QUAKER HILL 
 
 OCAJU HlSTOHY) 
 
 SERIES 
 
 II. BavfolFrisb. 
 E flfeemoir. 
 
 MRS. PHOEBE T. WANZER 
 
Glass. 
 
 Eh3- 
 
 ^-Aj^mJd^ 
 
DAVID IRISH 
 
 A MEMOIR 
 
 BY 
 
 MKS. PHOEBE T. WANZER. 
 
 READ AT THE THTRD ANNUAL MEETING OF THE 
 
 QUAKER HILL CONFERENCE, SEPTEMBER THE 
 
 SEVENTH, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND ONE 
 
 Published by the Quaker Hill Conference Association 
 
 Quaker Hill. New York 
 
 1902 
 
p 
 
 PUBLICATIONS, 
 Of the Quaker Hill Conference Association 
 
 A Critical Study of the Bible, by Rev 
 Newton M. Hall of Springfield, Mass. 
 
 David Irish— A Memoir, by Mrs. Phoebe 
 T. Wanzer of Quaker Hill, N. Y. (Local History- 
 Series.) 
 
 Quaker Hill in the Eighteenth Cen- 
 tury, by Rev. Warren H. Wilson of Brooklyn, 
 N. Y. (Local History Series.) 
 
 These publications can be had by addressing the 
 Secretary, 
 
 Rev. Edward L. Chichester 
 
 Quaker Hill, N. Y, 
 
 Price 10 cents. 12 cents including postage, 
 
 - 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The Evangelist of October 10, 1901, published 
 a graphic account of the Quaker Hill Conference 
 of that year. It refers as follows to this outline 
 of the life of David Irish, which was read on 
 Quaker Hill Day. 
 
 "The sketch was simple as befitted the life 
 it pictured, and so direct and perfect in its form, 
 that it is hard to give even its flavor in a refer- 
 ence. 
 
 David Irish, well remembered by the old resi- 
 dents who were present, was bom and bred in 
 this neighborhood, dying in 1884 at the age of 
 ninetv-two. 
 
 Independence, courage, simplicity, are three 
 words that describe his character. His whole life 
 was devoted to the search for truth and the living 
 it as he conceived it. 
 
 The picture given on this day of this man's 
 career was one to make those who contemplated 
 it hungry to know more of such living. 
 
 One saw his home, open to all in need, each 
 welcomed with a grasp of the master's hand, each 
 addressed by his full name, all, black or white, 
 ignorant or learned, put upon an equality that 
 while it leveled, dignified. 
 
 One felt in listening to the account, that rest 
 ful respect experienced in the presence of a man 
 having strong convictions, and a quiet strength 
 to live them in a world of conformity. The hear 
 er was impressed by the power of the truth this 
 5 
 
man held, not through his words, but through 
 himself. 
 
 David Irish believed in the sinfulness of slav- 
 ery, of war, of capital punishment and intemper- 
 ance, and lived a life not of mere protest against 
 these things, but a life so rounded, so simple in 
 its uprightness and so conspicuous for its moral 
 fibre and charitable spirit, that any other view 
 than his would seem impossible to a lover of 
 righteousnessness, who knew him. 
 
 One could well believe that one who led such 
 a life would use the simplest words, the briefest 
 and plainest statement, to express himself. 
 
 All this, related in the Old Meeting House with 
 its antique stoves, its long unpainted seats ranged 
 in tiers, a familiar setting to the figure of this 
 man throughout his long life, made the descrip- 
 tion singularlv vivid." 
 
DAVID IRISH. 
 
 A MEMOIR. 
 
 Quaker Hill, as its name indicates, 
 was largely settled by the Society of 
 Friends, and until Akin Hall was 
 erected in 1880 (and even that is not 
 denominational), no house of worship 
 except that of Friends has been found 
 on the Hill ; doubtless some of the 
 residents may have attended the meet- 
 ings of other sects in adjacent locali- 
 ties. Even now, when but very few 
 are left claiming membership with 
 that Society, some of their vital prin- 
 ciples seem to have so permeated the 
 people here as to be easily recogniz- 
 able by those coming from abroad, and 
 for a time casting in their lot with 
 us. A certain all-pervading liberty 
 of thought is in the air. 
 
