Henry Haydock: Networks and Support Across the Atlantic

 

William Rebarick, Luke Bohmer // AMH4112.001 – The Atlantic World, 1400-1900 

Henry Haydock lived in a turbulent time in American history. While there is little written on the life of Haydock, we can infer a few things about him from his letters to his fellow Quakers across the Atlantic Ocean. We know that Henry and his wife Martha lived in Warrington in Lancashire, England and that he communicated with Phineas Pemberton, a prominent Quaker who moved from England to Pennsylvania in 1683.¹ We can see from the letters they left behind that the two wrote to each other often and frequently exchanged goods and money between England and Pennsylvania. 

Haydock often seems to discuss matters of business with the Pembertons. For example, in one of his letters, he discusses the delivery of certain goods, such as trousers, pickled foods, and slippers, for Phineas’ family.²

Another letter includes accounts with prices of goods, such as socks.¹

Through this information we can infer that he was running a business with Phineas Pemberton, or at least had a business-like relationship with him across the Atlantic. Networks like these were vital for religious minorities like the Quakers, who used them extensively in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to trade money, goods, information, and religious support between Europe and North America. These networks were sophisticated and efficient, allowing for reliable communication and mutual assistance for Friends on both sides of the ocean.³ Henry Haydock was likely one of the many brokers of information and goods in England who communicated with Pennsylvania Quakers like Phineas Pemberton. 

Through his letters, we can also infer that Henry was a religious man. He was a Quaker, whose religious beliefs closely connected him to the Pembertons and whose language reflects his piety. For example, in a letter written in 1686, he spends about 75% of his letter exhorting Phineas.⁴ He greets Phineas by writing “beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ,” and he reminisces about when they “have sat down together and [in] unity of the one spirit and in the bond of hevenly [heavenly] pece [peace] we have to our [mutual] Joy inioyed [enjoyed] ech [each] other.”² So we can tell that religion played a central role in his life. We can also infer that his wife Martha was very close to him, and that he valued her very much, so much so that when he conducted business correspondence, she was mentioned as an author of the letter. Martha also is brought up subtlety when he and Phineas write and ask about each other’s wives.¹ Quakers, due to the personal nature of their religion and their belief that everyone was equal before God, allowed women a public and active voice in their communities.⁵ Many other Protestants saw this dynamic as women overstepping their place, especially on the subject of women preachers. However, many Quaker women occupied religious roles often assigned to men, including preaching to congregations.⁶ Martha Haydock actively participated in Henry’s religious networks, as is indicated by her co-authorship of his letters and the existence of at least one letter that she sent Phineas Pemberton herself.⁷ [insert image 2]

Henry and Martha Haydock provided a vital service for the Quakers of Pennsylvania. By supplying them with goods, information, and religious exhortation, they assisted their fellow Friends, the Quakers of North America, in establishing new communities away from religious persecution.

 

1. Henry Haydock and Martha Haydock, Warrington, Lancashire, England, to Phineas Pemberton, Falls Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1686-09-06, vol. 2, pg. 13, Pemberton Family Papers, 1641-1880, 0484A, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PRINT, 15904, https://stars.library.ucf.edu/printmigrationnetwork-pemberton/142/.
2. Henry Haydock and Martha Haydock, [England], to Phineas Pemberton, [Pennsylvania], 1686, vol. 2, pg. 28, Pemberton Family Papers, 1641-1880, 0484A, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PRINT, 15919, https://stars.library.ucf.edu/printmigrationnetwork-pemberton/384/.
3. Rosalind J. Beiler, “Dissenting Religious Communication Networks and European Migration, 1660-1710,” in Soundings in Atlantic History: Latent Structures and Intellectual Currents, 1500-1830, ed. Bernard Bailyn and Patricia L. Denault (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2009), 225-8.
4. Henry Haydock and Martha Haydock, Warrington, Lancashire, England, to Phineas Pemberton, Falls Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1686-09-06, vol. 2, pg. 13, Pemberton Family Papers, 1641-1880, 0484A, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
5. May, Isaac Barnes. “Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).” Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Accessed March 23, 2020. https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/religious-society-of-friends-quakers/.
6. Catie Gill, “’Ministering Confusion:’ Rebellious Quaker Women 1650-1660,” Quaker Studies 9, no. 1 (2004) 18-9; Judith Scheffler, “Prison Writings on Early Quaker Women: ‘We were Stronger Afterward than Before,’” Quaker History 73, no.2 (Fall 1984): 25-29.
7. Martha Haydock, Warrington, Lancashire, England, to [Phineas Pemberton], [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania], 1697-03-23, vol. 2, pg. 138, Pemberton Family Papers, 1641-1880, 0484A, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PRINT, 16036, https://stars.library.ucf.edu/printmigrationnetwork-pemberton/244/.