THE HUSBAND OF ELIZABETH HOOTON (pp. 2, 16)
Several writers on Elizabeth Hooton have stated that her husband was Samuel: James Bowden, Hist. i. 260; A. C. Bickley in D.N.B.; Charlotte Fell Smith in The British Friend, 1893.
Mrs. Manners has come to the conclusion that Elizabeth’s husband was Oliver. She thus states her case:
1. Though an exhaustive search of the Nottinghamshire Parish Registers has been made, I failed to find any marriage of a Samuel Hooton to Elizabeth — in any years when it would possibly have occurred.
2. At Ollerton (which village is said by Thoroton to have been partly owned by Hootons) I found that in the year 1628 Oliver Hooton married Elizabeth Carrier—and on the 4th of May, 1633, Samuel, son of Oliver and Elizabeth Hooton, was baptized. (Ollerton Parish Registers.)
3. No entries in Ollerton Registers between the years 1633 and 1636.
4. At Skegby in the year 1636 a son was born to Oliver and Elizabeth Hooton, and in succeeding years the children born are described as above.
5. In 1657, in the Friends’ Digest Register, the death of Oliver Hooton is recorded, and under the same year the Skegby Parish Registers record Oliver Hooton the elder buried.
6. We learn from a letter written by Thomas Aldam from York Castle, where he and Elizabeth Hooton were imprisoned in 1652, that E. H.’s husband was living at that time.
7. George Fox in his Testimony concerning E. H. says: “Her husband being Zealous for yᵉ Priests much opposed her, in soe much that they had like to have parted but at Last it pleased yᵉ Lord to open his understanding that hee was Convinced alsoe & was faithfull untill Death.” From this statement I should expect to find the entry of his death in the Friends’ Register. The name of Samuel does not occur in either Register of deaths.
8. The late Mary Radley also arrived at the conclusion that the husband’s name was Oliver, and our investigations were conducted entirely independently.
NOAH BULLOCK (p. 7)
The name of Noah Bullock does not appear in the list of Mayors of Derby given in William Hutton’s History of Derby, ed. of 1791, but the following curious allusion to Bullock occurs in the same work, page 236:
“1676—We sometimes behold that singularity of character which joyfully steps out of the beaten track for the sake of being ridiculous; thus the Barber, to excite attention, exhibited in his window green, blue and yellow wigs, and thus Noah Bullock, enraptured with his name, that of the first navigator, and the founder of the largest family upon record, having 3 sons, named them after those of his predecessor, Shem, Ham and Japhet; and to complete the farce, being a man of property, built an ark, and launched it upon the Derwent, above St. Mary’s-bridge; whether a bullock graced the stern history is silent. Here Noah and his sons enjoyed their abode and the world their laugh. But nothing is more common than for people to deceive each other. The world acts under a mask. If they publicly ridiculed him, he privately laughed at them: for it afterwards appeared he had more sense than honesty; and more craft than either; for this disguise and retreat were to be a security to coin money. He knew Justice could not easily overtake him, and if it should, the deep was ready to hide his coins and utensils. Sir Simon Degge, an active magistrate, who resided at Babington-hall, was informed of Noah’s proceedings, whom he personally knew: the Knight sent for him and told him, ‘he had taken up a new occupation, and desired to see a specimen of his work.’ Noah hesitated. The magistrate promised that no evil should ensue, provided that he relinquished the trade. He then pulled out a sixpence and told Sir Simon ‘He could make as good work as that.’ The Knight smiled; Noah withdrew, broke up his ark, and escaped the halter.”
The family is an ancient one; there are monumental inscriptions in St. Alkmund’s church to Bullocks of Darley Abbey. The name is still represented in the town.
Information supplied by Edward Watkins, of Fritchley, Derby.
COMMITMENT TO LINCOLN CASTLE (p. 14)
Lyncolnshere.
J was gon out of becingham, & was gone to barnbe in Nottingham shire, & as J was warneing some to repent in yᵉ towne, there come a wicked man forth whose name was Atkingson, a proud man, he stroake me unreasonably, then pul’d he me out of my way over a bridge & when J was over he sent to the Preist of becingham to serve his warrant upon me, & wᵗʰ his warrant he sent me to the Justice, & the Justice being a wicked man he sent me to prison to Lincoln goal. The same Preist put another Man friend into prison for tithes, & hee dyed, & his house keeper came through the chamber where the Preist lay, & he sᵈ good morrow Valentine in a vain light condition, & tooke her in his armes to salute her & suddainly the Lord stroak him wᵗʰ death, though he cryed for his bottle of strong waters but it would not save him, thus the hand of the Lord is agᵗ wicked men, both old & young, [they] shall perish if they transgress. Atkingson came to nought alsoe & was taken away suddainly, yet the Lord was with me in prison though J endured a very cold winter, it was God’s mercy in preserving me that winter from being starved to death, & this widdow woman that kept yᵉ goal was full of cruelty towards me & all yᵉ prisoners.
[Endorsement]
An imperfect paper, yet expressing the Manner of her being sent to Lyncolne Prison: and Gods hand upon yᵉ Priest & Atkinson that were yᵉ cause of her Jmprisonmᵗ there.
MS. in D. (Portfolio i. 136)
LINCOLN CASTLE GATEWAY.
To face p. 78.] [See p. vii.
UNKETTY (page 43)
An enquiry addressed to Augustine Jones, LL.B., of Newton Highlands, Mass., has brought the following information:
Unquity, or Unquity-quisset was the Indian name for Dorchester, which, in 1662, was incorporated as Milton. It is across the Neponset River from Boston, on the somewhat indirect way from Cambridge to Scituate.
Unquity means “a place at the end of the small tidal stream or creek.”
