PLACES IN IRELAND WHENCE THE FRIENDS CAME
To make some attempt at an accurate determination
of the places in Ireland whence
the friends emigrated, an examination of
records of all certificates of removal
brought over by Irish Friends between the years
1682 and 1750.
Evidence suggests that from Ulster came 172
adult members; from Leinster 183; from Munster
42; and from places which are not specified
43. This makes a total of 440 adult persons
from twenty-nine or more meetings. If, however,
we count the children and the women whose
names evidently have not been recorded, and likewise
those persons of whose emigration we have
no record, we may safely estimate that at least
between 1,500 and 2,000 Irish Friends came to
Pennsylvania between 1682 and 1750.
County Armagh in the province of Ulster sent
ninety-five colonists, more than any other county.
Dublin Meeting sent fifty-four, more than any
other meeting. Grange Meeting, in a country
district near Charlemount, County Armagh, comes
next with forty-one; then follows Ballynacree, an
obscure county meeting near Ballymoney, County
Antrim, with thirty-five. The Friends from Ulster
and those from Leinster, with the exception of
Dublin, were almost wholly from the country districtd.
Some few were tradespeople, but the
majority were yeomen or farmers, and when they
came to Pennsylvania, they bought farms and
engaged in agriculture. The Quaker colonists from
Munster, on the other hand, were nearly all
tradesmen from the cities and towns. They,
with the emigrants from Dublin, settled for the
most part in Philadelphia.
