American Quakers Research Articles

The Impact of the Discipline Ireland, New England, and New York

The Society of Friends in the American colonies peaked numerically between 1755 and 1770. In the first half of the eighteenth century American Quakers had been content with their numerical increase and measured it as a sign of their sect's prosperity. So had most Friends from the British Isles who had travelled in the ministry visiting the American meetings. One English Friend, Mary Weston (ultimately one of the reformers in London Yearly Meeting) was enthusiastic about her reception when she visited the colonies between 1750 and 1752 and in her

Quaker Research in Progress

BRIEFER NOTICES129 Chigwellians, ex-masters and friends of the School with whom we are not at present in touch." (Signed) B. J. Wilson, Headmaster, Chigwell School, Chigwell, Essex 1G7 6QF, England. QUAKER RESEARCH IN PROGRESS By John and Barbara Curtis The editors are desirous of keeping this column up to date on any projects involving Quaker history. We try to keep informed in a variety of ways, but we depend largely on information sent to us directly by scholars, as well as data gained from contacts at the two Quaker Collections in the Philadelphia area: Haverford College Quaker Collection and Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College. Please write to John and Barbara Curtis, editors, Quaker Research in Progress, and send to 631 Walnut Lane, Haverford, Pennsylvania 19041.» * * Phyllis R. Anscombe and her son, Frank Anscombe, are attempting a study of quilts made by American Quakers before 1860. Persons who possess quilts known to have Quaker origins may get in touch with the Anscombes at 23 Edge Hill Road, New Haven, CT 06511. * * * Two persons report work associated with the problems of the Society of Friends during the American Revolution. Rosemary S. Warden, a candidate for a doctorate in history at Syracuse University is preparing a thesis with tide "Political Leadership in Revolutionary Chester County, 1765-1785." * * * Philip E. Pendleton of the University of North Carolina, in preparation of a master's thesis, has selected the topic "Loyalism and Pacifism in Revolutionary Berks County, Pennsylvania." * * * From Boston University School of Law comes word from Dan Coquillette, associate professor of legal history, who is interested in Quakers and die common law in England in die 17th century. He plans to focus on Bushell's case—the trial of Penn and Meade for speaking in public without a permit. The attitude of these early Friends to the rule of law will be discussed. Coquillette invites correspondence from other scholars interested in these issues. He can be reached at the Boston University School of Law, 765 Commonwealdi Avenue, Boston, MA 02215. * * * Thomas D. Hamm, a senior at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, is preparing a senior honors thesis on "The anti-slavery career of die Reverend Daniel Worth." Hamm reports that although Worth did his abolitionist work as a minister of the Wesleyan Mediodist Church he was a birthright Friend who worked extensively with Friends in anti-slavery activities in Indiana from about 1830 to 1856 and then in North Carolina from 1857 to 1860. Hamm is seeking further materials about Daniel Worth and welcomes correspondence at 2904 South 19th Street, New Castle, IN 47362. 130QUAKER RESEARCH IN PROGRESS David E. W. Holden of 140 Falkirk Terrace, Kingston, Ontario K7M 4C2 is completing the gathering of data for a paper on "Separation and schisms in the Society of Friends." This is a comprehensive effort which has required examination of materials in Great Britain and America. Holden states his intention is to examine the historical record to look for patterns of events in the hope that the patterns may permit avoidance of separations. Where this is not possible it may yield information that would reduce the hurt of such occurrences.» * * Elizabeth Diggs of 48 Prospect Place, Brooklyn, NY 11217, a candidate for the doctorate in history at Columbia University, has prepared a thesis with the title "Betty Fothergill's Journal, 1769-1770. Edited with notes and an introduction." ARTICLES IN QUAKER PERIODICALS By J. William Frost The Friend Arnold Bunnell, "'Holland's Welfare' Makes Port at Last," deals with the disposing in 1977 of money from a fund begun in 1781 when the ship Holland's Welfare was captured by an English vessel owned by John Warder. Vol. 135, No. 37 (Sept. 16, 1977), pp. 1081-1082. Friends Journal Robert Greenleaf, "Overcome Evil with Good," compares the tactics used in non-violent struggles by American abolitionists like Woolman and Indian nationalists like Gandhi. Vol. 23, No. 10 (May 15, 1977), pp. 292-302. The article sparked a lively exchange of letters on the subject. Vol. 23, No. 14 (Aug. 1/15), pp. 426-428, and Vol. 23, No. 19 (Nov. 1, 1977), pp. 561563 . Harvey Bates, "Letters from Ernest: Correspondence between the Late Social Critic...

