{"id":78185,"date":"2021-05-17T14:44:55","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T18:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=78185"},"modified":"2024-01-15T14:32:02","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T19:32:02","slug":"persecuted-quakers-in-colonial-america-part-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/persecuted-quakers-in-colonial-america-part-iii.html","title":{"rendered":"Persecuted Quakers in Colonial America, Part III"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her story about the punishments Quakers endured at the hands of the 17th century Puritan authorities, focusing on Edward Wharton. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Quaker persecutions during the 17th century inspired writers like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to expose the harsh treatment the sect received from the Puritan establishment. In 1868 he published two plays in verse called The New England Tragedies<\/em> \u2013 one was about the Salem witch trials, and the other was about the Puritans\u2019 persecution of the Quakers.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: Governor John Endicott. Credit: Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum; Digital Commonwealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The following lines are from \u201cThe New England Tragedies: John Endicott Governor of Massachusetts.\u201d Here we have a dialogue between John Endicott, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Rev. John Norton, Puritan minister.<\/p>\n

NORTON:<\/strong>
\nAway with all these Heretics and Quakers!
\nENDICOTT:<\/strong>
\nAnd what more can be done?
\nNORTON:<\/strong>
\nThe hand that cut
\nThe Red Cross from the colors of the king
\nCan cut the red heart from this heresy.
\nFear not. All blasphemies immediate
\nAnd heresies turbulent must be suppressed
\nBy civil power.<\/p>\n

Norton is advising Endicott to deal with Quakers with the same zeal and force he mustered when cutting out the red cross of St. George to deface the local militia\u2019s flag. (See: The Story behind an Ancestor\u2019s Unusual Name: Truecross Davenport<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Longfellow frequented the Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island, New York, during the time Professor Eben Norton Horsford resided there. Horsford and his family erected a monument on behalf of Nathaniel Sylvester, who gave shelter to the persecuted Quakers. (See: Nathaniel Sylvester, \u2018Lord of Shelter\u2019 for 17th Century Quakers<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

One of the Quakers listed on the monument is Edward Wharton, \u201cThe Much Scourged,\u201d who was a Quaker sentenced to banishment in Longfellow\u2019s play John Endicott<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Wharton and Endicott often locked horns. Both men possessed strong opinions and were highly charged in expressing them.<\/p>\n

Old newspaper articles, such as those in GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, reference the repetitive scourging imposed upon Wharton for his religious beliefs.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: \u201cWhipping Quakers at the Cart\u2019s Tail in Boston.\u201d Credit: \u201cYoung Folks\u2019 History of Boston,\u201d by Hezekiah Butterworth (Estes and Lauriat, Boston, 1881), p. 101.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article by the Boston Investigator<\/em> tells how cruelly and repeatedly Wharton was whipped, on Endicott\u2019s orders.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Investigator (Boston, Massachusetts), 17 November 1852, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is a court record about Wharton, dated 4 July 1663, that was published in 1837 by the Newburyport Herald<\/em>. This report gives more detail to the first lashings sentenced upon Wharton, who had informed the court he came \u201cto bear testimony against violence and oppression\u201d against the Quakers.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Newburyport Herald (Newburyport, Massachusetts), 27 June 1837, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The court records report additional punishment for Wharton.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Newburyport Herald (Newburyport, Massachusetts), 27 June 1837, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wharton was given shelter by Thomas Macy of Salisbury during a heavy rainstorm. Macy was charged for this crime. It is suspected that William Robinson and Marmaduke Stephenson were with Wharton. They are listed on the monument at Shelter Island with Mary Dyer \u2013 all three were executed on the Boston Common.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: \u201cQuakers Marmaduke Stephenson, Mary Dyer, and William Robinson walking to the gallows. Compare the serene faces of the Quakers with the scowling Puritans in this engraving by William Bell Scott.\u201d Credit: \u201cMartyr Scenes of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries\u201d (1888).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the New-Bedford Mercury<\/em>, there is a mention of Macy\u2019s incident sheltering Wharton.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
New-Bedford Mercury (New Bedford, Massachusetts), 27 February 1857, page 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Macy was fined and admonished. This incident inspired John Greenleaf Whittier\u2019s work \u201cThe Exiles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whittier claimed that the Quakers manifested just as much confrontational zeal as their prosecutors. In a letter dated 14 May 1878, Whitter wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may be questioned whether the governor\u2019s [Endicott] ears did not suffer as much under Wharton\u2019s biting sarcasm and \u2018free speech\u2019 as the latter\u2019s back did from the magisterial whip.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Upcoming:<\/em><\/strong> more about the Quakers in 17th<\/sup> century America.<\/p>\n

Related Articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n