Post, Dr. Isaac and Amy

Post, Dr. Isaac (1798–1872) and Amy (1802–1889)

Isaac and Amy Post were Hicksite Quakers, followers of Elias Hicks. They came to embrace Spiritualism when it was still in its infancy. They may have been present on the night of March 31, 1848, when the rappings first occurred at the Fox Family Cottage. Certainly four months later, Isaac Post was responsible for connecting messages that were received laboriously by raps. As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, “Isaac Post had instituted a method of spelling by raps, and messages were pouring through.” Later on, when the Fox Sisters were suffering from various charges and attacks, the Posts remained staunch friends and protectors. Isaac called together the very first meeting of Spiritualists.

Amy—who became known as “The Mother of Modern Spiritualism"—was active in the Women’s Rights Movement and was a personal friend of Susan B. Anthony. The two women worked together in the Abolition and Anti-Slavery Movement. It was due to these activities that the Posts were forced to leave the Quaker movement, since their activities were contrary to the Hicksite Quaker rules.

Isaac developed as a medium producing automatic writing. He claimed that his hand was guided by such luminaries as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Emanuel Swedenborg, and John Caldwell Calhoun. In 1852, he wrote Voices From the Spirit World. He became very active in the Abolition movement and in politics generally.

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