website icon graphic

FredQuest Genealogy

Fredd / Fred Family

Charts

Photos

Cemeteries Visited

FindaGrave

Postcards


Concord Meeting House

Concord Meeting House
Delaware Co. PA (about 1870)3
established 1684, rebuilt 1788

Birmingham Meeting House

Birmingham Meeting House
Chester Co. PA (circa 1895)3
orig erected 1721, rebuilt 1763

FREDD / Fred

John Fredd (abt 1660-1720) of the Parish of Drumlane1, County Cavan, Kingdom of Ireland (now Ireland) married Catharine Starkey (abt 1664-1723) on the 6th day of the 11 month 1685 at Belturbet, County Cavan2.  John & Catharine Starkey Fredd were members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) and their marriage record is the earliest known record of their life.  Catharine is likely the daughter of Nicholas & Catharine Starkey who were also members of the Society of Friends.  The Society of Friends' detailed meeting records identify the birth of John & Catharine's seven children (Benjamin; Mary; Nicholas; Abigail; Rachel; Sarah; and John) the first five of which were born in County Cavan and the remaining two in Coolattin, County Wicklow.     

The Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, by Albert Cook sources the two references to John Fredd in Ireland:

(1) In 1671, in County Armagh, John Fred had his goods seized by the "priest" of Loughall for tithes [William Stockdale, "Great Cry of Oppression", printed in London, 1683]
(2) William Edmundson states that in 1706 he came "to Enniscorphy [Enniscorthy] and the next Day went to John Fred's and had a large Meeting in a Barn, it being on first Day of the Week. [William Edmundson, "A journal of the life, travels, sufferings.... (printed in London in 1774]

John Fredd, a cooper, immigrated with his family to the American Colonies circa 1712, settling along the Brandywine River in Birmingham, Chester Co., Pennsylvania.  His arrival is documented by the Society of Friends' certificate of removal given by the Carlow Monthly Meeting and submitted to the Concord Meeting Meeting in 1712 (11mo, 21da) in nearby Concord, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania.  John Fredd died in March, 1719-20 and his widow in 1723 in Birmingham.

John & Catharine Starkey Fredd's know children are:

Benjamin was born on the 5th day of the nine month of 1687 in County Caven, Ireland.  Benjamin immigrated to the United States with his parents circa 1712 but returned to Ireland in 1713 remaining about a year before returning with a certificate of removal from the Society of Friends' Dublin Monthly Meeting. Benjamin moved to nearby New Garden, Chester Co., Pennsylvania in 1720 and married Deborah Hadley (daughter of Simon Hadley of New Castle) on the 20th day of the 4th month in 1721. Benjamin acquired over 500 acres of land with portions in three counties (Chester & Delaware Co. PA; New Castle Co. DE).  Benjamin and Deborah Hadley Fredd had no known children.

Mary, was born on the 2nd day of the eighth month in 1691 in County Cavan, Ireland but died at the age of thirteen on the 27th day of the eleventh month of 1704 in New Garden, County Carlow, Ireland.

Nicholas, was born on the 3rd day of the first month in 1694 in County Cavan, Ireland.  Nicholas married Ann Need (1678-1770), the daughter of Joseph and Rebeca Need of Darby, Chester Co., Pennsylvania, on 3 Mar 1721 at the Darby Meeting House.  Nicholas remained in Birmingham, Chester Co., Pennsylvania as a land owner with an mill interest.  Nicholas died on 25 Oct 1753 and Ann sixteen years later on 7 Feb 1770.  Ann is buried at Concord, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania.  Nicholas and Ann Need Fredd's known children were:

Mary (ca 1721-   ) married William McCall on 4 Feb 1742.  Mary is buried at New Garden Meeting, Chester Co., Pennsylvania.

John (ca 1725 -   ) married Susannah Hope.

Joseph (1727-1804) married Sarah Hadley (1730-   ), daughter of Joshua & Mary Rowland Hadley of Bloomfield, Loudoun Co., Virginia on 18 Oct 1753 at New Garden Meeting, Chester Co., Pennsylvania.  Joseph & Sarah Fredd had ten known children (Mary, Ann, Benjamin, Joseph, Joshua, Thomas, Sarah, Rebecca, Nicholas & Rachael) all born in New Garden.  In 1769 the family moved to Bloomfield, Virginia where they purchased 340 acres and took up farming.  Joseph died in Loudoun County on 9 Apr 1804.   

Catherine (ca 1729 -   ) married a "Davis"

Sarah (ca 1729 -   ) married William Hunt on 25 Oct 1753 at Birmingham, Chester Co., Pennsylvania. 

Abigail, was born on the 4th day of the second month in 1696 in County Cavan, Ireland but died a year later on the 28th day of the 6th month.

Rachel, was born on the 29th day of the fifth month in 1698 in County Cavan, Ireland.  Rachel married James Miller (1796-1732), son of Gayen & Margaret Miller, on the 20th day of the fourth month at New Garden Meeting, Chester Co., Pennsylvania.  James & Rachel had three known children (Deborah, James & Jesse) before James death at age thirty-five. Rachel appears to have remarried another James Miller (ca 1708-ca 1758) and had three additional children (Thomas, Benjamin & Katherine).   The Miller family remained in Chester County, Pennsylvania with Rachel's death in 1748/49.