Briefer Notices

BRIEFER NOTICES By John and Barbara Curtis Pennsylvania Folklore, vol. XXVII, no. 1, Fall, 1977, has an article, pp. 10-18, by William T. Parsons, " Orders What's To Be Done at the Plantation ': The Isaac Norris Farm Accounts 1713-1734." The account books are now in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia.» » * E. P. Richardson, an authority on early American art has an article in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. CII, no. 1, January, 1978, pp. 3-26. "West's Voyage to Italy, 1760 and William Allen" deals with a little known aspect of the artist's life when he was developing his particular artistic talent in historical painting. * * * Anita Schorsch, a Quaker and an expert on neoclassical antiques, has published two works in this field which have relationship to Quaker history. Mourning Becomes America: Mourning Art in the New Nation appeared first and is now followed by Pastoral Dreams, which draws on the resources of art and literature in such varied sources as American primitive painting, English portraiture, needlework pictures, rugs and prints. The photographic reproduction is excellent and includes seldom seen examples of the work of Quaker artists Benjamin West and Edward Hicks. Pastoral Dreams is published by Universe Books, 381 Park Avenue, South, New York, N.Y. 10016. * * » Richard K. McMaster has had his paper on the historic peace churches in the American Revolution published. The title is "Neither Whig nor Tory: The Peace Churches in the American Revolution." The article appeared in Fides Et Historia, vol. IV, no. 2, Spring, 1977, pp. 8-24. * * » The Haviland Records Room of New York Yearly Meeting at 15 Rudierford Place, New York City, reports the retirement of Mary Cook as archivist and the appointment of Elizabeth Moger to carry on this important service for the Yearly Meeting.» * » The Friends World Committee for Consultation has published two small volumes in 1977 that are of interest to historians. The first is Friends in the Americas, edited by Francis B. Hall. Much of the material in this book appeared earlier under the title of American Quakers Today, edited by Edwin B. Bronner and reissued several times with revisions and corrections after an initial appearance first in 1966. Hall has revised and updated this work which is available through Friends United Press at Richmond, Indiana. Francis Hall has also prepared an edition in Spanish, available from Friends United Press with the title Los Amigos in Las Americas. 64 BRIEFER NOTICES65 The history of Quaker missionary activity in Cuba is made available in a publication of Friends United Press having the title Friends in Cuba. The author is Hiram H. Hilty. In this volume he traces with authority and care the progress of Friends from the first Quaker witness in Cuba in 1900 through the formation of the Yearly Meeting down to the present time. * » » The annual meeting of Friends Historical Association was held on November 28, 1977, at the meeting house at 4th and Arch streets in Philadelphia. Mary Hoxie Jones, President of the Association, reported on the business of the association during the past year. A large and attentive audience heard an excellent paper by Elizabedi Gray Vining about the Philadelphians exiled to Winchester, Virginia, during the winter of 1777-78. * # * The Conference of Quaker Historians is planning a meeting this summer, to be held at Quaker Hill, Richmond, Indiana, July 8-10, 1978. The topics to be considered, by means of papers and subsequent discussion, are: "Quakers and Slavery," and "Yearly Meetings in the Third World." Further information may be obtained from Hugh Barbour, Earlham College. QUAKER RESEARCH IN PROGRESS By John and Barbara Curtis The editors are desirous of keeping this column up to date on any projects involving Quaker history. We try to keep informed in a variety of ways, but we depend largely on information sent to us directly by scholars, as well as data gained from contacts at the two Quaker Collections in the Philadelphia area: Haverford College Quaker Collection and Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College. Please write to John and Barbara Curtis, editors, Quaker Research in Progress, and send to 631 Walnut Lane, Haverford...

Luke Howard (1772-1864). His Correspondence with Goethe and his Continental Journey of 1816 (review)

62QUAKER HISTORY Luke Howard (1772-1864). His Correspondence with Goethe and his Continental Journey of 1816. By Douglas F. S. Scott, Editor. York, England: William Sessions, 1976. vii, 98 pp. Douglas Scott, a British German scholar, has produced an interesting volume about an Englishman who was an active Friend, an enterprising businessman, and one of the founders of modern meteorology. Luke Howard 's "Essay on the Modification of Clouds," published in 1804, established his reputation as the founder of the modern classification of clouds and inventor of the terminology which is still in general use: "cirrus," "cumulus," etc. This essay was read with intense interest by the writer Goethe, whose mind and imagination were drawn to die phenomenon of clouds. Goedie composed a poem in honor of Howard, and in 1821 requested biographical material about him through an acquaintance in London. When Howard learned about the request by the world-famous poet, he at first thought it a hoax, but then supplied the information himself in a long letter which pleased Goethe so much that he published it in his own translation. The text of the autobiographical letter to Goethe forms the first of two pieces of writing by Howard in this volume. The other is his account of a journey to die continent in 1816, undertaken at the request of British Friends to see what measures might be taken to assist German Friends in Bad Pyrmont and Minden. This account has not been published before. The editor supplies a commentary on the background of the journey, as well as on personalities connected with it. He also includes an English translation of Goethe's poem to Howard. From the autobiographical letter and the travel account, Luke Howard emerges as a man who placed his faith both in science and good works, on the one hand, and in an evangelical Christ, on the other. He was a gifted scientific observer and the head of a chemical firm which still flourishes. He was a pioneer in war relief work who helped to collect a very large sum for the relief of German peasants left destitute after Napoleon's retreat in 1814. The account of his travels two years later on behalf of German Friends is further testimony to his sense for the practical in the service of furthering good in the world. At the same time, characteristically, he was an ardent worker for the British and Foreign Bible Society, in which he propagated die literal reading of Scripture. This side of him eventually brought him into conflict with the Society of Friends and led to his disownment. The autobiographical letter to Goethe offers a vivid portrait of the man, while the "Notes" on the 1816 journey include detailed vignettes of town and country life in northwest Europe on the verge of the Industrial Revolution . Altogether, this volume sheds light on a figure whose name deserves to be more than a household word among meteorologists. Haverford CollegeJohn R. Cary Friends in the Americas. By Francis B. Hall, Editor. Philadelphia: Friends World Committee, Section of the Americas, 1976. Pp. 130. $1.25 paperback . While this publiction is in some ways a new edition of American Quakers ...

