Gharret Van Hassen (abt. 1695 - 1765)

Born about 1695 in Netherlands

Died 30 Jun 1765 at about age 70 in Ireland

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Biography

Gharret was a Friend (Quaker)

Gharret Van Hassen was born in Holland around 1695 and at the age of 40, came to London on his way to Philadelphia. As a result of illness he missed his ship, only to hear several weeks later that it had been lost with all hands. He resolved to remain in England and moved to Colchester, where he worked as a wool-comber. There he heard Mary Wyatt preaching and was convinced, notwithstanding that he still spoke English too poorly to understand what she was saying. In the year 1737, he came to Ireland and settled in Dublin where he lived alone, in very limited circumstances, and became a respected and beloved minister. He visited the meetings of Friends around Great Britain. It is related of him that, travelling alone in Scotland during the Jacobite Rising in 1745, he was stopped by military men, who enquired: "What king are you for?" In answer to this hazardous question he replied simply, "I am for the King of heaven," and was suffered to proceed unmolested on his way. In the year 1747, he performed a visit to most or all of the families of Friends in Ireland. He died on 30 June 1765, having been a minister for 28 years.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Mary Leadbeater, "Biographical notices of members of the Society of Friends, who were resident in Ireland". London, Harvey and Darton, 1823, p.257. (https://archive.org/details/biographicalnoti00lead/page/257/mode/2up?view=theater)