Product Description
Based on original research in records long thought lost, Quaker Nantucket explores the spectacular growth of Quakerism on the Island and its equally astonishing decline amidst the collapse of the whaling industry a century later. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Quaker Nantucket: The Religious Community Behind the Whaling Empire
The authors provide detailed information about the rise and fall of Nantucket's Quaker community and its whaling industry.If your Nantucket ancestors include family names like Macy, Starbuck, Coffin, Bunker, etc., you'll gain additional persective on the interconnections between family, religion, and whaling, the "splintering" of the Quaker community, and some reasons for migration off island.

An informative book written in a pleasing way
I am an avid reader of historical texts. I am very interested in the history of America and am always hungry for more knowledge. I recently took up in interest in discovering more about the Quakers. I had almost given upafter reading the endless selection of rather boring texts, leaving meeither sleeping or wanting to. Then, I found Quaker Nantucket. From thisbook, I have learned volumes of information, and had a good time doing it.This book is interesting, and begins every chapter with an exciting sectionof the ongoing saga. I enjoyed myself, and hope to have the chance tocongratulate Mr. Gow and Mr. Leach myself.

You never thought a book could be so informative, yet fun.
This is an amazing book. The author takes you into the life or Quakerism. You learn how it all began with George Fox, and how in ended. Also, you learn about how the whaling industry affected Quakers on the island onNantucket. This is a must read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Quakers in America
The history of Quakers is, in some ways, the history of America and its culture.Early forms of government, the fight against war, slavery, poverty were all influenced by the Quakers.Women's rights, many fields of science, the temperance movement were all fueled by the Quakers, who wanted not just to improve themselves but also the world.This book really helps you understand where Quakerism came from, how it has developed and where it may be going. A must for any library on Colonial American History. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Quaker 'Classic'
Quaker 'classic.' Brinton, who helped start Pacific Yearly Meeting (in California, Mexico, Hawaii) of the Religious Society of Friends (unprogrammed) and Pendle Hill (Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation near Philadelphia), describes the development of Quakerism since its beginnings with George Fox, Margaret Fell and others in the mid-1650s in England. He highlights the unique (mystical) form of Quaker Worship (in silence) as a third form of Christianity. Pendle Hill Publications used to title this book "Friends for 300 Years." ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
Transcendence can come in many forms. For Mary Rose O'Reilley a year tending sheep seemed a way to seek a spirituality based not on climbing out of the body but rather on existing fully in the world, at least if she could overlook some of its earthier aspects. The Barn at the End of the World follows O'Reilley in her sometimes funny, sometimes moving quest. Though small in stature, she learns to flip very large sheep and help them lamb. She also visits a Buddhist monastery in France, where she studies the practice of Mahayana Buddhism, dividing her spare time between meditation and dreaming of French pastries.Amazon.com Review
Author Mary Rose O'Reilley is decidedly eclectic. Sheconfidently blends sheep tending with her Quaker background as well asher passion for Mahayana Buddhism (a form of Buddhism taught byVietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh). This may sound like the recipe fora soup of spiritual mush, but nothing could be further from thetruth. Like Anne Lamott, O'Reilley also happens to be a hystericallyfunny storyteller who understands the importance of humility whenwriting spiritual autobiography. (One reviewer called O'Reilley a"social anthropologist from the Planet Mongo, a stand-up mystic goingfor the belly laugh...")

