Foulke, Joseph, 1786-1863

Joseph Foulke was a prominent Quaker minister from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Hugh Foulke and Anna Robert Foulke, and great-grandson of Edward Foulke (1651-1741) and Eleanor Hugh Foulke (-1733). He had learned the trade of a wheel-wright but his inclinations drew him to the profession of teaching. For six years following 1811, he had charge of the Friends' School at Plymouth, Pennsylvania. Next he taught for one year at Upper Dublin. In 1818 he established at Gwynedd, on his father's estate, a boarding school for boys and young men. This he carried on for many years with marked success. The School was later led by his sons, Daniel and Joseph Foulke, and his nephew, Hugh Foulke, Jr.

For some years Foulke conducted the "Friends' Almanac," supplying for it the astronomical calculations. He was interested in the anti-slavery cause and was on a committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting that visited Washington in 1836 and sought to influence Congress against the admission of Arkansas as a slave state. He travelled widely in the ministry, visiting Friends in New Jersey, New York, Canada, Maryland, Ohio.

Adapted from the preface of "Visit of Joseph Foulke Among Friends of Long Island, 1837," Bulletin of Friends Historical Association, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring 1931), pp. 27-28.