USA > Rhode Island > The Narragansett Friends' meeting in the xviii century, with a chapter on Quaker beginnings in Rhode Island > Part 7
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as yet fainted: bleffed be God for his Preferving Power that he might in his own time give me Sight and Sence: and at Lenth: the Lord has Shewed me by the Inftance of Eli: that I Should not only have advifed : my Son: but Should have Conftrained him to have Done Jus- tis to the black garl: and I Sea now I Should have taken up with the advife of friends : in Proficuting my Son, if he would not have Done Juftis with out : and I am Sorey that I Could not at that time have taken up with the advife of the Laft Committey to me Sent By the monthly meating Namely: John Col- lins Solomon Hoxesey thomas Wilber & Joseph Congdon advifing me to Defift and not hold no more meattings for friends had no Eunity with it. I Say I am Sorrey Seeing it was a Crofs to the Difcepline of friends and as to the manner of my holding of meattings out of Eunity I freely Condem : and as to the matter Leave me to Stand or fall to my own mafter: and I Defire that friends may Pafs it by and take me under there Chriftion Ceare: I Never Saw as I now Sea till ye 7th of this In-
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ftant: from one that Defiers to travel no fafter then the Light Difcovers and to Comply with Every manyfeft of it: Who allfo Defires to be admitted a member of your Sofiatry.
JOSHUA RATIIBUN
It is a comfort to find the following re- port, which was duly recorded, and to know that the old man was doubtless rein- stated : -
According to appointment We have had an oppeturnity With Joshua Rath- bun Refpecting his Requeft to be Re- ftored again to Memberfhip With friends and he appears to be in a Good Degree Sincere in his Requeft Which We think Well of Granting him all Which We Submit to the Mº Meeting Next to be held at Richmond.
PETER HOXSIE THOMAS WILBUR WILLIAM J. KNOWLES JOSEPH CONGDON
He died, aged 77 years, the 14th of 7th month, 1801, "of a very diftreffing Diforder
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in his Stomach, which he endured with much Fortitude and Refignation and which terminated his Life the Evening of the fame day." 1
As late as 1800, Joshua Rathbun the son desired to be restored, and was favorably reported to the meeting, as he " appears to be in a Good Degree Sincere in Condemn- ing his Mis-Conduct." He also "faid he Was Willing to do all he Could to Relieve the Negro Girl from Slavery that he was Denyed for Selling." And in 1807 comes a letter from Benjamin Rodman, who was denied in 1772. He was Dr. Thomas Rodman's son, and writes to the meet- ing : -
South Kingstown the 26th of 2ª Mo 1807.
In confequence of Friends dealling (as I then thought, too hardly with my fa- ther) many years ago, refpecting his keeping of Slaves, which I was so un- guarded as to refent, and to refufe to Set at liberty thofe in my poffeffion, which have fince all been liberated by me,
1 Births, Marriages, and Deaths, p. 146.
2 Ibid. p. 265.
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which conduct of mine (in refufing to free them at that time) I am forry for and defire friends to pafs it by and again admit me as a member of Society.
BENJ. RODMAN To the Mo. Meeting of friends next to be Holden at Richmond.
These papers really show the power of the meeting. To Joshua Rathbun it came as a bitter trial to be denied; to the other men, in their way, either as a discredit or a misfortune, which years after was re- membered, and repaired if possible. It was the power of public opinion about them - the consensus of opinion of the best and most honorable men they knew - that they valued, as well as the doctrine of the church they loved. So, in a formative period of American history, these little self- governing bodies of men, scattered in re- mote rural districts, bound together by ties of love and belief, and a common purpose of daily life, -these little meetings had vast influence in training men to public affairs, in shaping the true democratic policy to- ward which the country was tending. The
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meeting might seem isolated; but while such men as John Woolman and John Pemberton came to it, while Mary Kirby from England crossed the water to visit it, it was not out of communication with the great world. Out to that world it sent its own ministers, Peter Davis, Thomas Robin- son, and Patience Greene, who, under her married name of Patience Brayton, could not have forgotten the meeting of her youth. The very fact of the beautifully printed London Epistles coming yearly was an education, and the books which the meeting subscribed for made many a good Friend's library. It was the existence of many such well-governed and self-sustain- ing bodies as the South Kingstown monthly meeting which made possible our Revolu- tion, paradoxical as this may seem, since any resort to arms was so severely dis- countenanced. Here, in small, a truly re- presentative government was in operation.