Whether she's talking about grief overdying lambs, the plague of Monkey Mind, flipping sheep, or a barnyardfashion crisis, O'Reilley keeps her metaphors down to earth and herepiphanies humble. The structure is especially inviting: a collectionof brief essays of only about three to five pages each. But thiscollection also reads like a journey with a beginning and an end. Itstarts with O'Reilley as a college professor who decides to try somepart-time animal husbandry at a local farm and ends with her finding anew direction in life that we can only hope will inspire her to writea sequel. --Gail Hudson ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

evocative, deep and delicious read
Plenty to enjoy in this book. O'Reilly's writing style is relaxed but precise. She refers to reality in the barn and to perceptions about reality from her experiences with a variety of spiritual practices. Moving from her own explorations and through her daily life events, she reveals parts of the path that many of us are traveling. I love the gentleness, kindness, openness of her view. She shares the smallest things, and the most vast, including her joyous "shape music," and her tangle of inner dialogues while visiting Plum Village, her physical wrestling with the care of sheep, and her deep inner respect for those whose work it is to tend the earth and its beings.I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys good writing, humor in the face of life and it's twists, and a dip in the pool with a spiritual seeker.

Meditation Hug
I requested and received this book as a gift 2 years ago. I read about 40 pages and then for some reason I left it on the night stand with a bookmark in the place where I had stopped. I picked it up again recently when I was down with a respiratory infection and feeling sorry for myself.

I've enjoyed Mary Rose O'Reilley as an author who can nudge me out of such a place. Her book Radical Presence got me over a bad attitude about teaching. Her book of poems Half Wild saw me through the year before I retired when I was half in and half out of a professional mind. Now The Barn at the End of World has offered up pages of wisdom and load of notes about things I want to remember.

Here is a favorite line: "My religious nature is omnivorous. I can worship anything that occupies a certain slant of light." I listened differently after reading this: "We habitually ignore impulses in our lives that don't fit the cultural script." I volunteered to help a friend on a llama farm after following O'Reilley's adventures in the sheep barn--not romantically but ready to shovel shit with a purpose. Her honest report about her time at Plum Village gave me hope! Those retreats are a hell that have taught me much but more importantly she reminded me that "The universe is such an efficient school." I don't have to go to a retreat to learn. Best of all is learning the meditation hug: "Go deeply inside yourself and say: 'breathing deeply I open like a flower.' Then hug. Three times." I'm so glad I dusted this book and kept reading.

Catalyst for my own journey
I beg to differ, as one of the earlier reviewers stated, that this book does not offer spiritual fulfillment.I found it awakening many slumbering treasures that I have neglected over the past few years, caught up in other things in my life.I thought it was a delightful treat.I would agree that there is little to no spiritual direction, but it does not purport to be an "owner's manual" for any spirituality.

I would also kindly disagree about its lack of plot.While the writing is more stream-of-consciousness than one typically expects for an autobiography, there is a movement throughout the book which one can follow, and it is not to "nowhere."

I am not a shepherdess myself, and there were times when I thought "ew" (get it - ew/ewe - pun intended!) when presented with graphic descriptions of sheeep husbandry, but it was all part of parcel of the journey.This is definitely one of those books in which the joy is in the journey, and thank you, Mary Rose, O'Reilly, for taking us along!

I was fortunate enough to have found this book in a happy happenstance.I was waiting for colleagues at our local quirky microbrewery on a Friday after work, went over to the shared bookshelf and pulled this off.I intended to return it when I finished, but I think I will donate another book to their library, as this one is too precious to let go!I intend for it to be one of those few books that I re-read over and over.

One of the Best Spiritual Memoirs
My first impressions of this book were that it was weird. That really describes the first section and a half of this book. It *is* weird reading about the excrutiating details of sheep farming coupled with deep religious insights. But it was weird in a good way, like waking up one morning in the middle of the winter at 6 AM and having the sun already be risen. The further along in the book I went, the more I enjoyed her weird combination of sheep farming, Buddhist retreat, music, and Quaker imagery. I found myself thinking about what she just said constantly; quite frankly, it was an absolute inspiration to me, especially when she starts delving into her life at Plum Village. Her format also makes the book easy to read. You can pick it up for just 5 minutes at a time. With some memoirs, the format of short essays makes the memoir feel disjointed; with this one, it makes it feel whole. I've read many memoirs and many spiritual/religious books. If I had to give a list of my top 3, this book would be on it.

