DOCSLIB.ORG

"Hanging As a Flag" :Mary Dyer and Quaker Hagiography

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Quaker Religious Thought Volume 95 Article 3 1-1-2000 "Hanging as a Flag" :Mary Dyer and Quaker Hagiography David L. Jones Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/qrt Part of the Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Jones, David L. (2000) ""Hanging as a Flag" :Mary Dyer and Quaker Hagiography," Quaker Religious Thought: Vol. 95 , Article 3. Available at: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/qrt/vol95/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Quaker Religious Thought by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “HANGING AS A FLAG”: MARY DYER AND QUAKER HAGIOGRAPHY DAVID L. JOHNS INTRODUCTION overnor Endicott: “You will own yourself a Quaker, will you Gnot?” Mary Dyer stiffened. “I am myself to be reproachfully called so.” The jailer exclaimed, “She is a vagabond!” Governor Endicott continued, “The sentence was passed upon you by the General Court and now likewise; you must return to the prison and there remain until tomorrow at nine o’clock; then from thence you must go to the gallows, and there be hanged till you are dead.” Mary Dyer did not flinch. “This is no more than what you said before.” Governor Endicott: “But now it is to be executed; therefore pre- pare yourself tomorrow at nine o’clock.” Mary Dyer: “I came in obedience to the will of God to the last General Court desiring you to appeal your unrighteous laws of ban- ishment on pain of death; and that same is my work now, and earnest request, although I told you that if you refused to repeal them, the Lord would send others of his servants to witness against them.” Governor Endicott: “Are you a prophetess?” Mary Dyer: “I speak the words that the Lord speaks in me and now the thing has come to pass.” Governor Endicott: “Away with her! Away with her!” Led through the streets sandwiched between drummers...Mary Dyer walked to her death....Some of the followers...[pleaded] “Mary Dyer, don’t die. Go back to Rhode Island where you might save your life. We beg of you, go back, go back! Go back and live!” 7 8• DAVID L. JOHNS Raising her voice above the hammering of the drummers, she said, “Nay, I cannot go back to Rhode Island, for in obedience to the will of the Lord I came, and in His will I abide faithful to death.” ...close to Frog Pond by the great elm tree in Boston Commons, the drums were quieted and Captain John Webb spoke up. Turning to the agitated crowd in justification, he said, “She has been here before and had the sentence of banishment upon pain of death and has broken the law in coming again now. It is therefore she who is guilty of her own blood.” Mary Dyer spoke in contradiction, “Nay, I came to keep blood- guiltiness from you, desiring you to repeal the unrighteous and unjust laws of banishment upon pain of death made against the innocent ser- vants of the Lord. Therefore, my blood will be required at your hands who willfully do it.” “But, for those who do it in the simplicity of their hearts, I desire the Lord to forgive them. I came to do the will of my father, and in obedience to this will I stand even to death.” As her neck snapped, the crowd stood paralyzed in the silence of death until a spring breeze lifted her limp skirt and it billowed in response. General Atherton cracked the silence, “She hangs like a flag,” he said. A chorus of voices repeated, “Ay, she hangs like a flag.” And one strong voice continued, “She hangs like a flag for others to take example from.”1 “She hangs like a flag for others to take example from.” In this article I propose to examine Mary Dyer but not in order to further our understanding of her as a historical figure. Rather, using her as a model and an occasion I intend to look at the theolog- ical question of religious regard for the saints and ask whether Quakers possess a notion of sainthood and a hagiographic tradition (since it is unlikely that one exists apart from the other). Far from being a Roman Catholic question, any tradition that functions according to, or in conversation with, a formative narrative is a tradition that is potentially guided by human lives. At its best, this is precisely what the saints are and how their memory functions