A YOUNG MAN OUT OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND (p. 43)
This was probably Thomas Newhouse, whose name is included in a list of English Friends visiting N.E., 1661 to 1671 (in the possession of William C. Braithwaite, Banbury, Oxon). The incident is associated with the name of Thomas Newhouse in the histories of Bishop, Besse and Bowden. In Newhouse’s own account of the event and its results, given by Bishop (op. cit. p. 472), we read:
“Upon a Lecture-day at Boston in New-England, I was much pressed in Spirit to go into their Worship-house amongst them.... They cryed, Away with him; and some took me by the Throat, and would not suffer me to answer to it, but hurried me down Stairs, to the Carriage of a great Gun, which stood in the Market place, where I was stripp’d, and tyed to the wheel, and whipp’d with ten Stripes ... and then ... whipp’d ... at Roxbury ... and at Dedham ... and then sent into the Woods.”
In Bishop’s fuller account of this scene, he tells us (op. cit. p. 432) that Newhouse, “having two Glass Bottles in his Hands, dash’d them to pieces, saying to this effect, That so they should be dash’d in Pieces”—a very close parallel with the account given by E. Hooton.
William Edmondson states in his Journal, under date 1672, that the Friends of Virginia were “stumbled and scatter’d by his [Newhouse’s] evil Example ... who went from Truth into the Filth and Uncleanness of the World.” See Jones, Quakers in American Colonies.
It must have been a sorry spectacle—an old woman and a young man, both half naked, tied side by side to the back of a cart, and lashed with a whip of three knotted cords till blood ran.
HOOTON DESCENDANTS
The materials with which to re-erect the house of Hooton are scattered and difficult to identify; the frequent use of the same fore-name is a source of danger; but we venture to place before our readers such facts as at present see the light, in the hope that later research will be aided thereby.
Samuel Hooton
Samuel, son of Oliver and Elizabeth Hooton, was baptized at Ollerton in 1633.
The hand of persecution rested upon him in early life; we find him in prison in Nottingham in 1660 for refusing to take the Oath of Allegiance,[150] and in Leicester in 1662 he was in prison with George Fox and others,[151] being “cast into yᵉ Dungeon amongst yᵉ felons. There was hardeley roome to lye downe they [the prisoners] were soe thronge.”[152] Before reaching the age of thirty he was the objective of Muggletonian curses,[153] as was his mother later; and eight years after, in 1670, as recorded by Besse,[154] restraints were laid upon his goods “for the Cause of religiously Assembling to worship God.”
On the 30th of November, 1670, Samuel Hooton married Elizabeth Smedley, both of Skegby, at the home of the bridegroom’s mother. There were two children born at Skegby, Oliver[155] in 1671 and Elizabeth in 1673.
Of his religious service we have found nothing before his departure for New England early in 1666, as related ante, and the next reference is dated two years later, May, 1668: “one Samuel, son of old Elizabeth Hooten,” is mentioned among “those that labour in the work of the ministry.”[156]
Towards the close of 1670, among signatories to An Appeal from Nottinghamshire, occurs the name Samuel Hooton.
In the Minute Book of Nottinghamshire Quarterly Meeting, at the date, 26 x. (Dec.) 1670, the same date on which his mother wrote the letter given ante, the word “backslider” is written beside the name of Samuel Hooton (see photo. facsimile, p. 75). This was probably done a few years later in connection with the passing of the following minutes by the Nottinghamshire Q.M.:
Nine & Twentith Meeting
At the Quarterly Meeting at Maunsfeild the 29ᵗʰ day of first month 1675.
Exhortation the 1ˢᵗ time
Robert Grace & Thomas ffarnsworth Exhorted Sammuell Hooten for paing of Tyths, as to that he would giue noe Answer but was found very scornefull.
Exhortation the 2ⁿᵈ time.
Georg Cockram, & Mathias Brackney Exhorted Sammuell Hooten for paing of Tyths, his answer was, he was neuer conuienced in his conscience but that they ought to be payed, it was spoken to him as that he did beare his testimoney against them and suffered the spoyling of his goods for his Testimony he said that he did it out of the strength of his owne will.
Agreed that a Testimonie be drawne up Against the Spirit that Leads Sammuell Hooten To pay tythes (& justifie his paying of them) and to be giuen him by Robert Grace and William Malson, a Coppy as followeth:
“A Testimonie from the people of god (in scorne called Quakers) Against Tythes & Tithe takers & all that pay them in Generall (whoe denie Christ Jesus come in the flesh—who hath Ended the Law & the Changable preisthood, and is becom the unchangable high preist over the house of god for Euer) But more Especialy against the Spirit that now acts in & by Sammuell Hooten.
“Whereas Sammuell Hooten hath Long beene a professor of gods blessed truth and hath borne a Larg verball Testimony thereunto & not onely soe but hath suffered much thereby, by all which according to outward Apearance he was Looked upon by many to be a faithfull wittness for god, but Alass as a flourishing tree which brings forth noe good fruite, soe is a profession without the possession of the truth, & as Euery Tree is knowne by his fruite soe is Euery spirit knowne by its Action, and though the said Sammuell hath walked Long in apearance as aboue said, yet hath he Lately brought forth bad fruit to the dishoner of god in paing Tiths to an Jmpropriator and though he hath beene tenderly dealt withall yet he still persists to manetaine the thing as Lawfull, soe that wee are constrained for the truth sake to giue forth this testimony against that Spirit that Led him to pay tiths (and plead for them) and doe foreuer judg it, & Condemne it in him or in whome-soeuer it is found, being the same Spirit with them that takes Tithes by whome many of our deare friends haue suffered Jmprisonment unto death & sealed there testimoney with there Bloud, and this is to goe forth into the world that truth may be cleared, & all false Reports stopped & Judged, who now say we alow what we formerly declared against, noe more but in true Loue to all people we Reste.”
ffrom the Quarterly Meeting at Maunsfeild, the 29ᵗʰ day of the 1ˢᵗ month 1675.
