Christopher Holder

Christopher Holder (1631–1688), was an early Quaker evangelist who was imprisoned and whipped, had an ear cut off, and was threatened with death for his religious activism in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and in England. A native of Gloucestershire, near Bristol in western England, Holder became an early convert to the Society of Friends, and in 1656, at the age of 25, made his first voyage to New England aboard the Speedwell to spread his Quaker message. All of the Quakers in his group were imprisoned, and then sent back to England on the same ship. Undeterred, Holder returned to New England aboard the small barque Woodhouse, landing in New Amsterdam in August 1657 despite few predictions of success. Though young, he was a leader among the eleven Quaker missionaries that fanned out among the American colonies. Holder, with his frequent companion John Copeland, went north to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to begin their evangelistic efforts in the face of increasingly threatening anti-Quaker laws. With little success on Martha's Vineyard, they moved to Cape Cod where they were warmly received in Sandwich, establishing the earliest Quaker meeting in America.

From Sandwich, Holder and Copeland moved on to Plymouth, in the Plymouth Colony and then several towns in the Massachusetts colony before being apprehended by Puritan authorities in Salem, and taken to Boston for imprisonment. Despite being cruelly flogged, and held for nearly three months, Holder, Copeland and another companion were able to write the first Quaker Declaration of Faith while in jail. After being released late in 1657 he returned to England and visited the Barbados, but was back in New England to continue his missionary work in early 1658. Returning to Sandwich with Copeland in April, the men were arrested and scourged, but not detained for long. Following time to recover in Rhode Island, a haven for Quakers, the men returned to Boston in June, being quickly apprehended. This time, in addition to a lengthy imprisonment and frequent whippings, the men faced the escalating Puritan laws, having their right ears cut off. Stalwart in the face of their mutilations, the men were eventually released. Holder went south to continue his missionary work during the winter, but returned to Massachusetts in 1659. The Puritans had by now enacted capital punishment for defying an order of banishment, and though Holder was arrested again that summer, it may have been his social position and education that compelled the authorities to allow him to sail back to England. Five days after his release, however, two men, William Robinson and Marmaduke Stephenson, became the first to hang as Quaker martyrs in Massachusetts.

In England Holder was able to confer with Quaker founder George Fox, and was likely involved in the excitement of new religious freedoms emanating from the Declaration of Breda and from the influence of Quaker Edward Burrough with the king. Holder was back in New England by 1663, but continued to travel extensively between New England, England, and the West Indies. He became a resident of Newport, Rhode Island, and twice married to Quaker activists. He was so highly respected in Rhode Island, that during the colony's devastation during King Philip's War, he was one of 16 colonial leaders whose counsel was sought in April 1676 during the very difficult times. Holder had returned to England by the early 1680s, where, following continuing persecution of Quakers, he was arrested on several occasions and imprisoned for more than a year. Following his release in 1685, he lived just a few more years, dying in Gloucestershire in 1688. He is best remembered for his leadership, evangelism, and sufferings in confronting the cruel anti-Quaker laws in the Massachusetts colony.