Disability Throughout History: Allen Jay

In my regular life, I am a speech-language pathologist. Though I work in Early Intervention, meaning I help toddlers learn to talk, this career involves many areas. This includes voice, fluency (stuttering), feeding and swallowing, speech sounds, social skills, cognitive skills, and even more. In my job, I have had one client so far who had a repaired cleft palate. Luckily, my school had a specific class focused on just cleft lip and palate management and rehabilitation. Like most of medicine, this area has come a long way in just the last few decades. Comparing my client's experience in 2017 to my uncle's experience in the 1950s is completely different, much less looking back at the 1800s. I came across Allen Jay's story as a child in a picture book (Allen Jay and the Underground Railroad, 1993) and it has stuck with me ever since.

Allen, 1910

Allen Jay was born in Miami County, Ohio in 1831. He was the oldest son of Isaac and Rhoda (Cooper) Jay, young Quakers (they were 20 and 18, respectively) native to Ohio. He was the first of five children: Milton, Walter, Abijah, and Mary followed after. His siblings all became rather successful, becoming a doctor, farmer, County Commissioner, and minister, respectively. He was lucky enough to know many generations of his family, recounting that as an infant he sat on the lap of his great-great grandfather, Paul Macy (1740-1832). His autobiography (available free on Google Books), of which most of the information for this post comes from, begins with several pages of tracing his lineage in America back for generations.

Being a Quaker, and later a Quaker minister, was incredibly important in Allen's life. Quakers, a Christian denomination founded by George Fox in the mid-17th century, had moved to the colony of Pennsylvania (founded by affluent Quaker William Penn) after experiencing persecution in England. Today the Quakers' theological beliefs vary greatly, depending on what branch they belong to. Most believe in continuing revelation, the priesthood of all believers, and the importance of testimony. Many also value peace, simplicity, humility, sustainability, and equality. American Quakers were known for being abolitionists and are considered the first organized group to actively help escaped enslaved people. They were integral in participating in the Underground Railroad. The Jay family was no exception, though we will have more details on this later.

The other major influence on Allen's life was that he was born with a cleft lip and palate, meaning his lip and roof of his mouth were split. This is a relatively common birth defect that is now treated with surgical repair(s) and speech therapy by a multidisciplinary team. While surgeons were historically able to close a cleft lip, repairing a cleft palate lagged behind given the lack of anesthesia and the belief that cleft palate was caused by syphilis. Chloroform was introduced in 1847 which allowed surgeons to progress in this type of surgery. For more information on how cleft palates are repaired today, click here. It is interesting to note that it was not until a quarter way through Allen's autobiography that he even mentioned his physical differences. "I was born with a harelip [an older term for cleft lip] and a cleft palate, and, notwithstanding the fact that my lip was sewed up the day I was eight months old, and the operation proved successful, so that the deformity was not noticeable, the cleft palate remained and could not be fully remedied," he wrote.

Because of the time that Allen was born, he had no treatment readily or safely available for his cleft palate. This caused him to have impaired speech intelligibility, which he was at first embarrassed by but eventually learned to adapt to. From the age of fifteen on, he wore a prosthetic wooden palate to assist with his speaking. Even then, "...my voice was still very imperfect and it was difficult for strangers to understand me. Often when I began to speak the young people in the congregation would begin to laugh." One Friend later said his voice was "like nothing ever heard before."

During Allen's childhood, there were no public schools, but the Quakers had always highly valued education. They started several schools and Allen's father, Isaac, strongly supported his children's educations. He even remembered a time when Isaac had carried him back and forth to school through deep snowdrifts, as Allen was too little to make it on his own. The family equally valued church and discipline, instilling in their oldest son the deep "desire to be a good boy."

When Allen was ten years old, the family moved from Mill Creek Meeting, outside of Cincinnati, to Randolph Meeting, just north of Dayton. Isaac worked on the farm and, given that Rhoda was often sickly, much responsibility fell onto Allen. He wrote later that, while doing the extra chores was not fun, he appreciated having time to himself to fish or hunt once they were done. At the age of thirteen, Allen went out into the orchard to pray, kneeling and crying out to God. He wept with joy, remembering this as the moment of his conversion. His parents prayed for him, read the Bible with him, and spent many hours in church and visiting other Friends.

