Austills And The Friends

George Fox; born in 1624 was a man of "grave and exemplary conduct." After much prayer and study he came to the conclusion that there is something of God in every individual; by his preaching he attracted many who were of the same belief; and who agreed with his idea that the Church of England was too close to Roman Catholicism in doctrine and in ceremonies.

His numerous followers took the name of "The Religious Society of Friends" and from the first they attracted attention by disrupting church services and by holding unauthorized meetings. They were far from the gentle and peaceable folk whom we today know as Friends. They were given the nickname (in a derogatory sense) of Quakers, from their habit of trembling with religious emotion.

George Fox ceased to attend church and began preaching around 1646; within ten years of this time, meetings of the Friends were established all around England. His followers were placed on the 17th century equivalent of police "Most-Wanted" lists. They were not subtle and quiet about their differences with established religion. They disrupted services, refused to pay tithes, objected to taking any kind of oath and would not remove their hats as a gesture of respect, even to the king. They refused calls to military service, and demonstrated vigorously against the penalty of death for crimes against property. They changed the names of months and days of the week, Using instead the terms "First-day" or "Second Month"; they wore the plain clothing of the working-class people, and used plain speech, such as "thee" instead of "you".

The Friends were severely persecuted by both the Church of England and by the Puritans. It is said that during the early years in England, approximately l,000 Friends were in jails at any given time. This did not discourage the group - if all adults of a given meeting were in jail, the children carried on the service!

We find quite a few Austills among the membership records of the early Friends in London and in Berkshire. The Library of the Religious Society of Friends, in London, have been most kind and helpful. They have sent copies of Austill and Austell entries in their registers. Also, the Latter-Day-Saint church have filmed the original records and that they are available in the Salt Lake City library.

It is quite possible that among the earliest Austill immigrants to America were Friends. There is in fact a record of a Joseph Austill who presented his Certificate of Removal from the Friends in Berkshire to the Friends in Philadelphia; this is covered in more detail in the next Chapter.