THE QUAKERS, THEIR MIGRATION TO THE
UPPER OHIO, THEIR CUSTOMS
AND DISCIPLINE
BY H. E. SMITH, MARIETTA,
OHIO
George Fox was the Father of the Quaker
Meeting,
sometimes called Friends' Meeting. He
tells us that
"Truth sprang up first (to us to
be a people to the Lord)
in Leicestershire, England, in
1644." He describes how
"the movement first spread to the
neighboring counties,
then by 1654 over England, Scotland and
Ireland; in
1655 many went beyond the seas and in
1656 Truth
broke forth in America."
In a General Epistle dated 1660,
Germany, America,
Virginia and many other places, as
Florence, Mantua,
Palatine, Tuscany, Italy, Rome, Turkey,
Jerusalem,
France, Geneva, Norway, Barbadoes,
Bermuda, An-
tigua, Jamaica, Surinam and
Newfoundland are men-
tioned as having been visited by
Friends.
In all the work of the Meetings, women
have shared
an equal responsibility with the men.
One of Fox's
earliest followers was Margaret Fell,
then the wife of
Judge Fell of Swarthmore, who, on the
death of the
Judge, became the wife of George Fox.
She was a
woman of position and wealth, and she
used both to
advance the teachings of Fox.
Swarthmore Hall, the
home of the Fells, who with the Kirbys,
were Lords of
the Manor of Ulverston, became a center
for the going
and coming of Quaker preachers to all
parts of the
world and Margaret Fell, assisted by
her daughters,
Sarah and Rachel, was truly the Mother
in Israel to the
new faith.
(35)
36 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
At the beginning, Fox and his followers
did not have
in mind the establishment of a new
church, but as he
began to speak to the people, directing
them "to the
Divine Light of Christ and His Spirit
in their hearts,
by which Light they might see their
sins and by which
Light they might also see their
Saviour, Jesus Christ,
to save them from their sins," he
found that many
came to hear him who had, in their own
meditations,
known of the Inner Light, and who, when
called to-
gether by Fox, found themselves in
unity with him, and
an organization was unconsciously
begun. They first
called themselves "Children of the
Light," then the
"Friends of Truth," then the
"Religious Society of
Friends." George Fox says:
"In 1650, we were first
called Quakers by Justice Bennett,
because I bid them
tremble at the word of the Lord."
Fox lived long enough to see the
Quakers become
an active factor in the religious life
not only in England,
Germany, Holland, and Ireland, but also
across the
seas in America. On his return from a
trip which
took him into Jamaica, Maryland, New
England, Vir-
ginia, New York, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and the
Carolinas, in a Manuscript Journal of
his American
Journey, Fox estimates that he traveled
16,149 miles,
from October, 1671, to May, 1673. Dr.
R. M. Jones
says: "When Fox sailed away for
Bristol, he left be-
hind him a strong group of Friends
(Quakers), stretch-
ing, with some breaks, from the coast
of New Hamp-
shire to Albemarle Sound in the
Carolinas, having ac-
complished a piece of labor which, so
far as I know, no
visitor to America in Colonial times
paralleled."
For one hundred years, or until the
Revolutionary
|
(37) |
38
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
War, Friends continued to increase in
number, influ-
ence and power in America, reaching
from Rhode Island
to the Carolinas, with Pennsylvania in
the center, the
scene of Penn's Holy Experience. During
this hundred
years, a moving of the Quakers from the
North toward
the South was continually in progress.
From far-away
Nantucket, they came down through
Pennsylvania and
New Jersey, stopping awhile in
Maryland, then went on
into Virginia and, before the
Revolutionary War was
over, they had passed through the
Carolinas into
Georgia. Not all the Quakers moved
South, but so
many went that Stephen B. Weeks, in Southern
Quakers
and Slavery, says, "The influence of these new settlers
was so distinct that I have ventured to
call this move-
ment the replanting of Southern
Quakerism." The
cause of this movement was threefold.
In New Eng-
land, especially in Nantucket, many had
been forced
to become fishermen. The whaling
industry was wan-
ing and they had to seek new homes. The
Southland
beckoned them. Second, the Quaker's
attitude toward
war, both in the Indian wars and the
Revolutionary
War, caused suspicion concerning many
of his actions
and no doubt many unpleasant affairs
occurred, espe-
cially around Philadelphia and New
York, so their fam-
ilies became dissatisfied and wanted to
seek new sur-
roundings. Third, the Quakers were
primarily farmers.
In the South was plenty of land which was
purchased
by them and converted into large
plantations. Favor-
able reports of the country went back
to the North and
others were urged to follow until the
Quakers were in
the majority in many parts of Virginia,
North and
South Carolina and northern Georgia.
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 39
At the time of the immigration of the
Quakers to
the southern country, slavery existed
in the North as
well as the South and it would not, at
that time, impress
them that they were settling in a
slaveholding country;
but the feeling toward holding slaves
in the North
changed very rapidly and the Mason and
Dixon's line,
together with the Ohio River, soon
became the boundary
between the slave and free states.
The Southern Quakers found themselves
in a strange
and unpleasant position. Their
teachings opposed slav-
ery and their brethren in the North
were continually
admonishing them concerning their
treatment of the
black man. They first raised their
voices against the
buying and selling of slaves. This was
made a dis-
ownable act in Virginia as early as
1772; then they gave
their attention to the bodily comfort
of their slaves, also
encouraging them to read and write, and
following close
upon these reforms was the movement for
Emancipa-
tion and Colonization.
At a Monthly Meeting held at South
River, Virginia,
on the 20th day of the Ninth month,
1777, the Meeting
appointed William Johnson and
Christopher Anthony
"to assist those Friends appointed
to labor with such
Friends as still hold their negroes in
bondage, to con-
vince them, if possible, of the evil of
that practice and
its inconsistency with our Christian
profession."
It was again ordered in 1780 that those
who con-
tinued to hold their fellow creatures
in bondage were to
be particularly visited and labored
with.
In 1788, it was inserted in the
discipline "that none
among us be concerned in importing,
buying, selling,
40 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications holding, or overseeing slaves, and that all bear a faith- ful testimony against the practice." Thus it is seen that at the close of the century, the Virginia Quakers had practically freed themselves from slavery, yet it is evident that they were not satisfied with their surroundings and that they would embrace an opportunity to seek new homes. |
|
The Carolina Quakers were not only in accord with their Virginia brethren in their desire for the black man's freedom, but they went farther in that they de- sired him to be secure and protected after he became free. This aggressiveness on the part of North Caro- lina brought about enactments of certain laws by the Assembly of 1796, that were aimed directly at the Qua- kers. For example, "No slave shall be set free in any |
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 41
case or under any pretense whatever,
except for meri-
torious service, to be adjudged of and
allowed by the
County Court and license first had and
obtained there-
for."
This law brought out the true spirit of
the sect, the
church itself became a slaveholder, or
in other words,
the church would appoint a committee,
who had power
to receive slaves from masters who
wished to free them;
thus the Quaker was released from being
a slaveholder
and the slave was virtually free. It
can be easily seen
that manumission and colonization
societies would soon
follow and successful colonies were
founded in Haiti
and Liberia.
Those conflicts between the state and
the church
could only cause an uneasiness among
the Quakers and,
as in Virginia, those in the Carolinas
also were ready
to look for new homes.
Away to the northward beyond the
mountains and
beyond the Ohio River, was a new
country, rich in all
the natural resources, suitable to the
crops that their
forefathers cultivated in Pennsylvania,
and above all,
the Great Ordinance, that created the
Northwest Terri-
tory, guaranteed that neither slavery
nor involuntary
servitude, except for crime, was ever
to be permitted in
any of this territory.
As early as 1782, two Monthly Meetings
had been
established in southwestern
Pennsylvania near the Mo-
nongahela River, one called Westland
and the other
Redstone. These Meetings were the
stepping-stones to
the Northwest for the Quaker of the
South.
In the eastern central part of North
Carolina was a
Quarterly Meeting, known as Contentnea.
One of its
42 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
branches was Coresound Monthly Meeting,
in Carteret
County. The propriety of removing to
the west had
been seriously considered and finally
two of its members
were deputed to go and visit the new
country and report
their judgment. They were Joseph Dew
and Horton
Howard. Trent Monthly Meeting, in Jones
County,
also sent a representative, Aaron
Brown. These men
traveled with duly accredited minutes.
The following
is evidence that they crossed the
mountains safely:
At Westland Monthly Meeting of Friends,
twenty-second
of Sixth Month, 1799.
