Quaker Sanctions
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Key to Quaker Abbreviations
terms defined:
- b. born
- cert. Certificate: a statement issued by a monthly meeting to a person (or persons) transferring their membership to another monthly meeting. Also a marriage certificate.
- ch child, children.
- co chosen overseer(s): selected for an important office of responsibility in the meeting.
- com complained, complained of: a person could be complained of for an act that was contrary to the rules and advices as outlined in the Discipline. Unless the member could satisfy the monthly meeting of his or her innocence or repentance, the next step was usually disownment.
- con condemned: an act of confession and repentance by a member who had been "complained of" ("reported") or even "disowned" for a violation of the Discipline. When a person "condemned" his or her own misconduct, the monthly meeting might then restore him or her to membership.
- d died.
- dec deceased.
- dis disowned, disowned for: removed from membership for violation of the rules or advices in the Discipline; does not imply exclusion from worship, but only the right to participate in decision making. Unless the person later repented and "condemned" his or her own misconduct and was later readmitted into membership, he or she would not be mentioned again in the minutes.
- dt daughter, daughters.
- fam family.
- form formerly.
- gc granted certificate: permitted to move one's membership.
- gct granted certificate to: permitted to move one's membership to a particular meeting.
- gl granted letter: permitted to move one's membership to a church of another denomination.
- h husband.
- jas joined another (religious) society (denomination).
- ltm liberated to marry, left at liberty to marry: permitted to marry.
- m marry, married, marrying, marriage.
- mbr member.
- mbrp membership.
- mcd married contrary to disciple: married another Friend, but in a civil ceremony (usually resulting in disownment); sometimes used interchangeably with "married out of society" or "married out of unity".
- MH meetinghouse: the church building.
- MM monthly meeting: the lowest administrative unit of Friends, originally comprising of several particular or "preparative" meetings (congregations) that met together monthly to transact church business.
- mos married out of society: married a non-Friend, usually resulting in disownment; sometimes used interchangeably with "married contrary to discipline" or "married out of unity".
- mou married out of unity: married to a non-Friend, usually resulting in disownment; sometimes used interchangeably with "married contrary to discipline" or "married out of unity."
- mtg meeting: may refer to a Friends religious service ("meeting for worship"), and administrative meeting ("meeting for business," "monthly meeting," etc.), or the congregation itself.
- prc produced a certificate: transferred membership.
- prcf produced a certificate from: transferred membership from one meeting to another.
- QM quarterly meeting: the second administrative level of Friends, comprising of several "monthly" meetings that met together quarterly to transact church business.
- rec receive, received (into membership).
- recrq received (into membership) by request, rather than by transfer of membership from another Friends Meeting.
- relfc released from care for: no longer under consideration for a disciplinary offense; acquitted.
- relrq released by request: withdrew from membership in the Society of Friends, unless reinstated, this person would not be mentioned again in the minutes.
- rem remove, removed: move or moved to another location and/or meeting.
- rm reported married: the marriage certificate was not included in the minutes, but the fact that the wedding took place and the name of the marriage partner were noted.
- roc received on certificate: membership transferred from another Friends meeting.
- rol received on letter: membership transferred from a church of another denomination.
- rolf received on letter from: membership transferred from a particular church of another denomination.
- rpd reported: complained, complained of for an act contrary to the rules and advices as outlined in the Discipline. Unless the member could satisfy the monthly meeting of his or her innocence or repentance, the next step was usually disownment.
- rq request, requests, requested.
- rqc requested certificate: requested a transfer of membership.
- rqct requested certificate to: requested a transfer of membership to a particular Friends meeting.
- rqcuc requested to come under care (of a meeting): requested to be considered for membership.
- rst reinstate, reinstated.
- s son, sons.
- uc under care (of a meeting) for membership.
- w wife.
- YM Yearly Meeting: the highest administrative level of Friends, comprising of several quarterly meetings that met together annually to conduct business.
Marriage Out of Meeting
Marriage contrary to the Friends' order, variously referred to in the minutes as “marriage by a priest,” “outgoing in marriage,” “marriage contrary to good order,” “marriage out of unity,” “marriage contrary to discipline,” etc., and spoken of in every day speech as “marriage out of meeting,” was the cause of more complaints and disownments than any other single offense. Because of the value of a record of all marriages in tracing family history, these complaints and disownments have been fully reported in the preparation of this volume. Unfortunately the minutes rarely give the name of the person to whom the offending member was married. The record relating to a woman usually refers to her as Mary Jones, formerly Brown, thus giving a clue which is not available in the case of a man. In a large percentage of cases of marriage contrary to Friends' order, only one of the parties was a member. When both parties to a marriage engagement were members in good standing there was usually no reason why they might not apply to the meeting and receive permission to marry under its authority, but there were some exceptions. Marriage between first cousins or others of close relationship was forbidden by the rules of the Society. Parental objection may have been a bar to marriage in meeting in some cases. In other cases the couple married out of meeting for no other reason than to accomplish their purpose more quickly and without the formality which was necessary to a marriage in meeting.source ancestry.com, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy: Philadelphia; [p.1087] MINUTES AND MARRIAGE RECORDS page 9
Quaker Regulations
As you can see from this list of abbreviations, the regulation of member's actions and morals was very stringent, not unusual in any religion at that time. We know about the Puritans in New England, but the Quaker meeting had a huge influence on the lives of the community. Maybe the repercussions were less though, for, since there was more freedom of religion in the West Jersey area, just being banned from the Quaker meeting allowed them to still move within the society. We think of the Quakers as shunning physical punishment, but there is in the records a case where a "negro" violator received lashes- this punishment seems to me kind of arbitrary based on race! It seems that more people chose to buck the organization possibly because they wished to not belong anyway! It was also possible to be readmitted to the membership by admitting guilt and repenting. Though the Quakers were a founding group of West Jersey, there were other religions represented in the new colony, allowing some personal choice.
