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Book cover
cover illustration John Woolman and the Slave
based on an illustration by H. Williamson
in A Quaker Calendar for 1914
This article is intended to serve both as an introduction to John Woolman and a review of the book, John Woolman: Quintessential Quaker, 1720-1772 by David Sox (Sessions of York in association with Friends United Press, 1999). David Sox was raised in North Carolina but now lives in England. He is both a Quaker and an Anglican clergyman. Such dual affiliation would generally not be permitted among North American Friends (Quakers), but is allowed in Britain. The book title is apt, as probably no other Friend is held up as often by other Friends as an example of someone who truly lived the Quaker faith. Harold Loukes described him as "the purest and sweetest flowering of the Quaker spirit" (The Quaker Contribution, London, 1965, p.67).
Introduction to John Woolman
John Woolman's grandfather, also named John Woolman, was one of the early Quaker settlers of New Jersey. John Woolman (the grandson) was the fourth child and eldest son in a family of thirteen. The family homestead was halfway between Burlington and Mount Holly, New Jersey. Woolman lived all his life in that area but traveled considerably and died while on a visit to England.
For the first two hundred years or so of Quakerism, it was common for ministers and other prominent Friends to write spiritual journals of their life which were often published after their deaths. I think there can be little doubt that the most widely read of these journals is the Journal of John Woolman. Like many such journals, it focuses on his spiritual labors and concerns and does not say a lot about his family. However, it is known that he married at 29 and had at least one child.
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