The Relation of the Quakers to the American Revolution

THE RELATION OF THE QUAKERS TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION By Arthur J. Mekeel* At its sessions in June 1775, London Yearly Meeting addressed an epistle "To our Friends and Brethren in America" expressing deep sympathy with them and an "earnest desire for your preservation amidst present confusions," exhorting them to "keep near the principle of Truth." And well might the English Friends be concerned for their brethren across the ocean since the American Quakers were on the verge of entering a period of testing and sufferings such as the Friends had not experienced since the years of persecution a century earlier. Since that time they had assumed an important place in the religious life of the colonies, and in Pennsylvania they had seen the blossoming of probably the most flourishing province of His Majesty's dominions beyond the seas. The freedom which characterized Pennsylvania was a lode star for those who framed the political structure of the nascent republic. The Quakers in the colonies were largely agrarian except in Pennsylvania where large numbers were concentrated in Philadelphia , the leading cultural and economic urban center. Many members of the Philadelphia Meetings were prominent merchants and traders and were thus deeply involved in the mercantile life of the British Empire, a system which channeled all colonial trade through the mother country by means, of a commercial code known as the trade and navigation acts. Whereas the Quaker groups in New England, New York and, to a certain extent, in the south, were the result of the great missionary efforts of the mid-seventeenth century, the Friends in Pennsylvania were descendants of those who had migrated directly from Great Britain to establish a Quaker dominated political community in the new world. This produced a particularly close bond between Pennsylvania and British Friends. In addition, the dominant London Friends were leading merchants in the American ""Arthur J. Mekeel formerly served in the Technical Assistance program, U.S. Department of State. He holds the T. Wistar Brown Fellowship at Haverford College during the present year. 4 QUAKER HISTORY colonial trade and controlled much of it and a number of them were members of the London Meeting for Sufferings. Philadelphia and London Quaker merchants had close economic relations and other merchants complained of their clannishness. Another aspect of the colonial Quakers was that during the two decades preceding the revolutionary period they had been undergoing a process of revitalization stressing the inner spiritual life of the Society. This was accompanied by a clearer realization of the significance of their testimonies and the development of disciplinary measures to assure their proper observance. Consequently the Society was better prepared to face the problems of the ensuing years. The British Friends, on the other hand, who were deeply concerned when the revolutionary controversy arose, were much influenced by the political situation prevailing in England at that time. The corrupt and unrepresentative nature of the Parliamentary system, based largely on late medieval practices, deprived the merchants and new industrial classes of their just voice in affairs. This condition had aroused a reform movement whose aims the Quaker merchants of London and other cities naturally supported. American lack of representation in Parliament was looked upon as part and parcel of the British problem. Therefore we find strong support of American grievances in many parts of England and certainly among the Quakers. Dr. John Fothergill, an ardent supporter of the American colonies, once wrote: "If America relaxes , both you and we are undone."1 Also, because of close religious ties, English Friends felt a certain responsibility for the problems of the colonial Quakers vis-a-vis the British government, especially in the case of Pennsylvania. Conversely, they were to a certain extent held responsible in the eyes of the British government for the conduct of affairs in that province. As we all know, the American Revolution was precipitated by the actions of the British government in the course of its attempt to reorganize the empire in America after the acquisition of the French domains there at the end of the Seven Years War in 1763. The government believed that the Americans should share in the heavy expense involved and consequently passed laws...

Men and Brothers: Anglo-American Antislavery Cooperation (review)

