Random History Bytes 145: John Woolman

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John H. Yates

Last Update: Wed Jul 19 08:26 EDT 2023


Random History Bytes 145: John Woolman
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The Quaker itinerant preacher John Woolman (1720-1772) is mentioned by Leah Blackman, in History of Little Egg Harbor Township 1 in her discussion of the Andrews family. In particular, she talks about Isaac (1715-1775), Peter (1707-1756) and Jacob Andrews (1704-1813), all children of Edward Andrews (1677-1716) from Oyster Bay, Long Island, and Sarah (Ong) Andrews (1677-1732). To wit:

"Isaac Andrews left home in company with John Woolman in the 3d month, 1746, on a religious visit to Friends and others in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, from which they did not return till in the sixth month of the same year. They traveled entirely on horseback, the country in some places being so thinly inhabited at that time that in several instances they slept at night along the bridle paths in the woods, with no shelter over them but the canopy of heaven. Isaac Andrews paid a number of other religious visits to different parts of the country and died at Haddonfield, near Camden, in the twelfth month, l775, where he had resided a number of years previous to his death. From the accounts of him in the journals of John Woolman, Ephraim Tomlinson, and others, he was an eminent minister of the Society of Friends."

"John Woolman, a native and resident of Northampton township, near Mount Holly, is generally considered the most eminent and distinguished minister of the gospel the Society of Friends has produced in New Jersey for the last two hundred years. Peter and Isaac Andrews in the general estimation rank next to John Woolman. Had they kept journals and other writings of their experience and particular views on religious subjects, as John Woolman did, it is the general opinion that they would have been considered his equal in all respects."

"It is generally conceded that no other monthly meeting in New Jersey has produced three more eminent ministers of the Society of Friends than Little Egg Harbor Monthly Meeting, in the persons of Peter Andrews, Isaac Andrews and Ann Gauntt. Edward Andrews, above named, and his son Jacob, were also quite prominent ministers - and members of that monthly meeting, though not traveling extensively as the two first named they were not so generally known." 2

John Woolman was from Mount Holly, Burlington County, New Jersey. Quoting from the Wikipedia page about him, he was an "American merchant, tailor, journalist, Quaker preacher, and early abolitionist during the colonial era".

More about John Woolman in the next installment. 3


Endnotes:
1 Leah Blackman, Appendix: History of Little Egg Harbor Township. Proceedings, Constitution, By-Laws, List of Members, &c., of the Surveyors' Association of West New Jersey (Camden, New Jersey: S. Chew, Printer, 1880).
2 Blackman, Appendix: History of Little Egg Harbor Township, 252-253.
3 Full Disclosure: The author is related to many of the folks mentioned in this post: John Woolman (1720-1772) 1st cousin, 8x removed; Edward Andrews (1677-1716) and Sarah Ong (1677-1732) 7th great grandparents; Isaac Andrews (1715-1775), Peter Andrews (1707-1756), and Jacob Andrews (1704-1813) all 7th great uncles.