From The First Publishers of Truth
Westmorland: Dent
G: ff was ye first that published truth in Dent, but it was but a ffew yt then was Convinced, who Joyned to Sedbergh Meeting. But ye aforesaid Gervast Benson, and Thomas Taylor, with severall othr publike Labourers, had Many Meetings in ye said Dent, sometime in feilds & Commons, & some time in houses, and tho litle of ye effects of theire labours for some time apear’d, yet since they Cast theire bread upon ye waters has fiund it after many days, many being since Convinced in ye Towne & Dale of Dent. [page 254]
Submission by Westmorland (?)Quarterly Meeting edited by Norman Penney in “The First Publishers of Truth (London: Headley Brothers, 1907). Presented to Yearly Meeting in 1709. Said to be in the hand of Thomas Camm.
Westmorland: Dent
In the year 1652, came George Fox to Stonehouses in Dent, and had a meeting with and amongst a company of great professors in the Independent way, but none of the greatest accounted did own his testimony, nevertheless some of lower note did believe, own, and accept thereof, viz., Thos. and George Mason, &c. ... [page 329]
See Sedbergh for the rest of this account.
‘This has been taken from a copy of an old manuscript lent by Robert Rennison, of Sedbergh, to William Thistlethwaite in 1858’: Norman Penney in “The First Publishers of Truth, 329, footnote.
Account by Richard Harrison of Dent: from The First Publishers of Truth
In the year 1652, did George ffox Come unto Dent, & had a Meeting at Stonehouses in Dent wth & amongst several that were in a great profession of religion, as Independants or the like, but they, being rich & full of knowledg in their own Conseit, were not sensible of want of Information or need of a phisician, so they mostly opposed & Rejected his offerrs, & Testimony Conserning the Light, & Manifestation of Christ, in the hearts & Consciences of peopl, to be Come in power to restore into perfect health, happyness, & peace wth God againe. Nay, they did believe any such Condition was not attainable in this life, Altho some of them said that they had sought after such an estate but obtained not, And so gave up to sitt down short, and thought it the best estate to acknowledge an estate of owning & Confessing to be a misserable sinner, and could not otherwise be while in this life, and who persessed more was deceiued & deluded, etc. Nevertheless, at same time, there were some who w ere not so high in profession that was convinced, & owned the Testimony born by Geo. ffox, who lived and dyed in the same Truth testified off, viz., Thomas Mason, & George Mason, his brother, neer Cowgill in Dent, & some others.
This was a litle before ye time Called Whittsuntide, in the said year 1652. From & after this, Georg went over into Garsdale & Sedbergh to & amongst the professors there, and upon the day called Whit Sun Wedensday, being in the ffair time at Sedbergh, Georg ffox preached a Sermon, Standing on ye bench under the yew tree in Sedber Steeplehouse garth, where he had a very great Auditery. That day was I at Sedbur, but did not know of that meeting till afterward.
Then immediately was many Convinced, of Sedbur, & of Dent, as Alex. Heblethwaite & his wife, Thomas Greenwood & his wife, and divers others below in Dent, as well as above as before mentioned, & in Garsdale was James Guy & his wife & familly, & divers others; So that a meeting was setled in Sedber forthwith, and went from house to house, sometime in Sedber, sometime in Miles Walker’s House, in Midelton, & oth’r houses there away, & sometime in ffirbank, and sometimes in Dent, at the said Thomas & Geo: Masons, and sometime in Garsdale & Grisdale; thus for most of Twenty years & vpwards, from plac to place, and many times without Doores ... [pages 332–3]
‘This account has been copied from MSS. belonging to Westmorland Quarterly Meeting by
Emily J. Hart, of Scalby, Yorkshire’:
Norman Penney in
“The First Publishers of Truth, 331, footnote 4.