The Notes collected by the late Mary Radley, of Warwick, for her contemplated “Life of Elizabeth Hooton” seem to indicate a work of much wider scope than I have attempted. Since her research commenced many notable works on the rise of the Society of Friends have been issued which cover the investigations made by her. I have therefore endeavoured to bring together in a collected form the scattered fragments of Elizabeth Hooton’s history, which are to be found up and down, together with many of her letters, or extracts from them, which I believe have never before been published.
Many kind friends have materially assisted in the work, and I desire gratefully to acknowledge their services here: to Norman Penney, F.S.A., and the staff at Devonshire House, London, without whose invaluable help I could not have compiled the little history; to Mrs. Dodsley of Skegby Hall, for her search of the Skegby Manor Rolls, and the Church Registers, also for the illustration of the village which she kindly lent for reproduction; to A. S. Buxton, Esq., for various notes connected with the history of the district and for his unfailing help and interest in the work; to Mrs. Mary G. Swift, of Millbrook, New York, for notes of various authorities; to my cousin, Ethel Barringer, for her sketch of Lincoln Castle Gateway; and to my daughter, Rachel L. Manners, for her photograph of Beckingham Church and her suggestions and advice generally.
For New England History I have drawn largely on Dr. Rufus M. Jones’s recent book, The Quakers in the American Colonies, and for the account of the Quaker persecution in that country my authority has been New England Judged, 1703 edition.
Emily Manners.
Edenbank,
Mansfield.