Friends (Quakers) Profile Improvement List 12 December 2021

Question

This is the first installment in a revitalized program of profile improvement for the Quakers Project. Please leave a Comment or Answer indicating if you will be working on one of the profiles below. Thank you in advance and please remember to contact the profile manager before beginning significant revision.

Stephen Grellet (1773-1855) - During the French Revolution he was sentenced to be executed, but escaped and eventually fled Europe to Demerary with his brother Joseph in 1793, then to the United States in 1795. Grellet became involved in extensive missionary work across North America and most of the countries of Europe, in prisons and hospitals, and was respectfully granted meetings with many rulers and dignitaries, including Pope Pius VII, Czar Alexander I, and the Kings of Spain and Prussia. He encouraged many reforms in educational policies and in hospital and prison conditions. In 1804 Grellet married Rebecca Collins, the daughter of the publisher Isaac Collins. The family home, the Isaac Collins House in Burlington, New Jersey, is now listed on the National register of Historical Places. Grellet's two volume memoir (pub 1860) should be found online somewhere.

Richard Davies (1635-1708) - His autobiography, entitled “An account of the convincement, exercises, services and travels of that ancient servant of the Lord Richard Davies” has been called a Welsh Quaker classic. Richard Davies kept open house at Cloddiau Cochion, Welshpool, for Friends, and although he suffered imprisonment and fines yet he was not embittered. As minister of the gospel he travelled in Wales and England. His marriage took place in 1657 at Horsleydown, Southwark. He died 22 January 1707/8 and was interred in the Friends' burial ground at Cloddiau Cochion.”

James Mott (1788-1868) - noted abolishionist, husband to Lucretia Mott. Deeply involved in the Hicksite schism.

Isaac Hicks (1767-1820) - a prominent New York businessman who 'retired' in 1805 and spent the balance of life "free from commercial cares" in various Quaker endeavors. See "Isaac Hicks: New York Merchant and Quaker 1767-1820" (Davidson, Robert A., Harvard University Press, 1964). I have a hard copy of this should someone need a lookup.

Refine Weekes (seen as 1750-1850 in WikiTree and 1759-1823 at Geni) - his poetry published by Mahlon Day in which the second edition (1823) gives his surname spelled Weekes.

Answer 1

I will work on the profile of Stephen Grellet. He isn't a blood relative but is related by marriage in the line of my Schooley and French Quaker families. Unfortunately, I don't have a paid subscription at ancestry so if anyone else wants to contribute what I can't access elsewhere, please do.

Comments

Thanks, Connie. If you need some look-ups, let me know.

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Excellent profile work! Last evening reading a book on Norwegian Quakers (there's a category worth exploration!), up pops Grellet along with an engraving similar to the one on the profile. This man was seemingly everywhere at some point in time.

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Thank you. He was a fascinating man. He made 4 trips to Europe throughout his lifetime. I didn't find much in the line of sources other than his memoirs. Hinshaw only had vitals and one mention of certificate. There may be more in the Quaker records I can't access.

Answer 2

I'll add to Refine Weekes profile as I have time. Family Search has some records.

Comments

Thank you.

Answer 3

I’m afraid I won’t be able to do this myself, though Richard Davies is notable enough for entries in the Dictionary of Welsh Biography (from where the excerpt above has been taken, and which should be linked to) and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (both the 1900 and the current subscription-only entry are linked below). There may be further sources available from the Wikidata entry (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18559845).

Note: There is a mismatch between the current Wikitree entry and the Oxford DNB: the ODNB states that Richard’s father was Edward Davies and that his mother’s name is unknown; Wikitree has Zachariah and Catherine Davies as parents, unsourced.

https://biography.wales/article/s-DAVI-RIC-1635

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Davies,_Richard_(1635-1708)

https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/7256

Comments

Thanks, A Jones. I wasn't aware the description I used came from Dictionary of Welsh Biography--it was sent me by a bookseller offering a first edition of the autobiography.  Particular thanks for the notes on the parentage.

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Checking his autobiography (my copy is 3rd edition 1770), he does not appear to give the names of his parents, confirms his birth as 1635, and states his apprenticeship to Evan Jones was with the consent of his parents. If this was a documented apprenticeship stating terms and length and the agreement still exists at least the name of his father is likely there.

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Hi T,

The ODNB entry has a citation to a parish register for Welshpool, which I managed to find on Ancestry [https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/611430:62108]. However, this notes the date of baptism as 8th March 1635 rather than the 22nd March 1635 (as noted in the biography), which might be a Julian/Gregorian issue. The father here is noted as Edward.

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I don't have a paid subscription at ancestry so can't see if there is an image. Is there? If so, does it shed any light? March 12, not March 8 Julian would be March 22 Gregorian. Familysearch has the record but links back to Find my Past, which is a subscription site, just like ancestry. It also shows March 8 for the baptism. If anyone has a membership there, maybe they have an image that would show the parents and maybe even birth date? His birth name was Ricardus. I'll add what I can find to his sources.

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Both Findmypast and Ancestry records come from the same source, i.e. microfilmed registers from Powys Archives. I should have linked to the image through a sharing link: [https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/26787549?h=ba62d2]

The transcript, as far as I can make out, is

Ricardus fil Edoardi Davies [Die] Octavo Martii

I’m not sure where the author of the ODNB got 22 March from as a baptism date.

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Thank you. So, this confirms the father is Edward, not Zacharia. I'll work on the profile some more. I've added the sources I found and I'll upload the baptism image to his profile too. Thanks again.

Answer 4

I've done some preliminary work on Isaac Hicks to add his place of birth, death and some basic information that was not yet on the profile. Will come back to this after reading the Davison book on him.