In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

6 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION RAYNER WICKERSHAM KELSEY RAYNER WICKERSHAM KELSEY, for eleven years Editor of the Bulletin of Friends' Historical Association , died on the evening of Tenth Month 29, 1934, of a heart ailment, at the age of fifty-five. To his editorship of this Bulletin and his indefatigable efforts and his discriminating taste, the Friends' Historical Association owes much of its success. He became a member of the Association in 1910; served as President 1913-1915; as Vice President 1928-1931; as Editor of the Bulletin 1922-1932; and as a member of the Board of Directors 1923-1934. Rayner W. Kelsey had been at Haverford College for twentyfive years as Professor of American History, and had made himself beloved by all who came in contact with him. He was born in Western Springs, Cook County, Illinois, on First Month 29, 1879, the son of Asa and Sarah Atwater Kelsey, and on Second Month 23, 1901, married Naomi Harrison Binford, of Greenfield, Indiana. His wife and an only son, Rayner Wilfred Kelsey, survive him. The ancestry of Rayner W. Kelsey traces back to William Kelsey, who came to Cambridge, Massachusetts, about 1630, and joined the followers of Thomas Hooker, who led a party of Separatists from the strictly Puritan field to Connecticut, and helped found Hartford about 1636. From Connecticut the descendants of the first William Kelsey migrated to other places, and now there are representatives of the Kelsey family in almost every State of the United States. Early in the nineteenth century another William Kelsey (c. 1807-1861) moved from his home in Otsego County, New York, to Canada, and there married Phebe Hallock of Pelham Monthly Meeting. Their son, Asa, was born near Niagara Falls, Canada, in 1839. Later they moved to Michigan, and William Kelsey became an elder and member of Ypsilanti Monthly Meeting. In 1860 Asa Kelsey married Sarah Atwater, daughter of Mead and Huldah Hoag Atwater, who were both well-known ministers of New York Yearly Meeting . First living in Michigan, Asa and Sarah A. Kelsey moved to Western Springs, Illinois, in 1875, where their youngest son, Rayner Wickersham, was born. He was not related to the RAYNER WICKERSHAM KELSEY7 Wickersham family, but was named after a friend and neighbor. Here in Western Springs Sarah Kelsey was active in the public ministry, and her gift was acknowledged by the Society. Her four sons inherited her gift in the ministry, and they also became recorded ministers. Rayner Kelsey's boyhood was spent at Western Springs, Illinois, which is mentioned as a village (population 662) and resort on the Burlington Route, sixteen miles west by south of Chicago. He attended the public schools there, and in 1900 was graduated from Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. He received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1909 from the University of California, with the thesis The United States Consulate in California. In the interim he was for four years Professor of German and Public Speaking at Pacific College, Newberg , Oregon, and from 1904 to 1906 held the same post at Whittier College, Whittier, California. In the latter year he changed his field of interest to history, and was a Teaching Fellow at the University of California from 1906 to 1909. When Rufus M. Jones visited the Pacific Coast in 1905, he met Rayner Kelsey, and they later corresponded in connection with articles for The American Friend. Dr. Jones felt that he was a very promising young man, and suggested to President Sharpless that he would be a suitable candidate for appointment to the Haverford College faculty. In 1909 President Sharpless met Rayner Kelsey in California, and called him to Haverford in that year, where he remained until his death. Dr. Kelsey's main literary contribution was to the field of American history, but he was increasingly interested in the more restricted subject of Quaker history. In 1922 he succeeded the late Professor Allen C. Thomas as Editor of the Bulletin of Friends' Historical Association. In the same year he was appointed Curator of the great collection of Quakeriana at Haverford College, which is the largest and most important source for historical research upon Quakerism in America. He...

pdf

Share