USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Montclair > Founding and early history of Montclair Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends > Part 2
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lowing a discussion of a particular problem, we have appointed one of our number to make a study of the matter and report back to the meeting.
"One of the principal reasons for the formation of the meeting was the need for a First-Day School for our children. It was felt by the parents that the ideals of Quakerism should be imparted in First-Day School to our children and this has been one of our most impor- tant works. A few of the older children attend the Meet- ing regularly, and others are divided into classes. This year we have been studying "Finding God," edited by the General Conference of Philadelphia Meeting. The older class has been studying a course on Bible stories.
"Another activity in which we are keenly interested is the ladies' social and working group. This past year they have met on an all day meeting once a month at various homes and have spent the time sewing for the orphans of the school of Daniel and Emily Oliver in Syria.
"The work of our Secretary, Caroline Borton, is impor- tant. Friends are kept in constant touch with the activi- ties of the Meeting through a monthly Letter edited by our Secretary. In addition to an itinerary of the activi- ties of our group, the Letter generally carries a spiritual message from one of our group. The message is appre- ciated by many Friends in New Jersey who are united with us in spirit, but live too far away to attend meet- ings. A special point is made to keep in touch with all those who have expressed interest in us, or to whom we feel we may be of service.
"In closing our report to the Joint Yearly Meeting, we desire to emphasize the concern we have for Friends in New Jersey, and to express to you our conviction that we are beginning a great Christian endeavor here.
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There are many meetings in the northern part of the state which, though small in numbers, give evidence of the spirit of Quakerism being present here. It is our hope that we may go out to these groups, and be a source of strength to them, and they to us, and that we may go forward together in Christian work."
This epistle is followed in the minute book by excerpts from the Yearly Meeting minutes, dated Fifth Month, 1928, with the recommendations approved.
"1. That the Joint Yearly Meeting recognize the estab- lished fact that the Montclair Friends are a Monthly Meet- ing of the Religious Society of Friends.
"2. That the Joint Yearly Meeting leave the said Mont- clair Monthly Meeting at liberty to establish itself as a Quarterly Meeting, reporting as such to either one or both of the New York Yearly Meetings in such a way as it may choose."
Memories of the Early Years
These are the facts as they developed during the period from April 1925 to June 1928. But we have been asked for memories. It is hard to know where to begin recording these human touches. Perhaps we should start with the recollection of one old-timer, who has said: "It is difficult to name all who were active for the good of the Meeting. It would be a long list, but it seemed that everyone was eager to do his part, and more, if possible." We can point up the wide variety of contribution.
"Every Meeting for Worship seemed to produce some good message."-Our very first speaker at The Crescent was Mary Lydecker, whose text was short,-"Do not be a slave because you cannot say 'No'." Few of us had been regularly attending silent meeting for some time, and we
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were afraid of ourselves, but the messages came. And of course the many visitors from other Meetings helped immensely.
"We wondered at first whether a Unitarian type Hicksite and an Orthodox from Five Years Meeting really could worship alongside each other, but they did."
"Remember how we started with the chairs facing the end of the room, then changed them to a semi-circle facing the fireplace!" The Hobson family supplied the wood for the fires that burned cheerfully in the winter, and many a message was inspired through contemplation of those fires. During the years at The Crescent, the love for the fire- place grew, and when our present building was planned a fireplace was included ;- this in spite of the contention of some that we might be in danger of being considered fire-worshippers. It is interesting to note that now there are many Meeting Houses with fireplaces, scattered all across the country. Were we the first, and can they all be traced back to our kindergarten?
"Remember those wonderful parties we used to have- and Loring Crosman's recitations, his impersonations; the costume parties,-the Shipwreck Party with Caroline Bor- ton in a grass skirt and Marshall Taylor in a bathrobe, the School Days Party with Harvey Haines as Little Lord Fauntleroy!"
