Rachel Staley

English 44a

Professor Reynolds

September 15, 2004

John Woolman

• 1678—Grandfather (also John Woolman) came from England to America two years after “The Concessions and Agreements Charter” (Rosenblatt 28)
• John Woolman (Junior) was born on October 19, 1720 in Burlington County, Northampton, West Jersey (before New Jersey was reunited (McMichael et al. 275)
• His parents were Samuel Woolman and Elizabeth Burr

--Not only born into a state of religious tolerance, Woolman’s family was also very supportive of religious servitude. (Rosenblatt 28-29)

• He was the oldest boy in his family and the fourth of thirteen children (Rosenblatt 29)
• He attended a rural Quaker school throughout his childhood and received a rudimentary education, but his parents taught and encouraged him to read (Rosenblatt 32)
• 1736, Age 16—fell with a bad crowd and behaved unseemly and became ill—saw this as sign from God and repented his ways with the belief that he was going to die (Rosenblatt 33, Woolman 171)
• 1740-1741, Age 21—Leaves his father’s farm (plantation) to go to the village of Mount Holly (about five miles away). (Rosenblatt 34)
• 1741-1743, Ages 21-23—Worked as a clerk/bookkeeper in a bakery/retail shop (Rosenblatt 34)
• At this time, Woolman also began attending Quaker meetings and speaking at them (Woolman 173)
• 1743, Age 23—Woolman was recognized/recorded as a minister (Endicott College’s Academic Library)
• 1743, Age 23—He sets up his own shop as a tailor/retailer of necessary goods where he accepted the barter system and was lenient with the debts of the poor (Rosenblatt 37)
• 1743, Age 23—Around Christmas time, after much deliberation, Woolman approaches the master of the tavern regarding the corruption thereof.(McMichael et al. 278)
• 1743, Age 23—Approached by his employer to draw-up a bill of sale regarding the transaction of a “Negro woman” Woolman refuses because he feels that the contraction of human creature is wrong.(McMichael et al. 278-279)
• 1749, Age 29—John Woolman married Sarah Ellis
• 1750, Age 30—Woolman’s first child, Mary, was born
• 1754, Age 34—His second child, William, was born—William died three months later
• Neither of his children were mentioned in his journal and there was only a brief reference to his marriage
• It appears that despite this, Woolman had a happy home life based upon mutual affection and religious stability (Rosenblatt 38)
• 1754, Age 34—Woolman published “Some Consideration on the Keeping of Negroes” –an essay reflecting Woolman’s abolitionist view on slavery
• 1756, Age 36—Woolman begins his journal to show his “experience of the goodness of God.” (qtd. in McMichael et al. 275)
• Woolman was a: farmer, businessman, shopkeeper, teacher, surveyor, minister, tailor, leech (doctor?), and legal advisor. (Rosenblatt 32)
• 1758, Age 38—The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends appointed Woolman to a committee to visit other Quakers that still held slaves. (Kahoe and Kahoe)
• 1759, Age 39—Woolman travels to Indian country for eleven days to Wehaloosing, Pennsylvania—stayed there for four days praying with interpreters translating—Indian chief, Papunehang, “put his hand on his own breast and said, ‘I love to feel where the words come from.’” (qtd. in Kahoe and Kahoe)
• Woolman and other Quaker associates were the first to formulate a well defined case for the abolition of slavery (Endicott College, qtd. in Haycraft 837)
• 1763, Age 43—Woolman published “A Plea for the Poor”—an essay…
• 1768, Age 48—Woolman published “Considerations Pure Wisdom and Human Policy”—an essay…
• 1770, Age 50—Woolman published “Considerations on the True Harmony of Mankind”—an essay…
• 1772, Age 52—Woolman journeys to England on the Mary and Elizabeth for thirty-nine day to present the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting certificate in London, “A Epistle to the Quarterly and monthly meeting of Friends”—his “spirit and devotion were recognized”—it was the first time in the history of the London Yearly Meeting that a statement condemning slavery was brought forth. (Kahoe and Kahoe)
• 1772, Age 52—After the meeting in London ended, Woolman went to York, England—in September of that year he contracted smallpox disease—October 7, 1772, Woolman died in York. (Kahoe and Kahoe)

Works Cited

q Rosenblatt, Paul. John Woolman. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc, 1969.

q McMichael, George, et al. Anthology of American Literature. New Jersey: Pearson, Prentice Hall, 2004.

q Eliot, Charles W. ed. The Journal of John Woolman. New York: P.F. Collier & Son Corporation, 1909.

q “John Woolman.” Endicott College Academic Library. 2003. College of the Siskiyous Lib., Weed, CA. 14 September 2004 <http://www.endicott.edu/production/academic/library/woolmanbio.html>

q Kahoe, Mildred, and Walter Kahoe. Ed. George Amoss. “John Woolman: The Story of a Quaker Conscience.” Religious Society of Friends. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1994. College of the Siskiyous Lib., Weed, CA. 9 September 2004 <http://www.qis.net/~daruma/woolman1.html>