in practical terms. And while the Scriptures, the language of the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit who inspired the Scriptures have all been formative for Friends since their inception, I contend that there has been an implicit (if not actually explicit) notion of the saints operative within the Religious Society of Friends. “HANGING AS A FLAG”• 9 Narrative approaches to the Christian life may be built upon the story of the Scriptures, of course. However, an important narrative approach to the moral life, it seems, is an examination of lives that embody, or more theologically—incarnate—the values embraced and pursued. Lives of heroic virtue have provided, and continue to provide for Quakers, a narrative for structuring community life and for initiating neophytes into the faith. Hagiography in both its gen- eral and in its particularly Quaker expressions functions as example by establishing a pattern of faithfulness. It is an incarnationally contex- tualized expression of holiness. Since the first Christian saints were the martyrs, it makes sense to begin a discussion of Quakers and the saints with Mary Dyer: the most famous of Quaker martyrs. MARY DYER AND QUAKERISM It is clear that like the first proclamation of the Easter message the message of Quakerism in America is linked inexorably to women. Ann Austin and Mary Fisher, the first Quakers in Boston, arrived in July of 1656. They came not to settle nor to colonize but to preach as they had in Barbados, and as Fisher had with Elizabeth Williams, to the students at Cambridge University. Of course, the Boston mag- istrates were well aware of this troublesome sect, the Quakers, and promptly jailed Fisher and Austin and sent them back to Barbados as quickly as possible. Apparently, the greatest threat posed by these women, and a threat that was to be confirmed as legitimate later in the Boston magistrates’ protracted difficulty with Mary Dyer, was the disruption of a kind of civil order that was characterizing the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Soon laws were passed penalizing ship captains for even transporting Quakers to Boston. Anne Hutchinson, like Roger Williams, succeeded either by acci- dent or design in infuriating the Puritan leadership of Boston. Hutchinson was convinced of Puritan thought by John Cotton. However, while most of the New England Puritans would say with Thomas Hooker, Thomas Shepard, and Peter Bulkley, that human beings could prepare their hearts for the moment of the Spirit’s regenerating work and that this “preparation for grace” was an essen- tial stage in the order of salvation, John Cotton stressed the gracious and even arbitrariness of God’s regenerative work. Hutchinson 10 • DAVID L. JOHNS admired Cotton and eventually with her family followed him from England to the New World (he in 1633, they in 1634). Hutchinson was an articulate supporter of Cotton and the Covenant of Grace; she was an equally outspoken critic of the Covenant of Works. At Cotton’s request, she held meetings in her home attracting many women and even the newly elected governor, Sir Henry Vane. These meetings became successful to the point of concern for ministers and magistrates alike. Somewhere during this period Mary and William Dyer migrated to New England and settled in Boston.2 Anne and Mary became friends rather quickly and Mary became a regular participant in the so-called “Antinomian” gather- ings. But Hutchinson was cast out of the Boston Church in 1638 for “infecting” others with her “erroneous and dangerous” opinions and for engaging in activities not “fitting for her sex.” How might she have been regarded had she sided with the Covenant of Works? Obviously, Hutchinson’s theological convictions carried political sig- nificance; however, it appears that the activities troubling Governor John Winthrop and others were theological, and perhaps even pas- toral. Even her words as she left the Boston Church after being cast out carry a more clearly theological tone: “The Lord judgeth not as man judgeth. Better to be cast out of the church than to deny Christ.” Apparently, “denying Christ” here would have meant not recognizing revelations that came to her, not acknowledging her gift- edness to speak to the gatherings at her home, not