Our esteemed Friends, Joseph Dew and
Horton Howard, at-
tended this meeting and produced
certificates from a Monthly
Meeting at Coresound, in Carteret
County, North Carolina, ex-
pressive of Friends' unity with their
viewing this part of the
country and other parts adjacent, with a
prospect of removing
and settling within the verge of this,
if way should open, and
our friend, Aaron Brown, also attended
and produced an extract
from the minutes of a Monthly Meeting on
Trent River, Jones
Country, North Carolina, expressive of
their unity and con-
currence with his accompanying our
aforesaid Friends, whose
company, exemplary deportment and
cautious proceeding, in so
weighty a matter as they are engaged in,
obtained our approba-
tion and is satisfactory to us, and the
religious labors of Joseph
Dew, who is certified to be an approved
minister, have been
acceptable and edifying.
Joseph Dew, Horton Howard and Aaron
Brown
were men of vision. They undoubtedly
extended their
investigation beyond the Ohio River,
but as their report
was a verbal one, we know only its
reaction. Coresound
Monthly Meeting started a stream of
families to the
northwest. Aaron Brown's report was
such that cer-
tificates of removal, addressed to
Westland, were
granted to all its members, after which
the Meeting was
duly closed and all the records, etc.,
returned to the
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 43
Quarterly Meeting, with information
that there was no
more a Trent Quarterly Meeting. It was
in the first
month of the year 1800, that this body
of men, women
and children started for their new home
to the north-
ward, taking with them horses, cattle,
bedding, and
such household furnishings as could be
hauled on roads
through the wilderness over plains,
valleys and moun-
tains. After five months, we hear from
them from the
minutes of the Westland Monthly
Meeting, Sixth
Month, 1800:
This Meeting is in receipt of extracts,
from the minutes and
proceedings of a Monthly Meeting on
Trent River, in Jones
County, North Carolina, telling of the
exercises of Friends of
that meeting which resulted in that
meeting, almost in a body,
concluding to issue certificates to
nearly all its members, and
surrendering their privileges of holding
meeting, to Contentnea
Quarterly Meeting, and as many of these
aforesaid Friends and
their families (and several from the
Monthly Meeting of Core-
sound, in Carteret County, North
Carolina), have arrived and are
now as sojourners in the vicinity of
this meeting, and being a
subject of such magnitude and
importance, this meeting ap-
pointed David Greave (and eleven others)
to confer with them,
give such advice and assistance as may
be necessary to procure
a settlement for Friends in the
Territory Northwest of the Ohio
River and report to our next meeting.
After resting in the vicinity of Westland
and Red-
stone, Pennsylvania, for several
months, this company
moved on across the Ohio River, just
north of Wheel-
ing, into the Northwest Territory, the
Ninth month,
1800, three years before Ohio became a
State. Six miles
up a small stream that empties into the
Ohio River at
Bridgeport, they spent their first
First-Day--not having
omitted their meeting for worship on
this day--upon a
log they held the first Quaker Meeting
ever held in the
Northwest Territory. Afterwards they
held it in the
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 45
newly-built cabin of Jonathan Taylor,
and later built
a new log meeting-house and called it
"Concord." To-
day, near this site, is a Quaker
Meeting-house, holding
regular meetings in the village, now
called Colerain, on
the highway between Wheeling and Cadiz.
By the close
of the year 1800, it is said that more
than eight hundred
Friends had moved into the Ohio
Country.
Borden Stanton, one of the leaders of
the new settle-
ment, in answering an inquiry from
Friends at Wrights-
borough, Georgia, writes the following
letter:
Concord, Ohio.
Twenty-fifth of Fifth Month, 1802.
Dear Friends:
Having understood by William Patten and
William Hogan,
from your parts, that a number among you
have had some
thoughts and turnings of mind respecting
a removal to this
country . . . and . . . as it has been
the lot of a number of us
to undertake the work a little before
you, I thought, (to give) a
true statement (for your information) of
some of our strugglings
and reasonings concerning the propriety
of our moving . . .
I may begin thus and say that for
several years Friends
have had some distant view of moving out
of that oppressive
part of the land, but did not know where
until the year 1799,
when we had an acceptable visit from
some traveling Friends
from the western part of Pennsylvania.
They thought proper
to propose to Friends for consideration,
whether it would not
be agreeable to best wisdom for us unitedly
to remove northwest
of the Ohio River -- to a place where
there were no slaves held,
being a free country. This proposal made
a deep impression on
our minds.
Nevertheless, although we had a prospect
of something of
the kind, it was at first very crossing
to my natural inclination,
being well settled as to the outward.
So, I strove against the
thoughts for a considerable time . . .
as it seemed likely to break
up our Monthly Meeting, which I had
reason to believe was set
up in the wisdom of Truth. Thus I was
concerned many times
to weigh the matter in the balance of
the sanctuary; till at length
I considered that there was no prospect
of our number being
46 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications increased by convincement, on account of the oppression that abounds in the land. Under a view of these things, I was made sensible beyond doubting, that it was in the ordering of Wisdom for us to remove; and that the Lord was opening a way for our enlargement, if found worthy. Friends generally feeling something of the same, there were three of them who went to view the country, and one worthy public Friend. They traveled on till they came to this part of the western country, where they were stopped in their minds, believing it was the place for Friends to settle. So they |
|
turned back and informed us of the same in a solemn meet- ing; in which dear Joseph Dew, the public Friend, in- timated that he saw the seed of God sown in abundance, which extended far north- westward. This information, in the way it was delivered to us much tendered our spirits, and strengthened us in the belief that it was right. So we undertook the work, and found the Lord to be a present helper in every need- ful time. . . . Such reports from the new country not only brought many families from the South, but oth- ers came directly west from the Jerseys and Pennsylvania and helped to increase the numbers until, by the year 1826, more than eight thousand |
Quakers were peacefully settled among the limestone hills of Belmont, Jefferson, Harrison and Columbiana |
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 47
Counties, in Ohio, where they
established a civilization
unsurpassed in the United States.*
Another slight wave of immigration
occurred about
1835-1840, due to the desire of some
who had large
families again to secure land for their
children. When
the National Road was completed from
Wheeling to
Columbus, it passed through the Quaker
Country at St.
Clairsville. Farm land advanced in
price, and the sale
of an acre there would buy ten acres
down in southern
Morgan and western Washington
Counties. Yet it was
* In his Southern Quakers and
Slavery, Stephen B. Weeks thus describes
the routes by which Quakers came from
the south to Ohio and what was
then generally known as the West:
The great road to follow the western
migration was the Cumberland
or National Road. It extended from
Cumberland, Maryland, through Wheel-
ing, Virginia,* across the Ohio River
into Ohio and Indiana. It was begun
in 1806; was completed to Wheeling in
1821; reached Columbus in 1827
and Indianapolis in 1830. With this road
completed, Friends of Virginia
and the Middle States found traveling
much easier than in earlier days, but
Friends have always shown a defiant
enthusiasm in overcoming difficulties.
It does not appear that this route was
used much by emigrants from
North Carolina. There were several
routes for parties removing from
central North Carolina, and many Friends
who proposed going west from
eastern North Carolina first went up
into the central part of the State.
1. One route was by what was known as
the Kanawha road. This
led through a rough, mountainous country
for most of the way. "Crossing
Dan River, it led by Patrick C. H.,
Virginia, to Marberry's Gap in the
Blue Ridge Mountains, thence across Clinch
Mountain, by way of Pack's
Ferry on New River, thence over White
Oak Mountain to the falls of the
Kanawha, and down that river to the
Ohio, crossing at Gallipolis."
2. Another route was known as the
Kentucky road. By this road the
traveler crossed the Blue Ridge at
Ward's Gap, crossed New River near
Wythe C. H., Virginia, thence by way of
Abingdon, thence through Cum-
berland Gap, and through Kentucky to
Cincinnati.
3. A third route was by way of Poplar
Camp and Flour Gap; through
Brownsville and Lexington, Kentucky, and
across the Ohio at Cincinnati,
Lawrenceburg or Madison. This route was
very rough.
4. The fourth was known as the Magadee
route and lay over the
Virginia turnpike, which had been built
from Richmond to the Ohio at
the mouth of the Kanawha. This was a
favorite route from 1810 until
the age of railroads. Emigrants from the
eastern part of North Carolina
would sometimes go to Richmond direct,
while others would strike the
pike at Lynchburg or Fincastle, while
still others from Carolina would turn
off the pike at Lewisburg, go by another
pike route to Wheeling and cross
the Ohio there. It is said that as many
went by this route as by all the
other routes.
* Wheeling was then in Virginia; West
Virginia was not made a state until in 1863.
48 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications the same limestone land, covered with hard wood and, when cleared, would produce the same crops as that in Belmont County, and many families sold their farms and moved by wagons across the county to new homes. Twenty years saw their new settlement, with Penns- ville, Chesterhill and Plymouth as centers, as prosperous as the hills of Belmont; in fact, the meetings, schools |
|
and social life of these Quakers saw their second trans- planting. Here, until after the Civil War, their organization, their meetings, and their schools were maintained. At present, one meeting, only, at Chesterhill, remains, but twice a week, on Fifth-Day and First-Day, they come together, just as in the time of George Fox, for their business and worship. |
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 49
From these Quaker communities, their
descendants
have gone forth into every State. No
longer can the
historian follow them as a horde
advancing into a new
country, but only as individuals; but,
as individuals,
they ever cherish the belief of the
Universal Inner Light,
which will be sufficient unto the Great
Day.
