Stephen Grellet (28 October 1772 – 16 November 1855) was a prominent French-American

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

Life

Grellet was born Étienne de Grellet du Mabillier in

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

, France, the son of Antoine Gabriel Grellet, a counsellor of King

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

who was also director of the first

chinaware Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the Palaeolithic era. Chinese ceramics range from construc ...

factory in Limoges. His family had some interest in iron making. Raised as a Roman Catholic, he was educated at the Military College of Lyons, now the

Institut d'études politiques de Lyon The Institut d'Études politiques de Lyon (or Lyon Institute of Political Studies) also known as Sciences Po Lyon, is a grande école located in Lyon, France. It is one of ten Institutes of Political Studies in France, and was established in 194 ...

, and at the age of 17 he entered the personal guard of the king. During the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

he was sentenced to be executed, but escaped and eventually fled Europe to

Demerara Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state fro ...

in South America with his brother Joseph in 1793, then to the United States in 1795. There he met Deborah Darby, an English Quaker minister who had been in the U.S. since August 1793. Darby made a big impression on Grellet and under her and

William Savery William Savery (July 14, 1750 - June 19, 1804) was an American Quaker, an active preacher, an abolitionist and a defender of the rights of Native Americans. In 1798, during his traveling ministry to Europe, he preached at a Quaker meeting for ...

's influence he decided to join the Quakers (

Society of Friends 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 abili ...

). Darby and Grellet became friends and when Darby returned to Britain with her colleague Rebecca Young she was accompanied by four American Quakers (including William Savery) and her friend Stephen Grellet was there to wave them off. Grellet became involved in extensive missionary work in prisons and hospitals across North America and most of the countries of Europe, and was granted meetings with many rulers and dignitaries, including

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...

, Tsar

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome * Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...

, and the Kings of Spain and Prussia. He encouraged many reforms in educational policies and in hospital and prison conditions. In 1804 Grellet married Rebecca Collins, the daughter of the publisher Isaac Collins. The family home, the Isaac Collins House, in

Burlington, New Jersey Burlington is a city in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 9,743. Burlington was first incorporated on October 24, 1693, and was r ...

, is now listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. Grellet died in Burlington on 16 November 1855 and his body was buried there, behind the

Quaker Meeting House A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), where meeting for worship is usually held. Typically, Friends meeting houses are simple and resemble local residential buildings. Steeples, spires, and ...

at 340 High Street.

Bibliography

*Benjamin Seebohm: ''Memoirs of the life and gospel labours of Stephen Grellet'', Longstreth, Philadelphia, 1862 (3rd ed.), 426+438 p. *Frances Anne Budge : ''A missionary life : Stephen Grellet'', Nisbet, London, 1888, 127 p. *William Guest : ''Stephen Grellet'', Headley, London, 1903, 226 p. *

William Wistar Comfort William Wistar Comfort (1874 – December 24, 1955) was president of Haverford College. Life Comfort was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania and raised a Quaker. He graduated from Haverford College in 1894 and received a Ph.D. from Harvard Univer ...

, 'Stephen Grellet, 1773-1855', MacMillan, New York, 1942, 202p. *

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grellet, Stephen 1773 births 1855 deaths People from Limoges People of the French Revolution French emigrants to the United States Converts to Quakerism from Roman Catholicism French Protestant missionaries French Quakers Quaker missionaries Burials in New Jersey Protestant missionaries in Canada Protestant missionaries in the United States Protestant missionaries in Europe 18th-century Quakers 19th-century Quakers