Hicks, Elias, 1748-1830

Elias Hicks was an eminent Quaker minister from Jericho, Long Island, N.Y. He was a farmer, partner in a tannery, and had a knowledge of surveying. Elias Hicks was born on March 19, 1748, a birthright member of Westbury Monthly Meeting, New York, and the son of John and Martha (Smith) Hicks. At thirteen he went to live with his older brother and was apprenticed to a carpenter. During this time, he became increasingly devoted to religious principles. In 1771, he married Jemima Seaman, the daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Willis) Seaman. He worked as a farmer and partner in a tannery. Elias Hicks was recognized as a minister in 1779 and during the next fifty years made sixty-three visits as a travelling Friend to meetings in the United States. Elias and Jemima had ten children, their four sons tragically dying before maturity of a congenital disorder.

Hicks was a traditional quietist Quaker and opposed to the emerging evangelical emphasis among some Friends. He resisted efforts by London and Philadelphia evangelical Friends to cease his ministry. The controversy in emphasis, with other issues, led to a schism in the Society of Friends in 1827/28. Friends who followed his teachings were labeled "Hicksites" by their opponents, a term that he and they resisted. Elias Hicks died on February 27, 1830, in Jericho, Long Island, New York.