Call Number:

MC.975.11.019

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

0.06 linear ft. (1 volume)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

George & Ann Jones notebook (HC.MC.975.11.019), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1826-1827 (inclusive)

Form:

manuscripts (documents)

Abstract:

Unknown.

The Quaker "seperation" of 1827-1828, between Orthodox and Hicksite Quakers began in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. A Quaker minister named Elias Hicks, began to question Quaker's increasing associations with non-quakers, particularly protestants, as he felt the protestant influence was moving quakerism away from its initial tenets. Followers of Hicks became known as Hicksites, and focused on the role of inner light and the guideance of individual faith. Those in opposition to Hicks became known as Orthodox, and had a more Protestant-like emphasis on biblical authority, the organization of meetings for worship, and the idea of atonement.

This collection is comprised of a single volume manuscript notebook, with notes related to a disturbance at the Mulberry Street House, when George and Ann Jones held an evening meeting, in 1826. According to the first entry, at a meeting of the Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia, a committee was created for "ascertaining the facts, and enquiring into the cause of the disturbance which occurred in the vicinity of our meeting house a few weeks since." The notebook records the meetings of the committee, the investigation of the "disturbance, " and the testimonies from various witnesses.

The "disturbance" recounted and investiagted in this volume reflects the tensions between the groups of quakers who would become Hicksite and Orthodox, in the months leading up to the seperation of 1827-1828. According to the testimonies recorded in this volume, on an evening in December, 1826, George and Ann Jones held what was presumably considered an Orthodox meeting in their home. At the time of this meeting, a group of "boys and young persons" of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting broke down the gate to the house, and were "acting in a disorderly manner" in the yard in front of the house, and "hurraing for Elias Hicks." Testimonies indicated that the intention of the group was to "break up" the meeting being held at the Jones house.