Among the First Quakers

Quakers in London 1723

On this, my fiftieth post in this blog, there is more to say about Quaker ancestors on my maternal grandmother's side of the family. As with many explorations into pre-19th century genealogy, don't expect too many firm conclusions. The records just aren't there. But I do believe that the Garritts are the Quaker connection, and go back to the beginnings of the movement.

The Quakers emerged around 1650 as George Fox and other dissenters began to preach around the country. They called themselves Friends; according to Fox, the term Quaker originated after a magistrate mocked Fox for urging him to "tremble at the word of the Lord". They were fiercely persecuted for their non-conformity, until the Toleration Act of 1689. But even by 1655, when George Fox visited Coggeshall in Essex, he found there were already 2000 co-religionists meeting at the town. Some of those may have been my ancestors. The story unfolds below.

Thomas Blacketer, shoe maker, and son of Zachariah and Winifred, married Elizabeth Garritt in 1786 and died two only years later, aged 31. Thomas and Elizabeth are 5xgreat grandparents of mine. Their children - they had two in their two years of marriage - have their births recorded by the Ratcliff Meeting of the Friends, although neither of the parents were considered members at the time. Elizabeth went on to remarry Christopher Moor, and their marriage, and the births of their children are recorded by the Friends. The Moors appear to have been members of their Friends Meeting since no there is no anotation to the contrary on their records.

Elizabeth's grandsons, through Joseph Blacketer, and all born in her lifetime, also have their births recorded at the Friends Meeting, while Joseph and his wife are not considered members. I have found no Quaker connection in my Blacketer line either before or since these two sets of records. And this made me particularly interested in Elizabeth Garritt's background.

On the marriage record for Elizabeth Blackiter and Christopher Moor, 29 July 1794, from the Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex, her parents are described as:
       Joseph Garritt, of Chelmsford in Essex, Draper, and Mary his Wife, deceased

From this I would have drawn the conclusion that Joseph must still be alive at this time, although Mary is not. However, I decided to search for Garritt marriages in which there were parents Joseph Garritt and Mary. Perhaps I could flush out some of Elizabeth's siblings. There were two marriages of interest.

The first, from the Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex 17 September 1793, for Joseph Docwra and Ann Garritt, describing his parents as:
       Joseph Docwra of the same place [Essex] Deceased & Patience his Wife him surviving

And her parents as:
       Joseph & Mary Garrett of Chelmsford in said County [Essex] deceased

Which I would read as both of Ann's parents being deceased. Of particular interest on Quaker Marriage Certificates is the large number of witness signatures, many of whom are under the heading: "relations". Among the relations signing as witnesses for this marriage is Elizabeth Blackitter, who must be Ann Garritt's widowed sister.

The second record of interest in my search comes from 6 August 1776, when another sister of Elizabeth Garritt has a marriage recorded at the Monthly Meeting of Devonshire House, London:
       Thomas Pace of the Parish called Saint Mary Whitechapel, Clockmaker,
       Son of John Pace, late of the Parish called Christ Church in Middlesex,
       Shoemaker, and Sarah, his Wife, both deceased; and Sarah Garritt,
       Daughter of Joseph Garritt, late of Chelmsford in Essex, Draper, deceased,
       and Mary, his Wife him surviving (now Mary Gostling)

So, Joseph Garritt, the Draper of Chelmsford, and father of Sarah, Ann and Elizabeth (and she my 5xgreat grandmother), died before 6 August 1776. His widow remarried someone named Gostling, and died before 17 September 1793, the date of the marriage record for Ann Garritt and Joseph Docwra. Of Joseph Garritt's marriage, the births of his children, and his deaths I have no direct record, nor of his widow's remarriage or death. The absence of these records from the Essex Friends Meetings suggests that they were not in membership, although his daughters appear to have remained in contact with the Society.

