Elizabeth (Rotch) Rodman to Charity Rotch, New Bedford, 3 mo 10, 1802

News of family in New Bedford to Charity Rotch in Hartford. Thomas Rotch left his father's whaling and shipping business to take up sheep farming and possibly missionary work in a state with few Quaker meetings in 1800. While the reasons for the decision to leave Bedford are unclear, the Rotches may have tired of the membership's turn toward materialism which followers of Elias Hicks viewed as spiritually corrupting. The writer is Charity's sister-in-law and a member of the Rotch family who married Samuel Rodman, Charity's brother around 1780. These inter-family marriages concentrated wealth and resources and provided security for the family's future. 8" x 9.8" (20.4 by 24.8 cm