Seth Bennett Hinshaw (1908 - 1998)

Born 20 Aug 1908 in Ramseur, Randolph, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Edith (Woody) Hinshaw — married 26 May 1937 in Center Friends Meeting parsonage, North Carolina

Died 19 Apr 1998 at age 89 in Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Sharon Hinshaw-Payne [send private message]

Biography

Born Aug 20 1908, Holly Spring MM, Ramseur, Randolph County, North Carolina, son of Amos Stephen Hinshaw and Cordelia Cox.

Seth received his education at Duke University, A.B. (magna cum laude), 1935; graduate study, 1935-36.

He married Mary Edith Woody, May 26 1937, Center Friends Meeting Parsonage, North Carolina. Mary, daughter of John Woody and Edith Terrell, was born Jul 29 1913, Wilmington, Ohio. To this union were born:

1. Dr. Howard Thomas Hinshaw (1938-)
2. Dr. Waldo Stephen Hinshaw (1940-)
3. Helen Eva Hinshaw Shore (1945-)

Seth authored many books on early Quaker life and Quaker history.10 His writings include:

1. "Carolina Quakers"; North Carolina Yearly Meeting of Friends, 1972.
2. "Walk Cheerfully, Friends"; Meredith Webb, 1978.
3. "Friends at Holly Spring: Meeting and Community"; North Carolina Friends Historical Society, 1982.
4. "Mary Barker Hinshaw, Quaker; A Story of Carolina Friends in Civil War Times"; Friends United Press, 1982.
5. "Friends in North Carolina, 1665-1985"; North Carolina Friends Society, 1984.

Contributions to magazines.

Career: Pastor of the Mount Airy Friends Church, 1937-41, and Asheboro Friends Church, 1941-52; North Carolina Yearly Meeting of Friends, Greensboro, executive secretary, 1952-68; pastor of Rocky River Friends Church, 1968-77. Member of the North Carolina Friends Historical Society, Phi Beta Kappa.

Seth, who wrote many Quaker histories, once said "Friends (Quakers) were the first and only religious body in Carolina for almost fifty years. George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends, visited Carolina in 1672 and held the first religious services. In 1972 Friends celebrated their 300th anniversary in Carolina. Carolina Quakers is a historical and pictorial account of these three centuries, and it includes 560 pictures".

"Mary Barker Hinshaw was my grandmother. Grandfather Thomas Hinshaw would not participate in the fighting but was taken along with the confederate army to Gettysburg. He was taken as a prisoner of war but was released by order of President Lincoln. Grandmother Hinshaw and a sister-in-law took four children in a covered wagon six hundred miles to Indiana in 1864 in order to reunite the husbands and wives. It is a fantastic story of devotion, unknown by younger generations, that was on the verge of being forgotten. Friends in North Carolina is a four hundred-page historical survey of the Quaker experience during more than three centuries".

Seth resided at Route #1, Box 72, Ramseur, N.C. 27316.

Seth Bennett Hinshaw died Apr 19 1998, Friends Homes, Guilford College, Guilford County, North Carolina; buried Holly Spring Friends Meeting.

Seth's obituary was published in "The Courier Tribune" (Asheboro, North Carolina) on Monday, April 20, 1998:

GREENSBORO - Seth B. Hinshaw of Friends Homes at Guilford College, died Saturday, April 18, 1998, at the Homes.

Funeral service will be 2 p.m. Tuesday at Holly Spring Friends Meeting, Ramseur, where he was a member. Burial will be in the church cemetery.

He was a native of Randolph County, attended Duke University and was a pastor of Friends meetings in Mt. Airy, Asheboro and Chatham County. He was the superintendent of the N.C. Yearly Meeting of Friends for 16 years and was the author of several books and pamphlets on Quaker practices and heritage.

Surviving are wife, Mary Edith Woody Hinshaw; daughter, Helen H. Shore of Asheboro; sons, Dr. Howard T. Hinshaw of Charlotte, Dr. Waldo S. Hinshaw of Burlingame, Calif.; seven grandchildren.

The family will be at Forbis and Dick Funeral Home, Friendly Road, Greensboro, 7-9 p.m. Monday.

Memorials may be made to Friends Homes, 925 New Garden Road, Greensboro, N.C. 27410 or Holly Spring Friends Meeting, 2938 Holly Spring Road, Ramseur, N.C. 27316.

Another obituary for Seth (from which newspaper unknown) was widely distributed on internet genealogy lists, as follows:

Seth B. Hinshaw of Friends Homes died at Friends Homes at Guilford College on April 19, 1998. Funeral will be at Holly Spring Friends Meeting on Tuesday, April 21, at 2 p.m. Burial will be in the Holly Spring Cemetery. The family will be at Forbis and Dick Funeral Home on Friendly Ave. on Monday, April 20, from 7-9 p.m. A native of Randolph County and member of Holly Spring Friends Meeting, he received his education at Duke University. He served as pastor of Friends Meetings at Mt. Airy, Asheboro, Corinth (Southampton Co, VA) and Rocky River (Chatham Co, NC) and was Executive Secretary of the N.C. Yearly Meeting of Friends for 16 years (1952-1968). Among the books he authored were Carolina Quakers: 1672-1972; Walk Cheerfully, Friends; Life in the Quaker Lane; Mary Barker Hinshaw, Quaker; and Friends at Holly Spring, and numerous other resources, books and pamphlets relating the Quaker practices and heritage. Surviving are wife, Mary Edith Woody Hinshaw; daughter, Helen H. Shore of Asheboro; sons, Dr. Howard T. Hinshaw of Charlotte and Dr. Waldo S. Hinshaw of Burlingame, CA; and seven grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made to Friends Homes, 925 New Garden Road, Greensboro, NC 27410; or to Holly Spring Friends Meeting, 2938 Holly Spring Road, Ramseur, NC 27316.

SOURCE: Newspaper Unknown. Circulated online.

Sources

• North Carolina Birth Index, 1800-2000; http://www.ancestry.com.
• "Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy", by William Wade Hinshaw, in many well-stocked libraries.
• "Social Security Death Index" (as it is commonly called), derived from the Social Security Administration "Death Master File".
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/73569508/seth-bennett-hinshaw : accessed 19 December 2021), memorial page for Seth Bennett Hinshaw (20 Aug 1908–19 Apr 1998), Find a Grave Memorial ID 73569508, citing Holly Spring Friends Meeting Cemetery, Ramseur, Randolph County, North Carolina, USA ; Maintained by Lynne Belcher Burgess RN (contributor 48324393) .