The Monthly Meeting of Witham have birth records which include Joseph Garritt, born in Chelmsford 1732. This Joseph, I believe, is our Draper of Chelmsford. Here is a list of children born to Thomas Garritt and his wife Ann:
       Thomas 7 June 1725 
              (Thomas Garritt son of Thomas and Ann
                     was buried in Chelmsford 13 November 1729)
       William 6 August 1726
       Joseph 17 December 1727 (this has been read as 1722 and 1732,
                                                       but 1727 would be sequential in the register)
       Ann 11 May 1729
              (Ann Garritt daughter of Thomas and Ann
                     was buried in Chelmsford 13 November 1729
                                      - they buried two children on one day)
       Sarah 23 September 1730
       Ann 31 January 1731/2 
       Elizabeth 9 June 1733 (but see below, the last digit is not visible)
              (A 67-year-old Elizabeth Garritt, Spinster
                     was buried in Colchester 10 August 1800)

Ann Garritt, the mother, was buried at Chelmsford 13 June 1733. June is rendered as 4th Month, although one could read the document as 11th Month, but in that case it should be double dated 1733/4 (and is clearly not double-dated). The double dating occurs because the English style New Year began 25th March, while elsewhere it was already 1st January. Likewise, the date of birth for the last of the children, Elizabeth, can be read as 9 June or January 173? - the last digit is obscured by the center binding. Elizabeth's date of birth could be one of the following:
       9 January 1732/3 or 9 June 1733.

I am thinking it's the second of these and Ann's burial is the 13 June 1733, and that Ann must have died of postpartum complications, what in the period they described as "death in child bed". It is, of course, possible that one of the January dates is the correct birth date for Elizabeth, and that Ann's death is unrelated to Elizabeth's birth.

Thomas Garritt, the father, meanwhile appears to have remarried. The Colchester Monthly Meeting records the burial 8 June 1776 of "Mary Garritt, Widdow of Thos Garritt, Draper late of Chelmsford in the County of Essex, deceased, aged about Seventy nine years". I have not yet found a direct record of such a marriage, nor of his death. For all I know, they may have had children for which I have found no record.

There is a later marriage for Sarah Garritt that is probably related to the 1730 birth of that name. This comes from the Witham Monthly Meeting of a marriage that occurred in Chelmsford 6 March 1764:
       Joseph Row of Duke Street old Artilley Ground Londn Weaver,
       Son of John Row of the same Place and Trade, deceas'd and Elizth
       his Wife him Surviving; and Sarah Garritt Daur of Thos Garritt of
       Chelmsford Essex Shopkeeper and Ann his Wife she being deceased.

At the top of the signatures of relations attesting to the 1776 marriage (described above) of Thomas Pace and Sarah Garritt are those of Joseph and Sarah Row, who, if we are right, are the aunt and uncle of Sarah Garritt of the 1776 marriage.

Sarah Garritt of the Garritt/Row marriage record is connected to Sarah Garritt, born in 1730, by the following points:
       1. Same name: Sarah Garritt
       2. Same parents' names: Thomas and Ann Garritt
       3. Same town: Chelmsford, Essex
       4. They are Quakers

Searching for Thomas Garritt, Sarah's father, I found a possible birth record at the Monthly Meeting of Coggeshall:
       Thomas Ye Son of Thomas Garritt & Elizabeth
              his Wiff was born the 6th of the 2:Mo:1700

Garritt marriages in which there were parents Thomas Garritt and Ann or Mary did not flush out any siblings. But I did find a record for parents Thomas and Elizabeth. A child of Thomas and Elizabeth Garritt is Sarah, who marries Thomas Corbyn 21 January 1752, as recorded by the Colchester Monthly Meeting.
       Thomas Corbyn of Holborn, Citizen and Apothecary of London Son of John
       Corbyn of the City of Worcester Clothier, and of Candia his Wife, and Sarah
       Garritt Daughter of Thomas Garritt late of Colchester Salesman and of
       Elizabeth his Wife both deceased.