affirming grace over works. I call attention to this because the scene is quite differ- ent in the case of Dyer, where her activities are more clearly direct and intentionally confrontational acts challenging laws and decisions. As Hutchinson was banished from the Boston Church, the trial min- isters having turned their backs on her, Mary Dyer grasped her hand and walked with her from the church, thereby further identifyng her- self publicly with Hutchinson. From here we can sketch an outline of Mary Dyer’s travels and activities essentially as follows: Dyer moved from Boston with Hutchinson to Newport, Rhode Island. In 1643 Hutchinson, along with her entire family (save one daughter), was murdered in an Indian attack. Seven years later (1650) Dyer traveled alone to England and remained there for sev- eral years.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Hermaphrodite Edited by Renée Bergland and Gary Williams
    Philosophies of Sex Etching of Julia Ward Howe. By permission of The Boston Athenaeum hilosophies of Sex PCritical Essays on The Hermaphrodite EDITED BY RENÉE BERGLAND and GARY WILLIAMS THE OHIO State UNIVERSITY PRESS • COLUMBUS Copyright © 2012 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Philosophies of sex : critical essays on The hermaphrodite / Edited by Renée Bergland and Gary Williams. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8142-1189-2 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8142-1189-5 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8142-9290-7 (cd-rom) 1. Howe, Julia Ward, 1819–1910. Hermaphrodite. I. Bergland, Renée L., 1963– II. Williams, Gary, 1947 May 6– PS2018.P47 2012 818'.409—dc23 2011053530 Cover design by Laurence J. Nozik Type set in Adobe Minion Pro and Scala Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American Na- tional Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48–1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Introduction GARY Williams and RENÉE Bergland 1 Foreword Meeting the Hermaphrodite MARY H. Grant 15 Chapter One Indeterminate Sex and Text: The Manuscript Status of The Hermaphrodite KAREN SÁnchez-Eppler 23 Chapter Two From Self-Erasure to Self-Possession: The Development of Julia Ward Howe’s Feminist Consciousness Marianne Noble 47 Chapter Three “Rather Both Than Neither”: The Polarity of Gender in Howe’s Hermaphrodite Laura Saltz 72 Chapter Four “Never the Half of Another”: Figuring and Foreclosing Marriage in The Hermaphrodite BetsY Klimasmith 93 vi • Contents Chapter Five Howe’s Hermaphrodite and Alcott’s “Mephistopheles”: Unpublished Cross-Gender Thinking JOYCE W.
    [Show full text]
  • November 25,1897
    The Republican Journal. V0LlME li9'_ BELFAST, MAINE, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1897. NUMBER 47 political movement, the A. P. A. has Busy Brooks. good business in stoves, tinware, etc. M. J. Associated THE REPUBLICAN JOURNAL. given up the ghost, the national organiza- Charities. The Water Works in Brooks Village. PERSONAL. Dow has a store filled with a handsome tion having surrendered its charter and A Write-up of this Enterprising Village. of in Two preliminary meetings looking to the gone out of business.The new recita- assortment everything ladies’ wear, The Consolidated Water Co. of Portland C.W. Frederick visited It is the of a Augusta yesterday. PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY MORNING BY THE tion hall which verdict of all who visit Brooks F. establishing society for associated char- John D. Rockefeller has millinery, etc. B. Stantial’s stock of dry has put in a system of water works at Brooks that have been Mr. E. O. Thorndike returned to Boston just built for Vassal- at a cost of village it is one of the busiest and most and is and ity held in this city and some College fancy goods complete, Chas. H. Village and water is now supplied to about was dedicated Nov. 19th. The progress made. At the Nov. Saturday. Journal Pub. Co. $100,000 enterprising places of its size in the State. has a well store. meeting 19th Republican Irving equipped jewelry 60 buildings. The company was incorporated same day Mr. Rockefeller telegraphed to The is N. E. Keen was elected chairman Hon. R. W. went to Boston yester- village situated on the Belfast branch The mechanics include Chas.