Allen's parents, from his 1910 autobiography

The Jay home was also a station on the Underground Railroad, similar to other Quaker homes. Allen recorded the time when the local doctor rode up to the farm to tell Isaac that a runaway slave was hiding from pursuers in the nearby woods. Isaac told his son that he was going to work in the back and, if any slave should come to the gate, Allen was to hide him in the tall cornstalks. Sure enough, a ragged, bleeding Black man came to the gate, asking for Mr. Jay. He was frightened, but Allen assured him that he was Mr. Jay's son and lead him to hide in the cornfields. The man asked for food and drink. When Allen went back to his house, Rhoda had made up a basket already, telling her son that, "if thee knows anybody who thee thinks is hungry, thee might take this basket to him." Allen took the basket and a jug of milk to the escaped man.

During the afternoon, the pursuer came to the Jay farm, asking Isaac if he had seen a "n-----" around. Isaac was truthfully able to answer that he had not (Allen kept out of sight so that he could not be questioned). The men threatened to search the farm; Isaac said that they were welcome to, once they had the proper authority. They rode off to do so. Isaac quickly hitched up the horse and buggy, asking Allen to go to his grandfather's farm. He added, "If thee knows of anybody thee thinks ought to go, thee had better take him along." Allen hid the escaped man in the buggy, noting his whip-scarred back. The man gave his pistol to the boy, but said, "If anyone comes to take me, you must stop and give me the pistol, I will get out and you drive on, for I do not want you to be hurt. I am never going to be taken back. They may kill me, but I intend to kill one first." Allen, to his credit, chose not to lecture the man about "peace principles" at this time. The two made the journey safely to Allen's grandfather's house. His uncle, Levi Jay, took the escaped man on horseback to the next station in Mercer County. They later learned the man indeed made it safely to Canada.

Though Allen endured a few years of "spiritual darkness" during his teenage years, he and his family remained committed to their faith. Much of his autobiography describes the Friends, their beliefs and history, the prophets he met, his father's preaching and travels, and spiritually important moments in his life. Allen had nothing but devotion to his faithful, loving mother who cared for the home and family while Isaac ministered around the country.

The Jay family moved to Marion, Indiana in 1850. They became members of Mississinawa Monthly Meeting and Northern Quarterly Meeting. Though it was difficult for Allen to leave the Ohio Friends behind, he knew it was important to continue expanding the Quaker beliefs westward. It was in Indiana that he finally left the farm. Isaac took his two oldest sons, Allen and Milton, to Friends Boarding School (now Earlham College) in Richmond beginning in 1851. One week after starting, Allen broke his leg playing football and was laid up for a month. He was able to continue his studies, though on crutches for a while, and finished the term in 1852.

Allen continued to desire more education. Isaac allowed him to enroll in a new school run by Greenfield Monthly Meeting in Lafayette, Indiana. Allen excitedly packed up his things into a trunk and made the exhausting, muddy journey in a wagon with a few others. He boarded with Buddell Sleeper for nine months and fell in love with the eldest daughter, Martha. After finishing the school terms there, he enrolled in Antioch College in Ohio and lived with an aunt and uncle. After three months there, Allen returned to Lafayette to marry Martha Sleeper. Allen was 23 and she was 21. The wedding was full of Friends and curious onlookers alike. They stayed that winter in 1854 with Allen's parents before he and Martha were asked to teach school in Mississinawa. After a year there, they moved back to Lafayette, buying their own farm. They would reside there for nearly fifteen years.

Allen's first wife, Martha, from his 1910 autobiography

During this time, the couple had five children: both Charles and Rhoda died young (15 months and 6 years old, respectively), while William, Edwin, and Isaac lived to adulthood. Allen wrote that Rhoda, before she died of an illness, talked repeatedly of being buried next to her brother and that she would wait for her parents in heaven. While sick, she told her father that she was not afraid to die, shortly before "she passed away to her eternal home."

Allen's family prospered as farmers, continued teaching school, and grew in their faith among the Friends. In 1859, he became emboldened and began preaching in Meetings. The next year, Allen and Martha were appointed as church elders. He began to feel the call from God to preach the gospel. As he put it in his autobiography, "It brought me into deep spiritual trial." His speech impediment still embarrassed him, especially when others laughed at him. "No one will ever know what I passed through. It was my thorn in the flesh and cost me many bitter hours of sorrow. I wanted to preach and felt I could not," he remembered. "To this day I never rise to speak, especially before strangers, without thinking of this affliction, though I have reached the experience that enables me to say, 'Here I am, and if Thou canst get any glory out of my infirmities, I will rejoice and give Thee all the praise.'" Finally, after much inner debate, Allen "threw [himself] down on the ground and surrendered all to my Heavenly Father, promising to say what He wanted me to say and go where He wanted me to go." In May 1864, the same year he successfully conscientiously objected to being drafted into the Civil War, he was recorded as "a minister of the gospel of Christ" at Greenfield Monthly Meeting. He credited his dear wife, Martha, for supporting him through every moment.

