Religion: Quakers
Quakerism, a religious movement that emerged in mid-17th century England, was founded by George Fox (1624–1691) with the aim of revitalizing Christianity to its original purity. From its inception, Quakerism faced skepticism due to its principles that often clashed with established state and religious norms. Nevertheless, the movement thrived and spread to the British colonies in America. By the 19th century, internal divisions led to the formation of various Quaker groups.
Quakerism, founded in 1650s England by George Fox, sought to restore Christianity to its original form, emphasizing personal experience of God and the Inward Light within everyone.
Known as Friends or Quakers, the movement rejected priests, rituals, and upheld spiritual equality, allowing women to participate equally in worship. As pacifists, Quakers opposed war and war taxes, refused to bow to nobility, and declined to take oaths, leading to perceptions of disloyalty to the British Crown. Despite heavy persecution, including banned meetings and mass imprisonments, the movement continued to grow and spread.
The earliest Quaker settlements emerged in New England, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. During the mid- to late-1700s, Quakers began migrating south to Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. By the 1800s, their expansion continued into the Midwest, Oregon, California, and Canada.
In the mid-1650s, the first Quaker missionaries arrived in the British colonies in America, encountering established Puritan settlements. Puritans, English Protestants opposed to the Church of England, were wary of other faiths disrupting their communities.
In July 1656, Quaker women Mary Fisher and Ann Austin arrived in Boston from Barbados to spread their faith. They were immediately suspected of witchcraft, stripped, and imprisoned without food, water, or light. An innkeeper's bribe to the jail guard allowed them to receive food, sustaining them for five weeks before they were deported back to Barbados.
Quaker meetings were organized geographically into Preparative (Particular) Meetings, Monthly Meetings, Quarterly Meetings, and Yearly Meetings. For genealogists, Monthly Meeting records are the most valuable, often including histories of the meetings, lists of members, marriages, deaths, removals, and disownments.
Notably, Quakers did not practice baptism.
In 1750, Quakerism was the third largest religion in the British colonies, with about 250 Monthly Meetings. By 1775, it had become the fifth largest, despite growing to 320 meetings. The first major separation within Quakerism occurred in 1828 with the formation of the Hicksite branch.Despite facing intense persecution, Quakers continued to arrive in Colonial America, even reaching Puritan communities in Massachusetts where they held secret meetings and converted some settlers.
In October 1656, Massachusetts responded by enacting anti-Quaker laws, imposing fines on ships bringing Quakers and on settlers possessing Quaker books. New arrivals were detained on ships or imprisoned until deportation. Subsequent laws intensified the crackdown, penalizing those who harbored Quakers or attended their meetings with fines, imprisonment, whipping, or even hanging.
Between 1659 and 1661, four Quakers were executed in Massachusetts, including Mary Dyer, a former Puritan who became a Quaker missionary. Dyer, imprisoned twice and banished, returned to Boston and was hanged in 1660. By the 1660s, Quaker converts were found throughout New England, Long Island, and the Chesapeake region. Eventually, Massachusetts repealed its anti-Quaker laws.
Pennsylvania
In 1681, William Penn (1644–1718) received a vast land grant from King Charles II (1630–1685) to settle a debt owed to his family. The land was named "Pennsylvania" in honor of Penn's father, a distinguished British naval commander.
As the founder of Pennsylvania, Penn established Philadelphia as its capital and implemented a liberal government that guaranteed religious freedom and fostered positive relations with the local indigenous peoples. He prioritized education by building schools accessible to all citizens, making Pennsylvania one of the most educated colonies in the Americas. This welcoming environment attracted thousands of Quakers, who flocked to the new colony.
Hicksite–Orthodox Split
By the 19th century, the Quaker movement had expanded across the United States, with yearly meetings being held separately in various regions. In the mid-1820s, significant divisions began to emerge among American Quakers.
The first major schism occurred during the Philadelphia yearly meeting in 1827. The majority of members sided with Elias Hicks (1748–1830), a minister from Long Island, New York, and became known as Hicksites. They prioritized the concept of the Inward Light over the authority of the Bible. The minority, who identified as Orthodox Quakers, adhered to more traditional Protestant beliefs, emphasizing the Bible's authority and the divinity of Jesus Christ.
In 1835, Isaac Crewdson (1780–1844), a Quaker minister from Manchester, England, published a pamphlet titled A Beacon to the Society of Friends. In it, Crewdson criticized the Hicksites for their emphasis on the Inward Light at the expense of the Bible. This controversy unsettled English Quakers, leading to Crewdson and his supporters, known as Beaconites, resigning from the Quaker meeting in 1836. The Beaconites formed a new group, which dissolved shortly after Crewdson's death.
Gurneyite–Conservative Split
In the 1840s, some Hicksites sought more radical social reforms, leading to the formation of a new Quaker branch called the Congregational or Progressive Friends. This group focused on engaging with broader social issues such as the abolition of slavery and the fight for women's rights, including women's suffrage.
The Orthodox Quakers also experienced a division. The majority followed English minister Joseph John Gurney (1788–1847), becoming known as Gurneyites. They were open to external influences and adopted worship practices similar to traditional Protestantism. Meanwhile, a faction led by American minister John Wilbur (1774–1856) adhered strictly to Quaker traditions, earning the name Wilburites or Conservative/Primitive Friends.
Starting in the 1870s, the Gurneyites embraced changes, discarding traditional Quaker dress and speech, and incorporating pastors and music into their meetings. In September 1887, around 95 representatives of Gurneyite and Orthodox Friends from around the world convened at a conference in Richmond, Indiana. This gathering resulted in the issuance of the Declaration of Faith, an official document outlining the beliefs, practices, and mission of Quakerism.