122QUAKER HISTORY following major contributions: on the general characteristics of Quaker spiritual autobiography, Luella Wright, The Literary Life of Early Friends (New York, 1932), and Owen Watkins, "Spiritual Autobiography from 1649 to 1660" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of London, 1952) and Puritan Experience: Studies in Spiritual Experience (New York, 1972); on the pre-history and origins of the journal form, Hugh Barbour and Arthur O. Roberts, Early Quaker Writings 1650-1700 (Grand Rapids, 1973); on the pattern of Quaker religious development or conversion, Richard Vann, The Social Development of English Quakerism- 1655-1755 (Cambridge, Mass., 1969), chapter I; on the relationship between Quaker and Puritan and other religious autobiography, Shea's study and John Morris, Versions of the Self: Studies in English Autobiography from John Bunyan to John Stuart Mill (New York, 1966) . Howard Brinton's study, which is no doubt based on an unparalleled familiarity with Quaker journals, deserves a prominent place in this growing literature. Hamilton CollegeMelvin B. Endy, Jr. Men and Brothers: Anglo-American Antislavery Cooperation. By Betty Fladeland. Urbana, Chicago, London· University of Illinois Press. 1972, 478 pages. $1150. Even though this book covers much familiar ground, it makes a major contribution to the literature of antislavery by viewing the British and American efforts as two crusades so closely related as to function as a single movement . Such close collaboration was already evident in the colonial period and continued through the Civil War. Throughout this period the British and American abolitionists exchanged literature, sent emissaries back and forth, and applied pressure to their governments, first to regulate the slave trade and slavery, then to abolish it entirely, which was their aim from the start. Events and incidents were reported and responded to on both sides of the Atlantic. The 1833 Parliamentary act abolishing slavery in the British empire gave heart to the American reformers and freed their British counterparts to expand their mission to the United States and the rest of the world. British abolitionists became actively involved in the move to end the illegal slave trade to the United States, in the attempt to assure a free soil government in Texas, and in the struggle to force southern states to cease jailing free black seamen. Those American abolitionists who visited the British Isles gained financial support, inspiration, and practical advice from their hosts. It was in England that William Lloyd Garrison was influenced by the agency system, the participation of women in the movement (though women delegates from the United States were not permitted inside the main meeting room at the World Antislavery Conference of 1840), and by the effectiveness of gaining widespread public support on specific antislavery issues. Those abolitionists who were Friends built their joint activities on an already well-established transatlantic fellowship. English Quakers were less divided on the slavery issue than were the Americans, and they frequently censured those Friends who lived in a slaveholding nation and yet refrained from opposing the institution. The American Quakers who were active in BOOK REVIEWS123 the abolition movement were encouraged and supported by their British counterparts, who urged all to put aside their scruples about working in organizations containing a majority of non-Friends in the interest of die more pressing concern. Professor Fladeland has added a new dimension to antislavery history by viewing it as an Anglo-American effort. She has also brought into sharper focus such political activities as petitioning legislatures, influencing politicians, and exerting a general political influence long before a distinct antislavery political party appeared, detailing such activity in the colonial era and at the time of the constitutional convention. All who opposed slavery, regardless of their approach, are included as abolitionists in this study. Although Men and Brothers does reveal a pattern of interpretation, it is a work which contains a wealth of details, some of which are more numerous than is necessary to make the author's point. Professor Fladeland drew upon a variety of British and American sources for the study. Forty-five pages of bibliographical material adds to its usefulness. Wilmington CollegeLarry Gara Quaker Biographical Sketches of Ministers and Elders and other concerned members of the Yearly Meeting of Philadelphia, 1682-1800. Edited by Willard...

The Journal and Major Essays of John Woolman (review)

BOOK REVIEWS The Journal and Major Essays of John Woolman. Edited by Phillips P. Moulton. New York: Oxford University Press. 1971. 336 pages. $10.50. John Woolman's Journal is but one of many accounts by the early American Quakers of their own "Life, Travels and Gospel Labors," but it is the only one which has been accepted, ever since its first publication in 1774, as a literary classic. An unswerving dedication to the Quaker ideal of direct communication with Truth through intuition as an operational way of life, an aching compassion for the poor and the oppressed, and a style of almost lyrical intensity have combined to single it out from all other works of its genre. It has seldom if ever been out of print in the two centuries that followed. The Whittier edition of 1871 is in most libraries and there have been two recent editions based on fresh study of the manuscripts: the Gummere and the Whitney. Why then another edition now? Mr. Moulton has presented a convincing "rationale" for his edition in an appendix (pp. 273-282). This is the first edition to offer a modernized text based on a thorough restudy of the many manuscripts that have survived from Woolman's habit of copying and altering parts of his text; and it was developed in harmony with both the method of the Harvard Guide to American History, as adopted in the Yale edition of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, and with a modified version of the "copy-text" method of the Center for Editions of American Authors of the Modern Language Association . At die heart of the Woolman textual problem is the existence of two nearly complete manuscripts, together with many fragments. The 1774 editors accepted MS B as Woolman's final version and printed it, with editorial emendations of their own approved at that time but questioned today. Mrs. Gummere went back to MS A as "copy-text" (which is correct CEAA procedure), as did Mrs. Whitney, but for the wrong reasons; and as neither was a trained textual scholar, they were both inconsistent in the changes they incorporated from other manuscripts or unrecorded sources. Mr. Moulton has apparently taken MS B for "copy-text," but has incorporated into it all readings which could be identified as Woolman's own final choices, and has eliminated many errors from previous editions. Although differing in detail from CEAA procedure, the result is approximately the one approved: i.e., the production of a composite text which best represents the author's intention by collation of all versions attributable to him. In preparing his text for the press, Mr. Moulton has followed the far more liberal policy of the modern historians, feeling free to alter and modernize "accidentals" of spelling and punctuation silently and to account for his textual decisions in footnotes (he supplies no full "textual notes") only when they seem to involve debatable interpretations. This compromise should be satisfactory to most scholars because it is consistent and is fully explained, while serving the needs of the modern reader for a clear text, unencumbered by editorial paraphernalia. One can now read the Journal 123 124QUAKER HISTORY and the more important essays on poverty and slavery with reasonable confidence that he is hearing John Woolman speak to the issues of 1972 as he did to those of 1774. University of PennsylvaniaRobert E. Spjller John Perrot, Early Quaker Schismatic. By Kenneth L. Garroll. Supplement No. 33 to the Journal of the Friends' Historical Society. London, 1971. 116 pages. This substantial monograph is a natural by-product of the author's interests in Quaker history in early America, since John Perrot, an Irish Friend, endured the vicissitudes of his later life in the American colonies, besides his original career in die British Isles and in die trek of Friends towards Italy and the Middle East in the second decade of Quakerism. Like other Friends of the period John Perrot was a deviationist from mainline Quakerism, differing chiefly in minor matters of Friends practice— the best known of his nonconformity to the usual practice being in the small matter of not removing his hat during vocal prayer. His aberrations followed...

