6 Cheshire Quarterly Meeting Records, 2.ii.1685, ms. EFC 1/1, CHESRO, see also Arnold Lloyd, Quaker Social History, 1669-1738 (London, 1950), 58; Forde, “Derbyshire Quakers,” 138.

7 For two couples who were refused permission to marry for “not producing a Certificate from his relations of their consent,” see Chesterfield Monthly Meeting Records, ms. Q62b, NOTT.

8 Forde, “Derbyshire Quakers,” 14, Low Laughton Monthly Meeting, ms. EFC 3/2, 1735, CHES; William Penn and Gulielma Springett, Marriage Certificate, [4 Apr. 1672], Papers of William Penn I, 238-39.

9 Mean age at first marriage for Quakers in England and America, and also for other ethnic groups in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, was as follows in seven studies:

Sample

Marriage Cohort

Males

Females

Derbyshire Quakers

wed before 1710

31.0

27.0

(Forde)

wed after 1710

31.9

29.8

Nottinghamshire Quakers

wed before 1710

31.9

29.8

(Forde)

 

27.7

26.9

Pa. and N.J. Quakers

wives born by 1730

26.5

21.9

(Wells)

wives born 1730-55

25.8

22.8

 

wives born 1756-85

26.8

23.4

Philadelphia Elites

1700-1775

26.2

23.3

(Kantrow)

1776-1825

26.1

24.0

 

1826-75

28.2

26.6

Germantown Families

1750-59

29.8

25.0

(Wolf)

 

 

 

Pa. Schwenkfelders

1735-64

n.a.

27.1

(Kilbourne)

 

 

 

N.J. and N.Y. Dutch

1685-1759

n.a.

21.2

(Kilbourne)

 

 

 

These estimates, it should be stressed, refer to the mean age at marriage; median age was lower. All studies are of age at first marriage except Wolf who included remarriages. Sources include Forde, “Derbyshire Quakers,” 33; Wells, “Quaker Marriage Patterns in a Colonial Perspective,” WMQ3 29 (1972), 415-42; Kantrow, “The Demographic History of a Colonial Aristocracy,” 71; Wolf, Urban Village, 257; Lawrence Kilbourne, unpublished research reports on Schwenkfelder and Dutch families prepared for the author.