Bowne House Article Reflects on the 100th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage
Bertha Parsons, circa 1940s (Bowne House Archives)
The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York was the first women’s rights convention. Among the signers of the “Declaration of Sentiments” promulgated at the convention was Lucretia Coffin Mott, a Quaker, abolitionist and women’s rights activist. Lucretia Mott attended the same Quaker Nine Partners boarding school as Eliza Bowne (1787-1852), a Bowne House resident, and graduated soon after her before embarking on her distinguished career.
Flushing, Queens has its own heroines to celebrate when the United States marks the 100th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage on August 18, 2020. The Parsons sisters Anna (1859-1948) and Bertha (1869-1946), the last of the Bowne/Parsons descendants to live in the Bowne House, were contemporaries of Eliza MacDonald (1845-1937), organizer and President of the Flushing Equal Franchise Association in 1913 and Vice-President of the Queens branch of the New York Woman Suffrage Party in 1916. We do not know if the Parsons sisters knew Eliza MacDonald or if they were ever publicly involved in advocating for suffrage, but we do know they took their civic responsibilities seriously. Anna participated in the Flushing Female Association which provided free education to African-American children in Flushing, including those of former slaves, and Bertha assisted the Flushing Workers Association in providing daycare and other aid to children of working women. They were also both pioneers in preserving the legacy of the Bowne House.
The Parsons sisters were the last occupants of the Bowne House in a long line of strong independent minded women in the Bowne/Parsons’ families who lived in the house since 1661 and whose social and civic contributions to the Flushing and greater New York City community are detailed in an article which is newly published here on August 18, 2020.
New Bowne House Article in Summer 2020 Issue of New York Archives
Letter of introduction by George Fox for Hannah Feake Bowne’s 1675 religious voyage to England. Source: Bowne House Archives
The pivotal role the Bowne House, built ca. 1661 in Flushing, Queens, played in the struggle for religious freedom in the United States is showcased in “Archives Around New York,” a column published in New York Archives (Summer 2020), the quarterly magazine of the New York State Archives Partnership Trust: https://www.nysarchivestrust.org/new-york-archives-magazine (Click this link to subscribe and read full issue, or scroll to bottom of page to read article posted below.) Each issue of the magazine profiles a historically important collection housed in New York State. Written by Bowne House archivist, Charlotte Jackson, and researcher, Kate Lynch, the current profile, titled “An Illustrious Family,” draws on documents in Bowne House’s rich archival holdings, which are professionally managed and conserved by the Bowne House Historical Society.
Jackson and Lynch’s article tells the story of 17th century Flushing residents John Bowne and his wife Hannah, Quaker converts whose commitment to personal liberty and the freedom of worship made them early examples of the spirit later enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees all citizens freedom of religion. The article also documents the role played by pre-Civil War era Bowne and Parsons family members in abolition and emancipation, at the time when the Bowne House was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The story of Bowne family activism is particularly relevant in the twenty-first century, as the struggle for religious freedom and personal liberty continue.
Juneteenth, Freedom Day
On June 19, the Bowne House celebrated Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, an American holiday acknowledging the emancipation of the last remaining enslaved African Americans in the Confederacy on June 19, 1865. Juneteenth is an exploration and celebration of African-American history and heritage, a long arduous ordeal commencing with the first enslaved African Americans brought to this country in 1619. Although we cannot celebrate with each other in person as we had hoped, this virtual acknowledgement is a sign of our respect and recognition of the importance of examining this history.
We must acknowledge the efforts made by so many in the last three centuries to see equal justice under the law for all, including Bowne House residents’ participation in the Underground Railroad to assist fugitive slaves to escape to freedom. Bowne and Parsons residents also helped to form the Flushing Female Association in 1814 which provided free education to a mixed racial group of students, including children of former Flushing slaves. In that tradition, museums like the Bowne House, a New York City Landmark, continue to educate and facilitate an examination of history and lessons to be learned for the future as we as a society consider how we can best live up to the values in the U.S. Constitution to fully embrace the humanity of each of us.
Bowne House celebrates Liberty 2020, the 375th Anniversary of the 1645 Flushing Town Charter
Flushing Creek 1756
The 1661 Bowne House is celebrating Liberty 2020, the 375th anniversary of the 1645 Flushing Town Charter. The Charter guaranteed "liberty of conscience" to all residents of the Dutch village then called Vlissingen. This document inspired both the 1657 Flushing Remonstrance and John Bowne’s later appeal to the Dutch West India Company after his 1662 arrest for practicing his religion.
John Bowne (1627-1695), an Englishman for whom the historic house is named, cited the charter in his plea for religious freedom after being deported to Holland for allowing Quakers to worship in his home shared with his first wife Hannah, a Quaker minister. Bowne’s courageous stand was an important step to ensuring that Quakers and others in New Netherland enjoyed the freedom to practice the religion of their choice in their homes, and helped inspire the principles of liberty of conscience and religious tolerance later enshrined in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution.
This celebration will include presentations of research undertaken by the staff and volunteers of the Bowne House and Bowne House descendants into Flushing’s early history, including a weekly blog entitled Profiles of the Flushing Charter Signers. This blog will introduce Flushing’s founding document and feature biographical profiles of its 18 original signers.
If you have questions or sources to share, please contact the Bowne House Historical Society via the website or email office@bownehouse.org.