The Anatomy of a Separation: The Lynam Controversy

THE ANATOMY OF A SEPARATION: THE LYNAM CONTROVERSY By Kenneth L. Carroll* Separatist movements appeared within the Society of Friends quite early, both in England and the American colonies. Few of them have been studied in detail, and most of them have been almost completely forgotten. The latter is especially true of the Lynam Separation in seventeenth-century Maryland. The one brief account1 of this event misses the underlying reasons, the major developments, and the final solution of this controversy that so distressed George Fox and other English and American Quakers. John Lynam was a well-known Friend long before he and his wife, Margaret, came to Maryland. He suffered nine or ten weeks of imprisonment in Derby jail in 1661 and was again persecuted by the vicar of South Wingfield in 1663.2 In 1675 he was fined for attending a Friends meeting in Heanor, and in 1676 he lost goods valued at£6 10s. for attending the funeral of Samuel Roe in Ilkeston Parish.3 Margaret Lynam, whose name had been Ridge before her 1666 marriage to John Lynam, was the daughter of a clergyman at Antrim in Ireland.4 She was active in "the service of truth" in the North of Ireland before 1660 and also traveled in England quite early. According to Davidson, she was in Derbyshire in England in 1661, when she took food to forty-one Quakers who had been taken from meeting for worship and locked in one room in a barn overnight, while being marched to Derby jail. After feeding them, the next morning, Margaret marched with them as far as Fritchley.6 Extracts from sev- * Kenneth L. Carroll, Professor of Religion at Southern Methodist University , is the author of Joseph Nichols and the Nicholites (1962) and editor of TL· Creative Centre of Quakerism (1965). 1 "Records respecting John and Margaret Lynam in England and Maryland ," Journal ofttie Friends' Historical Society, V (1908), 95-103. 2 Joseph Besse, A Collection of tL· Sufferings of tL· People Called Quakers (London, 1753), I, 138-139. See also Thomas Davidson, Margaret Lynam (Derby, 1901), p. 3. 3 "Records respecting John and Margaret Lynam," p. 95. 4 Marriage Register of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Quarterly Meeting, Friends House Library, London, lists the marriage as Fourth Month 13, 1666. 6 Extracts from Letters by Margaret Lynam (n.p., n.d.), pp. 1-3. Davidson, Margaret Lynam, pp. 4-5. See Besse, Sufferings, I, 138-139, for an account of the march of these forty-one prisoners (ten of them women), where no mention of Margaret Ridge is made. 67 68Quaker History eral of her early letters show Margaret to be intelligent, literate, and persuasive. In the mid-1670's, after nearly ten years of marriage, John and Margaret Lynam produced several pamphlets. A paper submitted by them in 1675 was judged by the Second Day Morning Meeting not fit to be printed.6 Exactly a year later, on Fifth Month 24, 1676, a "book" by Margaret and John Lynam was ordered to be published .7 This probably was the brief two-part work which begins with Margaret's "The Controversie of the Lord Against the Priests of the Nations and Teachers of the People" and ends with John's "Unto all you People, under what Name or Form of Religion soever you are."8 Margaret Lynam's selection is full of biblical imagery, allusions, and quotations—showing a wide and deep acquaintance with the Bible. John's work deals largely with his convincement, the fruits of the Spirit, and a cry from the heart: "I who am made a Partaker of God's free Love do, in the same Love wherewith God hath loved me, this Testimony unto you bear, that you may be with me made Partakers of his Love and heavenly Peace."9 In 1677, the Lynams were living at Whitely in Derbyshire, where John was a wheelwright.10 They were still in England, it appears, when Margaret issued, somewhere about 1680, a one-page tract entitled "A Warning from the Lord Unto All Informers [etc.]," which is a call to come out of "Darkness" into the "Light."11 Shortly after the appearance of this last...