Following the tumult of the Civil War, Allen was heavily in debt and struggling to make ends meet. He was inspired to visit the Baltimore and North Carolina Yearly Meetings, knowing he was leaving his wife and three young children behind so he could minister to a "country [that] was in an unsettled condition." The antislavery Quakers in the South had suffered under the battles, starvation, and destruction. The pacifist, Union-supporting men tried to avoid being drafted into the Confederate Army, sometimes resulting in imprisonment, physical punishment, and threats of execution. Allen, with the help of other Friends, was committed to "building up the waste places." His initial trip lasted for almost four months, returning home in time to help nurse his toddler son back to health after a severe illness. Allen remained on his farm, only visiting Friends in Ohio and Indiana. This all changed in 1868, when he received an unexpected letter from the Baltimore Friends offering him their Superintendent of Education position. After a few days of prayerful consideration by Allen and Martha, he accepted. Within weeks, the Jays left their families and farm to begin this new chapter.

Allen worked unendingly in the South for several years, supporting Quaker schools and meetings in rural North Carolina and Tennessee. It was exhausting but rewarding work as the number of members rose quickly without "backsliding." One North Carolina Friend later wrote that Allen "somehow anointed us with the oil of gladness and kept us from faltering." Even today, there is an Allen Jay Road and Allen Jay Preparatory Academy in High Point, North Carolina. The home where the Jays lived still stands and is currently used by the Friends Emergency Material Assistance Program. The Springfield Friends Meeting website writes of him that "his energetic, tolerant and unifying spirit remains with Springfield Friends to this day."

Allen Jay House - High Point, North Carolina

The desire to minister for Friends overseas stirred Allen's heart. Though he felt "great spiritual conflict" because of "my infirmities, leaving my family in North Carolina, away from all relatives, going among those whom I had never seen, and many other things..." he left his family in March 1875 and sailed to England. Being able to explore the historic ground where the Quaker faith began was deeply moving. A few months after arriving in London, he sailed to Norway to visit more Friends. He felt spiritually uplifted by their devotion and tears during worship. He then returned to England, sailing back to America in September. He remained close with many of the Friends he had met abroad.

The year after returning, Allen was offered the position of treasurer at Friends Boarding School (now Moses Brown School) in Providence, Rhode Island. His contacts back in Indiana had continued to offer him positions at Earlham College, which Allen finally accepted after four years of working in Providence. He and Martha were excited to finally return home to their relatives. He moved home just a few months after his father, Isaac, had passed away. Allen served as the superintendent and treasurer of Earlham College beginning in 1881 until his death almost thirty years later. He was instrumental in expanding the school from one building to six and wiping out large amounts of debt it had acquired with extensive fundraising. Along with his work at Earlham, he supported other Quaker boarding schools and colleges in the Midwest while also traveling and ministering at Meetings around America and Canada. He also became the superintendent of Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends in the 1890s. Throughout his ministry, he was known as a peacemaker among the Friends, celebrating when divisions were averted and mourning when they did occur.

As Allen and Martha grew older, it became more difficult to keep up with their demanding work. In 1897, when they were in their sixties, they decided to spend winters in Alabama and Florida. She passed away on April 27, 1899 after 44 years of marriage to Allen. He wrote in his autobiography how her death affected him: "It was a lonely day when she left me. I felt indeed that the light of the home had gone out. None but those who have gone through it know what it is." Her strength in the days before she "sweetly passed to the Beyond" brought great comfort to him.

The following year, Allen married a widow, Naomi (Morgan) Harrison, who was seven years his junior. They had known each other and worked together for many years prior. They married on November 25, 1900 and traveled to England a few months later. The couple, upon returning to America, continued Allen's work raising funds and ministering to Quakers around the country. They even secured a financial gift of $20,000 (almost $650,000 today) for a library and $25,000 (over $800,000 today) for a dormitory at Earlham College. They raised even more tens of thousands of dollars over the next few years for the school, traveling as far as Oregon, Washington, and California.

Allen's second wife, Naomi, from his 1910 autobiography

From 1908-1910, Allen wrote his over-400 page autobiography. He concluded with, "I lay down my pen for younger fingers to take up, and, turning my face towards the western sunset of life, I grasp my staff to continue the journey to the end, leaving that time in the hands of Him who has been with me thus far and who 'doeth all things well.'"

Allen passed away shortly after the publisher, The American Friend, received the final pages of his autobiography. He died at his home in Richmond, Indiana on May 8, 1910. Quaker historian and philosopher Rufus M. Jones of Haverford College called Allen "the most deeply loved Friend of our generation."

Most sincerely,

Clem

Disability Throughout History

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Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Allen Jay - The Peacemaker