Mission with Prophetic Power: The Journal of John Woolman (SRSC 12)

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Mission with Prophetic Power: The Journal of John Woolman

we know today, but which had a different meaning in eighteenth-century Quaker circles. I have defined these words in footnotes when they first appear and gathered the definitions of all these words together at the end of the text in the glossary. Each time one of these words appears again in Woolman’s Journal, I have placed an asterisk after the word (exercise*) as a reminder that you can turn to the glossary to find the meaning of the term. When Woolman speaks of the native persons dwelling around him, he speaks of “natives” and “Indians,” language common to his time. I have placed a footnote after the first time “Indian” is used and an asterisk after each subsequent use to point the reader to the glossary. I have altered Woolman’s use of “negro” (again, a term common to his time) to “Black person/woman” or “slave” with a footnote after the first use and an asterisk after each subsequent use, with the exception of the titles of his two essays “Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes.”

Timeline of Significant Events in Woolman’s Life and Times 1720

Woolman is born at Rancocas, Burlington County, New Jersey, on October 19. Begins living in Mount Holly and working as a shopkeeper, and later as a tailor. His first missions start soon after this. Marries Sarah Ellis, “a well-inclined damsel.” His daughter, Mary, is born the next year. Publication of “Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes.”

1741

1749

1754