Born in Middletown, R.I., on May 25, 1730, Thomas Gould was part of an extended Quaker family in Newport County and descendant of one of the first Quaker converts in Rhode Island. Enjoying success as a "mechanic" and farmer, according to Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island (1908), he married Alice Chase of Portsmouth in March 1757 and raised a large family of five boys and five girls. Gould died on May 3, 1795.
This slender volume includes a chronological record visits to New England by Public Friends: Quakers who were considered to have a special gift in prayer or public speaking and who often traveled widely to minister.
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Born in Middletown, R.I., on May 25, 1730, Thomas Gould was part of an extended Quaker family in Newport County and descendant of one of the first Quaker converts in Rhode Island. Enjoying success as a "mechanic" and farmer, according to Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island (1908), he married Alice Chase of Portsmouth in March 1757 and raised a large family of five boys and five girls. Gould died on May 3, 1795.
This slender volume includes a chronological record of visits to New England by Public Friends: Quakers who were considered to have a special gift in prayer or public speaking and who often traveled widely to minister. Wrapped in marbled paper typical of the latter half of the eighteenth century, and written in several distinct hands over a period of years, the notebook lists the names of the friends, dates of their visits (1656-1838), and the location from which they originated, though not always the name of the individual meeting.
The volume's provenance is established largely on a note on the inside front cover: "Mary Gould gave me this Book which Formerly belongd to Thos. Gould of Middletown, Father to my aunt Mary Gould & grandfather to me Leontine."
The collection is open for research.
Acquired from Smith House Books, March 2016.
Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island, vol. 2. Chicago: J.H. Beers & Company, 1908.
Processed by I. Eliot Wentworth, March 2016.
Cite as: Thomas Gould, A list of the names of publick Friends, who have visited New England, in the service of the gospel (MS 903 bd). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
