WOOLMAN, John, Quaker preacher, born in Northampton, Burlington County, New Jersey, in August, 1720: died in York, England, 7 October, 1772. He worked on a farm with his father till he was twenty-one years of age, when he became clerk to a storekeeper at Mount Holly, where he opened a school for poor children, and first began to speak at the meetings of the sect. Wishing to visit the various societies of Friends throughout the colonies, and to preach to them, he first learned the trade of a tailor, as best adapted for supporting him in the itinerant life that he had resolved to lead. In 1746 he set out on a tour, with Isaac Andrews, to visit the Friends in the back settlements of Virginia, and he spent a great part of his life in such journeys, for the purpose of preaching. He spoke and wrote much against slavery. In 1763 he visited the Indians on Susquehanna river. Early in 1772 he went to England, and, while attending the quarterly meeting at York, he was smitten with small-pox, and died, after a few days' illness. Woolman's writings have been much admired, and were highly praised by Charles Lamb. Perhaps the most interesting of his works is the posthumous "Journal of John Woolman's Life and Travels in the Service of the Gospel" (Philadelphia, 1775, edited, with an introduction, by John G. Whittier, 1871). Woolman also published "Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes" (Philadelphia, 1753 ; 2d part, 1762) ; "Considerations on Pure Wisdom and Human Policy, on Labor, on Schools, and on the Right Use of the Lord's Outward Gifts" (1768) ; "Considerations on the True Harmony of Mankind, and How it is to be Maintained" (1770); and "An Epistle to the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings of Friends" (1772). His "Serious Considerations, with Some of his Dying Expressions," appeared after his dearth (London, 1773). Various manuscripts that he left were included in an edition of his works (2 parts, Philadelphia, 1774-'5).