THE MARRIAGE: Somewhere along the line, Hope and Joseph met, probably living in close proximity to each other. I have not been able to find a record of their marriage yet, but I am hopeful. The county did not require the recording of marriages until 1885. I have done what I believe to be a relatively thorough search of biographical histories of their known children, but did not find their marriage in them, as is sometimes the case, and also the J.V. Thompson Journals, written by a local historian who spent many years interviewing older residence, similar to Lyman Draper, if you are familiar with his frontier work...
That leaves the possibility of a family Bible surfacing, and Presbyterian records because (1) people who left the Quaker fold often became Presbyterians and (2) some of their children were known to have been active in the local Presbyterian Church.
This ancestry.com index indicates the Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy lists 1 Aug 1806 as the marriage of Hope and Joseph. This is an error in how ancestry.com deciphered the entries in the books. 1 Aug 1806 is actually the date of the Monthly Meeting in which Hope is called out for marrying contrary to Quaker rules. This means Hope and Joseph were probably married in July, possibly by a local Presbyterian minister.
CONDEMNED
There were weekly meetings which outsiders refer to something similar to Protestant Sunday services; monthly meetings at a larger meeting house where among other things, records were copied from the weekly meetings in that particular Monthly Meeting group; and a Yearly Meeting where all records for that group would again be copied (nice for us in the 21st Century since not all records at all Meeting Houses survived over the years.
This record was from the Monthly Meeting in Redstone. Hope attended Sandy Hill weekly services referred to as "preparative meetings" for a good part of her married life, their farm only being a couple miles away (not to be confused with Sandy Creek, also close by.)
For information about the Sandy Hill meetings and the Quaker meeting hierarchy see:
http://www.quaker-chronicle.info/meetings.php?meetingID=36
then
http://www.quaker-chronicle.info/meetings.php?meetingID=24
Although Joseph's grandparents were staunch supporters back in Chester County in eastern Pennsylvania, I can find no record of him or his parents in any records currently available online in Chester or Fayette counties. Also, previous researchers, although finding Hope's membership, never did located anything on the Woodwards either, only saying that Joseph must have joined later because they are buried in the cemetery. (I have disproven this, more later...)
If one checks the actual page of the scanned book page of the index created in 1946, it lists "con mou". Checking the table at the beginning of the book (Page 15 is the scanned page number, not the physical page of the actual book) for identifying information the abbreviations, "con" means condemned and "mou" stands for "married out of unity".
The Research Guide to Finding Your Quaker Ancestors" by ancestry.com describes this as
"Marrying out of unity could include marrying outside the faith, marrying a first cousin, or marrying without parental consent."
https://www.ancestrycdn.com/mars/landing/quaker/quaker-guide.pdf - One does not need to have an ancestry.com membership to access their extremely helpful guides.
This is very telling. Hope and Joseph were not first cousins, and although her father still lived in the area, not moving to Ohio until 1810, a search of currently available online records do not included what Titus thought.
Previous Woodward and Shotwell family histories have mentioned using Quaker records but where they were located during their research years is unknown to me. Now they are housed at the Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania and have been microfilmed and digitized; the books were published in 1879 and 1895 respectively. The series of the books constituting the Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy [basically an index of Quaker records] seems to not have been published until 1946.
For more information concerning the location of original Quaker records see:
https://www.swarthmore.edu/friends-historical-library/quaker-meeting-records
This is also a Monthly Meeting so I am unsure why this appeared here [Westland Monthly Meeting] unless boundaries were shifting. Western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio were growing both in membership and in population during the first quarter of the 1800s.
Because they later record her death but no other family member, it would seem to indicate that she was allowed to return but her immediate family of Joseph and the kids did not join. In one study I read, this was not an unusual process but she probably would not have been allowed to participate in Friends activities, but was allowed to attend what outsiders refer to as church services.
See: http://www.quaker.org/disown.html
MIDDLE LIFE
I am unaware of a primary source which lists all of Hope and Joseph's children and neither left a will. Census records did not list everyone in the house until 1850 and since they started having children about 1807, most would have been married and out of the house by then. Also, that census did not list relationship to head of household which can muddy the waters a bit. On my list for further research is defining the list of their children.
Until I can do further research, I am only going to say that Hope and Joseph were building their family between 1807 to 1822 when their last proven child, Caleb, was born.
Richard Woodward, Hope's father-in-law made his will on 2 Dec 1815. It was a verbal will, which I believe is no longer acceptable, and it was probated 11 Dec 1815. Hope was to be given $10.00 - perhaps she had been taking care of him, I don't know. Her father died in 1828 while living in Ohio; he did not leave a will but his estate was inventoried.
Other than these two items found in court records, I know little more of her life until 1847 when Caleb died of currently unknown causes. In the 1850 census, his widow Rebecca Lynn (that being her maiden name) and son Caleb Jr. were living with Hope and Joseph.
Caleb Jr. was five months old when his father died.
In another blog I run, www.forgottenwomenblog.com, I talk about how to write the stories of our female ancestors. One of the ways to strengthen their stories is to research the men in their life because most records were heavily male slanted. Another way is to trace their children and grandchildren's lives.
