Which colonies were quakers

Of these one hundred plus, there were women, children, and men. Some of the more prominent travelers were privileged enough to get privacy cabins while the rest huddled together on low-ceilinged decks. Seasickness, fear of the criminal-like crew, and the ominously, endless sea caused great anxiety to the Quakers. The crew tormented the passengers, picked fights with the men, and took advantage of the women. There was a lack of fresh food and water.

A smallpox epidemic broke out, spreading rapidly and leaving thirty one dead. Penn was immune to the disease from a bout with it as a child, so he cared for the sick while providing the well with a compassionate leader with strong character to keep them from despair.

This was a rather dismal beginning, laden with grief and doubt. On the fifty-third day, Quakers had scent and sight of land. Ahead lay a land where none would be imprisoned because God appeared to him differently than to the government" Fantel 4. Penn and his Quaker colonists had arrived. Finally, they could all begin Penn's "holy experiment. Penn's interest in American colonization was twofold. The more important of these was a place for his Quakers to escape from religious persecution and unjust treatment by those who were intolerant and rigid.

Of course, creating a successful and profitable colony was necessary even though secondary to Penn. Pennsylvania's natural resources and location contributed to making it the richest colony in the 18th century. The Quaker belief in living in accordance to God's will and the radical idea of equality of men was essential to the success of Penn's "holy experiment.

In the counties of Bucks, Chester and Philadelphia, a non-Quaker was an oddity in Pennsylvania's first twenty years. The success of Pennsylvania was almost certainly due to the resiliency of the Quakers, for they had undergone such persecution in England.

Pennsylvania, in short, was populated in the early years by men steeped in a tradition of opposing prescriptive authority" Nash Even though Quakers were known for their opposition to authority, they did not, however, lack self control. Their simplicity of dress and plain language were examples of restraint that were uncommon in the seventeenth century, Their commitment to and belief in non-violent practices and refusal to bear arms would undoubtedly require immense self control in a time when there seemed to be ongoing conflicts.

Later, however, there would be Quakers known as Free Quakers who would bear arms in the War for Independence. Quaker communities were a very tight-knit, supportive group interested in the well-being of one another. This spread throughout Quakers everywhere.

Quakers were committed to traveling and visiting other Quakers throughout the world preaching the word. This strength of character of the Quakers and Penn would give Pennsylvania much advantage toward success Nash.

Quakers were also responsible for Pennsylvania's financial success. Quakers believed in being thrifty, frugal, and working hard.

At the same time, they were against frivolity and extravagance. Because of their work ethic and financial restraint, Philadelphia Quakers became wealthy. With this wealth, however, some Quakers did increase their standard of living by building city homes, country homes, and sometimes plantations where they would entertain visitors. However, they would not indulge in idle extravagances such as gambling, dancing, art, music and theater Bacon. Pennsylvania's economic success ranks at the top with only a few in colonial history during its first twenty years.

Pennsylvania's momentum started with Penn's effective emigration promotion. From the start, the colony had highly skilled craftsmen and Quaker merchants who were established, well-respected men. Pennsylvania owes the success of its birth and the first two decades to the presence, industry, and financial sensibility of the Friends. The Quakers not only contributed to the success of Pennsylvania, but have been in the forefront of many social reforms. Quakers in England were the first in the world to recognize that the mentally insane were receiving inhumane treatment and deserved better care.

Quakers helped found Pennsylvania Hospital, which was the first institution in the New World that offered medical and occupational care for the insane. Quaker advancement in the treatment of the insane was unparalleled due to their humane attitude and their insight into future psychiatric treatments. Prison reform and care for the poor were very relevant and close the heart of Quakers. Early Quakers had been persecuted and imprisoned leaving their families impoverished, so they knew the mistreatment of prisoners first hand by the prison systems and felt the sufferings of the poor.

Some still have standing carriage houses although, contrary to common belief, Quakers rarely attend worship on horseback or in horse-drawn carriages. Cemeteries adjacent to meetinghouses offer a vivid history lesson of the meetings and their illustrious members. The exceptions are meetinghouses in urban settings, such as Philadelphia and York, where land is at a premium. Quaker meetinghouses were vernacular buildings, generally built without the benefit of architects or formal plans.

The design of each meetinghouse was apparently a communal effort; historic records documenting the Radnor Meeting illustrate how the process worked. Radnor was initially a single dwelling with a meeting space for women added later. According to a written account at the time of construction in , "Some friends of those appointed to assist Radnor friends in ye contrivance of a new meetinghouse there bring into account yt. They have accordingly mett and given ym their thoughts as to ye bigness and form thereof to wch Radnor frnds then there present seemed generally to agree with.

Design may also have been influenced in part by the building skills of its members. One dwelling that did not fit the general construction pattern was Merion, the oldest of the Pennsylvania meetinghouses under the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.