ZACHARIAH DICKS AND QUAKER MIGRATION TO
SOUTHWESTERN OHIO
In an address at Waynesville, Ohio, on
the occasion
of the Ter-centenary of the birth of
George Fox, C. B.
Galbreath spoke of the prophecy of
Zachariah Dicks
and the growth of Quakerism in
southwestern Ohio as
follows:
The migration to Ohio seems to have
had, in addition to
the pioneer instinct shared by the
Quakers and their opposition
to the institution of slavery, another
impelling force. Perhaps
there is no time limit to the prophecy
recorded in Holy Writ:
"Your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall
dream dreams, your young men shall see
visions." In the Caro-
linas and Georgia there arose a Quaker
preacher who, certainly
saw visions and who appealed to Friends
with prophetic power.
His name was Zachariah Dicks. He was
born in Pennsylvania
and went to North Carolina about the
year 1754. He was, there-
fore, not a young man when he preached
with remarkable power
to the Quakers of the Southland. He
visited Wrightsborough,
Georgia, and Bush River, South Carolina,
in 1803, and urged
Friends to leave their homes. He
prophesied "an internecine
war within the lives of the children
then living." Bloodshed and
destruction were to follow. The cause of
this devastating war-
fare, which he foretold in vivid
language, was slavery. The
Friends at Bush River had erected, a
short time previously, a
commodious and substantial meeting-house
which they had ex-
pected to occupy for many years. To! the number of
500, they
had frequently assembled there for
worship. On one occasion,
when they had gathered there, Dicks
concluded a stirring appeal
with the words, "Oh, Bush River!
Bush River, how hath thy
beauty faded away and gloomy darkness
eclipsed thy day." He
traveled southward repeating his startling prophecy to
Friends
Vol. XXXVII-4.
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 51
who heard with alarm. The result is a
tribute to his power of
prophetic appeal. In 1800, the Quakers
had become well estab-
lished in South Carolina and Georgia. It
is recorded that they
could have been numbered by thousands. By 1809, nearly all
of them had departed for the West. They
"sold their lands,
worth from ten to twenty dollars an
acre, for from three to six
dollars, and departed never to
return." They came in great
numbers to this section of our state.
Among those who are
present today are certainly the
descendants of many who heard
it, for no less an authority than
Stephen B. Weeks tells us that
Friends by our family name came to
eastern Ohio.
Many prophecies of the end of the world
and other dire
calamities have been unfulfilled and
forgotten; but the prophecy
of Zachariah Dicks had an awful
fulfillment in the cataclysm of
the Civil War, which our ancestors, who
fled at the warning cry,
and their descendants, did not wholly
escape.
The history of pioneer Quakerism in
southwestern Ohio has
been written in interesting detail by
Clarkson Butterworth, who
presented it in the form of an address
on the occasion of the
centennial anniversary of the Miami
Monthly Meeting of
Waynesville, Ohio, Tenth month, 16,
1903. From this valuable
contribution it appears that the Miami
Monthly Meeting began
its organized existence on the
"13th day of the Tenth month,
1803." In chronological order,
Clarkson Butterworth has re-
corded the history of this meeting from
1803 to 1828. The his-
tory of Quakerism in this section of
Ohio, from 1828 to 1903,
was continued at the centennial in
addresses by Eli Jay and
Davis Furas. These addresses are so
complete that they leave
little to be said on the history of the
Society of Friends in this
section of the state.
The address by Clarkson Butterworth, to
which the
above reference is made, is here quoted
in part.
More than two and a half centuries ago,
in England, the
times were ripe for such a prophet and
leader. Warring factions
had long deluged the land with blood,
and human life and com-
fort were little regarded. Whatever
party chanced to be in the
ascendant oppressed the others, and
religious persecution and
intolerance prevailed widely. Priest and
ruler were self-seeking
and profligate, and spiritual wickedness
in high places was a
reproach to the nation. Then the pure
and innocent George
Fox, by no means the least of the
prophets, recognizing the
52 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
power and authority of the
"Indwelling and Inspeaking Spirit
of God," was impelled to proclaim it, and to call
men and women
into obedience to its monitions; and
multitudes, tired of the in-
sincerity and want of steadfastness which had been so
nearly
universal among the religious professors
and teachers, were soon
gathered into fellowship with the plain
true man. They had
seen how the high dignitaries of the
church had joined in perse-
cuting those differing from them in
opinion, but as soon as the
changing times put uppermost those of
different views, made
haste to save their profits and
emoluments by change of religious
pretensions; and the "common
people" were glad to find some-
thing more stable, and consonant with
the witness for truth
within themselves. Many of them found
like call to service
with Fox, and, the soil being ready for
the seed, went far and
wide through the nation and into other
dominions and the islands
of the sea, and to the shores of
America, spreading their per-
ception of the truth, and teaching human
equality, human rights,
and human brotherhood.
They set up meetings for religious
communion and worship
and for the care of the church as there
seemed need of them, in
all countries where they obtained a
foothold. Many migrated to
these shores, meetings were set up along
the seaboard, and later
further inland, and the Friends and
their simple democratic ways
and views had a powerful influence in
shaping the free institu-
tions of this country and overthrowing
human slavery therein.
In the latter part of the 18th century,
two Monthly Meet-
ings, Westland and Redstone, were
established in southwestern
Pennsylvania, and these united in
composing Redstone Quarterly
Meeting -- all subordinate to Baltimore
Yearly Meeting. About
that time Friends in the slave states,
not liking to rear and leave
their families under the influence of
the slave system, and hoping
to better their material situation as
well, began to migrate into
the Territory Northwest of the Ohio
River. Settlements were
made in eastern Ohio, and in the
neighborhood of Waynesville --
the latter, at least, coming largely or
entirely from the slave
states -- many from the Monthly Meeting
of Bush River and
Cane Creek in Newberry and Union
Counties, South Carolina.
Their settlement, in the Miami Country,
was within the jurisdic-
tion of Westland Monthly Meeting
aforesaid. A little later, im-
migrants arrived from the eastern parts
of Pennsylvania, and
from the eastern seashore states, and
elsewhere.
On Eleventh month, 20th, 1799, the
families of Robert Kelly,
Abijah O'Neall and James Mills, from
Bush River Monthly
Meeting, settled near the site of
Waynesville. 4, 25, 1800, David
Faulkner and David Painter arrived from
Hopewell Monthly
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 53
Meeting, Frederick County, Virginia.
George Haworth, David
Holloway and Rowland Richards came the
same year, and in
that year Joseph Cloud (who later
settled here himself), a min-
ister from Cane Creek Monthly Meeting,
North Carolina, came
and held several meetings, among which
are believed to have
been the first Friends' Meetings held in
the original limits of
Miami Monthly Meeting, which embraced
all the territory north
of the Ohio River and west of the
Hocking, extending indefi-
nitely north and west.
Other Friends continued to arrive until
4, 26, 1801, when a
number collected together in a volunteer
Meeting for Worship,
at the dwelling of Rowland and Lydia
Richards, which the aged
and intelligent Mary Bailey tells me was
near the center of the
block in Waynesville, bounded by North,
Third, Miami and
Fourth Streets, and long owned
afterwards by Noah Haines and
family -- a part still owned by a
granddaughter, Anna C. F.
O'Neall, and a part by Eliza Haines,
widow of Seth Silver
Haines, youngest son of Noah. Twelve
families were repre-
sented at the meeting, consisting of 24
parents and 47 children,
all said to have been living within one mile of the
meeting-place.
The membership of many of these was, or
soon came to be,
certified to Westland Monthly Meeting
aforesaid, about 300
miles away, but then the most suitable
Monthly Meeting for the
Friends of this settlement, who
maintained their aforesaid volun-
teer Meeting for Worship during that summer, and in the
fol-
lowing winter forwarded a request to
that Monthly Meeting for
a recognized meeting to be granted them,
to be held on First-days
and in the middle of the week; and 12, 26, 1801, that Monthly
Meeting adopted the following minute:
A number of Friends being settled near
the Little Miami, request has
been made for the privilege of holding
Meetings for Worship on First and
Fifth-days of the week. After weighty
deliberation, it appears to be the
sense of this meeting that a committee
be appointed to sit with them,
inspect into their situation and judge
of the propriety of granting their
request. Jacob Griffith, Abram Smith,
David Grave and Henry Mills are
appointed to the service, to report when
called on by this meeting.
The following minute of the same meeting
bears date 9, 25,
1802.
