TITLE: Letter from John Bowne in Amsterdam to Hannah Bowne at Flushing
DOCUMENT ID: BFP 2018.1.03.02
DATE: 9 June 1663 (New Style)
This letter also appears in the series “Papers of Hannah (Feake) Bowne”.
DESCRIPTION & NOTES
In this letter sent from Amsterdam during Bowne’s period of exile, he gives her 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. He also references to James Clement, the indentured servant whom he is sending over to help her in Flushing, and a variety of cargo (including possibly contraband Quaker writings) that he is shipping to Long Island. This letter offers insights into Quaker trading activities unfolding simultaneously with the Bownes’ struggle for religious liberty.