Zechariah Taft and Mary (Barritt) Taft Letters, 1802-1845 and 1930
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- 15 items
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Letters from, to, and about itinerant preacher Zechariah Taft (1772-1848) and Mary Barritt (1772-1851), later Mary Taft. Although there are no letters by Barritt here, and only one directly addressed to her, her preaching is a frequently-broached topic. Taft's correspondents also refer to his well-known wife. In 1802, the year of their marriage, Laurence Kane writes to inquire about rumors of controversy: "Various accounts having reached us here, respecting your good wife's preaching, and Mr. [Joseph] Benson's interference there with." Three decades later, letters continue to include invitations to both of them to preach. In another, Taft himself mentions to John Bramwell Mrs. Taft's recent work in the Newark Circuit and reiterates his continuing interest in women's preaching: "We should also like to know ... whether Mrs. Ward (Wood?)--or any other pious female of your acquaintance acts publickly for God." Other topics include overseas missions. On an early letter from William Ault, who would go on to accompany Thomas Coke on a fateful voyage to establish Methodist missions in Ceylon, Taft later recorded the brief note that "Mr. Ault died at Celon." And in an 1845 letter he reminds George John Stevenson of the Methodist contribution to the anti-slavery movement: "The africans in the West Indies would have been in slavery this day had not the subject been agitated in this Country."
Arranged in chronological order.
Including 4 portraits, three of Zacharias and one of Mary Taft.
- Volumes Series, Writings and Addresses Subseries, John Barritt Journal: journal of Mary Barritt's brother, also an itinerant preacher
- Taft, Zachariah, Original Letters, Bever Before Published, on Doctrinal, Experimental, and Practical Religion, 1821 (Rubenstein Library): this copy is heavily annotated in Taft's hand
- Taft, Zachariah, Biographical Sketches of the Lives and Public Ministry of Various Holy Women ..., 1825 (Rubenstein Library): also hand-annotated and corrected by Taft
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