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VIII THE REVOLUTION
VIII
THE middle of the eighteenth century certainly marked the height of the greatest power and usefulness of the South Kings- town meeting. The long agitation over the question of slavery, which began as early as 1742, at the time of Thomas Haz- ard's (son of Robert) marriage; which was discussed in John Woolman's powerful ser- mons, and personal pleadings with masters and mistresses in 1748; to which Patience Brayton and Richard Smith bore testimony in the fifties, - was finally settled in meet- ing in 1773. This was a formative period. A question affecting the lives of so many persons, masters as well as servants, natu- rally stimulated thought; and, though the meeting was in a little corner of the world, it was not left without leaders from abroad, as well as those developed within its own borders.
Two Friends in especial throw light upon this period, - the diary of Jeffrey Watson, beginning in 1640 and ending 1783; and
160 NARRAGANSETT FRIENDS' MEETING that of " Nailor Tom " Hazard, from 1778 to 1840, the two covering a period of one hundred years of observation by men of unusual capacity and intelligence. Both these men were Quakers by birth and train- ing. Jeffrey Watson was the son of John Watson, Esq., the first child born in Nar- ragansett after the Indian War,1 his obitu- ary notice declares, that is, in 1676. " He was bleft with more than a common fhare of good fenfe, and was early employed in many important affairs." At his death, at the age of ninety-seven years, he left one hundred and thirty-eight descendants, a great part of whom followed him to the - grave. "He was a Loving Husband, a Tender father, a juft Magiftrate, a good neighbor, a mild Mafter, and an Honeft Man." Our ancient friend, Peter Davis, preached at his funeral, also Stephen Rich- mond and Robert Knowles. His son, Jef- frey Watson, inherited many of his father's good qualities, and seems to have had a special relish for preaching. In 1743 he records having heard at Friends' meeting " the ableft man that I had ever heard in
1 I am indebted to Mrs. C. E. Robinson for a copy of this valuable diary.
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my life." He mentions all the special meet- ings of Friends, as in 1755 : -
I was at the Quaker Meeting and there was two Old England and one Filly- delphia man fpoke exceedingly able. Again in the same year : -
I was at the Quaker Meeting to hear Sam1 Fothergill. There was a boundance of people the minifter Exceedingly Able and a great fcolar Difcourced in a very High Stile.
Watson also went to the Baptist meeting. Once it was held in the woods, on a rainy day, but Gardner Thurston preached a very able sermon from Joshua, 24th chapter and 16th verse. Again, at the Baptist meet- ing, Samuel Albro is recorded as exceed- ingly able, preaching from the text, " Pre- pare to meet thy God o Ifreal."
Thomas Hazard is mentioned as a preacher; in 1791 the text of his funeral sermon for John Watson, senior, is given : " The Grace of God has appeared to all Mankind."
All the prominent Friends' funerals are spoken of. They departed this life with " Much Lamentation " he often adds. Of the other preachers, Hoxsie is often men-
1
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tioned, the good clerk of the meeting. Whitman preached from the ever comfort- ing text, " Bleffed are the dead who die in the Lord." Patience Greene preached often in 1756 and 1757, and Stephen Rich- mond later. So the meeting was well sup- plied with its own ministers.
Some hint of the state of the currency is given in June, 1757, when, at Tower Hill, " they was a letting bank money." After a few days' consideration, on the 9th of June Watson went to Tower Hill " to Take of the Bank money." This was one of the issues of paper money which Rhode Island had made at intervals from 1710. The premium was enormous; the issue of 1757 is quoted at £5 15s. for one Spanish milled dollar, while the next year the value of the silver dollar rose to £6 in old tenor bills.1
In 1761 comes an interesting record : - Jan. 19. This Day the Prince of Wales was proclaimed King of England by the name of George the Third by the Grace of God King over Great Britain France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith &c.
