Journals of Charles Beatty, 1762–1769

Life in England and America in the 1760's is vividly re-created in these journals of this much-traveled Presbyterian clergyman who succeeded William Tennent as pastor of the congregation at Nashaminy in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

His first journey, in 1762, took him to the British Isles to collect money for the Corporation for the Relief of Distressed Presbyterian Ministers and for the impoverished inhabitants of the frontier. In 1766, he traveled to the wilds of the Ohio country to view firsthand the rugged life of the pioneers and to preach to them and the Indians. He returned to England in 1769, this time to London, where he continued his preaching and became involved with such prominent figures of the time as Thomas Penn, Lord Dartmouth, Benjamin Franklin, and George Whitefield.

With the original spelling and punctuation retained, these quaint and colorful documents make an interesting contribution to our knowledge of eighteenth-century life.