Cover from The Journal of John Bowne, ed. Herbert Ricard (Friends of the Queensborough Community College/Polyanthos Press, 1975)
John Bowne chronicled his ordeal within the pages of a notebook, which Hannah Bowne brought to him in jail. The Journal of John Bowne was donated to the New York Historical Society by his descendants before Bowne House became a museum in 1945. The Bowne House Archives contains a black-and-white photostat of the original (from microfilm), which is currently undergoing digitization. It will be available on this website in Fall of 2024. We also own the published 1975 edition, transcribed and edited by former Queens Borough Historian Herbert Ricard. Extracts of this work relating to John Bowne’s trial are available below.
Note: This out-of-print work may still be under copyright. The following excerpts are presented here solely for educational, non-commercial purposes under the Fair Use provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Folios 62-63: Appeal to the Dutch West India Co.
The events that led up to the writing of Bowne’s rebuke to the Dutch West India Company are chronicled in Folios 62 to 63 of his journal. This passage covers a one-month time period dating from his arrival in Amsterdam on April 29, 1663 Old Style (May 9, 1663 New Style) to his departure on May 30, 1663 Old Style (June 9, 1663 New Style.)
Folios 49-63: Bowne’s Trial - Arrest through Homecoming
The following excerpt from Bowne’s journal contains a full account of his ordeal for the sake of religious freedom, recording the eighteen-month period encompassing his arrest for holding prohibited Quaker meetings in his home, and the ensuing trial, imprisonment, exile, appeal, and the odyssey of his eventual homecoming.