It is possible that the family emigrated to the Western World. Mrs. Amelia Mott Gummere, of Haverford, Pa., contributes the following, which may refer to the above Samuel:
“Elizabeth Hooton, wife of Samuel Hooton, of Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with her daughter Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Hillborne, were appointed guardians of Samuel Hooton, when the latter became insane in 1694. Thomas Hillborne and Elizabeth Hooton, both of Shrewsbury, N.J., were married 12th December, 1688, at the house of her mother, Elizabeth Hooton. The original marriage certificate was in the possession of Thomas Darlington, of Birmingham, Pa., in 1863.”
Of the Hootons of N.J., Mrs. Kate B. Stillé wrote in the Jnl. F.H.S. iv. 50: “Their descendants hold the land near Burlington and Evesham, which was bought from the Indians.”
Elizabeth Hooton, Jr., Afterwards Lambert.
The marriage of the younger Elizabeth with Thomas Lambert, of Tickhill, 21st of September, 1669, is recorded in the Registers of Nottinghamshire, but there is no entry therein of any children or of the deaths of Thomas and Elizabeth Lambert.
We may hazard the suggestion that emigration to the New World removed their names from the Registers of the Old. In the published New Jersey Archives, first series, vol. xxiii., p. 236, we read:
“1692-3, Feb. 20. Hooton John. Letters of administration on the estate of, formerly granted to Thomas Lambert in behalf of his wife, confirmed, notwithstanding application of Richard & Thomas Hilbourne on behalf of Samuel Hooton for it, based on the order of Gov. Hamilton making Elizabeth, the wife of the said Samuel, Thos. Hilbourne and wife Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel, his guardians during his lunacy (N.J. Arch., vol. xxi., p. 193). John White, attorney for Thos. Lambert, submits the affidavit of John Snowden, to whom John Hooton had said, shortly before his death, he did not intend his brother Samuel should have his plantation, while William Black and John Birch attest that deceased had expressed his intention that John, the son of his brother, Thomas Lambert, should have it. (Burlington Records, p. 18.)”
Oliver Hooton
1. Oliver, son of Elizabeth, is mentioned by Fox in his Journal, under date 1672, and he was apparently at home in England at the time (Camb. Jnl. ii. 213).
His “hystry” is referred to on page 4, also his Certificate concerning George Fox.
He was at Skegby in May, 1666 (page 54).
2. Oliver Hooton, living in Barbados, is referred to in sundry places.
He wrote a Testimony concerning William Sympson (dropping into verse at the close), on the 16th of February, 1670, printed in A Short Relation ... of William Simpson, 1671.
In 1674, he was fined 1,592 lbs. of sugar for “not appearing in Arms.”[157]
Thomas and Alice Curwen visited him, and wrote a letter from his house, dated the 12th February, 1676.[158]
In 1677, with other Friends, he signed an Appeal to Governor Atkins on behalf of sufferers for the Truth.[159]
There is a letter in D.[160] from O. Hooton to George Fox, dated “Barbados yᵉ 8: 2ᵈ mᵒ 1682.” References to the writer’s personal history are wanting, but he writes as one who knew Fox, “from the begining of yᵉ apearance of yᵗ Glorious Day, yᵉ dawnings wherof (in our dayes) first made knowne its Splendor through thee.... I have both loved and honored thee from yᵉ first.” The writer is on the eve of a visit “to see yᵉ new Countreys of new Jarsey and Pensilvania,” but he “cannot say to Setle there.”
There does not appear to be sufficient evidence to state that 1 and 2 are the same persons.
3. The Registers of Mansfield Monthly Meeting record the death of Oliver Hooton, son of Samuel and Elizabeth Hooton, 14 xi. 1671, who died at his parents’ house at “Seckby” and was buried at “Skegby.” See page 81, note 1.
Martha Hooton
The name, Martha Hooton, also appears in the records of Barbados—in 1689 she was fined £4 19s. 0d. “for Default of sending a Man and a Horse armed in to the Troop,”[161] and there is in D. a curious manuscript, being a petition from a slave girl named Mama to obtain the freedom granted by her mistress, Martha Hooton, widow, in her will dated “the third day of the fifth Month ... 1704,” she having died on the 8th September of that year.
Thomas Hooton
1. Thomas, son of Oliver and Elizabeth Hooton, was baptized 1636. Of this son, Mrs. Manners writes: “The late Mary Radley thought that Thomas was an older son of Oliver and Elizabeth Hooton, but I think she must have read this name as ‘Timothy.’ Mrs. Dodsley, who searched the Skegby Parish Registers for me, thinks the name given is ‘Thomas,’ and as I have found no mention of ‘Timothy’ in any of the documents I have searched, I am inclined to think Mrs. Dodsley’s surmise is correct.”
2. According to the Friends’ Registers for the County of Lincoln, Thomas Hooton, of Sibsey [? Sibson], Leicestershire, married Mary Sharp of Barnby at the house of John Pidd, at Barnby, Notts, 1662 xii. 15. The Hooton home in Leicestershire was Sileby, and the home of the bride, Barnby, is not far distant from Ollerton, the Notts Hooton home.
3. The following extracts have been taken from the Minutes of Nottinghamshire Q.M.:
Thirteth Meeting
At the Quarterly Meeting at Maunsfeild the 28ᵗʰ day of the 4ᵗʰ month 1675.
Agreed that William Malson Robert Grace Francis Clay, & Mathias Brackney, doe consider with Thomas Hooton about the Repairing of Joseph Roberts house.
One and Thirteth Meeting
At the Quarterly Meeting at Maunsfeild the 27ᵗʰ day of the 7ᵗʰ month 1675.
It is Agreed that friends at the monthly meeting belonging to Maunsfeild put an End to the buseniss betwixt Thomas Hooton and friends, About Joseph Roberts house & ground.
Six & Thirteth Meeting
At the Quarterly Meeting at Nottingham the 28ᵗʰ day of the 10ᵗʰ month 1676.
Paid out of the publique Stocke for the Reparing of Joseph Roberts house the sume of £2: 10: 6.