The Representatives to the Quarterly
Meeting [Redstone], report they
all attended the same, and that that
meeting united in leaving this at
liberty to act in respect to the request
of Friends near the Little Miami as
way may open in the Truth. After diverse
sentiments were expressed, it
appeared the sense of Friends that the
request be granted till otherwise
directed. David Grave, Joseph Townsend,
Abraham Smith and Henry
54 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Lewis are appointed to write to the
Friends there on the occasion and for-
ward the substance of this minute when
opportunity offers.
It seems there were no, reliable mails,
and private conveyance
had to be awaited.
The meeting was set up accordingly, and
appears to have
used, for a meeting-house, a log
building which had been erected
for a dwelling by Ezekiel Cleaver,
maternal grandfather of late
Empson Rogers. It stood on the northeast
corner of Third and
Miami Streets, at or near the site of
the present residence of
Adam Stoops. The logs for its
construction were drawn together
with oxen by William O'Neall -- then
nine years of age -- son
of Abijah and Anna (Kelly) O'Neall, and
father of George and
the late Abijah P. O'Neall.
The first marriage among the Friends
here was that of
William Mills, son of James, to Mary,
daughter of Rowland
and Lydia Richards, which was solemnized
by a Baptist minister,
a method of marriage at that time
resorted to with the consent
of Friends concerned because the Monthly
Meeting which might
have been consulted, was so far out of
reach. They became the
parents of ten children, of whom
Elizabeth, the oldest, was born
10, 4, 1803.
The first Friends' Meeting-House, built
for that purpose at
Waynesville, was on the southwest corner
of Fourth and High
Streets, at or very near the site of the
present Meeting-House
of Orthodox Friends. It was probably
erected after Miami
Monthly Meeting was established -- say
in 1803
or 1804
-- and
was a log structure. I am inclined to
the opinion that it was
succeeded by a larger and better one of
the same material before
Friends built their large brick
meeting-house in 1811 -- the same
in which we are holding these centennial
exercises -- on the West
side of Fourth Street, between High and
Miami.
Much of the foregoing matter about
Friends' settlements and
early meetings in these regions, I have
derived from an unsigned
but reliable publication, dated 2, 19, 1863, put
forth by the late
Achilles Pugh, an Orthodox Friend who
had lived quite a while
in Waynesville, and was an intelligent
and capable man.
The Meeting for Worship aforesaid,
authorized by Westland
Monthly Meeting and Redstone Quarterly
Meeting, was of the
class called Indulged Meetings, and was
held on trial, so to speak.
By the forepart of 1803, the Friends,
settled about Waynes-
ville and neighboring regions, had
become quite numerous. Many
of them were, or soon became, members of
Westland Monthly
Meeting by certificates from elsewhere.
I have already given
the names of some of the earliest.
Repeating some of them, I
The Quakers; Their
Migration to the Upper Ohio, etc.
55
now give the
following nearly full list of all families, and indi-
viduals who were
parts of families, and some not in families, who
had arrived before
10, 13, 1803. First -- some who were certi-
fied to Westland
Monthly Meeting by Bush River Monthly Meet-
ing, South Carolina,
9, 25, 1802, viz.:
Abijah and Anna
(Kelly) O'Neall and children ........... 9 persons
Samuel and Hannah
(Pearson) Kelly and children.......... 8 persons
James and Lydia (Jay)
Mills and children ...............10 persons
Robert and Sarah
(Patty) Kelly and children............. 6(?)persons
Mary (Jay) Patty,
wife of Charles Patty ................ 1 person
Layton and Elizabeth
(Mills) Jay and children........... 8 persons
Anna Horner, wife of
Thomas Horner...................... 1 person
Ellis Pugh and Phebe,
his wife.......................... 2 persons
This partial
list ......................................45(?) persons
From Cane Creek,
South Carolina, Monthly Meeting at dates
prefixed:
12, 19, 1803--Amos
and Elizabeth (Townsend) Cook, and family.
12, 19, 1803--Levi
and Ann (Frazier) Cook, and family.
4, 23, 1803--Esther
Campbell, Naomi Spray.
4, 23, 1803--Samuel
and Mary (Wilson) Spray, and family.
4, 23, 1803--Robert
and Hannah (Wilson) Furnas, and family.
5, 21, 1803--Dinah
(Cook) Wilson.
5, 21, 1803--Jehu and
Sarah (Hawkins) Wilson, and family.
5, 21,
1803--Christopher and Mary (Cox) Wilson, and family.
5, 21, 1803--Thomas
and Tamar Cox.
This partial list
contained about 40 persons.
Other names--
Ezekiel and Abigail
Cleaver and family.
Samuel Linton and
five children--Nathan, David, James, Elizabeth (Lin-
ton) Satterthwaite,
Jane (Linton) Arnold.
Edward and Margaret
Kindley and family.
John Mullin and
family.
Benjamin and Hannah
Evans and family. [This family, though settled
here before the date
10, 13, 1803, produced to Miami Monthly Meeting in
6th Month, 1804, a
certificate from Bush River Monthly Meeting. No
doubt there were
numerous other Friends settled in this corner of Ohio
before the opening of
Miami Monthly Meeting, who brought certificates to
it later, and yet
others whom I have failed to mention, who had been
certified to Westland
Monthly Meeting.] I would guess the total number
of members in this
partial list, named and unnamed, was not less than 75,
making a total of
fully 160.
56 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
By this time, these felt the need of
further meeting privileges,
and about Sixth month, 1803, or earlier,
through Westland
Monthly Meeting, they asked of Redstone
Quarterly Meeting the
establishment of their Meeting for Friendship and the grant of a
Preparative Meeting and a Monthly
Meeting. Thereupon, said
Quarterly Meeting directed a committee
to sit with them and
report their judgment in the matter, and
at the Quarterly Meeting
held at Westland, 9, 5, 1803, granted
the request as the following
minutes indicate.
Ist. The Committee (excepting one) having sat with Friends
near
Little Miami, report that after
weightily conferring together, did believe
that it might be right to grant their
request -- Meeting for Worship to
be held on First and Fifth-days; Monthly
Meeting on the second Fifth-day
in each month; and the Preparative
Meeting on the day preceding, to be
called Miami Monthly Meeting, which the
Quarterly Meeting unites with
and appoints Thomas Grisell, Mahlon
Linton, Samuel Cope, Enoch Chandler,
Jonathan Taylor and Horton Howard to
attend the opening of said meetings
at the time proposed in next month, and
confer with Friends and report
where they may think most suitable for the
boundary of said meeting to be.
2nd. At Miami Monthly Meeting, held the 13th day of the
Tenth
month, 1803, part of the Quarterly
Meeting committee was present. A
copy of a minute of Westland Monthly
Meeting was produced to this
meeting, appointing David Faulkner and
Samuel Kelly to serve in the
station of Overseers of Miami Particular
Meeting -- [that is, of Miami
Meeting for Worship]. The extracts [from
the minutes] of our late
Yearly Meeting [Baltimore] were produced
and read. Our Friend, Ann
Taylor, produced a certificate to this
meeting, dated 17th day of Ninth
month, 1803, expressive of the unity of
Concord Monthly Meeting with
her visiting Friends about the Miamis,
whose service among us has been
acceptable. The meeting concludes.
The first minute quoted above is a copy
of a minute of
Redstone Quarterly Meeting, entered in
Miami Monthly Meeting
book in advance of its opening minute,
and the further quota-
tions are the full minutes of the first
sitting of Miami Monthly
Meeting itself -- men's department. They
do not show who
served as clerk that day. This was a
common omission in many
Monthly Meetings. The Concord Monthly
Meeting which had
liberated Ann Taylor for religious labor
here, was a new one
in eastern Ohio, founded in 1801, and
still maintained.
THE CHURCH ORGANIZATION.
The Church Organization of the Orthodox
Friends'
Meeting is simple but very effective,
reaching every
family and all members of the family,
and the fact that
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 57
women have always been recognized on an
equality with
the men in their meetings, has been a
source of strength
to the Society. Children become members
by birth-
right when both the parents are in good
standing in
Meeting at the time of their birth; no
further action is
necessary on their part other than a
life in unison with
the principles of Friends.
Membership may be secured by
application and ac-
ceptance, but the applicant will not be
accepted into mem-
bership without the united judgment of
men and
women's Meetings and not until the case
has been before
both Preparative and Monthly Meetings.
But in all
cases, Friends are exhorted to attend
carefully to the
advice of the Apostle, "Lay hands
suddenly on no man."
The parent body of the Society is the
Yearly Meet-
ing. Reporting to the Yearly Meeting,
are the Meetings
for Suffering, Quarterly Meeting,
Monthly Meeting and
Preparative Meeting. Wherever a number
of Friends
may have their abode, they can meet
together and, by
consent of the nearest Monthly and
Quarterly Meeting,
establish a Preparative Meeting. A
meeting-house may
then be constructed, and all Quaker
meeting-houses are
on the same plan, whether they be large
or small, for a
Preparative Meeting or a Yearly
Meeting. A raised
platform called the "Gallery"
is at one end, separated
by an aisle or walk from the main room.
