Quaker Profiles from the American West (review)

126QUAKER HISTORY Hence, many members either emigrated to England or die mainland of America, or else abandoned the Society. The decline and disappearance of Friends left a: void of nearly 'a century until renewed interest on the part of a few historians culminated in a visit to Tortola by Charles F. Jenkins in 1913: His monograph, "Tortola: A 'Quaker Experiment of Long Ago in the Tropics," was published in London 'in 1923, but has long been out of print. Mrs. Durham, the author of the work under review here, has already done a great service by editing a new edition of Jenkins' excellent account, which deals with only a single group of small islands. She has now gone much -further in covering the larger canvass of the whole Caribbean chain and in setting forth wliat can be recalled of its Quaker history. Even Bermuda is included" in the interest of completeness although that island is not strictly a part of the area. Mrs. Durham has collected many of the contemporaneous accounts of Friends who inhabited or visited these islands, and describes in detail the individual problems facing them in each. Numerous illuminating quotations are·interspersed throughout her presentation, which recapture for the reader's enjoyment something of the atmosphere and flavor of the times. "Unfortunately , at least one error catches the eye. The Tortola-bo'rn' Philadelphia silversmith whose bequest formed the financial basis for the establishment of a training school for Negroes, later Cheyney College, was Richard, not Thomas, Humphreys, as given in the text. The footnotes, addenda, and bibliography are rich sources for those who would pursue their interest further. The end-papers provide a convenient and necessary map to which the reader will frequently wish to refer. The book is more than timely, not only because of a renewal of resident Quakerism in some of these islands, but also because present winter vacation patterns bring an increasing number of visitors who will have their curiosity aroused about this portion of the Quaker past. The Athenaeum of PhiladelphiaGeorge Vaux Quakçr Profiles from the American West. By Errol.T. Elliott. Richmond, Indiana: Friends United Press. 1972, xxii, 172 pages. $3.45 paper. Errol Elliott has selected seven Friends from·different brands of Quakerism to represent the many leaders and pioneers to whom we owe the spread and depth of Quakerism today. He has sketched each life showing how each, following the light into unknown and often unpopular avenues of action, made a significant contribution to the Quaker movement. There is Nereus Mendenhajl who gave up plans to move from North Carolina to Minnesota, where security and wealth seemed assured in. order to stay with Friends in the South through the Civil War years and work with these faithful citizens who were opposed to secession, slavery and war. Joel Bean lived and visited among Friends during the decades of Separations and die strong feelings of that period. He and his wife Hannah started the College Park Association of Friends in California, now grown to be Pacific Yearly Meeting. There is Gilbert Bowles, the Kansas farm boy, who served as a Friends' missionary in Japan deeply concerned for peace. He became die friend BOOK REVIEWS127 of diplomats and helped build the peace movement in the land of the "Samurai." Next Elizabeth Comstock, the young English widow who came to America in search of work to support her small daughter. She found openings for her gifts, "the pioneer spirit of George Fox, the social witness of Elizabeth Fry and the evangelical concern of Joseph John Gurney." Though she traveled widely, Michigan was her home. Susie Erazer, an American Indian Quaker blazed a trail of understanding of the Indians' problems through her singing and her loving spirit. From the Northwest Errol Elliott has chosen William Hobson who dev veloped a community in Willamette Valley with Quakerism as its guiding principle. Last, Walter Malone of Ohio is portrayed with his deep concern for spreading the Christian message at home and abroad. Some of his group started Friends' work in East Africa where there is now a yearly meeting with 30,000 members—the largest in the world. These are not biographies. They are...