American Quakers Today (review)

BOOK REVIEWS American Quakers Today. Edited by Edwin B, Bronner. Philadelphia: Friends World Committee, American Section and Fellowship Council. 1966. 112 pages. $3.00 (cloth), $1.00 (paper). In the summer of 1964, an American Friend, traveling in northwest England , was asked to give a lecture on American Quakerism today. From the questions asked at the end it was evident that there was a great deal of interest in American Quakerism, especially in the differences which exist among various groups, and that very little was known about Friends in North America. This American Friend was Edwin B. Bronner, chairman of the planning committee for the 1967 Friends World Conference. With the prospect of many Friends from other countries traveling around and visiting among Friends while in the United States, the Friends World Committee has thought it desirable to prepare a publication for visitors to read, describing the varieties of American Quakerism and how they developed. To carry out this project, Edwin B. Bronner, who is Professor of History and Curator of the Quaker Collection at Haverford College, was asked to serve as editor. This has come to fruition in the recent publication of a small volume entitled American Quakerism Today. In this Friendly enterprise the editor has associated with him five other Friends, each of whom has written a chapter on the particular section of American Quakerism with which he is affiliated. Each writer was asked "to emphasize the positive, to stress the contributions which are being made by the part of Quakerism which he or she represents." David O. Stanfield, who writes on the Friends United Meeting (the new name for the Five Years Meeting), is the secretary of Stewardship and Finance for that body. Lawrence McK. Miller, General Secretary of the Friends General Conference, has written a chapter on that group of Friends. Arthur O. Roberts, Professor of Religion and Philosophy at George Fox College in Oregon, is the author of the chapter on the Evangelical Friends Alliance, while William P. Taber, Jr., former headmaster of the Friends Boarding School at Barnesville, Ohio, describes the Conservative Friends. Finally, Isabel N. Bliss, a member of Cleveland Monthly Meeting in Ohio writes about the considerable number of "Unaffiliated Friends Meetings" that have sprung up in various parts of the country in recent decades. These five Friends have written as individuals, and not as official spokesmen for their groups, even though some hold official positions. In the introductory "Historical Summary" Edwin Bronner attempts to explain why and how American Friends came to be divided into many yearly meetings and why they appear to differ from one another in many ways. He also traces some of the steps taken toward greater unity in recent years. This is supplemented by suggested reading and a diagram to indicate in a simple fashion the history of the changes. In a final chapter the editor summarizes some other aspects of American Quakerism. These include accounts of the American Friends Service Committee, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, and the Friends World Committee , American Section, as well as a review of what American Friends have 55 56Quaker History done in the field of education, particularly in organizing Friends schools. At the end of the volume is a valuable map showing the location of the various American yearly meetings. Of his purpose, Edwin B. Bronner writes in his introduction: "This modest publication has been gathered together in order to help Friends to know and understand one another. While it indicates that all groups of Friends have much in common, no attempt has been made to gloss over differences which exist. We hope and pray that through greater knowledge and understanding it will be possible for all Friends to love and appreciate one another, even while cherishing those things which are distinctive of each group." Whether to a Friend from abroad curious about the diversity of American Quakerism, or an American Friend wishing to know better his Quaker neighbors, this little volume is indispensable. It fills a need that has long been felt. Cambridge, MassachusettsGeorge A. Selleck William Penn the Politician: His Relations with the English Government. By Joseph E. Illick. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1965. x, 267 pages...

The Impact of the American Revolution on Quakers' Ideas about Their Sect

T o0 American Quakers the Revolution was a bitter cup. They prayed that it might be taken from them, but they finally had to accept it. They consoled themselves with optimistic predictions about the spiritual effects it would have on their neighbors; yet as, it turned out the Friends themselves underwent a transformation they had not expected. The sufferings and schisms which the war brought them have been treated elsewhere.' The cluster of changes to be examined here concerns the Friends' views about the nature of their Religious Society, its future, and its relationship to the civil community at large. Revolutionary events and ideology not only revealed both the inadequacy and the inconsistency of a long-held group of ideas about the church but also required their revision. In addition, the Revolution challenged the Quakers either to find a new role in American society or to accept a futile isolation from it.

