A LOST LETTER OF HANNAH (FEAKE) BOWNE (1637-1678)
by Charlotte Jackson, Archival Consultant to the Bowne House
“The Quakers Meeting.” M. Lauron after Egbert van Heemskerk, 1690s. 17th-century observers were both horrified and fascinated by women preachers. - Library of the Society of Friends
Hannah Bowne, the first wife of John Bowne, was part of a generation of 17th-century women who embraced the Quaker belief in spiritual equality between the sexes. The Religious Society of Friends—otherwise known as Quakers, or simply Friends—held a number of beliefs considered radical in their time. In an age when most Christian sects barred women from the ministry, Friends encouraged women to preach. Hannah Bowne became known as one of these early female ministers and missionaries. She was one of the first American-born Quakers to undertake international preaching tours in the Colonies, throughout the British Isles, and on the European Continent, where she addressed crowds in both English and Dutch and revived at least one lapsed Meeting.
On her second mission abroad, Hannah Bowne wrote an Epistle, or religious letter, to the General Meeting of Friends on Long Island. Sent from England in August 1676, it is the only surviving correspondence from the pen of Hannah Bowne. The Bowne House Archives contains letters written to Hannah by John Bowne and others, but her end of the correspondence is missing. In 1886 the family genealogist Jacob Titus Bowne transcribed a copy of a copy of this lone Epistle. It is unclear from his notes who owned the original, or even if the original document still existed. While it is a little disappointing not to have a document written in her own hand, or a copy of her signature, this text at least allows us to hear Hannah Bowne, a so-called “speaking woman,” in her own words.
LETTER OF HANNAH BOWNE TO FRIENDS ON LONG ISLAND
2nd day, 6 mo. 1676 (August 2nd 1676 Old Style)
To all friends who belong to our general Meeting on Long Island and elsewhere as a salutation of my unfained love.
Dear friends right gracious to me is ye rememberance of you: And your Saviour[1] is plesant unto my tast:[2] since you who are kept in your measures:[3] and are made willing to follow the lamb[4] through tribulations and tryals which plentifully we meet with in our travel sionward:[5] but O my dear friends this we can say that in our God is everlasting strength and a rich reward to all them that are found following him in ye self denial to the putting downe of that which stands in the way and to the separating between them and their servel lovers:[6] this I know many of you with me are able to witness: according to your measures.[7] how wonderfully he did appear when we were without help in ourelves:
O then did he appear to be scattering his enemies: and to ye confounding of that in us which would not bow to his holy will: and still our cryes are to him that what-soever remains in us thats not of him may be rooted out that so in him our souls may find rest: and ye fresh streams of his life may run freely: and our souls may receive the true nourishment whereby we come to bring forth fruit unto life eternal: now my friends this is our comfort in all tryals and exercises that we feel his presence and living power to accompany us: by which we are made strong: and encourage[d] to travel on in the way of life and to run the race that is set before us
O here is true treasures indeed where moth cannot corrupt not thief break through and steal.[8] A gracious reward is to them that follow him and love not their lives unto ye death that so in him they might have life: and a crown which passeth not away. a precious state and worthy to be prised: let us press on to this mark: here we shall lye down and none to make us afraid. O feel my love in these few lines and be refreshed with me for my soul desires your eternal well being and I am comforted in the remembrance of you whose innocent life I have a feeling of: and am refreshed thereby: so [in] that love that never changes I bid you farewell and remain
Your friend in the Truth
Hannah Bowne
this 2: day of ye 6: month 1676.[9]
[J.T.B.'s editorial note: "copied from a copy in possession of Chas. Collins on which is following mem: "communicated by Mary Coates,[10],1616 Arch St. Philad 5/24/86"]
NOTES ON THE TEXT:
[1] Probably "savour" rather than "Saviour," although the double meaning may be intentional.
[2] See 2 Corinthians: "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life."
[3] to keep measures: (obs.) observe restraint and moderation with regard to one's conduct or appetites
[4] the Lamb: Christ
[5] Sionward: Zionward; towards the kingdom of heaven
[6] servel lovers: either "servile lovers" or "several lovers": the metaphor of multiple lovers is used in the Old Testament to refer to spiritual promiscuity with false Gods
[7] your measures: A quantity or portion of something, esp. as granted or meted out to a person or thing (i.e., God-given wisdom, ability, etc.)
[8] See Matthew 6:20, "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." This verse may have appealed to the former farm wife, who was tasked with protecting her family’s wardrobe from moths and may have worried about a home invasion during her husband’s absences on business.
[9] August 2, 1676 (Old Style) Hannah Bowne had departed for London in May 1676.
[10] Mary Coates (d. 1913) was a Quaker genealogist in Philadelphia. It is not clear from Jacob T. Bowne's note if she actually owned this letter, or merely was familiar with its contents. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania owns the Coates and Reynell Family Papers, but they only date back to 1677, and their inventory does not contain anything that matches this letter.
Admittedly, this letter may sound strange, not to mention strangely impersonal, to modern ears. However, it should be understood as an example of its genre: a 17th century Quaker letter. An Epistle was not for personal consumption, like a letter to family or close friends. Hannah’s was intended to be read aloud at the General Meeting, where both men and women from local Meetings across Long Island gathered together; it may then have circulated more broadly. If anything, this letter is even more impersonal than others of its kind. She wastes no time on a narrative of her journey; reports no news or gossip from overseas, no greetings from English Friends. We do not even learn the name of the town where she is staying. Details of Hannah's inner life, her thoughts and feelings are equally lacking.
It is hard to get any sense of Hannah Bowne as an individual personality from her prose. Stripped of particulars, only the cosmic Christian struggle of good against evil, eternal life against death is present. Given her intense religiosity, this cosmic struggle may in fact have come to dominate and displace her every private thought at this phase of her life. Regardless, personal self-expression was not Hannah's intent. The Epistle, with its formulaic expressions of faith and shared repertoire of Scriptural allusions, drew on a common rhetoric to reassure its recipients that despite time and distance, the letter-writer was still in conformity with Quaker belief. The very point was to subsume the individual voice in the collective identity of the Society of Friends.