History of The Religious Society of Friends in Lurgan

CHAPTER THREE

EMIGRATION

The founding of Pennsylvania by William Penn in 1681 proved to be a great attraction to Friends in all parts of Ireland, especially because of the harassment over tithes and oaths, the unsettled political state of the country and the deteriorating economic conditions. Many were drawn by the prospect of religious freedom and the challenge offered by the development of this new and vast territory. Between the years of 1682 and 1750 a total of 440 adults are recorded as leaving Friends meetings in Ireland. More Friends emigrated from County Armagh than from any other county in Ireland and Lurgan meeting was well represented throughout that period.

VALENTINE HOLLINGSWORTH

The first Lurgan Friend to venture to the New World was probably Valentine Hollingsworth. His family had settled in the district early in the 16th century, for Valentine was born in 1632 in Ballymacrandle in the parish of Seagoe. On Lynastown deeds he is descrihed as a 'freeholder' and appears to have owned the entire townland.

In 1682 he travelled from Belfast to the Delaware area together with his wife and several children, his son-in-law Thomas Conway and an indentured servant, Thomas Musgrave. He settled not far from the present city of Wilmington on an estate of nearly 1000 acres. He was an influential man in the new colony, for he was appointed a Justice of the Peace and represented New Castle County in the Pennsylvania Assembly at various times from 1685 until 1700. He donated a plot of land for use as a burial ground for Friends and meetings were held in his home in the early days before a permanent meeting house was built.

HENRY HOLLINGSWORTH

His son Henry followed one year later, travelling as one of seventeen 'redemptioners' or indentured servants with the wealthy Dublin merchant, Robert Turner. After serving for two years he was granted fifty acres in his own right. His thoughts, however, often went back over the seas to Lurgan to the girl he had loved before he left for America and in 1688 he made the long journey back to Ireland. He was married to Lydia Atkinson in the house of John Robson in June 1688. One can imagine the excitement which his arrival caused and the questions he was asked about what life was like in the faraway world of Pennsylvania. Shortly after his wedding he returned with Lydia to America and became surveyor of a county area. Like his father he became a member of the Provincial Assembly.

His uncle John Calvert and family settled in the same area of Pennsylvania as did another Lurgan family called Dixon.

GEORGE AND MICHAEL HARLAND

The Lurgan connection was strengthened further by the arrival of the Harland brothers, George and Michael, in 1687. George brought his wife and young family and Michael, who was unmarried, found a wife in the new settlement shortly after his arrival. She was Dinah Dixon, originally from Lurgan, who was living in the same area. George soon became one of the foremost citizens of the colony and was a member of the Colonial Assembly. Friends Meetings for Worship were often held in his home before a permanent building was erected. The Harlans, as they spelt their name after removal to America, became a widely connected and eminent family in the USA. A detailed genealogical record has been produced and a family reunion in 1987 (to mark the 300th anniversary of their arrival in America) brought together a vast assembly of descendants from almost every state of the USA. It is interesting to note that one descendant married a son of Abraham Lincoln and another was the wife of President McKinley.

ALPHONSUS KIRK

In 1688 another member of an important Lurgan family sailed from Belfast bound for the same region. Alphonsus Kirk of Tullygally, aged twenty-nine, brought with him a certificate of removal from Lurgan Meeting with a postscript from his parents stating "we are willing our son above named should take this journey herein mentioned ......and if it be his portion to marry we do give our consent, provided it be to a Friend, and in unity with Friends, according to the order of truth.". He was in fact married just three years later to another Ulster Friend emigrant and other relatives followed him in subsequent years. The Kirk family played a significant part in the life of the Society of Friends in America and in the development of the country.

MENALLEN TOWNSHIP

Emigrants to a strange and undeveloped country often brought the name of their former place of residence to their new abode. A group of Ulster emigrants who found their way to central Pennsylvania called their settlement Menallen after the district (Moyallon) which they had left. The Friends Meeting there contained a high proportion of members of Ulster origin with names such as Christy, Hewitt, and Hobson prominent. It remains an important Friends centre in that part of Pennsylvania and provides a clear witness to the contribution of the early Irish pioneers.

WILLIAM PENN IN LURGAN

William Penn, himself, had important associations with Ireland, chiefly on account of his estates in Munster and often spent time in the south of the country. He paid an extensive religious visit to Ireland in 1698 in the course of which he engaged in disputations on doctrine with various church leaders and sought to improve the circumstances of Friends by representations to government officials. His biographer, Clarkson, records Lurgan among the places he visited and

states: 'at all of which places he preached to large assemblies, and with great advantage to the character of his own Society, but particularly in the latter place (i.e. Lurgan), because many professors among the Sectarians who atttended him acknowledged that the Quakers had been wronged by false reports concerning their principles and doctrines.' He must have been keen to include Lurgan in his itinerary, as he would have been aware of its importance as a Quaker settlement through the many emigrants who had already made their mark in the province of Pennsylvania.

