OK, I’m not quite a Quaker – but my ancestry reveals that direction.
Here is the story I was told by my aunt on Saturday:
In the war of 1812, a number of Americans were asked/conscripted into the army. They had to fight their Canadian neighbours – kill them if necessary.
My relatives objected to such an approach. They were pacifists. By label they were “Quakers”. So they emigrated to Canada. A nice way to say they were basically pushed out of their country because of religious beliefs. Canadians labelled them United Empire Loyalists (although technically there is some question as to whether that label would apply in this case).
Now, that is interesting enough. The real thing for me, though, is that for my lifetime I have always thought that my mother’s side was made up of staunch Anglicans – ever loyal to the throne, country and King/Queen.
My father’s side are Anabaptists – they ended up running all over the world to avoid persecution. And now my mother’s side? Quakers were not exactly the most loved religious sect.
Both sides come from a heart perspective on religion. For this heritage I am thankful. Of course, the flip side of that coin is that they were rebels in the midst of the world in which they lived in (a little Beatles reference there).
And so, I guess I come by my stubborn streak and a bit of a rebellious attitude naturally!
Of course one must take care with stories of the past . . .
The Merritts appear after the Revolutionary War and seem to be Methodist. See:
http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Trails/2009/Loyalist-Trails-2009.php?issue=200914
The Lampmans came around the same time and seem to be Anglicans (Archibald’s [the famous one!] father was an Anglican priest).
Oops I should also add that there were Merritts who were prominent Quakers – e.g., Daniel Merritt in Quaker Hill, New York and the Merritts of Battle Creek, Michigan – they do not seem to be the Merritts we’re interested in and they are later.
I love history – and revisionist history is often a way to just confirm what we would like ourselves to be! Maybe we should start by being who we are, and then a lot of our legacy searches would result in recognizing both the myth and the truth!