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Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 1998-11 > 0910731490


From: <>
Subject: Re: Presbyterian/Methodist
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 13:58:10 PDT


Hi Mary, here's what I can remember. There's a chapter
on the Methodists in Falley "Irish and Scotch Irish
Family History" -- and most of what I recall is from
them, though there is a guy who has written a couple
books on Irish Methodists. I got his book on Psychic
Research at home and will post the names of his
Methodist books tonight.

Otherwise, lemme see.... The Methodists were most
successful in the South -- Tiperary, Limerick, if I
recall. They found easy pickings in the German Church
of Ireland community in particular. Other Anglicans
and Irish Catholics were inspired. A lot them split
for America in 1709 -- before the Scotch Irish, would
you beleive, and founded the American Methodist
Church. Later on, the southern Methodists had split,
along with all the Protestant artisan community in
Dublin and a few other spots. The Methodists made
significant inroads into Ulster around the times of
the Revivals. That's when the "Presbyterian Bloc"
in America and Ireland was splintered assunder.

Anyhow if I recall correctly, you might check Anglican
records for your Methodists. They avoided running afoul
of the CofI by not succeeding (or attempting to succeed)
from the established church. They attende CofI
services and then held their own chapels. So they
tended to not have their own burial grounds or
records till later on. I can post the dates tonight.

I wonder if the Methodists kept books of ministers?

If they turn out to be German Methodists, the good
news is that the guy who wrote the books I am
thinking of traced a lot of them back to where they
came from in Germany. Surely there is at least one
variant of REA who came with these folk and that he
traced back to Barbarossa <grin>.

These are difficult folk to trace -- if you do not
know where they came from. The surnames were quickly
anglicized in Ireland, so you may think they are Irish,
English, or Scots. Unlike the Palatinates who came
directly over, these ones are not well documented in
ship lists because they were loyal British citizens --
absolutely no threat to a British colony <grin>. I recall
the English Parliament passed some laws to naturalize
the Huguenots -- maybe the Irish Parliament naturalized
the Irish Palatinates...I'm curious now.

Last problem with them -- you figure that since they
were Protestant they came from Ulster and look for
them there, when they came from the South -- like
the Disneys and the Fords!!

Linda Merle

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