Overview

The coming of Friends' families to America during the colonial days has been described in many works of genealogical research and in local histories, but they have mostly related to families from England. Albert Cook Myers, in the portly and attractive volume named above, has filled a gap in the records by describing the migration of Friends from Ireland. After narrating the beginnings of Quakerism in Ireland the author discusses the inducements that led the Irish Friends to come to Pennsylvania. From the time of his convincement, while in Ireland, of the truth of Friends' doctrines, William Penn had been brought prominently before the Friends of Ireland. In 1669 he went to that country to assist in the management of the Penn estates, and hearing of the persecution and imprisonment of the Friends there went at once to Dublin, and succeeded in procuring the release of those in prison. The Irish Friends had great confidence in him and they were among the first to whom he opened his Pennsylvania project. The Free Society of Traders, consisting of over three hundred members, among whom were several prominent Irish Friends, purchased 20,000 acres of land in Pennsylvania. Robert Turner, one of the committee at the head of the organization, removed to Philadelphia in 1683 with his daughter and seventeen indented servants. As he was prominent in the affairs of the colony, no doubt his influence did much to forward the migration of his countrymen. The most eminent of the Irish immigrants was James Logan, who came to Pennsylvania in company with William Penn in 1699, and for forty years thereafter held some high office in the colony. He bequeathed to the city of Philadelphia his private library of 3,000 volumes, which formed the foundation of the Loganian Library. Thomas Holmes, who had been imprisoned in Dublin, was one of the first purchasers in Pennsylvania, buying a tract of 5,000 acres. Penn appointed him surveyor-general of the province of Pennsylvania. He also held many other places of trust and honor, and at one time acted as governor of the province. Other distinguished Irish Friends were Thomas Griffiths, who served as mayor of Philadelphia and judge of the Supreme Court; Robert Strettell, a prosperous Philadelphia merchant who had a country house in Germantown, and who also served as mayor; William Stockdale, a writer of Friends' books; Nicholas Newlin, who served as a judge of the Chester county courts; and Lydia Darragh, who risked the safety of herself and family to give important information to General Washington.... --The American Historical Review

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