Elias Hicks
| Elias Hicks | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
March 19, 1748 Hempstead, New York |
| Died | February 27, 1830 (aged 81) Jericho, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Carpenter, Farmer |
| Known for | Traveling Quaker minister |
| Spouse(s) | Jemima Seaman (married January 2, 1771) |
| Children | 11 |
Elias Hicks (March 19, 1748 – February 27, 1830) was a traveling Quaker preacher from Long Island, New York. In his ministry he promoted doctrines that embroiled him and his followers in a controversy which caused the first major schism within the Religious Society of Friends. Elias Hicks was the older cousin of the painter Edward Hicks, also a Quaker preacher.
Elias Hicks was born in Hempstead, New York, in 1748. He was a carpenter by trade and in his early twenties he became a Quaker like his father, John Hicks.
On January 2, 1771, Hicks married a fellow Quaker, Jemima Seaman, at the Westbury Meeting House and they had eleven children, only five of whom reached adulthood. Hicks eventually became a farmer, settling on his wife's parents' farm in Jericho, New York, in what is now known as the Elias Hicks House. There he and his wife provided, as did other Jericho Quakers, free board and lodging to any traveler on the Jericho Turnpike rather than have them seek accommodation in taverns for the night.
In 1778, Hicks helped to build the Friends meeting house in Jericho, which remains a place of Quaker worship. Hicks preached actively in Quaker meeting, and by 1778 he was acknowledged as a recorded minister. Hicks was regarded as a gifted speaker with a strong voice and dramatic flair. In November 1829, the young Walt Whitman heard Hicks preach at Morrison's Hotel in Brooklyn, later recalling his "resonant, grave, melodious voice".
Elias Hicks was one of the early Quaker abolitionists.
On Long Island in 1778, he joined with fellow Quakers who had begun manumitting their slaves as early as March 1776 (James Titus and Phebe Willets Mott Dodge). The Quakers at Westbury Meeting were amongst the first in New York to do so and, gradually following their example, all Westbury Quaker slaves were freed by 1799.
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