There were still some years when the
1 R. I. Colonial Records, vol. vi. p. 361.
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orderly proceedings of the meeting were quietly carried on, but there were signs of the coming storm. The debased cur- rency was in itself a source of danger. In many instances barter was resorted to again, and contracts had to provide in what sort of money they should be paid, since every year saw increased inflation. Corn, which in 1751 sold at twenty-five shillings a bushel, gradually rose till in the early sixties it reached its maximum of one hundred shil- lings. Careful men of business kept their accounts in old tenor and lawful money, with endless trouble and confusion. No wonder Jeffrey Watson often records try- ing to settle accounts, " but could not do it," and his joy when he has finally agreed with a certain creditor, and makes the re- cord, " fettled accounts for ever and ever amen "! Then came the stirring days of the Revolution. In Narragansett the echoes of the shot that rung around the world were also heard. It is interesting to find some of the earliest advice to Friends was in re- gard "to receiving and paffing the late pa- per Currency that is made and paffed in thefe Colonies Iffued Expreffly for the purpofe of Carrying on War it is recom-
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mended to friends Serious Confideration and Obfervation."1 This was given from Newport in Ist month, 1776. Friends in the summer of that same year were advised to "enter deeply into themfelves and not implicitely follow the fentiments of others, but fee that their proceedings therein are in the liberty of the Truth."? So powerful were the Quakers in the Colony that the General Assembly passed an act in June of the same year entitled " An Act for the relief of perfons of tender confciences, and for preventing their being burthened with millitary duty." 3
The meeting therefore drew up a minute instructing Friends how to act under the circumstances : -
This meeting is informed that through late Laws Friends are fubjected to fome penalties on certain Requefitions which they may be releafed and excufed from by Producing a certificate to the chief Officers from our Clerk Setting forth that they are members of the Religious So- ciety called Quakers, therefore the clerk .
1 S. K. M. M. R. vol. ii. p. 55.
2 R. I. Meeting Records, 1776.
8 R. I. C. R. vol. vii. p. 568.
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is directed to make and fign Certificates to our members applying for the fame when no diforder or irregularty doth ap- pear and every fuch applying member is earnestly defired to Examine and fee that nothing be done out of the truth that our Teftimony may be preferved pure and no reproach brought upon friends.1
A meeting for Sufferings was early ar- ranged, and members who had suffered on account of military service were instructed to send " the account and prices there of in Value of sd Sufferings to the clerk of this meeting and for the Clerk to Tranfmit An acc' to the meeting for Sufferings." 2
But the war began to press home. Thomas B. Hazard, called "Nailor Tom," in his diary begins to note the movement of vessels with an anxious eye. From the ridge of Tower Hill the bay lay in plain sight, and Newport was always an impor- tant point. He writes : -
Jan. 30, 1779. The Regulars landed and took two boats out of the river. 4 sail went upland from Newport. Some snow. One ship went into Newport.
1 S. K. M. M. R. vol. ii. p. 51.
2 Ibid.
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The next month "Davis privateer went eastward; " March 20th, " a sloop sailed out of Newport about sunset." May 8, " Regu- lars landed in Point Judith." Nailor Tom was a man of great conversational power, if tradition is to be trusted. He could pic- ture a scene most vividly, and his conversa- tion was enlivened by flashes of wit and humor; so that for him this last brief entry doubtless called up the whole scene, and he felt again all the commotion of the country- side. But, fortunately for us, Jeffrey Wat- son gives a fuller account of this proceeding. The entry in his diary is May 9, 1779 :-
John Gardner Jun was Taken at Point Judah with his 9 workmen by the Land Pirates who Joyned the Miniftered party to burn plunder and Deftroy the Inhab- itants of North America and took ye faid Gardner's eftate from him nine oxen Twenty fix cows with their calves and about forty five fheep with their lambs and caryed to Newport the 8 Day of May 1779 and kept him prifoner until Oct 15 1779. Job Watfon had about feven hundred fheep with their lambs caryed of at the same time and some cattle. June 25. Land pirates Landed
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again of Point Judah and caryed away from John Gardner between two and three hundred wait of cheefe two lambs and fome of his wifes wearing clofe and fome other fmall things and from Job Watfon two negro men and four white men that was at work for him. Gorton was feen this day in a Bean field near by where they landed.
Nailor Tom makes two or three entries that same month. June 3d, " Craddock was taken in his fifh boat by the Privateers- men." The 6th, " Regulars landed and took Samuel Congdon." The 8th, " The Regulars burnt two houfes laft night." The 12th there was an "alarm in the night." So the countryside had its share of dis. turbance and tumult.
Jeffrey Watson makes an interesting entry in 1781 : -
March 6 General Wafhington Rode by our Houfe with about Twenty Soldiers for a guard about ten o'clock.
He was born in Virginia in the county of Weftmoreland the eleventh day of February 1732. Had a Col's commiffion at nineteen years of age was taken Pris- oner by the French and Indians and
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given Liberty on a Parol was exchanged when Gen. Braddock was Defeated near Dequefne in the year 1755.
