The Society of Friends, or Quakers as they are more commonly known, were a persecuted religious group when they first arrived in New England in 1656. Rhode Island, especially Portsmouth, allowed them the freedom to worship as they wished, and within a century they became the dominant religious group in the colony. Stephen Luce, a member of the Board of Directors for the Portsmouth Historical Society, gave a presentation on November 16, 2024 talking about the history of the Portsmouth Friends.  Click here for a 101-minute video of his talk.

(Above) Luce began his presentation with a description of Quaker founder George Fox, who, in 1647 began an organization that he called the “Children of the Light“, which became known as the Society of Friends. In 1657, Robert Hodgson organized a group of eleven Quakers from England to crew their own ship, Woodhouse, to Newport where they eventually bought a house in Portsmouth in 1692 to use as a meeting house.

(Above) Samuel Gorton, who was a Quaker in all but name, founded Warwick, RI after being kicked out of every other town. At the time, Portsmouth had only 300 to 1500 people, but roughly half of them became Quakers. From their time of arrival in Massachusetts, they were severely punished, including by public whipping and having their tongues bored through with a hot iron.

(Above) Perhaps the best known Quaker of the time was Mary Dyer, who chose in 1660 to be hanged in Boston rather than denouce her faith. The Mott Farm in Portsmouth was owned by a family Quakers for 255 years before it was finally demolished in the 1970s. Among the many Quakers in Portsmouth was William Coddington (1601-1678) who served as a Judge, a Governor of Rhode Island and a Deputy Governor.