Henri Herz' Description of the American Quakers

Notes and Documentsill HENRI HERZ' DESCRIPTION OF THE AMERICAN QUAKERS Edited by Henry Bertram Hill and Larry Gara* Many travel accounts written by European visitors to the United States in the nineteenth century contain descriptions of Friends and of the Society of Friends. For the most part, such descriptive material was based on observations made of Friends in Philadelphia or its environs. The French pianist and composer, Henri Herz,1 also included an account of the Quakers in his travel book which was published in France in 1866.2 Herz, however, placed his Quaker material in his section on New York rather than Philadelphia. Little of Herz' account of the Quakers was based on firsthand observation. He gave no indication of having visited a Friends Meeting or having talked with Friends. Some of his facts, obviously gleaned from printed accounts or conversation, were garbled. He reduced Quaker tenets to four, omitting all mention of the Inner Light, his anti-British prejudice led him to poke fun at Quaker pacifism, and he confused the Quakers with the Shakers. Despite these serious shortcomings his account is of interest today because it furnishes a picture of Quakerism which was circulated in midnineteenth century France. While there is no evidence that his book had a very wide circulation, Herz was an influential figure * Henry Bertram Hill is Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin. Larry Gara is Professor of American History at Grove City College, Grove City, Pennsylvania. 1 Although he was a native of Austria, Heinrich Herz (1806-1888) considered himself French. He received his musical education in Paris and used the professional name Henri Herz. He had a long and successful career which included a professorship at the Paris Conservatory, a number of concert tours, two ventures in the business of manufacturing fine pianos, and the building of a concert hall. Although some critics claimed Herz lacked first-rate artistic ability, his concerts and more than two hundred compositions were very popular in his day. H. C. Colles, ed., Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (3d ed., New York, 1927-1928), II, 620-621. 2 Herz came to America in 1846. He toured North and South America for five years and, after returning home, he wrote one of a projected two volumes containing his reactions to and descriptions of life in the Americas, Mes voyages en Amérique (Paris, 1866). 112Bulletin of Friends Historical Association in the musical world of his time. His impressions undoubtedly supplied many a French reader with a description of the sect whose members, Herz conceded, despite all their follies, had "admirable qualities and a gentleness of spirit" among their chief characteristics.3 Don Manuel4 and I entered several churches belonging to different sects, and it was in New York that I saw Quakers for the first time in my life—a man and a woman. This couple, austere and morally respectable, I am sure, made a ridiculous public appearance. In America, where everyone dresses in just the way everyone else does, where even the Catholic priests wear little or nothing to distinguish them from other men, the Quakers have adopted the plainest sort oí attire. For the men, this uniformlike garb consists of a somber-hued coat, wide trousers, broad and heavy shoes, a low-crowned, wide-brimmed hat, plus a cane such as doctors in France used to carry in the last century and Monsieur Joseph Prudhomme5 still continues to use in our day. The women, clothed below with heavy shoes and blue wool stockings, cover their heads with a kind of cap resembling a cowl, and their shoulders with a wide triangular shawl. They encase themselves in tight-fitting, pleatless dresses, which make them look like umbrellas in their sheaths, which they all the more resemble because of their stiff and measured gait. Add to all this a green apron, and I tell you that not even the charms of a Venus de Medici could overcome such treatment. One gets the best understanding of these people in their meetinghouses. They shake in order to call down upon them the favors of the Holy Spirit, and members of both sexes and all ages preach...

THE NORWEGIAN QUAKERS OF MARSHALL COUNTY, IOWA

THE NORWEGIAN QUAKERS OF MARSHALL COUNTY, IOWA BY H . F. SWANSEN Iowa holds an important place in the history of the Norwegian- American Quakers, for a large number of the adherents of that religious society located within its boundaries. The first of these Friends who came to the Hawkeye State settled in Lee County, in the southeastern corner of the state. Here in the well known Sugar Creek community, Ommund Olson in 1842 built a meetinghouse, which, according to one authority, was the first house of worship erected by Norse Friends in America.1 Norwegian Quakers also moved into other parts of Iowa; Henry, Mahaska, and Benton counties, for example. While these movements are interesting and important in tracing the spread of Norse settlements in the state, the meetings or congregations with which these immigrants affiliated were not Norwegian speaking. Besides, the number of Norwegians in these counties was small. The settlement in Marshall County, however, is significant as well as unique, for it became the largest center of Norwegian Quakerism in the United States. Furthermore, the meeting established there was Norwegian speaking. The first Norse Friend to take up his abode in Marshall County was S^ren Oleson, who settled near the town of Le Grand in 1858. This sturdy immigrant was a native of Stavanger, Norway, the center of Quakerism in that country and the city from which the first Norwegian emigrants of the nineteenth century embarked. Weary of the persecution to which he was subjected on account of his refusal to bear arms, he emigrated in the fall of 1854, when he was twenty1 John F. Hansen, Light and Shade from the Land of the Midnight Suns 71 (Oskaloosa, Iowa, 190S). 127 128 STUDIES AND RECORDS seven years of age. He tarried at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, until the spring of 1855, when he set out for the Sugar Creek settlement in Lee County, Iowa, where several Norwegian Quakers had already established homes. During the same year Oleson moved to the Friends community at Salem in Henry County, which adjoined Lee to the northwest. Here on September 22, 1858, he married Anna C. Ravnaas. As members of the Salem Meeting of Friends, the Olesons made the acquaintance of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McCool, who owned a farm near Le Grand in Marshall County. Since Mrs. McCool was a minister in the Society of Friends, she and her husband traveled extensively. Unable to give personal attention to the many duties of his farm, McCool engaged Oleson for the work. Thus in 1858 S0ren Oleson and his wife migrated to Marshall County and they lived on the McCool farm for several years. Oleson then moved to a piece of land which he had previously purchased and made this his home. This was near Quarry, a community not far from Le Grand. Finding the soil fertile and the climate congenial, the Olesons soon wrote to friends about their attractive new home. In 1859 an old neighbor, Thore Heggem, came direct from Norway with his family and settled south of Le Grand. Before leaving his native land Heggem had been a member of the Stavanger Meeting of Friends. Two years later Christian Gimre with his family moved to Marshall County after a residence of several years at Primrose, Wisconsin. As a young man Gimre had worked in the city of Stavanger, Norway. In 1864 Mathias Huseboe and family, accompanied by several young people, settled in the neighborhood, and in the following year Tonnes K. Stangeland did likewise. Both the Huseboe group and Stangeland came from the Stavanger region of Norway where they had been active in Quaker circles. During the ten or twelve years after the arrival of S0ren Oleson, a large number of Norwegians arrived, THE NORWEGIAN QUAKERS 129 some from Illinois and Wisconsin, but the majority directly from Norway. The settlement was appropriately called Stavanger for the district in Norway from which most of its members originally came. It should not be confused with an older Stavanger settlement near Ossian in Winneshiek County, Iowa. A substantial addition was made to the community in 1869 when a company of about fifty Norwegian immigrants descended upon Le Grand. This group movement was the...

