Elizabeth Harris, the Founder of American Quakerism

ELIZABETH HARRIS, THE FOUNDER OF AMERICAN QUAKERISM By Kenneth L. Carroll* There exists the real possibility that Elizabeth Harris, rather than Mary Fisher or Ann Austin, was the first Quaker preacher to reach the American mainland. And it is equally likely that the growth of Quakerism first took place in Maryland rather than in New England. Although there still does not exist enough information to settle either of these two questions, the subject of the origin of American Quakerism should be reopened once more for further examination and discussion. The time of Mary Fisher's and Ann Austin's arrival in New England is definitely known. These two women made their way to Boston following a six-months stay in Barbados. Their work in Barbados had begun shortly before the end of 1655 and lasted until the beginning of the summer of 1656, when they sailed on the Swallow to New England . Upon their arrival in the Boston harbor in early July, 1656, they were detained on board their ship until the Council held at Boston on July 11 ordered them held "close" prisoners and their books burned. After approximately five weeks of such imprisonment, they were sent out of Boston to Barbados by the master of another vessel— without having been allowed any freedom of movement to proclaim their message in New England.1 Just a few days later, on August 7, 1656, a group of eight other Quakers arrived in New England. They, too, were imprisoned and finally banished after eleven weeks of confinement.2 These eight, like Mary Fisher and Ann Austin, had practically no opportunity to evangelize in the name of their new Quaker faith. It is possible and even probable that Elizabeth Harris was already at work in the Chesapeake Bay area before Mary Fisher and Ann Austin arrived in Boston (where they were immediately isolated and then imprisoned). Although the date of Elizabeth Harris' arrival in * Kenneth L. Carroll, Professor of Religion at Southern Methodist University, is the author of Joseph NicMls and tL· NicMites (1962) and the editor of The Creative Centre of Quakerism (1965). 1 Rufus M. Jones, TL· Quakers in tL· American Colonies (London, 1922), pp. 28-29; Joseph Besse, A Collection of iL· Sufferings of tL· People called Quakers (London, 1753), II, 177-178. 2 Besse, II, 178-179. 96 Elizabeth Harris97 Maryland still remains unknown, it quite clearly was as early as 1656 or possibly the end of 1655. Rufus Jones, who notes in one place that Elizabeth Harris visited Maryland in 1656 "about simultaneously with the arrival of Mary Fisher and Ann Austin in Boston,"3 expresses in another place the view that she was "apparently slightly later."4 Elbert Russell, however, suggests that her preaching in Maryland may have started as early as 1655.6 In more recent years both Reaney Kelly and the author of this article have suggested that Elizabeth Harris' work antedates the appearance of Mary Fisher and Ann Austin and that Elizabeth Harris was already reaping a harvest in Maryland while the two Quaker women were isolated and rendered almost harmless in their Boston prison.6 There is no way of giving a definite date to the time of Elizabeth Harris' arrival in the Chesapeake Bay area or to estimate, with any degree of certainty, the length of her stay. Reaney Kelly attempts to work back to a late 1655 or early 1656 date by allowing an estimated six months for travel and another estimated twelve months for work in Maryland and subtracting this year and a half from the time of her return to England (sometime prior to July, 1657). 7 Three uncertainties, however, lie behind Kelly's calculations: (1) Did Elizabeth Harris return from America to England directly? Or was her return, like that of many Quakers in the next ten years, via Barbados? Did her return take three months or six months or even more (depending upon the route, a possible change of ships in Barabados, and even some missionary work in Barbados)? (2) Did Elizabeth Harris really spend a year in missionary activities in America? What evidence exists to support such an estimate? Is it not equally possible that...