Elizabeth Sampson Sullivan Ashbridge, a prominent eighteenth-century Quaker minister, traveled widely throughout the American colonies, England, and Ireland during the later years of her life, spreading the Quaker message. With her marriage to Aaron Ashbridge she became part of a large and powerful Quaker family in Pennsylvania, and her considerable skills as a preacher won her wide acclaim. Yet most of what is known about her life comes from a single surviving autobiography, a spiritual narrative telling of her conversion to Quakerism. In this document, republished many times throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, she spoke with a powerful voice about the early years of her life. As a woman, an indentured servant, and a Quaker, Ashbridge found herself continually in dialogue and often in conflict with the dominant colonial culture. While her position as a Quaker minister gave her sanction and occasion to write her story...