Sarah, was born the 15th day of the seventh month in 1700 at Coolattin, County Wicklow, Ireland.  Her birth record is the only known record.

John, was born the 20th day of the 12th month at Coolattin, County Wicklow, Ireland.  His birth record is the only known record.

John & Catharine Fredd life are best captured in Society of Friends Monthly Meeting records (Ireland & Pennsylvania), Albert Cook Myer's book, The Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750 and in the The History of Chester County, Pennsylvania by J. Smith Futhey & Gilbert Cope. The Fredd name was carried down through their son Nicholas with descendants settling not only Chester County, Pennsylvania and Loudoun County, Virginia but later in Belmont County, Ohio and in the Kansas City, Missouri area.  The History of Chester County, Pennsylvania includes a short biography and image of Eli Fredd (1801-1870).  The Chester County Fredd's were surly impacted by the Revolutionary War when their Birmingham Meeting house, burial grounds and nearby farms were the site of the Battle of the Brandywine (known locally as the Battle of Birmingham Meeting).  General George Washington even requisitioned their meeting house for use as a hospital.4

The Loudoun County, Virginia Fredd/Fred's are documented in Mrs. E.B. Fred's, History of the Fred Family in Loudoun County, Virginia.  Lee Ludlow Fred (son of John & Mary Warford Fred) was a prominent business man in Barnesville, Belmont Co., Ohio.  His 1898 obituary mentions he came to Ohio with his parents as a four month old infant. This must have been an arduous journey of several hundred miles over the Appalachian Mountains.   Several of Lee Ludlow's children migrated west to the Kansas City area.

It appears many of the Fredd generations after 1800 shortened their surname to Fred (especially in Virginia & Ohio) and also strayed from the Society of Friends (Quaker) faith. 

Walter Barnes Fred (1871-1958), son of Joseph Thomas & Isabelle Barnes Fred was born in Barnesville, Belmont Co., Ohio, moved with his parents to Kansas City, Missouri.  He met Nellie Rose Montgomery (1873-1933) in Kansas City, married in New Orleans, Louisiana and settled in the New York City area (Brooklyn & Old Tappan, Bergen Co., New Jersey).  The migration back east was due in part to Walter Barnes Fred's profession as a meat & later fruit wholesaler.  

Fred Migration Path

 


Footnotes

(1) Drumlane likely refers to the ancient Monastery of Drumlane now located in Milltown, County Cavan

(2) Early dates are presented as described in the original source material and do not directly correspond the the modern day Western Calendar (Gregorian).  The older Julian calendar started the year in March was not universally superseded until 1752. Trying to correlate previous Society of Friends' dates is further complicated by their aversion to the use of "pagan" names for the months & days of the week.

(3) Gilbert Cope, Genealogy of the Smedley Family, descended from George and Sarah Smedley. Settlers in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Wickersham Printing Co. (Lancaster PA : 1901), facing page 364

(4) J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope, The History of Chester County, Pennsylvania with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Louis H. Everets, 1881)


Attachments

John Fredd's Last Will & Testament, 1719-20 (Chester County Historical Society)

Fred/Fredd Migration Path (ca 1680s-1960), Ancestors of Walter Barnes Fred

Extract from The History of Chester County, Pennsylvania with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches by  Futhey & Cope (1881)

Extract from "Immigration of Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania" by Albert Cook Myers (Swarthmore PA, 1901), pages 308-309

 Lee Ludlow Fred Obituary, Saturday Whetstone, Barnesville, Belmont Co., Ohio, 29 Oct 1898


References

U.S. Federal Censuses

Albert Cook Myers, Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750 (Baltimore Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969).

Mrs E.B. (Rosa Parrott Fred) Fred, History of the Fred Family in Loudoun County, Virginia (microfilm no. 1036713, item 8, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah) (Madison, Wisconsin: n.p., Nov 1969).

Carlow Monthly Meeting Register Transcripts, 1607-1860 (births 1607-1859; marriages 1649-1847; deaths/burials 1655-1860); FHL BRITISH Film 571395, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

Records of the New Garden Meetings 1682-1868 (handwritten extracts from original records at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania), Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA (US.CAN 389405)

William Wade Hinshaw Index to Quaker Meetings, Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College, McCabe Library, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania 19081-1905

Birmingham Friends, Two Hundred Years of Quakerism at Birmingham. 1690-1940 (West Chester, Pennsylvania: n.pub., 1940).

J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope, The History of Chester County, Pennsylvania with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Louis H. Everets, 1881).

William Wade Hinshaw, compiler, Encyclopedia of American Quakers (Richmand, Indiana: Friends Book and Supply House, 1950).

Obituaries & Miscellaneous Records Relating to Families, Barnesville, Belmont Co., Ohio, compiled by Francis Hamilton Hibbard, 1988, Barnesville Hutton Memorial Library, 308 East Main Street, Barnesville, Belmont Co., Ohio.