Irish Friends Report on Their Missions to America

IRISH FRIENDS REPORT ON THEIR MISSIONS TO AMERICA By George J. Willauer, Jr.* Although a number of public Friends travelled to colonial America from Ireland,1 only three reported officially on their missions to the National Half-Year's Meeting at Dublin. Its manuscript minutes contain an account of each.2 The first report was given by Paul Johnson in 9th month [November], 1732; the second by Mungo Bewley in 9th month [November], 1734; and the third by Joseph Gill in 3rd month [May], 1736. In spite of the manner of composition these minutes reveal something about the inner life of the Irish Meeting during the period. They also give some fresh insight into the general welfare of Friends in eighteenth-century America. Little is known about the first, Paul Johnson. The manuscript minutes of the Yearly Meeting at London show he represented Irish Friends there three times between 1729 and 1739. These minutes also record his death, aged approximately sixty-five years, a minister for nearly forty-three years. Johnson's name appears as well in various places throughout the National Half-Year's Meeting minutes, all of which suggests he was a respected member of the Friends community. A Quaker by birth, Mungo Bewley was born at Woodhall, Cumberland , in 1677 and emigrated to Edenderry, near Dublin, where he soon became a minister who travelled to England, Scotland, Wales, and Holland before going to America. Like Johnson, he, too, participated in the affairs of Friends; there are numerous references to his activities in the National Half-Year's Meeting minutes. According to the London Yearly Meeting minutes he was a minister approximately forty years and died at the age of seventy in 1747. * Assistant Professor of English, Connecticut College, New London, Connecticut . 1 They were the three discussed here, Paul Johnson, Mungo Bewley, and Joseph Gill, and also Patrick Henderson, Samuel Wilkinson, Thomas Wilson, James Dickinson, Abigail Bowles, Samuel Stephens (who accompanied Mungo Bewley), Ruth Courtney, Susanna Hudson, Eliezar Sheldon, Mary Peisley, and Samuel Neale. Published journals with passages on America are by Wilson, Dickinson, Peisley, and Neale. 2 Manuscript Minutes of the Dublin National Half-Year's Meeting, Vol. A.3 (8/3 [May], 1708 — 8/5 [July], 1757). Future quotations refer to this source and, by permission, the accounts from the minutes are printed at the end of this article. 15 16Quaker History Joseph Gill, clearly the most accomplished Friend of the three, was born in Cumberland in 1674 and, like Bewley, emigrated from there to Ireland. He became financially successful as a builder, grocer, and trader in foreign timber, but his prosperity was a source of anxiety for him so he purposely reduced his business to devote more time to religion. As a minister he travelled throughout Ireland and in 1734 went to America. From 1712 to 1741, inclusive, he attended the Yearly Meeting at London thirteen times as a representative from Ireland and in 1725 published a pamphlet defending Quakerism.' He served frequently as one of the clerks of the National Half-Year's Meeting, and in the fourth month [June], 1734,became a correspondent from Ireland with the London Yearly Meeting. Perhaps his close association with the latter prompted him to give a relatively detailed report to it in addition to the one he gave his own meeting in Dublin.4 He died in 1741, having travelled 5,572 miles and attended 382 meetings during his ministry. As minuted, the accounts of these three men are quite similar in length, content, tone, and style. Johnson's is the shortest, with approximately 140 words, and Gill's the longest, consisting of 160 words. Each minute is contained in a single paragraph. The similarity in content is evident on first reading. Not one account has reference to dates of departure or return, and Paul Johnson and Mungo Bewley refer only generally to the continent they visited.6 The increase of Friends through convincement is noted by Johnson and Gill, and a "zealous concern" among youthful believers in Truth is found in the reports of Bewley and Gill. Johnson and Gill appear to be in agreement concerning the openness of nonQuakers towards them.6 Johnson finds...