4. At a Quarterly Meeting held at Lincoln, 27 x. 1693, the following minute was made: “At this meeting Thomas Hooton sent Twenty Shillings to be disposed of this Meeting received and disposed of at this accordingly.”
5. There was a Thomas Hooton of London, of whom more is known. He and his family emigrated to New Jersey. See Besse’s Sufferings; Clement’s Settlers in West New Jersey, 1877, p. 301; The Friend (Phila.), lxxvii. (1903), p. 52; New Jersey Archives.
John Hooton
The following is from the Minutes of the Nottinghamshire Q.M.:
Seauen Twentith Meeting
At the Quarterly meeting at Maunsfeild, the 28ᵗʰ day of the 7ᵗʰ moᵗʰ 1674.
Exhortation the first time—
Georg Corkram & Mathias Brackney exhorted John Hooton for paying of Tyths, his answer was that if they take it he would not hinder them and that he had as good pay tythes as pay Rente for them.
Eight and Twentith Meeting
At the Quarterly Meeting at Maunsfeild, the 28ᵗʰ day of the 10ᵗʰ month 1674.
Exhortation the Second time
Robert Grace & Thomas ffarnsworth Exhorted John Hooton for paing of Tythes, & his Answer was, he was not fully conuinced, but that it was the Jmpropriators Right or due after they had set there marke in it and he said if he found anything in himselfe that did oppose it for the time to come he hoped he should be faithfull to it, And he was Lowe & tender.
One and Thirteth Meeting
At the Quarterly Meeting at Maunsfeild the 27ᵗʰ day of the 7ᵗʰ month 1675.
Exhortation the 3ʳᵈ time.
Francis Clay, and Robert Grace Exhorted John Hooton for paing of tyths, his Answer was that he found that it was not right to be paied, neither did he jntend to pay any more but he said his seruants did Leaue some contrary to his order, and he was found very tender.
For John Hooton, of N.J., see under Elizabeth Hooton, aft. Lambert.
Josiah Hooton
Of Josiah Hooton, mentioned on page 3, nothing further appears.
JUDGE ENDICOTT (p. 50)
“It was not the people of Massachusetts—it was Endicott and the Clergy”—who persecuted the Quakers.—John Fiske, Beginnings of New England, 1895.
FOOTNOTES
[1] The General History of the Quakers, by Gerard Crœse, 1696, pt. 1, p. 37.
[2] Dr. Robert Thoroton, J.P. (1623-1678), published his Antiquities of Nottinghamshire in 1677. He appears in Besse’s Sufferings as a persecutor of Friends in Notts.
D.N.B.; Cropper, Sufferings, 1892, quoting Brown’s Worthies of Nottinghamshire.
[3] John Throsby (1740-1803) republished Thoroton’s Nottinghamshire, with additions, in 1790. He wrote also on Leicestershire.
[4] See Original Records of Early Nonconformity under Persecution and Indulgence, compiled by G. Lyon Turner, 1911, iii. 13. See other references to E. Hooton, i. 155, ii. 725, iii. 744. Chapman was Vicar of Mansfield Woodhouse.
[5] MS. in D. This piece is endorsed: “Oliver Huttons Certificate Concerning G: ff:”; and is among other similar certificates which were read at the Second Day’s Meeting, 16 xii. 1686/7. “Oliver Hutton’s hystry” does not appear to have survived. See Braithwaite, Beginnings of Quakerism, 1912, pp. 43, 44.
[6] MS. in D. entitled: “A Testimony Concerning our Dear ffriend and Sister in yᵉ Lord Elizabeth Hutton,” dated 1690, but not in Fox’s writing.
[7] For an illustrated article on Elizabeth Heath (d. 1693) and her charity see Journal F.H.S. x.
[8] MS. in D. endorsed by Fox: “a short jornall of gff never wer printd,” and by another writer: “of Some Short things from abᵗ yᵉ year 1648 to King Charles yᵉ 2ᵈ Dayes.” The MS. is much worn at the edges, but some words have been inserted from a contemporary copy.
[9] Besse, Sufferings of the Quakers, 1753, i. 137.
[10] D. (Swarth. MSS. ii. 43)
[11] The home of Thomas Aldam (c. 1616-1660) was Warmsworth, near Doncaster. His detention in York Castle followed a contretemps with the clergyman of this village, Thomas Rookby; he was two and a half years in the Castle. Short Testimony by his son, Thomas, 1690; Piety Promoted; D.N.B.; Camb. Jnl.
[12] D. (Swarth. MSS. i. 373)
[13] Mary Fisher (c. 1623-1698), afterwards Bayly and Cross, became a prominent preacher and traveller. She visited Cambridge and preached to the students, travelled in the West Indies and Eastern Europe, and died in Charlestown, South Carolina. Camb. Jnl.; Quaker Women, 1915.
[14] D. (Swarth. MSS. iii. 36)
[15] According to a MS. in D. (Swarth. MSS. iii. 91), William Peares died in York Castle. Fox endorses this scrap of paper: “W peres died in presen at York abought 1654.” In the MS. we read: “The cause of his Jmprisonment was, because he was moued to stripe himselfe naked. A ffigure off all the nakedness of the world.... Jt was the naked that suffered for the naked truth.”
In A Declaration of present Sufferings, printed 1659, recounting six years of persecution, we have a confirmation of G. F.’s statement: under Yorkshire, “William Peers imprisoned till death for Tithes.” (p. 20.)
[16] Prior to her incarceration in York Castle, Jane Holmes was one of the Friends whose preaching made such an impression on the town of Malton that “some was caused to burne a great deale of riboning of silkes and braueries and such things” (D. Swarth. MSS. i. 373). While in the Castle her health suffered, and this may partly account for the low spiritual condition into which she fell. The MSS. tell us that the “wilde nature was exalted in her, aboue the seede of god” and “the wilde Eyrie spirit was exalted aboue the Crosse” (Swarth. MSS. iii. 40), resulting in her “going out” from her quondam friends into darkness and obscurity. See Braithwaite, Beginnings of Quakerism, 1912, pp. 72, 73.