    [Show full text]
  • A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY of RELIGION in AMERICA
    A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY of RELIGION in AMERICA To 1877 THIRD EDITION Edited by Edwin S. Gaustad with revisions by Mark A. Noll WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN / CAMBRIDGE, U.K. Contents Preface to the Third Edition xvii Preface to the Second Edition xviii Preface to the First Edition xix Illustrations xxii Acknowledgments xxiv CHAPTER ONE The Old World and the New I 1. Natural Religion 9 Ceremonies 9 Hopi 9 Zuni 12 Chinook \ 14 Kwakiutl 15 Myths (things believed) 17 Tsimshian 17 Pima 20 Cherokee 21 Zwwf 23 2. New Spain 24 Ponce de Leon 24 Bartholomew de Las Casas and Sublimis Deus 25 Dominicans in Florida 26 Vll viii Contents Pedro Menendez de Avil6s and the Jesuits 28 Franciscans and Indian Revolt 29 Franciscans in New Mexico 31 3. New France 34 French Views of Native Americans 34 Advice to those "whom it shall please God to call to New France" 36 Brebeuf's Instructions to Missionaries 38 Martyrdom of Isaac Jogues, S.J. 39 New France Proclaimed 41 4. New Netherland and New Sweden 43 Jonas Michaelius 43 Johannes Megapolensis and the Mohawks 45 Megapolensis and the Jews 47 Megapolensis and Isaac Jogues 47 John Printz of New Sweden 49 Dutch Surrender 51 5. England Anew 54 Virginia 54 John Rolfe and Pocahantas 54 Anti-Catholicism 57 Church Establishment 58 Virginia's Cure 59 Massachusetts 63' Reasons for Removal: The Pilgrims 63 Persuading London 65 Reasons for Removal: The Puritans 66 A Modell of Christian Charity 67 Puritan Poets 69 Special Cases: Maryland, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania 72 Maryland and Roman Catholics 72 English America's First Mass 75 Rhode Island and the Baptists 77 Pennsylvania and the Quakers 80 Penn and Liberty of Conscience 81 Contents ix The English and the Indian 83 Indian Missions in Massachusetts 83 King Philip's War 85 William Penri and the Indians _ .
    [Show full text]
  • Column1 Column2 Column3 Column4 Column5 Column6 Column7 Column8 Column9 Column10 Column11 AUTHOR TITLE CALL PUBLISHER City PUB
    Column1 Column2 Column3 Column4 Column5 Column6 Column7 Column8 Column9 Column10 Column11 AUTHOR TITLE CALL PUBLISHER City PUB. COPY# SUBJECT 1 SUBJECT 2 SUBJECT 3 NOTES NUMBER DATE Aarek, William From Loneliness to Fellowship: a Swarthmore George Allen London 1954 1 Quakerism, Psychology study in psychology and Lecture & Unwin Ltd. Introduction Quakerism Pamphlets Aarek, William From Loneliness to Fellowship: a Swarthmore George Allen London 1954 2 Quakerism, Psychology study in psychology and Lecture & Unwin Ltd. Introduction Quakerism Pamphlets Abbott, Margery Post Christianity and the Inner Life: PH #402 Pendle Hill Wallingford, PA 2009 1 Christianity - Twenty-First Century Reflections Spiritual Life on the Words of Early Friends Abbott, Margery Post To Be Broken and Tender: A 289.6 Western 2010 1 Quaker Quaker theology for today Ab2010to Friend Theology Abbott, Margery Post, Walk Worthy of Your Calling, 289.6 Friends Richmond, IN 2004 1 Pastoral Travel - Parsons, Peggy Quakers and the Traveling Ministry Ab2004wa United Press Theology - Religious Senger eds. Society of Aspects Friends Abbott, Margery Post; Historical Dictionary of Friends 289.6 Scarecrow Lanham, MD 2003 1 Society of Chijoke, Marry Ellen; (Quakers) Ab2003hi Press Friends - Dandelion, Pink; History - Oliver, John William Dictionary Abrams, Irwin To the Seeker Brochure Friends Philadelphia ND 1 Quakerism, General Introduction Conference Alexander, Horace Everyman's Struggle For Peace PH #74 Pendle Hill Wallingford, PA 1953 2 Pendle Hill Pamphlet Alexander, Horace G. Gandhi Remembered PH#165 Pendle Hill Wallingford, PA 1969 1 Pendle Hill Gandhi, Pamphlet Mohandas - Non- violence Alexander, Horace G. Quakerism in India PH #31 Pendle Hill Wallingford, PA ND 1 Pendle Hill Pamphlet Alexander, Horace G.
