BOOK REVIEWS
Encyclopedia of American Quaker
Genealogy. By William Wade
Hinshaw. (Richmond, Ind., Friends Book
and Supply
House, distributors, 1937. Vol. I:
1185p. $20.00, with
discount to libraries and Meetings.)
Genealogy, which is an auxiliary of
historical science, has
been defined as the systematic account
of the origin, descent, and
relations of families. Genealogical
knowledge becomes of great
importance in many ways both as to
individual interests, and as
an aid in interpreting historical
development. Such knowledge
becomes important in a personal or legal
view when family claims
are to be established, and in a general
way in tracing fundamental
causes which have entered into
migrations and the expansion
of a nation. How important then is it to
keep the most exact
records possible of all families, so
that if for no other purpose,
they can be used to authenticate any
point either genealogical,
social, or legal!
The best example of an unselfish project
of the kind, and
at the same time of the greatest
magnitude for a single project
provided by one person, is the mammoth
one undertaken by
William Wade Hinshaw in his Encyclopedia
of American Quaker
Genealogy, the first volume of which has just appeared off the
press. This attractive, cloth bound
volume of 1185 pages is de-
voted to data obtained from the official
records and minutes of
the thirty-three oldest Monthly Meetings
which belong or ever
belonged to North Carolina Yearly
Meeting, and these embrace
the membership of all Friends within the
limits of North Caro-
lina, South Carolina, Georgia,
Tennessee, and parts of Virginia.
This volume thus furnishes the
background for a large part of
the Quakers and descendants of Quakers
who laid the foundation
of Quakerism in Ohio and Indiana, and
eventually expanded to
the Pacific Coast. In addition to the
genealogical records, an
historical account of each Monthly
Meeting precedes the records.
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