Quakers who owned slaves

Question

Is there a way to identify wikitree profiles that have both a QUAKERS tag and also a SLAVE OWNERS tag?

Answer 1

Search Wikitree plus for categoryword=quakers categoryword=slave categoryword=owners

Comments

This is good but some Quakers will have not have the word "Quakers" in a category name. You'll see more results with categoryword=meeting categoryword=slave categoryword=owners

For Quaker profiles without a meeting category, I would also try to search for profiles with the a slave owners category and a Quakers Sticker, but don't know how to construct a sticker search.

---

Shouldn't there be very few appropriate results? The dominant Friends meetings--at the time--of Pennsylvania and New Jersey in 1776 explicitly forbade all ownership or trade of slaves forthwith. Fourteen years later the Quakers officially lobbied Congress to outlaw slavery.

This wasn't absolute doctrine across all Friends meetings in the newly-formed United States, but I believe most agreed and complied.

---

Thank you, Edison, for the comment. There may be more results than some might expect depending on the time period. The anti-slavery movement took hold earlier (some say began) among Quakers than most denominations (or political movements) but the adherence by all Quakers to the eventual prohibition was uneven across time and geographic location. And, things get quite murky in the Carolinas where a practice developed of Quakers "owning" slaves as a means of their protection where they effectively had their freedom (and were educated) in anticipation either of formal emancipation or moving north through the UGRR. This practice was eventually outlawed by statute passed by the North Carolina legislature with severe penalties for any Quaker (or anyone else) engaged in the practice. Whether this practice developed elsewhere I am uncertain (the detailed discussion and research on this I have read was centered in the Carolinas) but it's one of the reasons researchers have to be exceedingly careful when seeking to identify Quaker slaveholders in the Carolinas--things are not always as they appear in an old census or similar record.

My larger question would be what is the purpose of conducting the search suggested in the question?

---

My reason for asking was that it’s easy to find sources that say “many prominent Quakers at the time owned slaves” (mid-1700s) but nobody seems to want to name them. I’m working on a novel which includes Anthony Benezet’s resolution against the ownership of slaves by Quakers in 1753. Since  almost all my characters are based on real people, I’d like to find one of these prominent Quakers to use in a scene leading up to the resolution. 

For what it’s worth, i have a 6th great uncle who bought a slave 3 years AFTER the resolution passed and was condemned by the meeting for doing so. That’s actually the event that I’m building towards. 

---

Anomalies are far more interesting than the status quo. Quakers prohibited premarital sex and marrying out but, that didn't stop Daniel Boone nor his brother from engaging in such behavior. History conveniently conceals most of this information from the prevalent teaching thereof.

Slavery was practiced North and South by black and white and Native Americans, Catholic, Baptist, Protestant and Quakers. If any information is gained by the research a more complete history will result. I say why not satisfy a curious mind.

---

I just realized that the question as asked doesn't actually find my 6th great uncle (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Garrigues-14) becuase he doesn't have "quakers" as a tag. he's got the Quakers badge and a few monthly meetings as tags.

It seems that "categoryword=monthly categoryword=meeting categoryword=slave categoryword=owners" gets a much longer list than the original suggestion.

---

@ Chris -Prominence often correlates to wealth. My initial assumption is prominent Quakers attained their wealth, the same as most prominent men of the day did, at the expense of slave labor.

There is much information to suggest the recording of history has been skewed post-Civil War. Slave owning Quakers does not fit neatly into any narrative presented in todays version of the past.

---

I think that’s a reasonable assumption

---

I have run across it in my Janney family research. Several of Thomas Janney's sons moved down to Loudon County VA and were part of the Goose Creek meeting. Slaves are noted in wills I believe. There is a historical Janney home there that might be able to help.

Before the Civil War started many had moved to Ohio. I always assumed that was part of the reason they stayed north. I do know that family participated in Abolitionist activities. While I am reticent to drag up these facts, it is relevant history and a great idea for your novel. Best of Luck! I will be interested and look into Benezet as well.

---

You should certainly look into Benezet. He's an amazing figure. I'm fortunate for the purposes of the novel that he was also a family friend so he's easy to integrate into the story with minimal invention. (In the 1770s, when Benezet went to France, he apparently attempted to research the Garrigues family for my ancestors because even then, they didn't know much about their Huguenot past. He brought back some bogus connection to royalty that has since been disproven, but that's the nature of early genealogy research. This is only different in that the bogus research was done by a notable.)

