Zilpha Elaw
Zilpha Elaw was an influential African American preacher and author born around 1790 near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Following the death of her mother when Elaw was just twelve, she was raised by a Quaker family, which she found lacking in religious discipline. This experience led her to join the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1808, and she married Joseph Elaw in 1810. Over time, she developed strong views on the roles of husbands and wives within a Christian marriage. Inspired by her sister and a personal revelation, Elaw began her ministry in 1819, traveling to share her religious messages after the death of her husband in 1823. She traveled extensively, speaking in various states and eventually settling on Nantucket. Elaw also ventured to England in 1840, where she expressed concern over the observance of the Sabbath. Her life and experiences were documented in her 1846 memoir, which offers insights into her ministerial travels and the religious revivals of her time. The exact date of her death remains unknown, but her legacy continues to be recognized.
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Subject Terms
Zilpha Elaw
Writer
- Born: c. 1790
- Birthplace: Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Died: c. 1845
Biography
Zilpha Elaw was born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, around 1790. Her mother had three children who survived infancy. When she was twelve years old, Elaw watched her mother die shortly after giving birth to her twenty-second child. Elaw went to live with a Quaker family called the Mitchels. Her father died within eighteen months of her mother. Elaw was surprised to find little religious discipline exercised by the Mitchels. She felt their worship was too unregimented, and she was certain that their lack of formal practice would compromise them in the sight of God.
Elaw joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1808 and married Joseph Elaw in 1810. Elaw promptly worried that her husband’s lapsed religious ways would cause trouble in their marriage. Elaw wrote about her staunch patriarchal views at this time and advocated that wives should submit to their husbands as Christians submit to God. In 1816, Elaw’s sister, Hannah, convinced her that God wanted her to preach. In 1819, Zilpha Elaw claimed she received the same message and that she had also received a holy admonition to travel and speak to crowds.
After the 1823 death of her husband and with financial support from churches willing to underwrite her mission work, Elaw began her travels, first in the southern states around Washington, D.C., and then up into the northeastern states. Elaw eventually settled on Nantucket. In 1840, Elaw traveled to England and was shocked by the lax observance of the Sabbath. Elaw’s story appeared in 1846 in Memoirs of the Life, Religious Experience, Ministerial Travels, and Labours of Mrs. Zilpha Elaw, an American Female of Color; Together with Some Account of the Great Religious Revivals in America, Written by Herself. The date of Elaw’s death was not recorded. An obituary in 1883 appeared announcing the death of her daughter on Nantucket.