Didn't interest me
I found this book boring.Her message was good, but her delivery did nothing for me. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1676, shortly after the English seized the territory from the Dutch, New Jerseywas divided into the colonies of East and West Jersey. Under the Duke of York--the originalproprietor--East Jersey was settled predominantly by small landowners and entrepreneurs, whileWest Jersey was settled by Quakers, and was in fact the first Quaker colony in America,preceding Pennsylvania by six years. Organized by a group of Quaker proprietors in London in1676/7, West Jersey was governed initially by nine commissioners who held court at Burlington.Besides its legislative authority over the colony, the court at Burlington had jurisdiction overlocal matters and served as the court of appeals for Salem and other towns in West Jersey after1683.Quaker justices continued to hold court in Burlington until May 1703, losing their right to selfgovernment following the end of proprietary rule and the creation of the united Province of NewJersey under royal charter the previous year. While non-Quakers would eventually overshadowthe Quaker inhabitants of West Jersey, Burlington remained a Quaker stronghold throughout theperiod of proprietary rule.The minutes of the Burlington court, transcribed and published originally by the AmericanHistorical Association in 1944, and now available in this facsimile reprint, contain the day to dayminutiae of Quaker temporal life, just as the meeting records illuminate Quaker spiritual life.While they reflect virtually all facets of life in West Jersey, the majority of the court minutesconcern property rights, civil suits, grievances involving slaves, servants, and Indians, and allmanner of domestic complaints. They constitute not only the most important judicial record ofthe colony of West Jersey but are a goldmine of clues about the early inhabitants of West Jersey.A mirror of the life and times of this almost forgotten colony, the minutes of the Burlingtoncourt offer rare possibilities for genealogical research, for many of the cases brought before thecourt, such as inquests, petty civil suits, and criminal cases, give the names of spouses, children,and other related individuals. Since the majority of the persons named in The Burlington CourtBook were Quakers, researchers may be able to profit even further from the clues it contains byprobing among New Jersey Quaker meeting records for the same period.With an index containing over 15,000 references, this little known work is sure to attract theattention of all researchers with an interest in early New Jersey. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Publisher: T.B. Peterson; Publication date: 1858; Subjects: Pennsylvania; Quakers; History / United States / State ... Read more

Product Description
Mr. Dobson continues with his series of booklets pertaining to unexplored aspectsof Scottish genealogy. The first of these new titles is his Scottish Quakers and Early America,the aim of which is to identify members of the Society of Friends in Scotland prior to 1700 andthe Scottish origins of many of the Quakers who settled in East Jersey in the 1680s.

Quakerism came to Scotland with the Cromwellian occupation of the 1650s. Scottishmissionaries eventually spread the faith to various locations throughout the country, includingAberdeen in the Northeast, Edinburgh and Kelso in the southeast, and Hamilton in the west. TheSociety of Friends never grew to large numbers in Scotland, however, owing to its persecutionby both the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, as well as civic authorities. Understandably, anumber of Scottish Quakers ultimately emigrated to the North American colonies; for example,there were some Scottish Quakers among the landowners of West Jersey as early as 1664, andbetween 1682 and 1685 several shiploads of emigrants left the ports of Leith, Montrose, andAberdeen for East Jersey.

Drawing upon research conducted in both Scotland and the United States in manuscript and inpublished sources, David Dobson has here amassed all the genealogical data that we know ofconcerning members of the Society of Friends in Scotland prior to 1700 and the origins ofScottish Quakers living in East New Jersey in the 1680s. While there is great deal of variation inthe descriptions of the roughly 500 Scottish Quakers listed in the volume, the entries typicallygive the individual's name, date or place of birth, and occupation, and sometimes the name of aspouse or date of marriage, name of parents, place and reason for imprisonment in Scotland,place of indenture, date of death, and the source of the information. Without a doubt this is aground-breaking work on the subject of Scottish emigration to North America during thecolonial period. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Getting into the mystery
This book has recently been reissued in Britain. Based on a series of meditative talks, it is a step-by-step analysis of the implications of the unprogrammed worship of traditional Quakers, leading to group mysticialexperience of the Divine Presence, the Teacher Within, the Light of theChrist.Sometimes a little heady, but finally very touching to the heart. ... Read more

Product Description
Examines the history, notable individuals, beliefs, way of life, and current status of this longstanding Christian group. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Essential Information About Quaker History for Adults, Too!
This excellent book is an excellent way to learn about Quakers.Although listed as a Young Adult or Children's title, the book is more than suitable for adults who are interested in the Religious Society of Friends.