    [Show full text]
  • Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England : Printed
    Ib^ S&C StX. fid ^ t sJ RECORDS OF PLYMOUTH COLONY. COURT 111) E lis. „| YOL. III. 1651-1661. i RECORDS OF THE COLONY OF NEW PLYMOUTH IN NEW ENGLAND. PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. EDITED r, Y NATHANIEL B. SHURTLEFF, M.D., MEMBER or THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAt SOCIETY, FELLOW Of TUB AMERICAN ACADEMI Of ARTS AND SCIENCES, MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ANTHJUARIAN SOCIETY, FELLOW OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON, ETC. COURT OPtDEllS: YOL. IIL 1651-lOGL BOSTON: FROM THE PRESS OF WILLIAM WHITE, PRINTER TO THE CO.M.MONVVE.V.TH. 185 5. AMS Press • 1968 • New York AMS Press, Inc. New York, N.Y. 10003 1968 BOSTON WBUC LIBi?ARYj %^Sci R^ Manufactured in the United States of America REMARKS. THE third volume of Court Orders of the Colony of New Plymouth is contained in a manuscript of about three hundred and forty pages, all in the handwriting of Mr. Nathaniel Morton, secretary of the colony. It comprises the records of the latter part of the administration of Governor William Bradford, and the first part of that of Governor Thomas Prence, including a period of ten j-ears, counnencing on the second day of March, 1051-2, and ending on the twenty-third day of July, IGGl. Occasionally matter of a miscellaneous character will be found entered in various parts of the volume ; and in some instances this will be found out of chronological order. Care has been taken to make the indexes as full and perfect as possible. N.
    [Show full text]
  • America's Gothic Fiction
    America’s Gothic Fiction America’s Gothic Fiction The Legacy of Magnalia Christi Americana Dorothy Z. Baker The Ohio State University Press Columbus Copyright © 2007 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Baker, Dorothy Zayatz. America’s gothic fiction : the legacy of Magnalia Christi Americana / Dorothy Z. Baker. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN-13: 978–0–8142–1060–4 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978–0–8142–9144–3 (cd-rom) 1. American fiction—History and criticism. 2. Religion and literature. 3. Mather, Cotton, 1663–1728. Magnalia Christi Americana. 4. Mather, Cotton, 1663–1728— Influence. 5. Puritan movements in literature. 6. Horror tales, American—History and criticism. 7. Gothic revival (Literature)—United States. 8. Religion and litera- ture—United States—History. 9. National characteristics, American, in literature. I. Title. PS166.B35 2007 813.’0872—dc22 2007012212 Cover design by Fulcrum Design Corps, LLC Text design and typesetting by Juliet Williams Type set in Minion Pro Printed by Thomson-Shore The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48–1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents w Acknowledgments vii Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 “We have seen Strange things to Day”: The History and Artistry of Cotton Mather’s Remarkables 14 Chapter 3 “A Wilderness of Error”: Edgar Allan Poe’s Revision of Providential Tropes 37 Chapter 4 Cotton Mather as the “old New England grandmother”: Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Female Historian 65 Chapter 5 Nathaniel Hawthorne and the “Singular Mind” of Cotton Mather 87 Chapter 6 “The story was in the gaps”: Catharine Maria Sedgwick and Edith Wharton 119 Works Cited 145 Index 157 Acknowledgments w My work on the legacy of Cotton Mather owes an immense debt to many scholars whose studies on American historical narrative and American his- torical fiction provided the foundation for this book.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancestry of Alice Maud Clark – an Ahnentafel Book
