Individual Details

Marriage

Elce apparently was not a Quaker and there is no indication that her parents were Quakers. The record of husband Michael Deuel at the Oblong Monthly Meeting of Friends at Dutchess County, NY states "Micah Deuel married out before October 18, 1769," with Michael subsequently subject to being disowned by the Society. In the same Society minutes of June 21, 1770, "the affair relating Micah Deuel's marriage out of Society was considered, & Friends appear Most easie to testify against him & not to esteem him as a member of Society any longer unless he gives Satisfaction to the Monthly Meeting for his offense." This was the typical response in which members of the Society of Friends, who had not received prior approval for marriage to another member of the Society, and who had "married out" by civil ceremony, were given the opportunity to repent and be accepted back into the Society's fold. Presumably the spouse would also become a member of the Society. However, the heart has often overuled religious considerations.