[17] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 35a)
[18] Amor Stoddard (d. 1670), frequently styled Captain, was one of Fox’s companions on various missionary journeys. He lived in London. His wife died in 1665.
Beck and Ball, London Friends’ Meeting, 1869; Camb. Jnl.
[19] James Halliday was a weaver of Allartown, in Northumberland. He travelled frequently with Patrick Livingstone. The date of his detention in York is not found.
[20] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 15) endorsed: “El: Hooton to yᵉ Bench, to set James Holydah free & to call others to yᵉ Bar & set yᵐ at liberty.”
[21] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 3) Although this letter is signed “Elizabeth Hooton,” there are evidences that it is in the handwriting of Thomas Aldam, so it is possible that it may have been partly composed or edited by him.
[22] As with William Peares, so with Benjamin Nicholson, the rigours of York Castle, though unable to reduce the spirit, proved too strong for the enfeebled body. Benjamin Nicholson died there in 1660. His home was Tickhill near Doncaster.
[23] Two copies are in D. An interesting and curious production, and badly printed. On page 3 we read: “You do not read in all the Holy Scriptures, that any of the Holy men of God were Cambridge or Oxford Scollers, or Universitie men, or called Masters; but (on the contrary), they were plain men, and laboured with their hands, and taught freely, as they had received it freely from the Lord.”
[24] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 5)
[25] See photo reproduction of this letter. Fox has endorsed it: 1655, but we think 1653 must be the date; the Author’s unit figure is not very clear.
[26] Margaret Killam was wife of John Killam, of Balby, Yorks. She was a great traveller and sufferer for the Truth.
[27] D. Swarth. MSS. i. 2. Margaret Killam, writing to George Fox, in 1654, mentions holding a meeting at “Oliuer Hoottens,” also one at “Thomas Brockshows att Mansfild side,” and continues: “And soe as the lord directs to send ouer sum̄ frends it may bee of greate seruice there abouts; and to Mansfild side, for there is much deadnes ther awaies” (Swarth. MSS. i. 374). There is mention of another meeting at Oliver Hooton’s, at Skegby, in 1653 (D. Swarthmore MSS. iii. 52).
[28] Journal of George Fox, bi-cent. ed. i. 197.
[29] This MS. is the property of Broughton, Gainsborough and Spalding Monthly Meeting. See F.P.T. 152.
[30] John Whitehead (1630-1696) was a Yorkshireman in early life and afterwards resided at Fiskerton, near Lincoln. See Camb. Jnl.
[31] Suff. i. 346.
[32] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 37)
[33] Journal, bi-cent. ed. i. 198.
[34] F.P.T. 219.
[35] It must be remembered that according to the Old Style, the year began with March, which the Quakers designated First Month. Hence Fourth Month was June.
[36] Suff. i. 553.
[37] Callender, Historical Discourse, Boston, 1739. Both these quotations are taken from The Quakers in the American Colonies, by Rufus M. Jones, London, 1911, p. xxi.
[38] Quakers in American Colonies, p. 8.
[39] Mary Dyer (????-1660) was the wife of William Dyer, then of Newport, Rhode Island. She was described by George Bishop as “A Comely Grave Woman, and of a goodly Personage, and one of a good Report, having an Husband of an Estate, fearing the Lord, and a Mother of [six] Children” (New England Judged, 1703, p. 157). Her husband and she emigrated from London to Boston in 1635. See Rogers, Mary Dyer, 1896.
[40] Calamy, Account of the Ejected Ministers, i. 481, calls Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England, a “little Zoar.” In the chapel known as the Old Meeting House, in Mansfield, which was built in the year 1702, by the descendants of the congregation which had formerly received the Ejected Ministers, there are two commemorative brasses above the altar, placed there by the late Rev. A. W. Worthington, a former minister, which bear the following inscription: “In memory of the conscientious sacrifice and Christianity of the Rev. Robert Porter, Vicar of Pentrich, the Rev. John Whitlock, M.A., Vicar of St. Mary’s, Nottingham, the Rev. William Reynolds, M.A., lecturer at the same church, the Rev. John Billingsley, M.A., Vicar of Chesterfield, Joseph Truman, B.D., Rector of Cromwell, the Rev. Robert Smalley, Vicar of Greasley, and others, who resigned their livings when the Act of Uniformity was passed in 1662.
“Driven from their homes by the Oxford Act, in 1666, they found in Mansfield a little Zoar, a shelter and a sanctuary; and united in hearty love and concord, they worshipped together till the Act of Toleration was passed in 1688, when all who survived the day of persecution returned to their ministry, save the Rev. R. Porter, who remained in charge of this congregation till his death, January 22nd, 1690.”
[41] In 1641, the assembled citizens made the following declaration: “This Body Politick is a Democracie; that is to say, it is in the Power of the Body of Freemen, orderly assembled, or the major part of them, to make Just Lawes by which they will be regulated.” Under the same date the following act was passed: “It is ordered that none bee accounted a delinquent for doctrine,” and later in the same year this was re-affirmed in these words: the “Law of the last Court made concerning Libertie of Conscience in Point of Doctrine be perpetuated.” Quoted from Rhode Island Colony Records, by Jones, op. cit., p. 23.
[42] Calendar of State Papers Colonial.
[43] Katharine Scott, wife of Richard Scott, was the daughter of (Rev.) Francis Marbury, of London, and her mother was of the family of John Dryden, the poet. Her daughter, Mary, married Christopher Holder, and another daughter, Hannah, married Walter Clarke, once Governor of Rhode Island. Her daughter, Patience (1648-????), was specially noted for her early suffering for conscience sake. Rogers, Mary Dyer; Scull, Dorothea Scott, 1882; Holders of Holderness, 1902.
[44] Bishop, New England Judged, 1703, p. 94.
[45] Ibid. p. 95.