 Among the families of early settlers 
 was one of the name of Irish (ances- 
 tors from Rhode Island), of the life of 
 
 7 
 
one of whose descendants, David Irish, 
 it has been suggested that it might be 
 of interest to the old, who still re- 
 member him, and of possible profit to 
 the yonng, to give at this time a brief 
 biographical sketch, covering the sali- 
 ent points of character. 
 
 He was born the 20th of Sixth 
 month, 1792, the seventh in a family 
 of ten children, all but one of whom 
 lived to mature years, several to old 
 age; the subject of this sketch, the 
 eldest, being at the time of his death 
 (the 2d of Tenth month, 1884), some- 
 thing over 92 years of age. 
 
 The writer of this can tell but little 
 of his boyhood, nor would it be of in- 
 terest. In common with those of his 
 time, children as well as parents were 
 subjected to a strenuous life for their 
 daily bread, especially those who had 
 to win it from a not too fertile soil, 
 with what would be considered in 
 these days the rudest of hand imple- 
 ments. 
 
 The little school education obtaina- 
 ble had to be worked for, and it is re- 
 8 
 
called that David Irish, with one or 
 two of his brothers, walked one win- 
 ter to school, about four miles, to 
 where is now the village of Pawling, 
 or near there — and Quaker Hill winters 
 were formidable even to sturdy boys 
 iu those days. The learning they re- 
 ceived illy sufficed either in quantity 
 or quality the hungry minds longing 
 for a fuller draught from the founts of 
 knowledge. But those who survived 
 this physical and mental ordeal were 
 no weaklings; sturdy physical man- 
 hood at least, and self-dependent, ex- 
 ecutive womanhood generally charac- 
 terized the graduates from this stern 
 school, lacking very likely some of the 
 refinements of a more luxurious state 
 of society. 
 
 It was as a minister of the Society 
 of Friends that David Irish was best 
 known in the community in which he 
 lived. At what age he became an ac- 
 knowledged minister the writer of this 
 has no means of knowing, but believes 
 it to have been soon after he reached 
 mature years. He appears to have 
 
 9 
 
had early religious impressions, and 
 also his mind strongly influenced to 
 an active protest against the evils of 
 slavery, war, capital punishment, and 
 intemperance. His character might be 
 said to have had a little of the Puritan 
 bias, in his unswerving, self-denying, 
 practical following of the leading of 
 duty and right, as it was given to him 
 to see it ; he argued that it was always 
 expedient to do right, and so 
 
 " He set his face against the blast, 
 His feet against the flinty shard ; 
 Till the hard service grew at last 
 Its own exceeding great reward." 
 
 Believing that, "Whoso gives the mo- 
 tive makes his brother's sin his own," 
 he made his protest against slavery by 
 abstaining, so far as possible, from the 
 use of slave-labor products. This con- 
 scientious scruple was shared in his 
 earlier years by one, his favorite sis- 
 ter, and together they made maple, to 
 take the place of cane sugar, and used 
 nothing but linen and woolen clothing 
 (largely homespun). This abstaining 
 he continued for himself and. family 
 10 
 
until slavery was abolished ; although 
 at a later period free-labor stores were 
 kept, in New York and Philadelphia, 
 from which supplies w^ere obtained, 
 but at a higher price and of inferior 
 quality. He, with his sister, took the 
 first Anti-slavery paper published in 
 this country, "The Genius of Univer- 
 sal Emancipation," edited by Benja- 
 min Lundy, and subsequently he took 
 other papers advocating the same un- 
 popular cause. He never felt free to 
 join with Anti Slavery Societies out- 
 side of his own, believing that by so 
 doing he might compromise some of 
 its testimonies ; but with tongue and 
 pen he labored zealously within these 
 narrow limits to obtain more active 
 recognition of, and effective work 
 against, the sin of slavery. In his 
 home was always made welcome the 
 trembling fugitive fleeing from his 
 Southern prison house; he was fed 
 and lodged, and with words of cheer 
 sent forward with a few lines of en- 
 dorsement to the next station towards 
 the North land of freedom. Occasion- 
 ll 
 
ally one was kept for a time and em- 
 ployed, if it was deemed safe, and 
 there must never be any distinction 
 made in the family on account of his 
 color ; he sat at the same table, and 
 was treated as an equal. Indeed, there 
 were no class distinctions in that 
 household, and the head of it was 
 careful never to call any one in his 
 employ but by their whole proper 
 name. These things may be looked 
 upon as trifles, but they indicate char- 
 acter ; the earnest desire to recognize 
 a common brotherhood, independent 
 of color, station, or circumstance. 
 
