"What's here to do?": An Inquiry Concerning Sarah and Benjamin Lay, Abolitionists

"What's here to do?" An Inquiry Concerning Sarah and Benjamin Lay, Abolitionists by Andreas Mielke* Given the predominantly patriarchal character of even Quaker historiography , much of what can be said about Sarah Lay must be based on sources referring to her husband, the radical abolitionist Benjamin Lay (1681-1759). Although Sarah is in no way famous, an examination focusing on her life, as fragmented as it must be, sheds significant lights on the social environment ofboth an unusually quiet minister and an unusual loud critic ofthe ministry. It shows some ofthe curious internal and external stumbling blocks that are scattered in the path ofthe history ofideas, in this case the history of early abolitionism. After Sarah Lay's death, the Monthly Meeting ofthe Society ofFriends at Abington, Pennsylvania, issued a brief memorial: About the latter end of 1735, died Sarah Lay, late wife of Benjamin Lay, of Abington. She was born in Rochester, in the county ofKent, in Old England, about the year 1677, and was convinced of the principles of Truth in her younger years. She had a gift in the ministry bestowed on her, in which she was serviceable; and traveled in that service, with the concurrence of her Friends, in her native land, and in Scotland and Ireland; as also to some adjacent parts of the continent. Her service was acceptable. Aged about 58 years; a minister, about 23. She was buried at Abington.' This rather cool obituary does not dojustice to the much tried wife ofthe most frequently disowned Quaker of their time. Lay, of course, is less known for his disownments but notorious, if not even famous, as the most ardent abolitionist ofthe century: After her death, the widower wrote the most aggressive indictment of slavery the—slave-holding—Society of Friends would ever see, All Slave-Keepers that keep the Innocent in Bondage, Apostates (1737/38). Imbedded in this book lies a warm memorial of "sweet Sarah," his "dear wife," the "tender-hearted" woman. Through her—hitherto mostly assumed—support of her husband, Sarah Lay has found a tiny place in the history ofabolitionism. Roberts Vaux, an enthusiastic proponent of anti-slavery sentiment, thus includes a deliberately benevolent note on her in his Memoirs ofthe Lives ofBenjamin Lay and Ralph Sandiford of 1 815: Sarah Lay was an intelligent and pious woman, an approved minister ofthe gospel in the Society ofFriends: she cordially united with her husband, in his disapprobation of slavery, and contributed all in her power to the support of ?Andreas Mielke teaches German in Philadelphia. An Inquiry Concerning Sarah and Benjamin Lay23 his mind under the trials which it suffered, in his exertions to promote a change in the public sentiment, respecting the inhumanity and injustice ofthe custom. (Vaux 32-33) Unfortunately, many of Vaux's biographical data and evaluations and those of his numerous successors are speculative, dubious, and often outright wrong. Moreover, mistakes are so frequently repeated and embellished by legends, hearsay, and simply bad copy that one must wonder about historiography in general.2 A few errors have been corrected since Vaux's and Lydia Child's (1842) empathetic but unscholarly Memoirs of the first halfofthe nineteenth century, however, without being duly noted by subsequent biographers, lexicographers, and other writers on Lay or abolitionism. Nathan Kite (1856) and Brightwen Rowntree (1936) ought to be mentioned as the authors ofthe two best articles on Lay. To these must be added Stanley H. G. Fitch and the information he provided in his book, Colchester Quakers (1962) ? This is not to say that they are flawless; they are, as will be noted, not. To my knowledge, no writer on Lay has found either opportunity or reason to check the Devonshire House Monthly Meeting minutes or other relevant documents that are kept in the Friends House in London. Differing from Vaux and others, the Essex Quarterly Meeting Birth Digest gives Benjamin's birth date, according to Quaker count, as 26/1 1/ 1681 [i.e., 26 January, 1682]4 which, ifthe "about the year 1677" estimate of the Abington obituary can be trusted, would make Sarah four to five years his senior. When Benjamin Lay ended his seafaring years some time...