We are a small, simple group of people, and the Quaker faith involves strong and unconventional spiritual beliefs (silent worship, women speaking in meeting as early as the 1600's, lack of a minister, non-dogmatic use of Scripture), mysticism, acceptance of other believers (it is not unusal to find Unitarians, Wiccas, Catholics and Buddhists in Quaker meetings), lifestyles (simplicity, most often in a non-Luddite manner), and activism (nonviolence, anti-death penalty, prison reform.)Note: Although Friends were active in the abolitionist movement, this came about only after a minority of Friends convinced the majority that slavery was an abomination.

In this tastefully illustrated book,you will read about the beginnings of the movement in England, with George Fox.Follow the faith to the Americas, with information about the conflicts that divided the faith into two different groups.

An absolute must for each Friend's (or those interested in learning about other Faiths, including Quakers) reading list, along with George Fox's and John Woolman's Journals, Jessamyn West's The Quaker Reader, and Robert L. Smith's A Quaker Book of Wisdom. ... Read more

Product Description
Prior to the Quakers large-scale migration to Pennsylvania, Barbados had more Quakers than any other English colony. But on this island of sugar plantations, Quakers confronted material temptations and had to temper founder George Fox s admonitions regarding slavery with the demoralizing realities of daily life in a slave-based economy one where even most Quakers owned slaves. Gragg shows how the community dealt with these contradictions as it struggled to change the culture of the richest of England s seventeenth-century colonies. ... Read more

Product Description
The second volume of the great Encyclopedia is complete in itself for the NewJersey and Pennsylvania monthly meetings which were part of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.It includes all records of genealogical value, both Orthodox and Hicksite, known to be inexistence for the meetings from the last quarter of the seventeenth century down to the time thework was originally published in 1938. The records are of two principal classes: (1) births anddeaths and (2) minutes and marriages, and they are arranged in alphabetical order, by familyname, under their corresponding monthly meeting. The marriages are arranged by the names ofboth brides and grooms. Also provided are abstracts of Quaker certificates of removal, whichenable genealogists to trace Quaker ancestors from one monthly meeting to another. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Philadelphia area records from the late 1600's thru late 1800's
Large book that would be cumbersome if in hardback.Heavy enough in paperback.Print is typewriter letters but clearly and solidly set on the page.

I took this volume to bed to read but laid it on the bed for support while reading.

It has a general history of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, a page of abbreviations, and a little history of each of the earliest four monthly meetings (Salem NJ, Burlington NJ, Philadelphia PA, Falls-Fallsington,Bucks Co. PA), their records, and where those records are kept.

There is a 135 page family name index with variations of spellings grouped together before all the page numbers are given.

Notice is made of any individuals within a family group entry of a different name.

I had great fun reading it cover to cover.1126 pages including index.

Essential for Quaker Research
INDEX to the Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy 1750-1930 by William Wade Hinshaw.

DearREADERS, "Totally thrilled" describes my feelings as I received my copy of the index to our library's copy of William Wade Hinshaw's Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy 1750-1930. This past summer I discovered I have Welsh and English Quaker ancestry in Chester County, PA. (Merion on the Welsh Tract.) Prior to this I'd had no personal experience doing Quaker Research.

When I asked others about Quaker Research, they raved about Mr. Hinshaw's six volume compilation of Friend's Monthly Meeting records listing births, deaths, marriages and removals. That last term refers to entries in the church books when Society of Friends members moved from one area to another. They were removed from the old Monthly Meeting membership in order to join the new group.

