The Journal of Joshua Evans

30 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION THE JOURNAL OF JOSHUA EVANS By Thomas H. Fawcett* THE RECENT discovery of most of the manuscript journal of Joshua Evans (1731-98) of Newton Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey, may stir up a little interest in a Friend once widely known in this country but now almost forgotten . Two notebooks of the original journal, a manuscript copy of more than half of it including some portions lost in the original, and a collection of contemporary letters were found in 1934 by Dr. Howard S. Fawcett in the barn of his brother, the late William E. Fawcett of Salem, Ohio. These have now been deposited in Friends' Historical Library at Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Papers of Evans's son-in-law, Abraham Warrington, were found at the same time. It would appear that the journal was taken to Ohio by Abraham Warrington when he moved there in 1805 and that it passed by marriage and descent first to the Bonsall and then to the Fawcett family. This journal was printed in 1837 in vol. ? of Friends' Miscellany and was also bound and published separately that same year. The introduction to the book states that it was printed from a manuscript transcribed and abridged by George Churchman in 1804, described by him as a "narrative of the substance (not without a little alteration of the style in some parts) of a plain countryman's deep exercises, who had not the advantage of much outward learning." THE original journal is contained in two notebooks (one about 8" X 12" and the other 8" X 13") made of sheets folded in the middle and sewed into a cover of heavy brownish-gray paper. The first of these (4 mo. 20, 1794 to 5 mo. 12, 1795 ; 6 mo. 17, 1795 to 10 mo. 26, 1795 ; and 11 mo. 18, 1795 to 2 mo. 16, 1796) covers Joshua Evans's first two northern journeys and the interval between. The second notebook (10 mo. 4, 1796 to 5 mo. 4, 1798; and 5 mo. 27, 1798 to 6 mo. 29, 1798) covers his long and short southern journeys and the intervening period. In the back of each of these are itineraries of his journeys giving the distances from place to place and the names of the people with whom he * The author checked the proofs before his death 3 mo. 31, 1939. THE JOURNAL OF JOSHUA EVANS31 stayed. A third similar notebook, this one in the handwriting of Abraham Warrington, begins with Joshua Evans's account of his early life, followed by journal entries from 3 mo. 17, 1793, to 5 mo. 4, 1793. It is probable that Evans kept a regular diary from this time until his death, but his son-in-law passed hastily over almost a year of it and began again with his setting out on his first northern journey, 4 mo. 20, 1794. The narrative then continues without break to 6 mo. 13, 1796, in the midst of the third northern journey. The printed version covers the same ground as Abraham Warrington's copy but carries on without intermission to the end of Joshua Evans's life. By comparing the several versions, it was soon discovered that the copy followed the original pretty faithfully, though there were some rearrangements, condensations, and changes of words. The printed book, however, was no more than a paraphrase of either of these, containing about two thirds as much material as the original. Hardly a sentence remained the same. As a general rule Joshua Evans had a separate entry for each day, but here many paragraphs have been omitted and others rewritten so that they sum up two or three days or a week. His travels, quite naturally, have been much more fully treated than his life at home; and not much of historical value has been omitted except names of persons. These together with the itineraries may prove to be of some use to students of forgotten Quaker communities. It is rather from the point of view of present-day literary morality that we would now criticize the editorial work of George Churchman. (I am here assuming that the printer...