Friends of Humanity: A Quaker Anti-Slavery Influence

The humanitarianism of the eighteenth century gave added impulse to the members of the Society of Friends to practice the gospel of love for all mankind. Since at first “they were in derision called Quakers,” it is most likely that all of their interests were sneered at. Nevertheless, they influenced other denominations by their anti-slavery appeals and popularized the idea of a “society” for humanitarian purposes as they gave full meaning to the words friends and humanity. The English Quakers were called “Friends of Thieves” because they worked for prison reform in London, and the American Quakers appear to be the first persons who were known as “Friends of Humanity” primarily because they opposed Negro slavery vehemently.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS.

British Journal of InebrietyVolume 27, Issue 2 p. 81-112 REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. First published: October 1929 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.1929.tb04639.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Abstract Book reviewed in this article Der Kokainismus : Geschichte, Pathologie Medizinischeundbehördliche Bekampfung. An Introductiontothe Studyof Society : An Outlineof Phimary Factorsand Fundamental Institutions. By Frank Hamilton Hankins. Medico-Legal Problems. By Lord Riddell. Health, Disease, and Integration : An Essaybasedona Studyof Certain Aspectsof Encephalitis Lethargica. By H. P. Newsholme, M.A., M.D., E.R.C.P., B.Sc, D.P.H. Manand Civilization : An Inquiryintothe Basesof Contemporary Life. By John Storck. English Public Healthand Administration. By B. G. Bannington. The Healthofthe Nation. By F. E. Fremantle, M.P., M.D., M.Ch., F.R.C.P., F.R.C.S., D.P.H. Keeping Mentally Fit: A Guideto Everyday Psychology. By Joseph Jastrow, Ph.D., LL.D. The Healthofthe Mind. By J. R. Rees, M.A., M.D. Hypnotismmade Practical. By J. Louis Orton. Indigestion : Its Differential Diagnosisand Treatment. A Clinical Handbook for Practitioners. By Herbert J. Paterson, C.B.E., M.C., M.D., M.A., F.R.C.S. Feedingthe Family : Hintsforthe Intelligent Housewife. By Leonora Eyles. Good Health. By Ian S. Thomson, M.A., M.D., D.P.H. Psychologyin Serviceofthe Soul. By Leslie D. Weather-head, M.A. The Churchand Bodily Healing. By R. LI. Langford-James, D.D., B.Mus. The Hygieneof Marriage. By Isabel Emslie Hutton, M.D. Marriageandthe State. By Mary E. Richmond and Fred. S. Hall. The Poisonof Pkudery : An Histoeical Survey. By Walter M. Gallichan. Youthful Old Age : Howto Keep Young. By Walter M. Gallichan. A Peefaceto Morals. By Walter Lippmann. The Storyof Quakerism. By Elizabeth B. Emmott. Quakersin Action. Being an Account of Recent Humanitarian and Reform Activities of the American Quakers. By Lester M. Jones, Ph.D. Children's Behaviourand Teachers’Attitudes. By E. K. Wickman. Hygiene. A Textbook for College Students, with Introductory Sections on Anatomy and Physiology and Pathological Conditions. By Florence Lyndon Meredith, M.D. The Daily Health Builder. By C. Ward Crampton, M.D. The Healthof Youth. By Florence L. Meredith, B.Sc, M.D. Parentsandthe Pre-School Child. By William E. Blatz, M.B., Ph.D. The Problem Childat Home : A Studyin Parent-Child Relationships. By Mary Buell Sayles. Developing Personalityin Boys : The Social Psychologyof Adolescence. By W. Ryland Boorman. Personaland Community Health. By Clair Elsmere Turner. Building Societies, Their Origin, Methods, AND Principles. By Leonard G. Hodgson, A.K.C., F.C.I.S. Volume27, Issue2October 1929Pages 81-112 RelatedInformation