New Blog | Liberty 2020, Profiles of the Flushing Charter Signers: An Introduction
The Bowne House is celebrating the 375th anniversary of the 1645 Flushing Town Charter. Our new weekly blog will introduce Flushing’s founding document and feature biographical profiles of its 18 original signers.
Future posts will appear on the Profiles of the Flushing Charter Signers page.
Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova 1635
2020 marks the 375th anniversary of the Town of Flushing, or “Vlissingen,” as it was then known. On October 10, 1645, Director-General Willem Kieft of the New Netherland colony granted 18 mostly English settlers the right to found a town on the western end of Long Island. The Charter spelled out the boundaries of the settlement; the tithes to be paid (in crops, butter or cheese); the rights to “hawking, hunting, fishing and fowling” conferred; even the weights and measures (Dutch) and calendar (“New Style” or Gregorian) to be used in official records. Most importantly, however, it guaranteed the residents “liberty of conscience,” a rare offer of tolerance in an era beset by Europe’s religious wars:
“We do give and graunt unto the said Patentees…to have and Enjoy the Liberty of Conscience, according to the Custome and manner of Holland, without molestaçõn or disturbance, from any Magistrate or Magistrates, or any other Ecclesiasticall Minister, that may extend Jurisdicçõn over them…”
William Kieft
William Kieft
Director Kieft was not motivated by lofty ideals regarding religious freedom. The sparsely populated colony of New Netherland needed settlers. The Netherlands themselves were relatively peaceful and prosperous in this period, so it was hard to induce the Dutch to emigrate to a harsh wilderness. To survive, the colony had to attract other nationalities, who worshipped outside the Dutch Reformed Church. Kieft’s policy of tolerance drew religious non-conformists who chafed under the strict discipline of the Puritan English colonies. Just two months after the Flushing Charter, this same provision was incorporated into the Charter of Gravesend, another majority-English town founded by religious dissident Lady Deborah Moody. The pragmatic toleration of the Dutch met with the idealism of English non-conformists and “seekers” alongside other persecuted groups, such as the French Huguenots. Amid the ensuing conflict and compromise, a spirit arose that one day would embrace not just a private liberty of conscience, as conceded by the Dutch, but public free exercise of religion as expressed in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
But who were the 18 original settlers named as patentees in the Flushing Charter? And what motivated them to migrate to a foreign colony, where they would comprise a religious, linguistic, and cultural minority? The Charter lists the following names:
Thomas Farrington, John Townsend, Thomas Stiles, Thomas Saul, John Marston, Robert Field, Thomas Applegate, Thomas Beddard, Laurence Dutch, John Lawrence, William Lawrence, William Thorne, Henry Sawtell, William Pigeon, Michael Millard (Milner), Robert Firman, John Hicks, and Edward Hart.
Some of these individuals stayed in Flushing and became prominent citizens, such as Edward Hart, the Town Clerk who served as draughtsman of the Flushing Remonstrance in 1657. Eight of the original eighteen signed the Remonstrance, today regarded as a landmark expression of the principle of religious freedom. Others soon moved elsewhere, or were largely lost to the historical record. Together this group comprise a checkerboard of characters, occupations and motivations. They include the literate and the illiterate, farmers and magistrates, diplomats and former privateers, patriarchs and bigamists. In the run-up to the October 10th anniversary of the signing, we will examine what is known of each man’s story and how it may relate to our theme of “Liberty.”
Our research is a work in progress, and the Bowne House team welcomes new information about the signers and their legacy from historians and descendants alike. If you have sources to share, please contact the Bowne House Historical Society via the website or email office@bownehouse.org
Bowne House Celebrates Women's History Month (Postponed)
(Postponed)
On Wednesday, March 11, 18, and 25 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm, the Bowne House Historical Society will offer tours that tell the story of the roles generations of little known Bowne/Parsons women played in the history of Flushing and the United States. Admission is $10 for Adults; $8.00 for seniors. Members of the Bowne House Historical Society are free of charge. www.bownehouse.org. For further information and for interviews, contact office@bownehouse.org or 718-359-0528.
Women’s History Month tours will focus on several Bowne/Parsons family women. Among them are Hannah Feake (1637-1678), the first wife of John Bowne, who was one of the earliest American female Quaker ministers. Visitors will also learn about John Bowne’s great-great granddaughters who, with other family members, founded and participated in the Flushing Female Association (1814) to provide education to African-American children.
On March 28, there will be a talk and slideshow “Restless Spirits: Three Generations of Women in Colonial Flushing and Beyond”by Kate Lynch, researcher, and Charlotte Jackson, Bowne House archivist. Discussion period to follow.
The speakers will discuss three generations of strong, unconventional women connected to the Bowne House. Elizabeth Winthrop, who defied Puritan society in life and love; her daughter Hannah Feake Bowne, one of the first American Quaker missionaries; and Hannah‘s daughter-in-law, Mary Beckett Bowne, who of her own volition crossed the ocean at age eleven to join William Penn‘’s new colony. In the 17th century, the frontier attracted bold women, while the new Quaker faith empowered them to speak for themselves and for God. The Bowne women of the 17th century embodied these heady currents. The speakers will share letters and other original documents to shed light on their still mysterious lives.
Where: The Bowne House, 37-01 Bowne Street, Flushing, NY
When: Saturday, March 28, 2020, 1:00-1:30 (Q & A to follow); Free with $10 Museum Admission for Adults, $8.00 for Seniors; Free for Members of the Bowne House Historical Society.
