Excerpt from Tortola: A Quaker Experiment of Long Ago in the TropicsThe author of a panoramic history is faced with the task of covering a great deal of elapsed time in a short space while assuring his publisher, reader, and critic that his research has been painstakingly careful. Generalities may be pointed up by specific examples of incidents, trends, or theories. While basic source material must be used, space may necessitate the elimination of the most interesting and meaningful detail in the final manuscript. This difficult situation might make it appear that the historian of a specific subject or period has a relatively pleasant prospect when he takes pen in hand. The converse is not necessarily true.Charles Jenkins' gem Tortola is an example of the lat ter, a story covering but forty-five years-concerned with only Quakers on one small island of the West Indies. A more narrow history could hardly be written The research led him from London to New York to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, and to the island itself. Haverford and Swarthmore College libraries divulged secrets. Philadelphia Meeting records were perused. All this footwork gleamed for him only seventy-one pages for this tiny volume. Time, carelessness, hurricanes, and fires had destroyed valuable records, meaning that some frustrating gaps are yet - and never - to be filled. As you read, note: what was Dorcas Lillie's maiden name? Was her third husband of the New England shipping family of that name? Why are so many present day East End Tortolians named Penn. Believing without doubt they are descendants of William Penn although all evidence is to the contrary? And so on. How Charles Jenkins must have wished he could ferret out these details, because he was an exacting historian. In researching for another project, I have had cause to retrace Jenkins' steps and repeat his inspections of journals, letters, maps, records, and manuscripts. The thoroughness of his work is astounding. I have foundalmost nothing concerning this Quaker Experiment which he had not already discovered.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.