Hicksites
| Elias Hicks | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 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 minister from Long Island, New York. In his ministry he promoted unorthodox doctrines that led to controversy, which inevitably caused the first major schism within the Religious Society of Friends. Elias Hicks was the older cousin of the painter Edward Hicks.
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. He drew large crowds when he was said to be attending meetings, sometimes in the thousands. In November 1829, the young Walt Whitman heard Hicks preach at Morrison's Hotel in Brooklyn, and later said, "Always Elias Hicks gives the service of pointing to the fountain of all naked theology, all religion, all worship, all the truth to which you are possibly eligible—namely in yourself and your inherent relations. Others talk of Bibles, saints, churches, exhortations, vicarious atonements—the canons outside of yourself and apart from man—Elias Hicks points to the religion inside of man's very own nature. This he incessantly labors to kindle, nourish, educate, bring forward and strengthen."
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