TITLE: LETTER OF INTRODUCTION FROM GEORGE FOX FOR HANNAH BOWNE IN LONDON
DOCUMENT ID: BFP 2018.1.03-05
DATE: 11TH OF 5TH MONTH [JULY] 1675, OLD STYLE
DESCRIPTION & NOTES
George Fox was the founder and leader of the Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers. In this 1675 letter of introduction, he urges Friends in London to help Hannah “when she goeth beyond the sea,” referring to her trans-Atlantic religious visit and preaching tour. Fox attests that “she is an honest woman, and I know her well.” Fox had stayed with the Bownes in Flushing during his 1672 tour of the Colonies, and preached to a crowd outside the Bowne House, as reported in his Journal. Obviously Hannah’s character had favorably impressed him during his time with the couple. The addressee, “dear Mary E.” is mostly likely Mary Elson, who with her husband John hosted a Quaker Meeting at the Sign of the Peel in St. John’s Lane, Clerkenwell, London. Hannah and John were staying with the Elsons at the time of her death in 1678.