Quaker Women in Lenape Country
Quaker Women in Lenape Country
Defining Community on the West New Jersey Frontier
This chapter examines the central role of Quaker women during the years 1675–1710 in developing the first colony founded by members of the Society of Friends in North America. As individuals, women Friends helped to fashion a multicultural society consistent with Quaker beliefs in religious liberty and pacifism by maintaining amicable relations with the Lenape Indians and non-Quaker European settlers. At the same time, however, Friends failed to acknowledge the inconsistency of exploiting enslaved African Americans with Quaker ideals. As leaders of the Salem, Burlington, Chesterfield, and Newton (later Haddonfield) monthly meetings, Quaker women also helped to shape West New Jersey society by strengthening rules of discipline to prevent their children and other Friends from marrying non-Quakers and adopting ‘outward vanities’.
Keywords: African Americans, Burlington NJ Monthly Meeting, Chesterfield NJ Monthly Meeting, Colonial New Jersey, Lenape Indians, Haddonfield NJ Monthly Meeting, Quaker women, Salem NJ Monthly Meeting, Society of Friends, West New Jersey
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