TITLE: Letter from Lewis Morris in Greenwich, Connecticut to John Bowne
DOCUMENT ID: BFP 2018.1.02-10
DATE: 6 February 1673/4 (Old Style) / 16 February 1674 (New Style)
Lewis Morris writes to John Bowne from Greenwich, Connecticut during his travels. He laments learning from George Denis of Rhode Island of division among the Society of Friends in the region, particularly a confrontation between Denis and preacher John Stubbs; he prescribes the Apostles' advice to "live in peace and charity with all men." Postscript mentions a delivery of pins and thread to Bowne's wife Hannah.
Notes:
Lewis Morris (1601-1691): Welsh-born former soldier, Quaker and plantation-owner of Barbados who subsequently purchased large tracts of land in New York and New Jersey, where he founded the Tintern Manor Ironworks in Shrewsbury Township, Monmouth County.
John Stubbs was an influential Quaker preacher numbered among the so-called "Valiant Sixty." He urged the use of informal second-person pronouns "thee" and "thou" among Friends as an expression of equality; it is not clear exactly what transpired between Stubbs and Denis (Morris' informant).