We're fortunate to have Mr. Hinshaw's complete set of Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy at our local public library. As I uncover new names to research, I'll be turning again and again to Henshaw's Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy.

From the publisher: "William Wade Hinshaw's renowned Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, originally published between 1936 and 1950. Containing approximately 500,000 entries.. each volume ha[s] a separate surname index..."

"Almost no class of records, religious or secular, has been kept as meticulously as the monthly meeting records of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The oldest such records span three centuries of American history and testify to a general movement of population that extended from New England and the Middle Atlantic states southward to Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia; then west to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The importance of these records cannot be overstated. Not until recently have the vital statistics of Quakers been recorded in civil record offices.

Thus, for more than two centuries, the only vital records identifying these people are to be met with in the Quaker records themselves. Fortunately, the monthly meeting records contain extensive lists of births, marriages, and deaths, as well as details of the removal of members from one meeting to another. (The monthly meeting, during which vital statistics are recorded, is in fact, a business meeting.)"

Painstakingly developed from these monthly meeting records, Hinshaw's Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy is the magnum opus of Quaker genealogy.In its production, thousands of records were located and abstracted into a uniform and intelligible system of notation. The data gathered in these volumes of the Encyclopedia are arranged by meeting, then alphabetically by family name, and chronologically thereunder. Volume 1: NORTH CAROLINA Volume II: NEW JERSEY AND PENNSYLVANIA Volume III: NEW YORK Volume IV: OHIO Volume V: OHIO Volume VI: VIRGINIA"

If as the publisher suggests, 50% of our pre-1850 US ancestors were Quaker, than every researcher needs a personal copy of the index, and every genealogy library needs the six volumeEncyclopedia! ... Read more

Product Description
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has resulted in the longest-standing refugee crisis in the world today. Based on new archival research and interviews with surviving participants, this book considers one early effort to resolve that crisis while offering helpful lessons for current efforts at conflict resolution in the Middle East and elsewhere. When war broke out in Palestine in 1948, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker service organization, had just won the Nobel Peace Prize for its peacemaking endeavors and its service to war refugees during the Second World War. On the basis of that experience, the United Nations invited the highly visible AFSC to provide humanitarian relief to Arab refugees in Gaza. The AFSC also sent volunteers to work in Israel, where they hoped to serve both Arabs and Jews. Its long-term goal was repatriation of the refugees and conciliation and coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians.As eyewitnesses to some of the major events of the conflict, the AFSC volunteers came to understand it better than most outsiders at the time. By examining these early efforts at peacemaking and assistance, historian Nancy Gallagher has uncovered essential insights for today's peacemakers, human rights activists, and humanitarian NGOs. ... Read more

Product Description
In the late-seventeenth century, Quakers originated a unique strain of constitutionalism, based on their theology and ecclesiology, which emphasized constitutional perpetuity and radical change through popular peaceful protest. While Whigs could imagine no other means of drastic constitutional reform except revolution, Quakers denied this as a legitimate option to governmental abuse of authority and advocated instead civil disobedience. This theory of a perpetual yet amendable constitution and its concomitant idea of popular sovereignty are things that most scholars believe did not exist until the American Founding. The most notable advocate of this theory was Founding Father John Dickinson, champion of American rights, but not revolution. His thought and action have been misunderstood until now, when they are placed within the Quaker tradition. This theory of Quaker constitutionalism can be traced in a clear and direct line from early Quakers through Dickinson to Martin Luther King, Jr. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very good book
I got the book because I thought it was all about John Dickinson. The last l/3 was about Dickinson and certainly did not disappoint. The first 2/3 is about Quaker thought and action - religious, civil and social - and is truly fascinating. An an attorney and history buff, I found Quaker influence on our early American history, law, constitution and political thought extremely interesting. Jane Calvert is a gifted writer. I highly recommend this book.

Ann Sturgill ... Read more