Most of Hope's children were living within a few miles of the farm so she had many family members in close proximity. Most of her half siblings had moved to Ohio a couple years after her marriage. I have lost track of her full brother Daniel after his arrival with the family to Fayette County, and Daniel Shotwell is not an uncommon name in Quaker records.
That leaves the possibility of a family Bible surfacing, and Presbyterian records because (1) people who left the Quaker fold often became Presbyterians and (2) some of their children were known to have been active in the local Presbyterian Church.
This is an incorrect analogy of ancestry.com's index. ALWAYS look at the original record (usually a scan is available with the transcription) and analyze the information yourself.
CONDEMNED
Somebody narked on Hope. Mary Hogue and Sarah Cadwater were to go with men from the Friends to visit Hope to see what was really going on. That sounds kind of intimidating to me. I'd love to know exactly how something like this took place...did they ask to talk to her alone? Was Hope scared? Were the women snarky? Were the men intimidating?
This record was from the Monthly Meeting in Redstone. Hope attended Sandy Hill weekly services referred to as "preparative meetings" for a good part of her married life, their farm only being a couple miles away (not to be confused with Sandy Creek, also close by.)
For information about the Sandy Hill meetings and the Quaker meeting hierarchy see:
http://www.quaker-chronicle.info/meetings.php?meetingID=36
then
http://www.quaker-chronicle.info/meetings.php?meetingID=24
Although Joseph's grandparents were staunch supporters back in Chester County in eastern Pennsylvania, I can find no record of him or his parents in any records currently available online in Chester or Fayette counties. Also, previous researchers, although finding Hope's membership, never did located anything on the Woodwards either, only saying that Joseph must have joined later because they are buried in the cemetery. (I have disproven this, more later...)
If one checks the actual page of the scanned book page of the index created in 1946, it lists "con mou". Checking the table at the beginning of the book (Page 15 is the scanned page number, not the physical page of the actual book) for identifying information the abbreviations, "con" means condemned and "mou" stands for "married out of unity".
The Research Guide to Finding Your Quaker Ancestors" by ancestry.com describes this as
"Marrying out of unity could include marrying outside the faith, marrying a first cousin, or marrying without parental consent."
https://www.ancestrycdn.com/mars/landing/quaker/quaker-guide.pdf - One does not need to have an ancestry.com membership to access their extremely helpful guides.
This is very telling. Hope and Joseph were not first cousins, and although her father still lived in the area, not moving to Ohio until 1810, a search of currently available online records do not included what Titus thought.
Previous Woodward and Shotwell family histories have mentioned using Quaker records but where they were located during their research years is unknown to me. Now they are housed at the Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania and have been microfilmed and digitized; the books were published in 1879 and 1895 respectively. The series of the books constituting the Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy [basically an index of Quaker records] seems to not have been published until 1946.
For more information concerning the location of original Quaker records see:
https://www.swarthmore.edu/friends-historical-library/quaker-meeting-records
The next chronological record located:
This is also a Monthly Meeting so I am unsure why this appeared here [Westland Monthly Meeting] unless boundaries were shifting. Western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio were growing both in membership and in population during the first quarter of the 1800s.
Basically, Hope said she desired to continue her membership and acknowledged her "transgression" to the committee who came to visit, and she was forgiven by the Quakers who had the power to take care of this. Note that rst = reinstate or reinstated. Perhaps there is a difference between being reinstatement and accepting her "acknowledging her transgression"? At any rate, being reinstated doesn't appear to be listed in any index I could find.
See: http://www.quaker.org/disown.html
MIDDLE LIFE
I am unaware of a primary source which lists all of Hope and Joseph's children and neither left a will. Census records did not list everyone in the house until 1850 and since they started having children about 1807, most would have been married and out of the house by then. Also, that census did not list relationship to head of household which can muddy the waters a bit. On my list for further research is defining the list of their children.
Until I can do further research, I am only going to say that Hope and Joseph were building their family between 1807 to 1822 when their last proven child, Caleb, was born.
Richard Woodward, Hope's father-in-law made his will on 2 Dec 1815. It was a verbal will, which I believe is no longer acceptable, and it was probated 11 Dec 1815. Hope was to be given $10.00 - perhaps she had been taking care of him, I don't know. Her father died in 1828 while living in Ohio; he did not leave a will but his estate was inventoried.
Other than these two items found in court records, I know little more of her life until 1847 when Caleb died of currently unknown causes. In the 1850 census, his widow Rebecca Lynn (that being her maiden name) and son Caleb Jr. were living with Hope and Joseph.
Caleb Jr. was five months old when his father died.
In another blog I run, www.forgottenwomenblog.com, I talk about how to write the stories of our female ancestors. One of the ways to strengthen their stories is to research the men in their life because most records were heavily male slanted. Another way is to trace their children and grandchildren's lives.
Most of Hope's children were living within a few miles of the farm so she had many family members in close proximity. Most of her half siblings had moved to Ohio a couple years after her marriage. I have lost track of her full brother Daniel after his arrival with the family to Fayette County, and Daniel Shotwell is not an uncommon name in Quaker records.
Part III - The Conclusion
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