Published: Jan. 10, 2024
Hello, Friends,
My sister Cathy found the hand-written journal of our great, great, great grandfather Amos Peaslee at Swarthmore's Friends Historical Library and made a direct transcription as best they could of one, long 186-page sentence with creative spelling.
There were a number of hurdles. Many alphabet letters were formed differently than we do now. Grammar and spelling had not been standardized. In those days Biblical language (describing something that happened to you by using an analogy from the Bible) was common.
Amos traveled a LOT and so there are pages and pages that sound like “1st day I went to x, 2nd day I went to Y, . . .” — deadly boring. (Remember early Quakers numbered days of the week and months of the year instead of naming them after Norse or Roman gods as we do today.)
Available as a .pdf is what Cathy made for mere mortals, who just want to know what the life of an early Quaker was like who lived in an interesting time, just before the Civil War and just as the Hicksite/Orthodox split was tearing Quaker Meetings apart.
Both my parents descend from Quakers: the Peaslees and Potts on my Dad's side, and the Sherwoods on my Mom's side.
Copies of the PDF are available from our e-news editor, Virginia Herrick, or from me, Woody Pidcock. Send your request to: [email protected]
from Woody Pidcock, Bellingham Friends Meeting (1/10/2024)