Peter Quire (June 15, 1806–May 5, 1899) was an American

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

, community leader, cobbler, and church founder. He was a member of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

as a child; and later with his wife Harriet, he was a founder of St. John the Evangelist Church (now known as the Zabriskie Memorial Church of Saint John the Evangelist) in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

Biography

Peter Quire was born on June 15, 1806, in Pennsylvania, U.S.. As a child, he worked as a

Chaise A chaise ( ), sometimes called shay, is a light two-wheeled carriage for one or two people. It may also have a folding hood. The coachmaker William Felton (1796) considered ''chaises'' a family of vehicles which included all two-wheel one-hor ...

driver for Joseph Parrish (1779–1840), a white

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

physician and the president of the

Pennsylvania Abolition Society The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage was the first American abolition society. It was founded April 14, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and held four meetings. Seventeen of the 24 men who attended initia ...

. The Parrish house basement was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and Quire worked on the related rescue missions. Quire married Maria Quire, and moved to

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area (also known as the Delaware Valley) on the western bank of the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. ...

where he worked as a shoemaker. In 1831, they moved to Timbuctoo, New Jersey after purchasing a plot of land from the Atkinsons, another Quaker family. Timbuctoo was a newly formed Black, emancipated community, and it was in need of a school. The Quires donated their Timbuctoo deed of land for the creation of a new Black school, which it specified in the grant it was to be led by Black teachers. It is unknown what happened after they left Timbuctoo. By 1865, Quire was living in Newport, Rhode Island with his new wife Sarah. Sarah died by 1870, and sometime after he re-married Harriet Frances Rodman. They were active in the Trinity Church in Newport, which was segregated. At this time period there was only one Black church in the state, the African Union Meeting and Schoolhouse. On July 11, 1875, the rector from Trinity Church and several of the churchgoers meet for worship in the home of Peter and Harriet. Months later they built St. John’s Church (the building is now St. Johns’ Guild Hall) at 61 Poplar Street in the Point neighborhood, and featured a racially diverse congregation. By 1885, the church was accepted into the

Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island The Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing the state of Rhode Island. It is one of seven New England dioceses that make up Province 1 of the Episcopal Church in the Unit ...

, and continued to be mostly self-funded. In the 1890s, the church was struggling financially. In 1893, Sarah Titus Zabriskie donated money to the church in the memory of her mother inspiring the new name Zabriskie Memorial Church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quire, Peter 1806 births 1899 deaths African-American abolitionists Abolitionists from Rhode Island American community activists People from Newport, Rhode Island African-American history of Rhode Island Underground Railroad people 19th-century African-American clergy

Biography

See also

References