    Ancestry of Alice Maud Clark – An Ahnentafel Book - Including Clark, Derby, Fiske, Bixby, Gilson, Glover, Stratton and other families of Massachusetts by A. H. Gilbertson 8 January 2021 version 0.154 © copyright A. H. Gilbertson, 2012-2021 © copyright 2016-2021 A. H. Gilbertson Table of Contents Preface............................................................................................................................................. 5 Alice Maud Clark (1) ...................................................................................................................... 6 John Richardson Clark (2) and Caroline Maria Derby (3) ............................................................. 9 Horatio Clark (4) and Betsey Bixby (5) ........................................................................................ 13 John Derby (6) and Martha Fiske (7) ............................................................................................ 16 Moses Clark (8) and Martha Rogers (9) ....................................................................................... 18 Asa Bixby (10) and Lucy Gilson (11)........................................................................................... 20 John Derby (12) and Mary Glover (13) ........................................................................................ 22 Robert Fiske (14) and Nancy Stratton (15) ................................................................................... 23 Norman Clark (16) and Hannah Bird (17) ...................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Holder Memorial Given to the C Inton
    F R A N C I S T H O L D E R . THE HOLDER MEMORIAL G I VE N T O The C inton Historica Society F I T H L D E R R A N C S . O . A N D R E W E mm a . A H E . C L I N T O N , M A S S C U S T T S I 905 C H-R TH E NEW'O R ' PUBLIC Ll A S T O R L e , n o x AN . T i L D E N FO U N D Afl o ns . 1 9 l 3 C L I N T O N , M A S S P R E S S O F W. C O U L T E R I T E M O E J , F F I C . C O N T E N T S , N D H I A N C E S T O R s . F RANC I S T . H OLDER A s C ' T H E C LINTON H I S TORI AL SOC IET . - T H E L A'ING O F THE C ORNER STONE . — a m e s D un a n . Address Rev . J C . c T ERM S A N D N ATU RE O F THE GIF T . h e t E m l e Statement o f A r c it c i Gr e w y . T D H E EDI C ATION . — i Words o f Welcome J onathan Sm t h .
    [Show full text]
  • The Skidmore and Scudamore Families of Frampton Cotterell, Gloucestershire 1650-1915
    Skidmore (Scudamore) Families of Frampton Cotterell Linda Moffatt © 2015 THE SKIDMORE AND SCUDAMORE FAMILIES OF FRAMPTON COTTERELL, GLOUCESTERSHIRE 1650-1915 by Linda Moffatt © 2015 1st edition 2012, published at www.skidmorefamilyhistory.com 2nd edition 2015, published at www.skidmorefamilyhistory.com This is a work in progress. The author is pleased to be informed of errors and to receive additional information for consideration for future updates at [email protected] This file was last updated by Linda Moffatt on 8 March 2016. DATES Prior to 1752 the year began on 25 March (Lady Day). In order to avoid confusion, a date which in the modern calendar would be written 2 February 1714 is written 2 February 1713/4 - i.e. the baptism, marriage or burial occurred in the 3 months (January, February and the first 3 weeks of March) of 1713 which 'rolled over' into what in a modern calendar would be 1714. Civil registration was introduced in England and Wales in 1837 and records were archived quarterly; hence, for example, 'born in 1840Q1' the author here uses to mean that the birth took place in January, February or March of 1840. Where only a baptism date is given for an individual born after 1837, assume the birth was registered in the same quarter. BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS Databases of all known Skidmore and Scudamore bmds can be found at www.skidmorefamilyhistory.com PROBATE A list of all known Skidmore and Scudamore wills - many with full transcription or an abstract of its contents - can be found at www.skidmorefamilyhistory.com in the file Skidmore/Scudamore One-Name Study Probate.