The meeting records have occasional references to dealings with members who acted " in the Quality of a Soldier." As early as the 27th of 5th month, 1776, a young man is reported who had enlisted and gone into the Millitary service which con- duct being Inconfiftant with the Princi- ples of Truth which we profefs and con- trary to the Teftimony which we as a people have always bourn, Wee there- fore Deny him remaining any Longer a Member of our Society.1
Other dealings with delinquents follow. One man who paid a war tax was labored with, as this was contrary to the " General teftimony againft contributing toward carry- ing on War." Another member is denied for " hireing such eftates as are faid to be confifcated."2 But the general conduct of affairs was not apparently interrupted. On the very same page on which this political offense is recorded, equal space, if not more, is given to the consideration of a man who married again within four months of his
1 S. K. M. M. R. vol. ii. p. 63. 2 Ibid. p. 103.
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wife's death, and, further, "that the said John has lately joined with ye people called Seperators in their worfhip fo far as to Stand up with his Hatt off in time of their praying."
Another good Friend was denied because he bought some books at a vendue, taken from a vessel which was a prize of war, al- though he pleaded that he thought "his motive being to Reftore the moft Valuable Book purchafed to the Right Owner was a Mitigation of his Tranfgreffion."1
The 3 1st of 8th month, 1778, the monthly meeting was informed that the old meet- ing-house "has been lately occupied as a Hofpital for the fick lately landed out of the French fleet and greatly Damaged and likewife the pale and board fences wholly deftroyed."2 A committee was therefore appointed " to apply to the Barrack Mas- ter, (and others whofe right and bufinefs it may be) requefting the reparation " of the house and fences.
Young men were drafted, and others hired to go as substitutes ; but in general the " labour for their recovery " proved in- effectual. In 1780 comes an entry that 1 S. K. M. M. R. vol. ii. p. 132. 2 Ibid. p. 109.
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throws more light. A matter came up against a man who had resided in Newport for several years, and " the Communications with the main being Obftructed Untill late laft Fall by its being a Britifh Garifon and fince the Evacuation the Severity of the Seafon and other Impediments hath hitherto prevented the Committee appointed from Treating with him." 1
During this time the agreement from the meeting for Sufferings in Providence, of which Thomas Hazard, son of Robert, was a member, to raise funds for a school by subscription, was received, and the matter duly reported upon. The temperance ques- tion was also coming into prominence, and Friends bore their testimony against per- sons who "drinked to excefs," and those who " fold Spiritous Liquor by the fmall quantity without a Licenfe." 2
Attending a horse-race also came within the limits of disorderly conduct, and the lines of Friends were drawn even more strictly in this time of trial and disorganiza- tion. In 1775 a committee was appointed " to revifit such perfons as Chofe to be con- fidered as members of our Society," and 1 S. K. M. M. R. vol. ii. p. 149. 2 Ibid. p. 170.
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they were to be informed "that it is the Defire of this meeting that they duly attend all the meetings both of worfhip and Dis- cipline, and alfso Maintain Our Chriftian Teftimony in every Branch thereof." 1
Attending Jemima Wilkinson's meetings was a cause of stumbling, for which a paper of contrition had to be presented.2
South Kingstown had a "concern," in 17SI, "to take under further confidera- tion the Neceffity of Bearing a Teftimony againft War & Fighting and alfo our Tes- timony for Plainnefs of Speech and Ap- parrel." 3
So the careful regulation of the daily life of Friends continued. It was an important influence in a formative period of our his- tory. The "good order of friends " had to be strictly observed. Each little meeting had its definite relation to the larger meet- ings. The overseers were appointed by the monthly meeting to take charge not only of "Sleping and all other indecencies " in the meeting itself, but of conduct; and any deviation from the strict rule of Friends was reported to the preparative meeting,
1 S. K. M. M. R. vol. ii. p. 42. 3 Ibid. p. 172.
2 Ibid. p. 171.
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which made its returns to the monthly meeting. This meeting could refer dif- ficult cases to the quarterly meeting, or ad- vice could come from the quarterly meet- ing. The quarterly meeting in turn could appeal to the yearly meeting, the final source of authority. This government fos- tered independence of thought and speech, for it rested upon the consent of the gov- erned; members were only " fuch as chofe to be confidered friends." The papers of contrition all ask to be "received again into the loving care of friends." It was a vol- untary submission to what each man con- sidered best and right.
