TITLE: LETTER, JOHN BOWNE TO HANNAH BOWNE, FROM EXILE IN AMSTERDAM

DOCUMENT ID: BFP 2018.1.03-02

DATE: 9TH OF 4TH MONTH “CALLED JUNE” 1663, NEW STYLE

DESCRIPTION & NOTES

In this letter sent from Amsterdam during Bowne’s period of exile, he gives his wife Hannah a first-hand account of his appeal to the Dutch West India Company and his anger at what he perceives as their double-dealing and shabby treatment of him following his apparently successful appeal. It contains references to James Clement, the indentured servant whom he has dispatched to help her in Flushing, along with a variety of cargo (including possibly contraband Quaker writings) that he is shipping to Long Island. This letter offers insights into everyday tools and household items needed on a Colonial farm, alongside the Bownes’ struggle for religious liberty.