Elias Hicks

Elias Hicks ( born March 10, 1748 in Rockaway, New York, † February 27, 1830 in Jericho, Nassau County ( New York)) was an American Quaker opinion leaders.

Life

Hicks was a carpenter by trade. As a young man he joined the Religious Society of Friends. In 1771 he married Jemima Seaman. Hicks campaigned for the abolition of slavery. As a preacher, Hicks toured the United States and Canada. Hicks took the orthodox Quakerism differing theological views, including the question of the birth of Jesus Christ from a virgin, which he considered less important. Because of its popularity and the debate about his views came in 1827 to a splitting within American Quakerism. The followers of his wing were henceforth called Hicksite Friends.