Universalism
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Hannah Whitall Smith(1832 - 1911)
Author, Evangelist
Hannah Tatum Whitall Smith was a lay speaker and author in the Holiness movement in the United States and the Higher Life movement in Great Britain. She was also active in the Women’s Suffrage movement and the Temperance movement.
Smith was from a long line of prominent and influential Quakers in New Jersey. Hannah Tatum Whitall was the daughter of John Mickle Whitall and Mary Tatum Whitall. Her most famous ancestor was Ann Cooper Whitall.
On November 5, 1851 Hannah married Robert Pearsall Smith, a man who also descended from a long line of prominent Quakers in the region. The Smiths settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania.
The Smiths were highly influenced by Methodist revivalists. They adopted the Wesleyan doctrine of sanctification. They were also influenced by William E. Boardman, who wrote The Higher Christian Life (1859).
From 1864 to 1868 Robert and Hannah Smith lived in Millville, New Jersey. Robert managed Hannah’s father’s business, the Whitall, Tatum, & Company glass factories.
William
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Hannah Whitall Smith correspondence
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Collection
Identifier: HC.MC-950-164
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of a group of 55 letters addressed between 1899 and 1911 by Hannah Whitall Smith to her dear friend Kate, whom she always referred to as “sister.” In addition, there are two poems and one Christmas card. The letters are often religious in tone. Smith relates news of her family, including Logan Pearsall Smith and Alys Smith Russell, especially regarding Russell’s health, visits from friends, references to Bertrand Russell, Quakers and Quaker Meeting, particularly in Philadelphia, as well as British Women’s Meeting, temperance, living a simple Quaker life, writing of her new book, health issues, and old age.
Dates
- Creation: 1899-1911, undated
Creator
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research use.
Use Restrictions
Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).
Biographical Note
Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of John Mickle
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Hannah Whitall Smith
Image Source: Wikipedia
Hanna was raised in a strict Quaker home and was given to morbid introspection that found little relief until her marriage to Robert Piersall Smith in 1851. They were both converted under Plymouth Brethren influence in 1858 and in 1867 had a new experience of faith that propelled them on a speaking tour of the United States and Europe. Their "Higher Christian Life" meetings in England were exceedingly popular, partly because of D. L. Moody's success there.
They remained in England due to Robert's declining health and observed the founding of the Keswick Convention in 1874, an outgrowth of their conferences. Trouble followed, however. Robert began to entertain notions of spiritual wifery, was criticized, and eventually claimed to be a Buddhist.
Hannah was the author of the spiritual classic, The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life (1875) and later developed ideas on the final restitution of all things, diverted herself into social causes and writing. She produced The Unselfishness of God and How I Discovered It in 1903. A ye
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