---

To search templates, including stickers, use

template=quakers categoryword=slave categoryword=owners

---

@Chris - sounds like a fascinating novel and Benezet is of course very well known. I now recall you had mentioned something about the book to me some months back. I'd also look into the writings of Samuel Janney (I adopted his profile but unfortunately forgot to go back and rework it but did add most of his writings) if you have not as he was in the forefront of the issue (and also of native American issues). 

Some people read far too much into my asking why you asked the question. 

A lot of the people you are looking for would be found in and around Philadelphia meetings who had obtained significant 'status' and there was considerable tension over displays of wealth (which by today's standards were probably tame). I would look at the journal of John Woolman (off hand I don't recall how detailed he got on this but it was a serious concern) and perhaps Janet Whitney's biography of him.

@K Smith - "Slave owning Quakers does not fit neatly into any narrative presented in todays version of the past." The statement is not supported by facts and the subject is often the topic of or addressed in research published by the Friends Historical Association (publishes Quaker History, among others) as well as in any number of books written by Quakers (Jay Worrall's The Friendly Virginians is a place to start). "My initial assumption is prominent Quakers attained their wealth, the same as most prominent men of the day did, at the expense of slave labor." Once you delve into the topic, you will find your initial assumption needs revision. Equating prominence with wealth or vice versa in the Society of Friends runs against the grain of the Friends.

---

I'm now working on the final act. When I'm ready for beta readers, I'll almost certainly reach out on wikitree to find people who know about the era and are willing to provide feedback, but that's in the fall at the earliest.

Answer 2

One of my Quaker ancestors (Ward-1619) William Ward of Orange County, NC left slaves to his Quaker wife and children in his will.  I had no idea in just reading the 'will abstract'.  It wasn't till I read the entire will did I learn of William Ward's slave owning status. His son (my 3rd ggf) inherited one slave upon his mother's death.  I found that William's grandson wrote an autobiography where he mentioned that several of William's slaves were taken to Indiana upon my 3rd ggf's move.  Once arriving in Indiana, the slaves were given their freedom and they moved on into Canada.  It was unfortunate the autobiography did not specifically name the slaves - it would have been nice to trace them on into Canada to see how they fared.

Answer 3

I'm answering to follow this fascinating conversation.  I've recently been working on families from Quaker Street, in Duanesburg, New York in the early 1800's.

Comments

This is a comment on slavery in the northern states in general; not to imply all northerners were quakers. Slavery in the New York State census, 1800 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History It was common in most states to some degree. Not all quakers practiced their faith religiously. By any standard, William Penn can be considered prominent, esteemed, wealthy, influential and on and on. He is an anomaly on the other spectrum.

Answer 4

Other research on this topic:

• Friends of Friends: Quakers and African American Communities - Legacy Family Tree Webinars
• Citing WikiTree member, Jillaine Smith: " 'REMEMBERING BAYARD RUSTIN PODCAST. In case you missed the on-air promo this week, NPR has released a fascinating podcast about Bayard Rustin, the Black, openly gay, pacifist, Quaker – and mastermind of the 1963 March on Washington. The podcast explains how Rustin was forced to work behind the scenes and never got the credit he deserved for organizing the greatest political demonstration in US history. He was also largely responsible for MLK’s embracing non-violence as a principle for the civil rights movement. Click on this link, and then select the Bayard Rustin podcast:' https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510333/throughline "
• Quaker "Edward H. Stabler (1769-1831), who initially purchased Carter-38931 / Maria (Carter) Syphax (abt.1804-1886) and her two youngest children 6 Aug 1825, and by 2 Jun 1845 had also (re)purchased Maria and all of her remaining children, providing their freedom" - Stabler doesn't have a Quaker sticker, but was buried in Quaker Burial Ground, Alexandria, Virginia and is also categorized as among Virginia Quakers

In working through profiles in the past, I have found several Quakers who had nothing on their profiles directly identifying them as such... I'd be interested to know if your query brought up Stabler. I don't think he is categorized as a slave owner because he did not purchase anyone for enslavement, but instead to purchase their freedom, discretely. I suspect that other similar abolitionist Quakers might be "uncategorized" as slave owners.

Comments

Regarding being buried in a Quaker Burial Ground, I have a few ancestors who were buried in the Quaker Burial Ground, but were not actually Quakers themselves.

One that I was looking at just recently was Matthew Garrigues Jr. who as best I can tell was buried there because he died while he was being cared for by his Quaker brother after being injured fighting in King George's War. No evidence at all that he himself had ever been a Quaker and strong evidence he fought in the war. Neither of his parents were Quakers. Two or maybe three of his brothers were Quakers and the others were not.

Answer 5

There is a short and interesting article on Quakers and slavery in Quakers in the World and a related article on Quakers in Jamaica and Barbados.