Today we are announcing a new transcription available for your perusal: Muncy Women’s Monthly Meeting 1799-1819. This document was provided for our transcription by Swarthmore College Library, and was transcribed by Carman Foster. Those settling under the Pelham Meeting in the Niagara area and including the Yonge St Meeting around Newmarket mostly came via New Jersey and Pennsylvania meetings. Muncy was one of those meetings. Muncy Monthly Meeting was established in 1799 by Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting out of Catawissa Monthly Meeting. – Randy Saylor, from Read more

By Gordon Thompson, ago

New transcription: Pelham Monthly Meeting Women, 1828-1860 (O-5-1)

We’ve updated our transcriptions page with a new upload: Pelham Monthly Meeting’s Women’s book from 1828-1860. You can also see the PDF here: https://cfha.info/staging/PelhamO-5-1.pdf Thanks as always to our wonderful volunteer transcribers! Our team is always happy to accept new volunteers. If you find yourself with free time while sitting at home, consider joining us to transcribe digitized meeting books. The only skills required are patience and the ability to read handwriting. The experience is enriching and educational – you may find interesting stories, ancestors, Read more

By CFHA, ago

Reflections on the Middlesex Centre Archives’ Heritage Fair, February 22, 2020

Gord Thompson and I met Dave Zavitz from the Middlesex Centre Archives when we staffed a CFHA booth at the Ontario Genealogical Fair in London in June 2019. Dave, well familiar with CFHA from his own Quaker background, invited us to set up a CFHA display at the Middlesex Centre Archives’ Heritage Fair this last February. This event was in its third year, and it was easy to determine that the event had gained momentum within the historical community. We were very pleased to be Read more

By Donna Moore, ago

Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College supports CFHA transcriptions

We are pleased to be advised that Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College will make images of men’s and women’s minute books from Muncy Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania. Muncy Meeting (formerly Catawissa Monthly Meeting) was the source meeting of many Quaker migrants who relocated in Upper Canada at the beginning of the 19th century. Once the images are transcribed, the information will be of particular interest to descendants of Quakers who established the Uxbridge, Ontario Monthly Meeting. Members of the Catawissa Monthly Meeting found themselves Read more

By CFHA, ago