JAMES LOGAN

The most important Lurgan man in the development of Pennsylvania was James Logan, born in the town in 1674. His father, Patrick Logan, was born in Scotland, studied at Edinburgh University and became a clergyman of the Established Church. He later became a Quaker, resigned his position and moved to Lurgan where he took charge of a Latin school. His son James was born and grew up in a house near the site of the old Meeting House in High Street. At the age of 13 James was apprenticed to a Dublin linen merchant, Edward Webb, but because of the unsettled state of the country, he rejoined his family in Lurgan after a stay of only six months and they all returned soon after to Scotland.

In 1690 the Logans moved from Scotland to Bristol where Patrick was appointed master of a Friends' School. Three years later he and the family returned to Lurgan, leaving James at the age of nineteen in charge of the school. James was a successful schoolmaster, but he longed for a wider scope for his talents and so he engaged in business enterprises in Bristol, involving shipping between that city and Dublin. William Penn, who had been a governor of the Bristol school, recognised James Logan's abilities and took him with him in 1699 to America as his secretary. During the next forty years Logan held high public office, being in effect Governor of Pennsylvania during the absences of the Proprietor and his son. At various times he acted as Mayor of Philadelphia and Chief Judge of the Supreme Court.

He was constantly devoted to the interests of the Penn family and the ideals which had prompted the foundation of the colony. He was a skilled negotiator •with the Indians and highly respected by them. In his latter years he devoted much time to scholarly activities and amassed a considerable library, thus showing a love of learning acquired at the Latin school in Lurgan.

GEORGE HODGSON

While many emigrants found prosperity and success in the New World there were also sad cases of hardship, privation and death in the course of the journey or in the harsh conditions on the American frontiers. One pathetic story is of Robert Hodgson who emigrated from Lurgan with his wife and family in 1710. The entire family died on the voyage to America except one son, George, then aged nine. He was adopted by a Quaker family in Pennsylvania and later married and settled in North Carolina. A descendant, James D. Rodman, who is also descended from George Harland, kindly supplied the information.

THOMAS CHILD

Correspondence to and from emigrants was difficult and contact between families often erratic. Irish relatives even in those days had high expectations of fortunes being made in the New World and hopes of financial windfalls were high.

Thomas Child was a young man who emigrated on his own and settled in Pennsylvania near other Ulster Friends. Following his death a Lurgan Friend, William Porter, had written on behalf of Thomas Child's mother, obviously to find out about his estate. The following reply from George Harlan explains the circumstances of his death and gives details of the will of which the Harlans were chief beneficiaries.

Brandywine Creek
ye 27th of ye 10th month 1696

Loving Friend William Porter,

This may acquaint thee that I have received four letters from thee all of one date and tenor being ye 20th of ye 9th m. '95 in relation to Mary Child whose son Thomas died something more than two years since at Vallentine Hollingsworths, he happening to fall sick there and as to what is reported concerning his bequest to his mother I have here sent thee a copy of his will on the other side.

I was with him in time of his sickness and he being about to make his will I put him in mind of his relations in Ireland and his answer was thus: He had never received any letter since he had been in the country from any of them, replying further he had been troublesome to his friends in his life time and questioning by reason of wars and mortality that had been of late in Ireland who of his relations might be living or dead.

And to impose so troublesome an undertaking upon his friends (as the making sale of what he had and turning it into money and conveying the same to Ireland might prove) he would not do it.

Thus far concerning the Child matter. So hoping this may find thee in good health with thy family, mine with my wife's dear love is remembered unto thee and to the rest of our friends and relations. Let my brother understand that we are all indifferent well and know of no alteration since I wrote by Thomas Musgrave. My wife's dear love is remembered in particular to Robert Hoope and Elenor; having often desired to hear from them, so having naught else at present but remain thy friend.

Emigration was a recurring pattern for Lurgan Friends over the years. Cycles of crop failures with resultant famines, high rents for small, scarcely economic holdings, over-population in the North Armagh area, all these factors induced members at various times to consider the prospects elsewhere. America was always a favoured destination, but in later years Australia and New Zealand provided strong incentives and, of course, England and Scotland, where the break with home did not seem so permanent.