But the great service Friends rendered was a spiritual service. We, who have to trace the history of a single meeting in records which are of necessity accounts of delinquencies, may be apt to forget the great principle for which they stood, - " the light of Truth within me," as the old testimonies phrase it. It was the doctrine of the indwelling Spirit which gave those men their power. In an age of formalism, when true religion languished and bigotry still reigned, George Fox proclaimed this doctrine. No wonder he was misunder-
THE REVOLUTION . 173
stood. No wonder that even such a man as Roger Williams, with his bold teaching of freedom of different consciences from inforcement, shrank from this still bolder assertion of the divine light and truth dwelling in each soul. To him this seemed a blasphemous assumption. And indeed, in the freedom in which the early Friends rejoiced, they did carry their conduct to extremes. In protesting against outward forms, they sometimes offended the de- cencies of life. But in the eighteenth century these eccentricities had in large measure disappeared. Thomas Hazard, the Hoxsies, Collins, and the other promi- nent Friends of the meeting were grand- sons of the men who heard George Fox preach in Justice Bull's house on Tower Hill. The meeting was settled and in order. They had the tradition of piety and right living behind them; they knew the truth which had made them free. The churches around them were still in bondage to the minister. Episcopacy was struggling for a foothold in the New World, and here was an organized representative govern- ment fully equipped for work, and with the vital spark of life.
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It had fought the battle of emancipation. For years it quietly worked with its mem- bers, until long before the act of abolition in Rhode Island, passed in 1784, the South Kingstown meeting was clear in its testi- mony against the " deteftable practife of en- flaving Mankind." It stood for temperance in all things, - in its rebuke of intoxication, in its sobriety of speech and behavior, in dis- countenancing unseemly amusements. If " dancing and vain mirth " at weddings were counted among these, we must remember the license of the times, and how seldom these recreations were kept within proper bounds. It stood for education. Books were subscribed for. Fox's " Journal," and " Barclay's Appology now printing at Phil- adelphia," was sent for. Sewall's " History of Friends," " Piety promoted," the " reprint of the Holy Bible," are all mentioned ; and when the school was established, in 1781, South Kingstown took its share.
It stood for equal rights of men and women. Many a minute closes, " The women's Meeting being in unity there in." This equality was based on a broad and firm foundation, the men's meeting "not Defiring the Preheminence where Truth ad-
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mits of none But believing that both Male & female are all one in Chrift Jefus." 1 So the women had training in independent thought and action. To them, questions of conduct were often referred: they had, as women always must have, charge of the aged and the poor. They themselves treated with women who held slaves, and were thoroughly competent to take care of their own meeting. Elizabeth Kirby and Patience Greene were preachers held in honor by the whole meeting, who traveled, the first from England and the latter to England, speaking the message which was delivered to them, "according to the mea- sure of their ability." These meetings had an important share in preparing the coun- try for self-government. The man second only to Washington himself belonged to the Greenwich meeting, to which the Nar- ragansett meetings also belonged until 1743. Who can doubt that the training in ad- ministration, as well as in high principle and true courage, stood Nathaniel Greene in good stead in his eventful career? The habit of plain speaking and righteous deal- ing gives tremendous power; and when to
1 S. K. M. M. R., vol. i. p. 235.
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that is added a true recognition of Divine guidance, a constant turning to that Inner light of Truth the possession of which is the birthright of every child of God, we should expect heroes from such a nurture. It was a high ideal that those just men set before themselves, and an ideal which led to practical results in ways they could not approve. The same freedom they taught their sons, the same liberty they claimed for themselves, led to the throwing off of British rule, and, through the "war and carnal fightings " they so deeply deplored, to that larger liberty in which a new ex- periment in civilization could begin.
APPENDIX
A Quaker's Sea-Fournal Being a True
RELATION
of a Voyage to NEW ENGLAND
Performed by Robert Fowler of the Town of Burlington in Yorkfhire in the Year 1 65 8
London Printed for Francis Coffenet at the Anchor & Mariner in Tower-Street Anno 1659
A truc Relation of the Voyage undertaken by me ROBERT FOWLER, with my Small Veffel called the WOODHOUSE but performed by the Lord like as he did NOAH'S Ark, wherein he fhut up a few righteous perfons, and landed them as fafe, even as at the Hill Ararat.
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