From Quaker to Upper Canadian : Faith and Community Among Yonge Street Friends, 1801-1850

In 1801 a group of Quakers settled at the north end of Yonge Street in what is now Toronto, purposefully separating themselves from mainstream society in order to live out their faith free from the larger society. Yet in 1837, Quakers were among the most active participants in the Upper Canadian Rebellion, for which one of their leaders, Samuel Lount, was hanged. Contents Illustrations, Maps, and Figures Acknowledgments Introduction PART ONE: THE FIRST-GENERATION COMMUNITY 1 The Religious Society of Friends: Origins, Testimonies, and Organization 2 God’s Other Peculiar People: Yonge Street Quakers in Early Upper Canada 3 Of Kith and Kin: Family and Friends and the Establishment of Community in the Yonge Street Meeting 4 Keeping the Faith: Quaker Women and the Sustaining of Community 5 Unity of Faith and Practice: Discipline, “Contentiousness,” and Women in the Yonge Street Community of Friends 6 Fractured, Not Broken: Women and the Separation of the Children of Peace PART TWO: THE SECOND-GENERATION COMMUNITY 7 The Fragmentation of Friends: The Second-Generation Yonge Street Quaker Community and the Movement away from Sectarianism 8 The Hicksite-Orthodox Schism: A House Divided 9 A Religiously Guarded Education: Schooling in the Yonge Street Community Conclusion: A Little Leaven Appendix 1: The Queries Appendix 2: The Quaker Marriage Certificate Glossary A B C D E I M O P Q S T W Y Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y From Quaker to Upper Canadian is the first scholarly work to examine the transformation of this important religious community from a self-insulated group to integration within Upper Canadian society. Through a careful reconstruction of local community dynamics, Healey argues that the integration of this sect into mainstream society was the result of religious schisms that splintered the community and compelled Friends to seek affinities with other religious groups as well as the effect of cooperation between Quakers and non-Quakers. In 1801, a group of Quakers settled at the north end of Yonge Street, purposefully separating themselves from mainstream society in order to live out their faith free from the larger society. This work examines the transformation of this important religious community from a self-insulated group to integration within Upper Canadian society.