Religious Society of Friends

Travel Info
Driving Directions
Lodging
Public Transportation

Historical Groups
Burlington County
Historical Society
City of Burlington
Historical Society
Colonial Burlington
Foundation
Historic Yorkshire
Alliance
Oliver Cromwell
Black History Society

Historic Figures
William R. Allen
William J. Allinson
James H. Birch
Joseph Bloomfield
Elias Boudinot
Susan Bradford
Marguerite V. Burton
Henry C. Carey
Cyrus Bustill
Isaac Collins
James Fenimore Cooper
Oliver Cromwell
The Jersey Devil
Benjamin Franklin
William Franklin
Stephen Grellet
John Gummere
Samuel R. Gummere
James Healy
Patrick Healy
James Kinsey
James Lawrence
Lydia Sherman
The 3 Richard Smiths
Garret Dorset Wall
James Walter Wall

Assorted History
Board of Island Managers
Council of Proprietors
The Friendly Institution
The Mantas Tribe
Old Burlington Laws
Purchase from the Lenape
The Quakers

Religious Society of Friends

The first Europeans to settle Burlington were members of the Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers. Founded by George Fox in seventeenth-century England, the Friends quickly met with persecution for their refusal to bear arms, take oaths, and pay tithes. Less than a quarter-century after the Society was founded, Friends began leaving England for the religious freedom of America. More than one third of those originally purchasing land in Burlington had been fined or imprisoned for their beliefs in England. Even as their ship, the Kent, sailed down the Thames River, King Charles II boarded it from his royal barge and wished them a safe voyage. As the King's own laws led to much of the abuse the Quakers received in England, this blessing is usually viewed as a polite "go away," at best.

Since 1677, Burlington has been the home of many Friends, including Cyrus Bustill, Isaac Collins, Thomas Gardiner, John and Samuel Gummere, schoolmaster John Griscom of the Burlington Friends School, John Hoskins Jr., James Kinsey, Alcazar builder Thomas Olive, Samuel Smith and pharmacist William J. Allinson. Many prominent Friends are buried behind the Meeting House on High Street, as is Chief Ockanickon of the Mantas tribe of the Lenape.

Historically, the Friends in Burlington were known for their pacifism, religious tolerance, and egalitarianism. The Lenape were befriended, but not converted, and trials involving Indians were decided by a jury of 6 settlers and 6 Indians. In 1757, Samuel Smith and other Friends founded the New Jersey Society for Helping the Indians. Friends in the Philadelphia area were forbidden from owning slaves after 1776, and in 1792 efforts began to educate freed slaves. In 1796, Friends founded a local charity, The Friendly Institution. In the 1800's, the Burlington Pharmacy was visited often by abolitionist Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whitter, and was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Early Friends also founded the Endeavor Fire Company, oldest in the city.