Joan Vokins or Joan Bunce ( – 1690) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Quaker preacher and traveller.

Life

Vokins was born as Joan Bunce. Her father Thomas Bunce was a yeoman of

Charney Bassett Charney Bassett is a village and civil parish about north of Wantage and east of Faringdon in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the paris ...

in (what was then) Berkshire. She married another local farmer, Richard Vokins, of

West Challow West Challow is a village and civil parish about west of the market town of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. The village is on Childrey Brook, which is a tributary of the River Ock. West Challow was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundar ...

and she joined the

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

. She was an enthusiastic evangelist for Quakerism. She persuaded her family and then set about to preach. In February 1680 she went to America, arriving in New York in May. She visited

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, Rhode Island, Boston, East and West Jersey, and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. On the return journey she went to the West Indian islands including

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

and

Nevis Nevis is a small island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute one country: the Federation of Saint Kitts and Ne ...

, Even after she returned to England on 3 June 1681 she continued preaching in Kent. Five years later she travelled in Ireland. She was at the annual meeting in London in 1690, and died at Reading, on her way home, on 22 July. Her husband was not with her as he was in gaol for not paying their taxes. Besides three sons, one of whom predeceased her, she had three daughters. Her writings were collected by her brother-in-law, Oliver Sansom, in ‘God's Mighty Power Magnified,’ London, 1691, 8vo; republished at Cockermouth, 1871.God's Mighty Power Magnified
Oliver Sansom, 1871, Archive.com, Retrieved 5 July 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vokins, Joan 1690 deaths English Protestant missionaries English Quakers Quaker missionaries Female Christian missionaries Protestant missionaries in Barbados Protestant missionaries in Antigua and Barbuda Protestant missionaries in Saint Kitts and Nevis Protestant missionaries in the United States