In the middle
of the room, the long way, are folding
partitions which
separate the men and women, in other
words, there is a
man's side and a woman's side in every
Quaker Meeting-
house, with an entrance and exit for
each. During a
public Meeting, the folding partitions
are open, but dur-
58
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
ing a business Meeting they are closed,
the men holding
a Meeting on one side and the women on
the other.
Those sitting in the gallery, or facing
the meeting,
are the ministers, elders, overseers
and some of the
older or concerned Friends.
The First-Day Meeting is for worship
only, either
in a silent meeting, as it is believed
that the "Inner
Light" is nourished and
replenished in meditation; or
some member may be moved to speak.
Usually the
speaking is done by the same man or
woman who in
time becomes known as the Quaker
Preacher, but who
is never employed and receives no pay
for his services
or any emolument of office.
Mid-week meetings are held either on
Fourth- or
Fifth-days, varying in different
neighborhoods. But
one mid-week meeting a month is a
"Preparative Meet-
ing." This Meeting is not a
Meeting of record. That
is, while minutes are made, there are
no permanent
records kept of the business before
that Meeting. As a
rule, there is but little discussion in
a business meeting.
Questions of importance are brought to
the attention of
the Preparative Meeting, but there is
no decision reached
or discussion had, and the matter is
simply referred to
the Monthly Meeting for action. If,
from the nature
of the business, a judgment is expected
to be reached
in that meeting, it is done with but
little discussion, as
members have had ten days or a week at
least, to think
it over, confer, and deliberate. Or, if
it is something
that apparently demands discussion, a
committee is
named who discuss, deliberate and
report their judg-
ment which is almost always accepted by
the Meeting.
The Monthly Meeting, as its name
implies, is held
The Quakers; Their Migration to the Upper Ohio, etc. 59 following a certain mid-week Meeting and is the real executive body of the district. One of the duties of the Monthly Meeting is to appoint overseers from and for each Preparative Meeting, "whose duty it is to exercise a vigilant and tender care over their members." Should any affair reported by the overseer fail to reach a satis- |
|
factory solution in the Pre- parative Meeting, the same can then be reported to the Monthly Meeting. The Meeting for Suf- ferings, called such be- cause, in the beginning, its chief business was to at- tend to the sufferings of Friends who were the ob- jects of persecution on ac- count of their belief, met, in the beginning, every week. Now it meets reg- ularly twice in the year, AMY (HODGIN) CLENDENONand frequently several Born in Savannah, Georgia, in other times on its own ad- 1800; emigrated with her parents journment or on call. Dur- from Georgia to Belmont County, ing the World War, it, or Ohio, in 1803. Died in Coal Creek, some of its committees, Iowa, in 1868. She was a sister of |
Mary (Hodgin) Stanton. were in almost continual session. The examination of documents, and care extended to legislation and public officials is now its chief business. It also looks after the property and bequests. It is under the direction of the Monthly Meeting that all Quaker weddings are solemnized, and for the ac- |
60 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
complishment of marriage, the following
order is ob-
served as directed by the Friend's Book
of Discipline:
For the accomplishment of marriages the
following order is
to be observed: The parties are to
inform the men's and women's
Monthly Meeting, in writing, under their
hands, that they intend
marriage with each other. The notice
should be minuted in each
meeting, and two women Friends are to be appointed to
make
inquiry respecting the woman, and, if
the parties are both mem-
bers of the same Meeting, two men
Friends should also be
appointed to make inquiry respecting the
clearness of the man
in regard to other marriage engagements.
If the parties have
parents or guardians present, their
consent should be expressed;
or if the man be a member of another
Monthly Meeting, the
consent of his parents, if he has any,
should be produced in
writing, either then or at the next
Meeting, with a certificate
from his Monthly Meeting of his
clearness from other like en-
gagements. If the woman be a widow,
having children, two or
more Friends should be appointed in the
meeting of which she
is a member, to see that the rights of
her children be legally
secured.
At the next meeting, if the committees
report that
careful inquiry has been made, and no
obstructions to
the further proceedings appear, the
parties are to inform
the Meeting, either orally or in
writing, of the continu-
ance of their intentions of marriage
with each other.
The Meetings are then to leave them at
liberty to ac-
complish their marriage according to
our rules, and ap-
point two Friends of each sex to
attend, and see that
good order is observed at the marriage
and place of
entertainment. Marriages are to be
solemnized at the
usual week-day Meeting or at a Meeting
appointed at
some seasonable hour in the forenoon,
on some other
convenient week-day, and at the Meeting
to which the
woman belongs, previous notice to
Friends generally,
in the latter case, being given.
|
(61) |
62
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Toward the conclusion of said Meeting,
the parties
are to stand up and taking each other
by the hand, are
to declare, in an audible and solemn
manner, to the
following effect, the man first, viz.:
"Friends, in the
presence of the Lord, and before this
assembly, I take
this, my friend, D. E., to be my wife;
promising, with
Divine assistance to be unto her a
loving and faithful
husband, until death shall separate
us"; and then, the
woman, in like manner: "Friends,
in the presence of the
Lord, and before this assembly, I take
this, my friend,
A. B., to be my husband; promising with
Divine as-
sistance, to be unto him a loving and
faithful wife, until
death shall separate us."
The marriage certificate is then to be
signed, by the
man first, then by the woman, with the
adopted name of
her husband. It is then to be audibly
read by some
proper person. The certificate is also
to be signed at a
suitable time, by witnesses of the
marriage, usually by
the relatives first, and by such other
persons present as
may desire to subscribe their names,
and care is taken
that a certificate of the proceedings
be filed with public
authorities, according to law.
The same relations exist between the
Quarterly
Meetings and the Yearly Meetings as
exists between the
Preparative and Monthly Meetings and
each sit at times
as indicated by their names.
The Preparative and Monthly Meetings
are held in
the same meeting-house, the Quarterly
alternates from
one to another, but the Ohio Yearly
Meeting is always
held at Stillwater Meeting-House, one
mile east of
Barnesville, Ohio, beginning the second
Seventh-day of
64 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications the Ninth month, extending over one First-Day, which is the public day. Due to the fact that many far-reaching actions of the Friends' Meetings are not recordable papers, the Discipline recites: |
|
RECORDS OF MEMBERSHIP. As great inconveniences may arise from want of due atten- tion to keeping a regular record of births, deaths and other changes in membership, it is enjoined upon each Monthly Meet- ing to appoint a careful Friend whose duty it shall be to keep in a bound book, provided for the purpose, a chronological record of each change in membership, showing in the order of their occurrence, the births, deaths, marriages, removals, disownments and memberships by request. In addition to this, a loose-leaf record of each individual member is to be kept, arranged in a binder in alphabetical order as follows: |
The Quakers; Their Migration to the Upper Ohio, etc. 65 Name of Member Place of Birth Day Month Year Name of Father Name of Mother Before Marriage Became Member by Birth--Certificate from --Request Day Month Year Married to Day Month Year Removal Certificate--to Death --Disownment Day Month Year Where Buried Late Residence Any additional information on back of sheet. |
|
Monthly Meetings are further enjoined that com- mittees be appointed annually to examine the records and to extend such care as may appear necessary to effect the object. This completeness of records makes it possible to know of the activities of all the societies, in every part of the world, since the time that George Fox interrupted Vol. XXXVII-5. |
|
The original of this map was made by Mary Walker, afterward Mary Brown, at Salem School, Salem, Ohio, in 1826. After the death of Mary Brown it passed into the possession of Charles Cope of Winona, Ohio, who framed it under glass and thus preserved it. The map here presented is a faithful copy of the essential details of the original with a few additions in the limits of Pennsville Quarter. Drawing by George A. Patterson. Cleveland, New Philadelphia, Zanesville and Marietta, shown on the map above, are cities--not Quaker Meetings--and are used only to furnish approximate locations. (66) |
The Quakers; Their Migration to the Upper Ohio, etc.
67 the Presbyterian minister in the Church at
Nottingham, England, in the year 1649, when he said, "No,
it is not the Scripture, but the Holy Spirit who gave the
Scrip- ture, who leads unto all truth." The Ohio Yearly Meeting, near Barnesville, is only one of twelve Yearly Meetings in America. The estab- lishment of each was as follows: Newport, Rhode Island, 1671; Baltimore, Maryland, 1672;
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1681; Ohio, 1813; Indiana, 1821; Illi- nois, 1858; Iowa, 1863; Canada, 1867; Kansas, 1872; Wilmington, Ohio, 1892; Oregon, 1893; California, 1895; all of which have their subordinate meetings,
with which they are in constant communication, tenderly guiding the daily life of the members and urging
them to grow in grace through the Power of the Inner
Light. In 1826, fifty years after the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and one hundred years ago, Ohio Yearly Meeting was composed of five Quarterly Meetings, fifty-three Particular Meetings and eight thousand
eight hundred and seventy-three members, distributed as follows: SALEM QUARTER |
Middleton ............. 277 Fairfield ............... 118 Beaver Falls ........... 81 Conneaut ............ 39 Salem
................. 459 Upper Springfield ...... 280 |
Goshen .................. 169 Marlborough .......... 190 Lexington ............. 114 Kendal ............... 99 Deer Creek ............ 92 Total
...............1,918 |
NEW GARDEN QUARTER |
New Garden .......... 370 Grove ................. 138 New Lisbon .......... 72 Elk Run .............. 195 Carmel ................ 218 |
Dry Run .......... 47 Sandy Spring .......... 294 Augusta ............... 83 Total ...............1,517 |
68 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications SHORT CREEK QUARTER |
Smithfield ............. 375 Cross Creek ........... 154 Short Creek .......... 335 Mt.
