This blog is about the origins of the Matthew Rea who was a blacksmith near Philadelphia in the late 1700s. The standard storyline was that he was of Scots Irish Quaker descent and arrived on a boat from Glasgow around 1730. For all the effort, no one has found when he arrived here. The same is true of his brother Benjamin. I started looking into the burial place of his son Joseph, looking for Quaker ties here in central Ohio. By the time I read Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer, it was clear that the phrase "Scots Irish Quaker descent" is an oxymoron. That combination is literally impossible, though the 1730 date coincides with the Scots Irish immigration to America.
My cousin, Jeff Schilling, did some inspired Google Books searching and found Quaker references to Matthew Rea Junior as the blacksmith. It also mentions a Matthew Rea Senior and a Matthew Rea, the Elder, who lived in New York. If these 2 gentlement are the antecedents to Matthew Rea, the blacksmith, then the story becomes consistent. The Quaker immigration to America was from 1675 to 1710. Matthew Rea, the Elder would have been born roughly the 1770's. This fits very well with the Quaker migration pattern. The bulk of the migration was from midlands and north of England. They generally shipped out from London or Bristol. And there were Quakers in Scotland. The first Quaker church in Glasgow was established in 1660. So Glasgow would still have been the port of origin for Matthew.
Interestingly, the people drawn to the new Quaker religion were from area settled by Vikings in the north of the British Isles. This may disappoint my sons, as they are partial to the Celtic culture, but they can always fall back on the Shannon part of their heritage!
Has anyone looked into the Quaker heritage of Matthew Rea Junior?
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