Extracts of Irish Quakers references from  Quakers in Ireland 1654-1900 by Isabel Grubb, M.A.

and  History of the Rise and Progress of the People called Quakers by Rutty

(as related to the Phelps Irish Quakers )

Extracted by Kathy Hammons  2008 -   Edited by Doug Phelps

Page 13       History of the Rise and Progress of the People called Quakers in
Ireland, by John  Rutty with reference to Thomas Phelps (p. 96).  “Thomas Phelps, Richard Pearce, John Love”  Also named: John Perrot, Robert Mallins, Humphrey Norton, William Shaw, Thomas Loe, Barbara Blagdon

[Note that Ed Phelps, early researcher, wrote of an almost identical name list.  He wrote: “From Quaker records of, Irish and Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research, it tells us that in 1655, at the Munster Meetings, that Meetings were settled in Bandon, Cork, Kinsale, Limerick. Waterford and Youqhal. The Meeting in Limerick met at the home of Richard Pearce and his son Thomas. Other members were Thomas Phelps, John Love, John Perrot, Robert Mullins, Humphrey Norton, William Shaw and Thomas Low. ]
 

History of the Rise and Progrees of the People called Quakers by Rutty

The images of the following pages are viewable at the Google discussion group http://groups.google.com/group/origins-of-thomas-felpsmd-james-phelpsnc-thomas-phelpsva/files

Page 14      “In Queen Elizabeth’s reign a determined efforts was by the English Government to  conquer Ireland.

Page 15       “…between 1641 and 1652. It was closely connected with the English Civil War, and resulted in what is known as the Cromwellian Settlement, when the greater part of the land passed out of the hands of the native Irish.”

 

Page 16-17      “The Society of Friends in Ireland may almost be called an outcome of the Cromwellian Settlement. Very few of its members have been of Celtic race, and most  of its early adherents came over from England as settlers between 1652 and 1680. For a generation or more they described themselves as English rather than Irish.”        (This may explain the Will of Thomas Phelps in Ireland who was English [and listed in the Irish Wills index]

 

Page 19      “Mena and women spent their lives traveling from place to place proclaiming the good news of the possibility of immediate communion with God”
 

Page 23      Limerick –“Thomas Phelps and Richard Pearce, an apothecary, became the leading Friends there, and a meeting was held in Richard Pearce’s house. At first they did not find the value of silent worship, but later these Limerick Friends continued faithful, although publicly boycotted and their businesses brought to a standstill.”

 

Page 31      “Even in prison each Friend occupied himself with some trade, and friendly sheriffs would let them go home at times to look after their own affairs.” (May explain records of a Thomas Phelps out of prison at Quaker meetings, yet still a prisoner)

 

Page 34-35     “Though now known as the Religious Society of Friends, this was not the earliest name by which they called themselves. They were “Friends of Truth,” or the people of God in scorn called Quakers.””      “The Half-year’s or National Meeting met in May and November in Dublin until 1797, after which the Autumn Meeting was dropped. It sent
representatives to London Yearly Meeting and answered ‘Queries” put by it.” (Did Thomas Phelps travel to Dublin for these biannual meetings to represent Limerick?)
     “At first this meeting only consisted of six men representatives from each province, but later the difficulty was to get country Friends to attend it.”       “Subordinate to the National Meeting and reporting to it, were the three Province Meetings, Leinster, Munster, and Ulster, held at Country centres every six weeks.” (Minutes of both monthly and half-
year meetings could place the same Thomas Phelps in various locations, if he was representing the Limerick Friends)

 

Page 36       “It was a natural consequence of the numerical strength of Dublin Friends that their Men’s Meetings should act as a kind of Executive Committee for the National Meeting when it was not in session. One special function of this Meeting was the making of arrangements for the journeys of travelling ministers from England. Some of these came
again and again, and even finally settled in the country.”
Page 55       “In the summer of 1695 Sharp spent two months on a religious visit to Holland. (He had begun to preach in 1674.) He sailed form Harwich to Edam, narrowly escaping capture by privateers. He held meetings in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Groningen, Bremen, Hamburg and Frederikstadt, returning by Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Two years later
he visited Scotland and the North of England, on a similar mission.” (Traveling missions were the custom for Quaker preachers and could represent the same Thomas Phelps in various locations if a Thomas Phelps, Jr. was such a preacher) (Could Thomas Phelps, Jr. have been a shipping merchant or been on a similar mission as this Sharp, traveling to Barbados and Maryland? Back and forth travels were clearly the custom for both merchant ships and Quaker missions.)