Pleasant .......... 253 West Grove ........... 250 Harrisville ............. 186 Conotton ........... 26 |
Concord ............... 279 Flushing .............. 259 Freeport .............. 246 Guernsey .............. 138 Brushy Fork .......... 85 Total ............ 2,586 |
STILLWATER QUARTER |
Stillwater ............. 363 Captina ................ 204 Deerfield ............ 135 Zanesville ............. 52 Richland .............. 94 Blue Rock ............. 60 Plainfield ............. 170 |
St. Clairsville .......... 182 Goshen ............... 155 Somerset .............. 191 Ridge ................. 229 Sunbury .......... 90 Total
............... 1,925 |
REDSTONE QUARTER |
Westland .............. 267 Pike Run ............. 96 Head of Wheeling ...... 23 Sandy Creek .......... 44 Providence ............ 100 Center ................ 45 Ridge ................ 39 |
Redstone .............. 186 Sandy
Hill ............ 59 Sewickley ............. 44 Friends at Pittsburg (no meeting) ........ 24 Total
............... 927 |
Pennsville Quarterly Meeting was not established
until 1842, with six Particular Meetings--Pennsville, Hopewell,
Westland, Chesterhill, in Morgan County, and Plymouth and
Southland, in Washington County. It reached its maximum
membership of about one thousand between the years 1850-1860. From the Pennsville Quarterly Meeting, during the decade
from I855 to 1865, there was a transplanting into Iowa of many
Quaker families, where they established themselves and have
main- tained many of their Meetings until the present time. From information written on the comer of the map
published herewith, but not reproduced by the engraver, it
appears that the first Meeting settled west of the Alleghany Mountains
was West- land; Redstone, the first Quarterly Meeting west of
the moun- tains; Concord, the first Meeting and Short Creek the
first Quar- terly Meeting in the State of Ohio; and Middleton the
first Meeting in the northern part of the State. |
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 69
THE QUAKER'S RELIGION.
"Now I was sent," Fox says,
"to turn people from
Darkness to Light, that they might
receive Christ Jesus;
for to as many as should receive Him in
His Light I
saw that He would give power to become
the sons of
God, which I had obtained by receiving
Christ; and I
was to direct people to the Spirit that
gave forth the
Scriptures by which they might be led
into all truth and
so up to Christ and God, as they had
been who gave
them forth . . . I saw that the grace
of God which
brings salvation had appeared to all
men, and that the
manifestations of the Spirit of God was
given to every
man to profit withal."
"The purport of their doctrine and
ministry," says
William Penn, "for the most part
is what other pro-
fessors of Christianity pretend to hold
in words and
forms." But to this was added a
belief in the direct
revelation of Christ to the soul.
"Now the Lord hath
opened to me by His invisible power how
that every man
was enlightened by the Divine Light of
Christ, and I
saw it shine through all. And they that
believe in it
came out of condemnation, and came by
the Light of
life, and became the children of it;
but they that hated
it and did not believe in it, were
condemned by it, though
they made a profession of Christ."
David Gregg, in his Makers of the
American Re-
public, asked:
What were the doctrines for which
George Fox witnessed
in his intrepid way and which he gave
to his followers, and
which made them a factor in
civilization? We place the doc-
trine of the Inner Light first; all
others flow from this. The
doctrine of the Universal Inner Light
is this -- Jesus Christ
lighteth every man that cometh into the
world. This Spirit of
70 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Christ in every man is sufficient to
guide him. This Spirit of
Christ in every man is not to be
confounded with conscience; the
distinction is clear between the human
faculties and the Divine
Spirit.
Conscience is an original faculty of
human nature, the Spirit
of Christ is an added faculty; instead
of being identical with
conscience, its purpose is to enlighten
conscience.
The way the Inner Light is perceived and
increased is by
waiting in silence for it before God and
by meditation. The
more it is honored and rightly used the
more and brighter it
shines. You can see what this doctrine
carries with it. If
God speaks to the soul, then the voice
of God frees the soul
from all bondage to the false opinions
and prejudices and faiths
of men. That is LIBERTY indeed.
If God speaks directly to every man,
then every man has a
distinct individuality and is an
independent personality. This
consciousness, when nurtured and grown,
breaks every human
shackle, it quickens and deepens the
sense of personal responsi-
bility, for it brings God into every
life and makes Him the sole
authority.
Quoting from Thomas, Discipline and
Doctrine:
Dependence upon the immediate guidance
of the Holy Spirit
led the Friends to meet for divine
worship in outward silence,
as it was only under such circumstances
that the Holy Spirit
could call for what service He would and
from whomsoever He
would. They believed that nothing should
come between the soul
and God but Christ, and that to make the
worship of a whole
congregation depend upon the presence or absence of one
man
was contrary to the idea of true
worship. Ministers, they held,
were called and qualified of God, and so
the exercise of their
gifts was not to be dependent upon
education or upon any
special training; that the gift of the
ministry was bestowed
upon men and women alike. They believed
in carrying gospel
precepts into daily life more than most
of their contemporaries,
and all their dealings were to be in
strict accord with their
religious profession.
Carl Patterson, a minister of the
Society, wrote me
the following only a few weeks ago:
All of those things considered
"queer" by those not Friends
flow as naturally from the main concept of Quakerism as
any-
thing in the world. For one to feel that
God speaks to him,
that he is in His presence: Then are not all men equal?
None
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 71
better, none worse than one's self, no
titles, no bowing, no flat-
tery; high or low, rich or poor, equal
in His sight. To one who
stands in His presence, to undertake to
deck the person with
costly apparel and to follow the
fleeting fashions, seem most
out of place; all places are alike
"holy," for His presence can
be felt anywhere, hence no veneration
to building made of wood
or brick or stone. And so on through the whole list,
"they follow
as night the day" in the mind of
Him who stands in the presence
of the Most High.
Isaac Sharpless says in his Two
Centuries of Penn-
sylvania History:
Those who have only known the quiet,
peace-loving Quakers
of recent years, can hardly conceive
the vigor and determination
of their missionary labors, or the
fierceness of their literary
warfare against their opposers. There
were said to be sixty
thousand of them in England at the
death of George Fox in 1690.
We may now be able to see why it was
that the seven-
teenth century Quakers were so
persecuted. They would
not pay tithes to support a religion
which struck at their
conscience. They would not take an oath
of allegiance.
They would not take off their hats before
magistrate,
judge, or priest, or even before king
or protector. They
would not obey any law interfering with
the liberty of
their worship. They would not even give
their perse-
cutors the satisfaction of open
resistance, and they could
never be caught in any plots or designs
against the gov-
ernment. With all this negative
opposition, they were
aggressively pushing themselves and
their views into
every corner of the kingdom. In the
streets of London,
the dales of Yorkshire, the mines of
Cornwall, among
the armies of the commonwealth, the
students of the
universities, the divines of the
various denominations,
the Quaker preachers were making their
converts. They
talked very plainly to Oliver Cromwell
and Charles II.
No iniquity, in high place or low, did
they fail to rebuke.
72 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
They drew off congregations from their
ministers, and
ministers from their congregations, and
were altogether
such a ubiquitous, interfering,
troublesome people that
even the moderate judges found it hard
to resist the
temptation to send them to jail.
In addition to these causes of
suffering, the various
peculiarities of the Friends made them
a prey to every
informer and personal enemy. It was
only necessary to
get them once into court, on any
pretext, when the hat,
or the refusal to swear, would be sure
to make any
further fining or imprisonment quite
regular and easy.
So thousands of them were in jail (and
horrible
places the jails were in England in
those days) through-
out the commonwealth, and hundreds died
there. Other
thousands were reduced to poverty,
families were sep-
arated, and some of the "most
sincere and pure-minded
of Englishmen were made to endure more
than was
meted to the worst criminals."
The following general advices are read
annually in
all the Meetings of Friends in Great
Britain:
Take heed, dear Friends, we entreat you,
to the convictions
of the Holy Spirit, who leads, through
unfeigned repentance, and
living faith in the Son of God, to
reconciliation with our Heavenly
Father, and to the blessed hope of
eternal life, purchased for us
by the one offering of our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Be earnestly concerned in religious
meetings reverently to
present yourselves before the Lord; and
seek, by the help of
the Holy Spirit, to worship God through
Jesus Christ.