    [Show full text]
  • Ciristopher HOLD:ER January, 1955
    CiRISTOPHER HOLD:ER Bert:b.J:t w. Clark l r.u Jam~- i caway,nos.,.... t on vvrzn January, 1955 l CHRISTOPHER HOLDER When Christopher Holder sailed from Gravesend, England, o~ the Speedwell on the thirtieth or Jla7 1656, the ship's list de. scribed h1m as £rom Winterbourne, nine miles from Bristol• and aged twenty.tiveJ so born about 1631 [l]. Although he was thus a ~tive or Gloucestershire. the Holder family waa aneientl7 of Yorkshire 8 nd probably of Danish origin, having entered Britain about 500 A.D. under a bold adventurer named Ida 12],who took for his men the region called the Holderness (meaning stronghold) which lies in the extreme southeastern part of Yorksh1re1 in the part called East Riding, and on the tongue of lan~ that liaa be~ tween the estuary of the Humber and the North Sea. From the Hol. dernesa the Holders got their name. Christopher Holder was a man of education and a man or means. He was a convert to the Quaker ~sit~ when Quakerism was in its . earliest stages. In 1555 he •~~ z,,1-t "'?! je.:!l :t !lchsate?• So:wu~~ setshire, ror refusing to remove his hat [3], but soon released, and the next year. aa noted above, took passage to America, being~­ accompanied by seven others, eager like him to spread their relig~· ious view5in the New World. They reached Boston harbor on the seventh or August. 1656• onl7 two or three days after some women Quaker missionaries had been deported from that town [4].The eight newcomers were not allowed to land until orficers of the Colony had coma aboard and searched their boxes for tterroneous books and hellish paiuphlets~[5].
    [Show full text]
  • Alice Paul and Her Quaker Witness
    Alice Paul and her Quaker witness by Roger Burns June 2, 2019 Please share this article with other Friends. Sharing this article is allowed and encouraged. See the copyright notice on the reverse side of this cover page. About the author: Roger Burns lives in Washington, DC. Like the subject of this article, he is a street activist as well as a Friend, being active in the affairs of his neighborhood and his city. Roger has a mystical bent. Several years ago during an Experiment With Light workshop he received a strong leading to promote racial reconciliation. Since then his major focus in the realm of social witness is on race issues. He has helped to manage a weekly public discussion about race that takes place at the church-run Potter's House Cafe in Washington. He serves on the Peace and Social Justice Committee of the Bethesda Friends Meeting. Roger was for a time a history major at college, and he later earned bachelor's and master's degrees in economics. Acknowledgements: I would like to thank the following for assisting with this article: Lucy Beard and Kris Myers of the Alice Paul Institute; the Bethesda Friends Meeting of Maryland; the many Friends of the Westbury Quaker Meeting; Alex Bell for going above and beyond; Ralph Steinhardt; Maya Porter; Rene Lape; June Purvis; David Zarembka; Stephanie Koenig. This article is available on the Internet at: http://www.bethesdafriends.org/Alice-Paul-and-her-Quaker-witness-2019.pdf Published by Roger Burns, 2800 Quebec St. NW, Washington, DC 20008 United States of America Phone: 202-966-8738 Email: [email protected] Date: June 2, 2019 COPYRIGHT NOTICE: © 2019 by Roger Burns.
    [Show full text]
  • Because Lucretia Mott Knew Her History, Questioned Her World, and Lived Her Faith Summary, Conclusion, and Future Research
    CHAPTER SIX AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING, IS NOW, AND DOESN'T HAVE TO BE WHY? BECAUSE LUCRETIA MOTT KNEW HER HISTORY, QUESTIONED HER WORLD, AND LIVED HER FAITH SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND FUTURE RESEARCH This is my idea of this work, that it is much nearer at hand than many suppose, and I am sure our faith should be firm now, that prayers were manifestly answered in regard to the great crime of Slavery. So it seems to me that war should be presented to the people in a way that shall lead them to examine it carefully. Why we know how it was with the practice of dueling only a short time ago and this has been held up to view in such a light that it is no longer considered admissible--so we have had the barbarism of Slavery presented, and we must do the same on the question of war and we may hope to influence the public mind and present the great principles of Christianity, of right, of justice, of peace and love. Lucretia Mott,Going to the Root of the Matter, 1868 Lucretia Mott knew her history. She was well schooled in the trials, accomplishments, methods, principles, as well as the story of the valiant Friends of early Quakerism and contemporary role models of the Society of Friends. She understood the dreams of the new republic whose people she worked to educate so all could share justly in its freedoms and privileges. She knew of exemplars, such as Mary Dyer and John Woolman, past Quakers who faced opposition and persecution for their actions.
    [Show full text]