[46] Of Anne Austin (d. 1665, in London) little is known. She was advanced in years at the time of her American visit. See Bowden, Hist. i. 30-37, etc.
[47] Upsall endeavoured to supply Quaker prisoners with food, but only succeeded by a weekly payment to the gaoler of five shillings (Bishop, op. cit. p. 8). Bishop tells us that he was “a long-liver in Boston, an Ancient Man, and full of Years.”
[48] Bishop, op. cit. p. 54.
[49] The Southwicks lived at Salem. Other children were Daniel and Provided. Bishop has many notices of the family.
[50] Bishop, op. cit. p. 55.
[51] Bishop, op. cit. p. 60, in the case of Horred Gardner, of Newport.
[52] Nicholas Davis was of Plymouth Colony.
[53] Printed in New England Judged, p. 299.
[54] New England Judged, p. 333.
[55] One of the young and vigorous preachers of early Quakerism (1634-1662). He died in Newgate Jail, London. See Camb. Jnl.
[56] It was spread abroad in N.E. that the Quakers had forged the King’s letter and counterfeited his seal (D. Spence MSS. iii. 116).
[57] The furious attack on the Quaker travellers, Christopher Holder and John Copeland, in 1657, made by the civil and Church authorities of Salem, so affected Samuel Shattuck (c. 1620-1689), a man of good reputation, that he interfered on behalf of the sufferers and as a consequence was imprisoned at Boston, and whipped; and finally, in May, 1659, he was banished the Colony. Some trouble which arose in the early part of 1665 is referred to later (see p. 50), and it may be that Shattuck, as a consequence, dissociated himself from Friends. His remains were buried in the Charter Street Burying Ground in Salem; on the tombstone the date is given in non-Quaker style—“ye sixth day of June.” His intervention on behalf of Christopher Holder is recorded in full. There is a picture of the stone in The Holders of Holderness, 1902. A son of Shattuck appears in one of the Salem witch trials (Witchcraft and Quakerism, 1908, p. 8). His descendants are still living in Salem (Holders, p. 104).
[58] In a letter from John Philly to George Fox, in 1661 (Swarth. MSS. iv. 158), there is this mention of Ralph Goldsmith: “There is one Ralph Goldsmith, A friend & master of A ship, his house is in Jacobs street Nere Sauorys Dock, Nere Redrife, whoe hath taken A viag for Venus [Venice].” Little is known of this Quaker shipmaster. Besse notes one of the name among sufferers in Barbados (Suff. ii. 279).
[59] Captain James Oliver is frequently mentioned in the history of these troublous times. He led forth Robinson and Stevenson to execution, causing drums to beat when they attempted to speak (there is a striking illustration of this scene in McClures Magazine, Nov. 1906, from a painting by Howard Pyle); and when Edward Wharton intervened in the trial of Leddra, Oliver cried out; “Knock him on the pate” (Bishop, op. cit. p. 318).
[60] Bishop, op. cit. p. 345. There is in D. a MS. account of the voyage of the King’s messenger.
[61] Joan Brocksopp (d. 1681) was the wife of Thomas Brocksopp, of Little Normanton, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire.
[62] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 27) This may be the “E. Hootons Manscr” of the margin of Whiting’s Truth and Innocency Defended, 1702, see pp. 95, 109, etc.
[63] Mary G. Swift, of Millbrook, N.Y., who has made considerable study of Hooton printed literature, suggests that Elizabeth Hooton and Jane Brocksopp were the “two Friends,” mentioned in a letter from George Rofe to Richard Hubberthorne (quoted in Bowden’s Hist. i. 230), and that they accompanied him a part of the journey from Va. to N. E. in his “small boat,” and on arrival united with him in appointing the first General Meeting in America, at Newport, R.I., in 1661. He writes: “We appointed a general meeting,” etc., the antecedent to we being the writer and his two Friends. In her own account of this visit to New England (see p. 32), E. Hooton states: “We did come to Rhod Jland where was appointed by freinds a generall meeting for New England.” Bishop tells us of the two women that “the Lord afforded them an opportunity by a Catch, which carried them part of the way” (New England Judged, p. 404). Whiting relates that they “got to Rhode Island, where was a General Meeting” (Truth and Innocency, p. 109). It would be very interesting if it could be stated with certainty that E. Hooton was concerned in the calling of the first Y.M. in America. See p. 32, n. 2.
[64] Margin gives the name—Wenlock Christison.
[65] This may have been the first General Meeting in America. See p. 31, n. 1, and the account of the 250th Anniversary of the Beginning of New England Yearly Meeting, 1911.
[66] Margaret Fell (1614-1702) was the wife and widow of Judge Thomas Fell (1598-1658). In 1669 she married George Fox (1624-1691). She was the nursing mother of the early Quaker Church.
[67] Swarth. MSS. i. 75.
[68] Ann Clayton held some position of trust in the Swarthmoor household, but she also travelled in the ministry at home and abroad. It was she, or another of the same name, who became the wife of Nicholas Easton of R.I., prior to 1672. See Camb. Jnl.
[69] Swarth. MSS. i. 76.
[70] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 27), close of first portion.
[71] At the end of her Invitation of Love.
[72] In the voluminous records of the cost of many religious journeys taken by the early Friends, there is no record of any money paid to Elizabeth Hooton. It may be that she met the cost of these extensive travels out of her own pocket. Bowden states that “she was in very sufficient circumstances” (Hist. i. 256).
[73] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 34).
[74] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 10).
[75] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 27), second portion.
[76] Seaborne Cotton was a son of John Cotton (1584-1652), the noted Puritan minister, of Boston. His wife was a daughter of Simon Bradstreet, sometime Governor of Massachusetts Colony. Cotton was minister of Hampton, and as such came into frequent conflict with Quakerism.
[77] The words within parentheses were added to the MS. by another hand.
