Public Universal Friend, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Public Universal Friend

American preacher

Date of Birth: 29-Nov-1752

Place of Birth: Cumberland, Rhode Island, United States

Date of Death: 01-Jul-1819

Profession: preacher, religious leader

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

The Public Universal Friend (November 29, 1752 – July 1, 1819), born Jemima Wilkinson, was an American preacher born in Cumberland, Rhode Island, to Quaker parents.
Wilkinson suffered a severe illness in 1776 and reported having died and been reanimated as a genderless evangelist named the Public Universal Friend, and afterward shunned both birth name and gendered pronouns.
In androgynous clothes, the Friend preached throughout the northeastern United States, attracting many followers who became the Society of Universal Friends.The Public Universal Friend's theology was broadly similar to that of orthodox Quakers, believing in free will, opposing slavery, and supporting sexual abstinence.
The most committed members of the Society of Universal Friends were a group of unmarried women who took leading roles in their households and community.
In the 1790s, the Society acquired land in Western New York where they formed the township of Jerusalem near Penn Yan, New York.
The Society of Universal Friends ceased to exist by the 1860s.
Many writers have portrayed the Friend as a woman, and either a pioneer or a fraud; others have viewed the preacher as transgender or non-binary.