Prize the privilege of access by Him
unto the Father. Con-
tinue instant in prayer, and watch in
the same with thanksgiving.
Be in the frequent practice of waiting
upon the Lord in
private retirement, honestly examining
yourselves as to your
growth in grace, and your preparation
for the life to come.
Be diligent in the private perusal of
the Holy Scriptures;
and let the daily reading of them in
your families be devoutly
conducted.
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 73
Be careful to make a profitable and
religious use of those
portions of time on the first day of the
week which are not
occupied by our Meetings for Worship.
Live in love as Christian brethren,
ready to be helpful one
to another, and sympathizing with each
other in the trials and
afflictions of life. Watch over one
another for good, manifesting
an earnest desire that each may possess
a well-grounded hope in
Christ.
Follow peace with all men, desiring the
true happiness of
all. Live not for yourselves but for
others, seeking to undo the
heavy burdens and to let the oppressed
go free; remembering
that it is your duty and privilege to
labour for the physical, moral
and spiritual well-being of your
fellow-men.
With a tender conscience, in accordance
with the precepts
of the Gospel, take heed to the
limitations of the Spirit of Truth
in the pursuit of the things of this
life.
Let your lights shine in lives of honest
industry and patient
love. Do your utmost to maintain
yourselves and your families
in an honorable independence, and, by prudent care in
time of
health, to provide for sickness and old
age.
Maintain strict integrity in your
transactions in trade, and
in all your outward concerns. Guard
against the spirit of specu-
lation and the snare of accumulating
wealth. Remember that
we must account for the mode of
acquiring, as well as for the
manner of using, and finally disposing
of our possessions.
Observe simplicity and moderation in
your deportment and
attire, in the furniture of your houses,
and in your style and
manner of living. Carefully maintain in
your own conduct, and
encourage in your families, truthfulness
and sincerity; and avoid
worldliness in all its forms.
Guard watchfully against the
introduction into your house-
holds of publications of a hurtful
tendency; and against such
companionships, indulgences, and
recreations whether for your-
selves or your children, as may in any
wise interfere with a
growth in grace.
Avoid and discourage every kind of
betting and gambling,
and such speculation in commercial life
as partakes of a gambling
character.
In view of the manifold evils arising
from the use of intoxi-
cating liquors, prayerfully consider
whether your duty to God
and to your neighbor does not require
you to abstain from using
them yourselves or offering them to
others and from having
any share in their manufacture or sale.
In contemplating the engagement of
marriage, look prin-
74 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications cipally to that which will help you on your heavenward journey. Pay filial regard to the judgment of your parents. Bear in mind the vast importance in such a union, of an accordance in religious principles and practice. Ask counsel of God; desiring above all temporal considerations, that your union be owned and blessed of Him. Watch with Christian tenderness over the opening minds of your children; inure them to habits of self-restraint and filial obedience; carefully instruct them in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures; and seek for ability to imbue their hearts with the love of their Heavenly Father, their Redeemer, and their Sanctifier. |
|
BY THEIR WORKS YE SHALL KNOW THEM. In all affairs pertaining to the elevation of the race, the Quakers have taken an advanced position. Chief |
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 75
Justice Taft has said, "The
Society of Friends is a
dangerous body to disagree with because
it is usually
two hundred years ahead of its
time." From the time
of George Fox, wherever a meeting-house
was built, a
schoolhouse was huddled close by it,
where both girls
and toys could receive a common school
education and
later advance to Old Guilford in North
Carolina; Earl-
ham College at Richmond, Indiana; Olney
at Barnes-
ville, Ohio; Westtown near
Philadelphia; and finally
to Haverford or Swarthmore. Only a
little over a hun-
dred years ago were the public schools
of Boston open
for girls, but George Fox, over two
hundred and fifty
years ago, advocated the equality,
through education,
of girls and boys, and such schools
were duly organized
in 1670.
In 1797, Peter Bedford, a London
Quaker, estab-
lished the first soup-kitchen for the
poor. His Society
not only established these public
places for food, but
also established a school for one
thousand boys and five
hundred girls at one penny per week
each. This devel-
oped into the Bedford Institution
where, today, twenty
thousand persons are benefited in nine
different centers
in London, and as Alice Heald Mendenhall
in Some So-
cial Aspects of the Society of
Friends, says, is some-
thing like Hull House.
Alice Heald Mendenhall also found in
her research
work, that "in 1669, Fox advised
an almshouse for all
poor Friends that are past work."
The year after his
death his wish in regard to a home for
the poor, that
were past work, was realized in London
and the insti-
tution established by the Friends at
that time is still in
existence.
76 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications Margaret Fox, wife of George Fox, was treasurer of a missionary movement in 1654, where was collected and disbursed four hundred and ninety pounds, twelve shillings and sixpence, for the service of Truth. Elizabeth Fry gathered seventy little waifs together each day for instruction, sowing the seed for children's homes. She was also interested in prison reforms, and established an asylum for discharged female prisoners, |
|
a school for vicious girls and a home for abandoned female children. A step farther was made by William Penn, when he declared that prisons were for reformation rather than punishment. Perhaps the most striking and persistent reform ever carried on by the Quakers, was their never-ceasing op- position to human slavery until it was driven from the face of the civilized world. The names of four Qua- kers--Allen, Woolman, Lundy and Coppock--stand out |
The Quakers; Their Migration to the Upper Ohio, etc. 77 preeminently in the overthrowing of this evil. I quote from Alice Heald Mendenhall again, "At the Congress of Sovereigns at Vienna, after the Battle of Waterloo, William Allen, an English Quaker, was present for the purpose of laying the subject of the slave-trade before the members of this body." The pass given him by |
|
Wellington which opened the way from Vienna to Verona, and which admitted him to attendance at the place of this meeting, read, "Courier to the Duke of Wellington." Perhaps never before did the representa- tive of the British crown have a stranger "Courier" than this Quaker who would not even take off his hat to the Emperor, but who moved amidst this brilliancy of the "Field of the Cloth of Gold," respected by all, and who was absorbed only in the cause which was so dear |
78 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications to his heart. He bore letters from his co-workers-- Clarkson and Wilberforce--in England; he was invited by Wellington to be present at the dinner of the sov- ereigns, which he declined; at the instance of the Czar of Russia, Allen spent four evenings with him in the dis- cussions of social and philanthropic questions in the frankest possible manner. |
|
It is thought that the influence of William Allen was one of several strong factors in bringing about the abolition of the slave-trade in Europe. It is not generally remembered that before the Revo- lutionary War, slavery existed in the North as well as the South, that there were as many slaves north of the Maryland-Virginia line as south of it, probably as many in Newport, Rhode Island, as in Richmond, Virginia, |
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 79
and that a majority of the
slave-traders lived in the
North.
The Quakers, led by John Woolman, of
New Jersey,
started such a crusade against the evil
that public opin-
ion became so aroused, that it
gradually but perma-
nently disappeared in the North before
the time of the
Civil War.
John Woolman's Journal, covering
this period, has
been published and President Eliot of
Harvard includes
it in his "Five Foot Shelf of Books."
In our own country, early in the
nineteenth century,
Benjamin Lundy, a Quaker, originated an
Abolition
Society whose first members were
Jefferson Harrison,
and Belmont County Quakers; and Randall
and Ryan
in their The Rise and Progress of an
American State,
say that to Benjamin Lundy must be
credited, more
than to any single man in American
history, the gigantic
moral movement against slavery, which
preceded the
Civil War, and which did more than any
other one thing
to arouse the American people to a
sense of the injustice
of slavery. Benjamin Lundy organized
the "Union
Humane Society," in 1815, the
purpose of which was to
agitate anti-slavery sentiments. He
says in his writings,
"I had lamented the sad condition
of the slave. I called
a few friends together and unbosomed my
feelings to
them. The result was the organization
of an anti-
slavery association, called the Union
Humane Society."
One of the chief spirits of this
association was William
Cooper Howells, father of the American
novelist, Wil-
liam Dean Howells.
Lundy was, for a time, agent for
Osborn's Journal,
The Philanthropist. He lived at St. Clairsville, Ohio.
80 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
until 1821, when he moved to Mount
Pleasant, where he
began the publication of The Genius
of Universal Eman-
cipation. It immediately acquired a widespread circu-
lation throughout the country, and
Benjamin Lundy be-
came the first real effective force in
the promotion of the
abolition sentiment throughout the
United States.
When he commenced his agitation,
William Lloyd Gar-
rison was but a boy, and it is to Lundy
that Garrison,
in after years, gave credit for
enlisting him in the cause
of freedom. The anti-slavery sentiment
in Ohio con-
tinued to develop from the humble
association estab-
lished by Benjamin Lundy, so that in
1837, there were
two hundred and thirteen anti-slavery
societies in this
State, with 17,253 members.