[78] This was Eliakim Wardell, mentioned two lines below. His home was at Hampton. He was one of those who suffered for entertaining the Quaker travellers. His wife, Lydia, “being a young and tender and chaste Woman ... as a Sign to them, went in naked among them,” on which action Bishop comments: “This might be permitted as a stumbling-block, rather for their Hardening than Conversion, after they had rejected better Examples and Warnings” (New England Judged, p. 376).
[79] John Hussey and Rebecca his wife, née Perkins, lived near the Wardells at Hampton.
[80] Captain William Hathorne was a Salem magistrate. His descendant, Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author (1804-1864), writes of him: “He was a bitter persecutor, as witness the Quakers, who have remembered him in their histories” (The Custom House, quoted in Jnl. F.H.S. xii). See Bishop, op. cit.; Felt, Annals of Salem, 1842.
[81] Benanuel Bower, of Cambridge, Mass., was originally a Baptist, but later his family and he became Friends. A correspondent quoted in Friends’ Intelligencer, 1887, p. 243 (copied into The Friend (Phila.) for the same year), writes: “Thomas Danforth, who was the county treasurer and magistrate, whenever short of business, was in the habit of persecuting B. Bowers, and then he would enter it at full length upon the records” in the Court House in Cambridge.
[82] The correspondent referred to in the previous note copied the wording of the warrant as found in the public records of the Cambridge Court House, and it appears in the periodicals named in note [81]. He writes further: “There is this much to be said in the favor of the old Puritans, that they did not treat the Quakers any worse than they did their own members whom they accused of heresy, and in most cases they gave the victim the choice of paying a fine or taking a whipping. I found one case in which they gave a man a second whipping because he invited his friends to come and see him whipped the first time.”
[83] This phrase—“a Cage of uncleane birds”—quoted originally from the Bible—“Babylon is become ... a cage of every unclean and hateful bird,” Rev. xviii. 2, was frequently used by early Friends to describe their opponents. Francis Bugg (apostate Quaker) states that George Fox used it “about the year 1662” in reference to “the Church of England” (Pilgrim’s Progress from Quakerism to Christianity, 1698, p. 130).
[84] This is doubtless a reference to an early, undated quarto pamphlet, issued by Friends, entitled Something concerning Agbarus, Prince of the Edesseans.... Also Paul’s Epistle to the Laodiceans.... As also how several scriptures are corrupted by the Translators. Other editions, in octavo, were printed later in the century.
[85] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 59)
[86] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 43)
[87] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 62) The following is taken from the Calendar of State Papers Colonial, 1665, i. 292:
April 10, 1665.
From Captain Breedon’s House at Boston.
Col. George Cartwright to Col. Nicholls:
“This day, a Quaker (my country-woman) told me before Captain Breedon, that she had heard several say yᵗ I was a Papist ... and that Sir Robᵗ. Carr kept a naughty woman; I examined her if I had not kept one too, or if she knew me not to be a Papist.” E. Hooton writes: “They said that Cartwright, that was one of the Comissionʳˢ, was a papist, or a Jesuit, but hee being my Country man, J did vindicate him, and told them that J knew noe such thinge” (MS. in D. Portfolio iii. 43).
[88] Ann Richardson was, by her first marriage, Ann Burden. After some years of married life in Mass., Thomas and Ann Burden returned to England, their native land, and settled at Bristol, where the husband died. His widow crossed the Atlantic again about 1657, and, with Mary Dyer, visited Mass., whence they were both banished. About 1665, as Ann Richardson, she again visited New England.
[89] Swarth. MSS. iii. 104.
[90] Swarth. MSS. iii. 101. Fox adds to the endorsement: “shee died in the trouth.”
[91] Jane Nicholson (d. 1712) was the wife of Joseph Nicholson, of Bootle, Lancs. They visited the New World in 1659, and again, for several years, they were in New England. See Camb. Jnl.; Household Account Book of Sarah Fell of Swarthmoor Hall, 1915.
[92] John Endicott (c. 1588-1665), first Governor of New England, will go down to the end of time as the arch-opponent of New England Quakerism. See Annals of Salem, 1845, where there is a portrait; Chronicle of the Pilgrim Fathers; Jnl. F.H.S. xii.; etc.
[93] Hist. i. 259.
[94] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 36)
[95] Hist. under date 1662.
[96] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii, 63)
[97] The Nottingham and Mansfield Quarterly Meeting was long held at the house of Timothy Garland. Letters for Friends were at times addressed: “To be left at Timothy Garlands at the Green Dragon in Mansfeild.” (Locker-Lampson, A Quaker Post-bag, 1910, pp. 48, 51. See also The Journal, iv., v.)
[98] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 81) The difficulties and delays of travel on land and sea at this period are illustrated by another letter of Samuel Hooton, dated 4th of June, 1666, in which he tells us that the ship on which he sailed—“the royall exchang”—was “staying in the harbar at the Kows for the wind, how long i may staye I know not.” MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 82)
[99] Richard Bellingham (1592?-1672) was Deputy-Governor of Massachusetts from 1635, and Governor from 1665 to his death.
[100] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 80). The Journal appears in full in The Friend (Phila.), lxxvii. (1904), 204.
[101] Patrick Livingstone (????-1694) was born at Angus in Scotland, and was convinced in the North of England in 1658. He travelled in the ministry with James Halliday (F.P.T. 201). In later years he lived in Nottingham and London. See Jnl. F.H.S. vii. 184.
[102] Given in his Truth Owned, 1667, pp. 6ff.
[103] Justice Matthew Babington lived at Rotherby, Leics. He was an ancestor of Lord Macaulay. Mary Radley states that he was the “Some Justice” addressed by E. Hooton (D. Portfolio iii. 6). He appears in Besse’s book of Sufferings as a persecutor (i. 335).
[104] See Jnl. F.H.S. v. 140.
[105] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 33), dated “13ᵗʰ day of 6ᵗʰ Month 1667,” and endorsed: “El. Hooton to some Spirits who were gone out from yᵉ trueth.” At the close of the paper occur the names: “Eliza: Barnes & Rose Atkinson” (see Camb. Jnl.).