Built by Quakers of Welsh descent, construction of the Merion Meetinghouse in Montgomery County began as early as and was completed by Lavoie, named chief of the Historic American Buildings Survey of the National Park Service in , wrote that "its T-shaped near cruciform plan appears to be unprecedented in meeting house design and, therefore, has been the topic of some controversy.

Lavoie speculated that, in the absence of any uniform meetinghouse design for early Quaker settlers, the Merion Meeting simply used a design that was familiar to them.

Fewer than one hundred Quaker meetings exist in Pennsylvania; more than half are within an hour's drive of center-city Philadelphia. Although Quakers made up more than 10 percent of the population of the original thirteen colonies, they represent a small fraction of the population today.

In an apparent nod to familiar products such as breakfast cereal and motor oil, Comfort opined, "Today the word Quaker is heard more often in the business world than in the religious sphere. Comfort, William Wistar. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Work Projects Administration, Janney, Samiel MacPherson.

Philadelphia: T. Ellwood Zell, Jones, Rufus M. The Quakers in the American Colonies. New York: W. Norton and Company, Lavoie, Catherine C.

Myers, Albert Cook. Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, Swarthmore, Pa. As Quakers moved west of the Susquehanna River into York County, one of the earliest places in which they settled was Newberrytown. They erected a log meetinghouse in , replaced by a stone structure in Because the Quaker community grew significantly, followers in moved their house of worship two miles west and built another meetinghouse of fieldstone, called Redlands.

Declining membership later in the nineteenth century-likely caused by the many Quaker families that moved further west-closed the Redlands Meeting in Since that time the meetinghouse and adjacent cemetery have been maintained by the Menallen Meeting in Biglerville, Adams County.

On Saturday, August 14, , Quakers and descendants of local Friends will celebrate the th anniversary of the Redlands Meeting by conducting tours of the meetinghouse and its cemetery. The event is free and open to the public. Leading up to the anniversary, local Friends will conduct tours of Redlands and historic meetinghouses in York and Adams Counties.

Visitors to the Redlands Meetinghouse will be treated to a rare glimpse of Pennsylvania history. Although largely unused for nearly years, both the interior and exterior of the meetinghouse have been carefully preserved.

Hand-hewn wooden benches and fireplaces remain as they were two centuries ago. Even a "modern" convenience dating to the nineteenth century, a wood stove, is extant. Headstones in the meetinghouse's cemetery will provide visitors with a genealogical tour of this historic Quaker landmark.

Rae Tyson lives in Orrtanna, Adams County. His Quaker ancestors arrived in Pennsylvania in PHMC website ». A century after William Penn opened his colony to settlers of all faiths, Samuel McPherson Janney chronicled the history of Quakers in Pennsylvania, specifically mentioning the founder's house overlooking the Delaware River in Bucks County, Pennsbury Manor. Quaker missionaries arrived in North America in the mids. The first was Elizabeth Harris, who visited Virginia and Maryland.

By the early s, more than 50 other Quakers had followed Harris. However, as they moved throughout the colonies, they continued to face persecution in certain places, particularly in Puritan-dominated Massachusetts , where several Quakers - later known as the Boston Martyrs - were executed during the s and s.

Penn, who had been jailed multiple times for his Quaker beliefs, went on to found Pennsylvania as a sanctuary for religious freedom and tolerance. Relations between the two groups weren't always friendly, however, as many Quakers insisted upon Native American assimilation into Western culture.

Quakers were also early abolitionists. In , Quakers in Philadelphia were ordered to stop buying and selling slaves. By the s, all Quakers were barred from owning slaves. To date, two U. Other famous people who were raised as Quakers or participated in the religion include author James Michener ; philanthropist Johns Hopkins; actors Judi Dench and James Dean ; musicians Bonnie Raitt and Joan Baez ; and John Cadbury, founder of the chocolate business bearing his name. Today, there are more than , Quakers around the world, by some estimates, with the highest percentage in Africa.

Many, but not all, Quakers consider themselves Christians. Most Quakers have abandoned the plain style of clothing they once wore, unlike the Amish , with whom Quakers are sometimes confused. The Amish, who live separate from society and reject modern technology, are a Christian denomination whose origins date back to 16th century Switzerland.

The Shakers are another religious group with whom the Friends are sometimes mistaken for. The Shakers, who were pacifists like the Quakers and Amish, came to America lived in communal settlements and were celibate. Children and other new members joined by adoption or conversion. The Shaker sect has almost died out. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present.

Anne Hutchinson was an influential Puritan spiritual leader in colonial Massachusetts who challenged the male-dominated religious authorities of the time. Through the popularity of her preaching, Hutchinson defied the gender roles in positions of power and gathered Mormons are a religious group that embrace concepts of Christianity as well as revelations made by their founder, Joseph Smith.