 Against war in general, and for the 
 substitution of arbitration in case 
 of national differences, he wrote much 
 for the little Friends' paper then pub- 
 lished, also for some special peace 
 publications. He was instrumental on 
 several different occasions in sending 
 petitions to our State legislature for 
 the abolition of the death penalty, 
 believing it to be, as he often expressed, 
 a relic of barbarism, legalized murder, 
 and do protection to society. 
 
 12 
 
He never voted for any government 
 or even town officers ; his reason, that 
 the ultimate resort for the enforcement 
 of law as governments were now 
 formed, was force, and it was not jus- 
 tifiable to do by the hand of another 
 what we would not do ourselves. In 
 the time of our Civil War he allowed 
 his cattle to be sold by the tax- 
 collector, not feeling free to pay the 
 direct war- tax. 
 
 His was a practical protest against 
 the use of intoxicants as a beverage, 
 when such use was made by custom 
 almost imperative. 
 
 In his ministry he was not eloquent ; 
 plain exhortations to right living, a 
 statement and re-statement of the fun- 
 damental truths of the Gospel, as he 
 understood them, a '"stirring up of 
 the pure mind by way of remem- 
 brance," characterized his public ut- 
 terances. 
 
 He was very faithful in the attend- 
 ance of religious meetings at home and 
 abroad, never allowing any other ob- 
 stacle than sickness to prevent. In 
 13 
 
his capacity as a minister he was fre- 
 quently called to attend funerals, not 
 only among those of his own Society, 
 but often of others. 
 
 His home was one given to hospi- 
 tality, and one of the earliest impres- 
 sions of the writer of this was the 
 quietly instilled lesson, less by admo- 
 nition than example, that the guest, of 
 whatever station, at however much of 
 inconvenience, must be courteously 
 entertained. The warm, hearty grasp 
 of his hand was itself a welcome. 
 
 He was fond of reading, interested 
 in the progress of discovery and inven- 
 tion, and kept himself well informed, 
 for those times, of the general events 
 of the world. 
 
 Of a good deal of personal dignity, 
 he yet had a quiet fund of humor, and 
 enjoyed a good joke, but the poetic, 
 imaginative element seems to have been 
 left out of his make-up : 
 
 ' ' A primrose on the river's brim 
 A yellow primrose was to him 
 And nothing more." 
 
 To his business as a farmer he added 
 
 14 
 
that of land surveyor, followed it when 
 called upon, and for a number of years 
 he was the principal one in this vi- 
 cinity. 
 
 He was often entrusted with the 
 settlement of estates, showing the es- 
 teem in which his business capacity 
 and integrity were held in the com- 
 munity. 
 
 Sharing in and sympathizing with 
 all the duties of his self-denying life, 
 was his wife, of most unostentatious 
 character, but quietly strong in moral 
 and mental worth. Physically frail, 
 she yet lived to the age of 84, and then 
 passed away, leaving but a fragmenta- 
 ry life to the husband who had leaned 
 on her wise counsels so many years. 
 Being obliged, by the force of circum- 
 stances, to give up in his later years 
 the habitual activities of his life, his 
 faculties somewhat stagnated, espe- 
 cially memory of passing events, but 
 his last days were most peaceful, and 
 it is believed his life is held in loving 
 remembrance by his few surviving co- 
 temporaries on our beautiful Quaker 
 
 15 
 
Hill, where he was born, and where he 
 lived his long, useful life 
 
 Descendants most, of those whose faith 
 Looks inward for " The Lord thus saith," 
 Of simple tastes, pursuits, and lives, 
 Whose patronymic still survives 
 The changeful touch of Time's rough hand ; 
 Long may it grace our goodly land."