[106] Lodowicke Muggleton (1609-1697/8) and John Reeve (1608-1658) announced themselves the “two witnesses” of Rev. xi. 3. The sect of the Muggletonians was never very numerous, but it still exists, sharing with the Quakers the distinction of being the only survivals of those numerous religious bodies which sprang into existence during Commonwealth times.
[107] A Volume of Spiritual Epistles written by John Reeve and Lodowicke Muggleton, printed 1755, reprinted 1820, p. 227.
[108] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 67) This is printed at the end of addresses to the King, and to the King and both Houses of Parliament, by Thomas Taylor. The first is dated 1st of December, 1670.
[109] The Conventicle Act of 1664. For particulars of its working see F.P.T. 357.
[110] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 53)
[111] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 52)
[112] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 69)
[113] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 73)
[114] Edward Montagu, second Earl of Manchester (1602-1671), was Lord Chamberlain at this time, having been appointed in 1660 (D.N.B.).
[115] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii, 11) It is endorsed: “To yᵉ Lᵈ Chamberlane for Release of Prisonᵉʳˢ & justice to her selfe.”
[116] Henry Grey (1599?-1673), created Earl of Stamford in 1628. (D.N.B.) He was a Leicestershire nobleman. His son, John Grey, is mentioned later.
[117] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 47)
[118] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 17), endorsed: “To yᵉ Duke of York desiring an Answer to her former papers, & pressing for justice to her selfe.”
[119] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 44)
[120] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 57)
[121] William Dewsbury (1621-1688), Thomas Goodaire (????-1693), and Henry Jackson (????-1727), were prominent Friends of the early day. Dewsbury spent nigh twenty years of his life within prison walls.
Francis Howgill (1618-1668/9) was of Westmorland. He died in Appleby Jail. Thomas Taylor (c. 1617-1681/2), a Yorkshireman, spent long years in prison for conscience sake.
[122] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 56)
[123] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 55)
[124] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 60)
[125] The copy of this record is amongst the late Mary Radley’s notes, but the authority is not stated. The names of witnesses correspond with those given on the certificate obtained from Somerset House.
[126] It will be noticed that this letter is dated a month after the marriage had taken place. Possibly Elizabeth Hooton was travelling when the intention of marriage came before the Meeting, and it was thought well to record her letter of approval when it was obtained.
[127] See Turner, Original Records, 1911, i. 76, ii. 771, iii. 745.
[128] MSS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 1, 29)
[129] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 75), endorsed: “El. Hooton To yᵉ King & Councell on behalf of yᵉ innocent & Judge Fells Widdow.” Further mention of this dispute may be found in Maria Webb’s Fells of Swarthmoor Hall, 1865, pp. 255 ff. See also Jnl. F.H.S. xi. 181.
[130] Hannah Salter, as Hannah Stringer, the wife of John Stringer, of London, participated in the troubles associated with James Nayler in 1656, but repented thereof, and returned to the Quaker fold. In 1666 she married Henry Salter, of London.
[131] Swarth. MSS. i. 152, addressed: “Leaue this with Sarah ffell at Swarthmore ffor to be sent to her mother In Lancashire.” Endorsed by Fox.
[132] The Arraignment of Popery; being a short Collection, taken out of the Chronicles, and other Books, of the State of the Church in the Primitive Times; also the State of the Papists ... by George Fox and Ellis Hookes, 1667, a learned treatise of 140 pages.
[133] Extracts from State Papers, 1913, p. 341.
[134] The Journal of George Fox, bi-cent. ed. ii. 140. The other woman friend was Hannah Salter; see note to this name in Fox’s Journal, Camb. ed.
[135] Martha Fisher (c. 1631-1687) was a member of the valuable band of London women Friends active in work for the cause of Truth.
[136] Swarth. MSS. i. 83. The letter is addressed: “ffor Sarah ffell this at Swarthmore To be left wᵗʰ Thomas Green grocer in Lancaster,” and endorsed by Fox: “j rous to mff 1671 of patin of releas.”
[137] Henry Bennet, first Earl of Arlington (1618-1685), was Secretary of State 1662-1674, and Lord Chamberlain 1674 (D.N.B.).
[138] Sir Joseph Williamson (1633-1701) was Clerk of the Council 1672, and afterwards, 1674, Secretary of State to Charles II. (D.N.B.)
[139] Of the previous life of Elizabeth Miers we are yet in ignorance. Apparently she did not proceed further than Barbados, and returned home about 1672 (see Webb, Fells, p. 278).
[140] The account of the voyage is given in detail in the Journal of George Fox, Camb. ed.
[141] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 25) The copyist of this address endorses it: “El. Hooton to yᵉ Rulers (J suppose) of Barbado’s.”
[142] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 32)
[143] James Lancaster (????-1699) was of Walney Island, Lancashire. He was one of Fox’s fellow-travellers to the Western World.
[144] MS. in D. The endorsement is in three hands—Fox writes: “a testemony of elesebeth hoton,” another adds: “before she dyed,” and a third: “by Ja: Lancaster.”
[145] Journal, Camb. ed. ii. 213.
[146] MS. in D. Not autograph.
[147] My Birthday, 1871.
[148] Joseph Oxley, Journal, under date 1771.
[149] Bishop, op. cit. p. 420.
[150] Besse, Suff. i. 553.
[151] Ibid. i. 333, 334.
[152] Camb. Jnl. ii, 15.
[153] Muggleton, Spiritual Epistles, pp. 78, 227.
[154] Suff. i. 555.
[156] T. Salthouse to M. Fell (Swarth. MSS. i. 103), and Letters of Early Friends, p. 165.
[157] Besse, Suff. ii. 290.
[158] Relation of ... Alice Curwen, 1680.
[159] Besse, Suff. ii. 313.
[160] A.R.B. MSS. 45.
[161] Besse, ii, 339.