Among witness signatures are the following Garritts: John, Ann, Isaac, Sarah, Mary, Rebeker[!]. And Thomas and Sarah Corbyn of this marriage are witnesses (as relations) to the marriage of Joseph Row and Sarah Garritt twelve years later in 1764. Again, if we are correct, they are uncle and aunt to the bride.

Sarah Corbyn died 21 January 1790, aged about 70 years, and is buried at the Friends Burying Ground Bunhill Fields. She would therefore have been born around 1719. I have not yet found a record of her birth, or the birth records for any prior siblings, except for the Thomas Garritt birth in Coggeshall 1700.

In Coggeshall 18 January 1697/8, the Essex Quarterly Meeting records the marriage of the parents of course Thomas born 1700:
       Whereas Thomas Garret [later references are all to Thomas Garritt]
       of Coggeshall Magna In Ye County of Essex Tayler Son of John Garritt
       of ye same Towne and County Afforesd Tayler and Elizabeth Pemberton
       Daughter of Richard Pemberton And Sarah his Wife deceased of ye
       same Towne and County Afforesd Baymaker.

Among the first witness signatures are John Garritt and Ann Garritt, possibly Thomas's parents, and Richard Pemberton, possibly Elizabeth's father or brother. Other Garritts are Isaac and Francis. If the line is correct back from Elizabeth Garritt (who married Thomas Blacketer), then Thomas Garritt and Elizabeth Pemberton are my 8xgreat grandparents. The caveat here is the discontinuity of records between Thomas Garritt born in Coggeshall in 1700, and Thomas Garritt the father of the children born in Chelmsford in the 1720s and 30s.

Births to Thomas and Ann (or Anna) Garritt recorded by the Coggeshall Monthly Meeting are:
       John 20 December 1666
       Thomas 16 December 1669 - presumably the future husband of Elizabeth Pemberton
       Isaac 22 April 1672
       Francis 8 March 1678

Meanwhile Richard Pemberton and Sarah his wife have the following children recorded at the same place:
       Richard 9 January 1662
       John 16 April 1665
       Sarah 31 August 1674
       Elizabeth 29 January 1676

There is even a record for the marriage of these parents:
       Richard Pemberton tooke Sarah the Daughter of William Guyon (deceased)
       the first day of the first month 1662 haveing twice published the same in the
       meeting before to wife.

Which would make William Guyon a 10xgreat grandfather of mine.

There are two Pemberton burial records of interest here, recorded together by the Coggeshall Monthly Meeting:
       Aged
       23 years (Sarah Pemberton the daughter of Richard Pemberton
                      (deceased, died 21st of ye 8/month [October] 1697
       61 years (Sarah Pemberton Snr the Wife of Richard Pemberton
                      (departed this Life the 24th of ye 10/Mo [December] 1697

A probate record, probably a will, for Richard Pemberton, Clothier of Gt Coggeshall is recorded for 1696, suggesting a year of death. If so, the signature on the marriage document must be Richard Pemberton, Elizabeth's brother. But note, the Richard, father of the bride, on the Garritt/Pemberton marriage document is described as a Baymaker, one who weaves baize, a woollen cloth resembling felt. The clothier could be a different Richard Pemberton.

By the 1660s, John and Ann Garritt, and Richard and Elizabeth Pemberton have the births of their children recorded among the Quakers. These four are all likely to have been born in the 1630s or early 1640s. They would have come of age as Quaker teaching came to Coggeshall, are appear to have been early converts to the movement.

The further back in time I go, the less certain the evidence. The Garritt family is probably quite large, and may have moved beyond Essex. The names are common, so I might expect there to be several Thomas or Sarah Garritts at any one time. On the encouraging side, the records presented in this post are connected by Friends Meetings. Marriages in earlier generations produce witness signatures of relatives in later ones. And occupational data appear to make sense, even from generation to generation. If you pass this information along in your family history, please be sure to add all the caveats.