At the time when John Brown was
captured and
hanged at Harper's Ferry, with him was
a modest young
man, Edwin Coppock, twenty-four years
old, who had
been reared under Quaker influence at
Winona, Colum-
biana County, Ohio, and who had gone to
the Quaker
community at Springdale, Iowa, where
John Brown
spent the winter before the Harper's
Ferry campaign.
Edwin Coppock's last letter well shows
the spirit of the
Fathers.
Charlestown, [Virginia,] Dec. 13th,
1859.
My Dear Uncle:
I seat myself by the stand, to write
for the first, and last
time, to thee and thy family. Though
far from home and over-
taken by misfortune, I have not
forgotten you. Your generous
hospitality towards me, during my short
stay with you last
spring, is stamped indelibly upon my
heart; and also the gen-
erosity bestowed upon my poor brother,
who now wanders an
outcast from his native land. But thank
God he is free. I am
thankful that it is I, who has to
suffer, instead of him.
The time may come when he will
remember me, and the
time may come when he will still further remember the cause in
which I die. Thank God, the principles of the cause in which
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 81
we were engaged will not die with me
and my brave comrades.
They will spread wider and wider, and
gather strength with
each hour that passes. The voice of
truth will echo through
our land, bringing conviction to the
erring, and adding numbers
to that glorious army who will follow
its banner. The cause of
everlasting truth and justice will go
on conquering, to conquer,
until our broad and beautiful land shall
rest beneath the banner
of freedom.
I had hoped to live to see the dawn of
that glorious day.
I had hoped to live to see the
principles of the Declaration of our
Independence fully realized. I had hoped
to see the dark stain
of slavery blotted from our land, and
the libel of our boasted
freedom erased, when we can say in
truth, that our beloved
country is the land of the free and the
home of the brave.
But this cannot be. I have heard my
sentence passed. My
doom is sealed. But two more short days
remain for me to
fulfill my earthly destiny. But two
brief days between me and
eternity. At the expiration of those two
days, I shall stand upon
the scaffold to take my last look of earthly scenes,
but that scaf-
fold has but little dread for me; for I
honestly believe that I
am innocent of any crime justifying such
punishment. But by
the taking of my life, and the lives of
my comrades, Virginia
is but hastening on that glorious day,
when the slave shall rejoice
in his freedom. When he can say, "I
too am a man, and am
groaning no more under the yoke of
oppression."
But I must now close. Accept this short
scrawl as a re-
membrance of me. Give my love to all the
family. Kiss little
Josey for me. Remember me to all my
relatives and friends.
And now farewell for the last time.*
From thy Nephew,
EDWIN COPPOC.
Remember this was a Quaker boy only
twenty-four
years old, but in his noble soul was
the spirit of Fox,
Allen, Penn, Lundy and hundreds of
Quaker Abolition-
ists of the time, who would have died
for the cause as
freely as did he.
Edwin Coppock's body had hardly been
laid away in
* The original of this letter is in the
Library of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society.
Vol. XXXVII--6.
|
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The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 83
the little Quaker graveyard at Winona,
Columbiana
County, Ohio, until the great conflict
was upon us, but
when it was over, Slavery was no more
forever, among
the nations of the world.
When Abraham Lincoln needed a War
Secretary,
he chose the stern, methodical,
forceful Edwin M. Stan-
ton, whose grandmother, as a widow with
a large fam-
ily, drove her wagon with the first
body of Quakers that
left South Carolina for the Northwest
Territory. It is
said that her's was the first wagon
that forded the Ohio
River, a few miles above Wheeling, into
the new coun-
try, and the next day, she with her
children, sitting
upon a log, attended the first Quaker
meeting in Ohio.
Nearby, she located her farm where the
great War
Secretary was reared under Quaker
influences.
You may be surprised to know that Dolly
Madison,
the wife of President James Madison,
whose sparkling
wit and generous hospitality still
linger in memories
about the White House, was of a
Philadelphia Quaker
family and her first marriage was a
Quaker wedding.
Thomas Mifflin, reared a Quaker, but a
Revolution-
ary General, defeated Arthur St. Clair
for first Gover-
nor of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.
The artist, Benjamin West, born of
Quaker parents,
began painting portraits at the age of
seventeen, soon
went to Europe for study and became, in
time, the Presi-
dent of the Royal Academy.
The poet, Whittier, always in Quaker
dress, always
using the plain language in his
conversation, carried
into his verses the soul and spirit of
the Quaker Faith
as is felt in his poem, "The
Silent Room."
Joseph Gurney Cannon, who for many
years was
84 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
speaker of the National House of
Representatives, came
into Illinois with his Quaker parents
from Virginia, and
he told the writer that it was the
Quaker vote that first
sent him to Congress, (notice it was a
Republican dis-
trict). Joseph Cannon also told me this
story as it was
told to him by General Butterworth
whose parents were
Ohio Quakers.
A few days after the Battle of
Gettysburg, in which General
Butterworth and a number of his comrades
from the old home
meeting, were engaged, they were all
expelled, or as they call it,
disowned, for violating the discipline
by actually taking up arms
in time of war. This, in itself, was not
strange, but General
Butterworth said that it was his own
father who brought the
matter before the meeting and asked for
their disownment; that
his father had not heard from him since
the great battle and did
not then know whether he was asking for
the disownment of a
dead son, or a live soldier. Such is
Quaker discipline.
Of all the public men in the United
States today, no
one is held in higher esteem than
Herbert Hoover, Sec-
retary of Commerce in President
Coolidge's Cabinet.
He still holds his birthright in a
western Quaker Meet-
ing and it is no accident that he is
Secretary of Com-
merce, whose official influence reaches
all parts of the
world, for the balancing of the
commercial relations of
the nations of the world is the best
safeguard for Peace
-- the Keystone of the Quaker's
Religion.
It may be that the Quaker has not
always been un-
derstood. He has been called queer, he
has been called
clannish, he may be different from
other denominations
in the fact that he gauges his actions,
not from external
things, but from the inner and
spiritual man, and he
trusts others who have experienced the
same Inner
Light and binds himself with them,
rather than to man-
made decrees and laws. But in their
relations with
The Quakers; Their Migration to the
Upper Ohio, etc. 85
American History, they never hanged a
witch; they
never were intolerant; they never waged
an Indian war;
they never confiscated one acre of
American soil; they
never isolated themselves to the
detriment of other de-
nominations; they never retaliated when
they were per-
secuted for conscience's sake, cast
into prison; or even
complained at the death sentence, all
of which they suf-
fered both in Old and New England, by
people speaking
the same language and worshiping the
same God.
To them a great work was given. They
came into
existence at a time in the history of
England when ex-
cesses were running riot, when
immorality was the pass-
word into society. They became the
moderators of the
times and carried their teachings
across the Atlantic
into America, where they found
expression in the build-
ing of a new State. Their organization
is still intact.
The early teachings and the belief in
the Inner Light is
still theirs and, should history repeat
itself, as some
things now would indicate, they may
again stand as
moderators and help bring the pendulum
back to
normalcy.
The author wishes to acknowledge the
kindness of William H. Stanton
of Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, who
furnished most of the plates from
which many of the illustrations were
produced; also to Mr. C. B. Galbreath
and his efficient office force who made
this paper possible.
THE QUAKERS, THEIR MIGRATION TO THE
UPPER OHIO, THEIR CUSTOMS
AND DISCIPLINE
BY H. E. SMITH, MARIETTA,
OHIO
George Fox was the Father of the Quaker
Meeting,
sometimes called Friends' Meeting. He
tells us that
"Truth sprang up first (to us to
be a people to the Lord)
in Leicestershire, England, in
1644." He describes how
"the movement first spread to the
neighboring counties,
then by 1654 over England, Scotland and
Ireland; in
1655 many went beyond the seas and in
1656 Truth
broke forth in America."
In a General Epistle dated 1660,
Germany, America,
Virginia and many other places, as
Florence, Mantua,
Palatine, Tuscany, Italy, Rome, Turkey,
Jerusalem,
France, Geneva, Norway, Barbadoes,
Bermuda, An-
tigua, Jamaica, Surinam and
Newfoundland are men-
tioned as having been visited by
Friends.
In all the work of the Meetings, women
have shared
an equal responsibility with the men.
One of Fox's
earliest followers was Margaret Fell,
then the wife of
Judge Fell of Swarthmore, who, on the
death of the
Judge, became the wife of George Fox.
She was a
woman of position and wealth, and she
used both to
advance the teachings of Fox.
Swarthmore Hall, the
home of the Fells, who with the Kirbys,
were Lords of
the Manor of Ulverston, became a center
for the going
and coming of Quaker preachers to all
parts of the
world and Margaret Fell, assisted by
her daughters,
Sarah and Rachel, was truly the Mother
in Israel to the
new faith.
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