TITLE: Letters from Joan and Thomas Brocksopp to John Bowne, Elizabeth Hooten, and Nathaniel Sylvester
DOCUMENT ID: BFP 2018.1.02-04
DATE: 8 July 1664 (Old Style) / 18 July 1664 (New Style)
DESCRIPTION & NOTES
Four bundled letters or notes from Quakers Joan and Thomas Brocksopp of Little Normanton, Derbyshire, sent to John Bowne and others following Bowne's return from exile in spring of 1664:
a. Joan Brocksopp to John Bowne
b. Joan Brocksopp to Elizabeth Hooton
c. Joan Brocksopp to Nathaniel Sylvester
d. Thomas Brocksopp to John Bowne
Joan Brocksopp shares news of Derbyshire Quakers, greetings from John’s sister Truth, and an attempted visit to a woman named Ellen (possible John’s youngest sister, Ellen Bowne, b. 1647), whom she deems "but weak seed"; she reports on the welfare of missionary Elizabeth Hooten's family in Skegby during the latter's travels in Virginia.
Notes:
Joan Brocksopp (c.1610-1680) and her "yoke-mate," or fellow missionary, Elizabeth Hooten (1600-1672) most likely met John and Hannah Bowne at the first General Meeting of Friends on Rhode Island in June 1661. Nathaniel Sylvester (1610-1680) was an original proprietor and later sole owner of Shelter Island, a provisioning plantation for his brother Constant's sugar plantation in Barbados. Sylvester had harbored Joan Brocksopp and Elizabeth Hooton after their arrest and expulsion from Boston in 1661. He also harbored other persecuted Quakers such as Mary Dyer, and hosted George Fox on his tour of America in 1672.