It has been reported without any documentation that Robert was b: 20 Sept 1702 at Belleniskcrannel, Parish of Segoe, in County Armagh, Ireland. Also that he was born that date at Moate, County Westmeath, where his parents married in 1698. Also that he was born 16 Sept 1702 at Moate. Now, somebody has to know. The Quakers are among the most diligent record keepers in the world. It is impossible not to find it written down if, indeed, it was at Moate. Belleniskcrannel makes no sense at all. It is 125 miles from Moate which is apparently where his family lived.
William and Deborah (Woodward) Halliday were Irish Friends received from Moate Meeting, County Westmeath, Ireland. Albert Cook Myers, Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania (Swarthmore, PA, 1902) wrote: "William (1680-1741) and Deborah Halliday (Holliday, etc) were Irish Quakers. They bought land in Chester Co, PA, in 1713. "They had sons Robert (b: 1702, see below) and Jacob (b: 1706, d: 1721 age 15), and daughters Rachel (b: 1704, m: 1725 Andrew Moore), Margaret (b: 1709, m: 1732 Samuel Miller), Sarah (b: 1713), and Deborah (b: 1716, m: 1741/2 Jonathan Lindley)."
There has been a meeting at Moate for over 300 years and surely they kept records. The Meeting House at Moate in the Province Leinster, County Westmeath, in the Midlands Region, built 1694 was replaced by the newer one there since 1748. Before there was a meeting house, they probably met in peoples' homes. There are records back to the 1600s. Births 1605-1859; Marriages 1647-1840; Deaths 1660-1858. Has anyone ever looked at them?