Members of the Meeting were much given to hiking in the early days, both as First Day School class units and in family style. On Saturdays and holidays we would "walk the pipe line" from Great Notch to the river and back, and end with a picnic at the Hobson place. There were hikes up Windbeam and Wanaque High Point near Midvale, to Terrace Pond, and along the Appalachian trail at Branch- ville. Was life more leisurely then, or was the countryside nearer? The Annual Picnic, after a few experimental years elsewhere, settled down as a Turner Orchard affair, with
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Harold Turner's tractor ride the event of the day. Picnics ยท are still held yearly, but now there are several different hosts.
In the fall of 1926 our First Day School girls dressed a doll and sent it to Japan, as their contribution to an inter- national interchurch program. The Japanese doll in the case in the community room came back as a return gift from children in Hokkaido, Japan. The doll's history is in the case with her.
First Day School boys formed a committee to place and to put away the chairs used in the Meeting. The first award for perfect attendance went to Frederick Lydecker, Jr. By 1928 the First Day School had spilled over, and extra rooms were borrowed in a truly neighborly Baptist church.
Ellen Dawson was a member of Newark Meeting who took great interest in the establishment of the united Meeting at Montclair. She moved to Florida before the Meeting was truly organized, so never transferred her membership but she left to us a beautiful engraving of Elizabeth Frey that hangs in the reception room, and also many books of Quaker interest. Perhaps this could be called the start of our library, now outgrowing the beauti- ful room which is in a sense a memorial to Harold Turner, who gave the knotty pine for its finishing.
The minutes will show the decision to start a Building Fund, but they will not put life into the "41 Players," an intrepid group headed by Helen Haines as manager. Sev- eral plays were presented, and the proceeds put into the Building Fund. Loring Crosman starred in "The Passing of the Third Floor Back"; Dwight Michener in "The Servant in the House." Records of other shorter plays, and pro- grams, giving names of the supporting casts are preserved, along with other mementos, in Helen Haines' Scrap Books which are now in the Library.
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The Meeting Comes of Age
In November 1928 a special meeting was named to work out the details of establishing a Quarterly Meeting, in accordance with Yearly Meetings' recommendation. This committee reported back in December, recommending that "the first Quarterly Meeting be held immediately fol- lowing the Monthly Meeting to be held Third Month 13th, 1929" ... and that "for the purpose of organizing a Quar- terly Meeting, all members of the Monthly Meeting present should be considered as representatives of the Quarterly Meeting; Quarterly Meeting at that time to se- lect its officers."
Later, Leonia Friends were invited to consider becom- ing a Monthly Meeting in this new Quarter, but nothing came of it.
Thus All Friends Quarterly Meeting was set up, with just one member Meeting. After a long discussion, Caro- lena Wood suggested the name "All Friends," because "All Friends was what it really was."
For some months following the acceptance of Montclair by both Yearly Meetings, the minutes record transfers of membership from old established Meetings to which many Montclair members still belonged. A good deal of dual membership persisted, however, setting a precedent which has become difficult to break. The Meeting was founded on fellowship, and it is hard to insist that statistics are a weightier concern than fellowship.
The Edward R. Pierson Fund
The minutes of 1929 and 1930 are full of mentions of "the Building Fund" and a permanent home for Montclair Meeting.
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The Edward R. Pierson Fund is first mentioned in the minutes for May 1931, where we find "Marshall Taylor presented a letter from Dr. Henry M. Woolman and Clar- ence W. Smith, telling of a gift of thirty thousand dollars left by Edward R. Pierson for the purpose of buying land and building a meeting house. Also a further sum to be used for educational purposes. These gifts are available for our use and will be turned over to us after fulfilling the legal requirements of acceptance." Perhaps it is well to tell here something of the background of this gift.
As noted at the start, for many years prior to the organ- ization of Newark Meeting there had been no Friends Meeting in New Jersey north of Plainfield. Newark Meet- ing was pioneered by the Advancement Committee of Friends General Conference. The series of public forums which Newark sponsored were well attended. During this period and after the recognition of Newark Meeting as a part of Plainfield and Rahway Half Yearly Meeting many persons in the area learned about Quakers. Among those who attended and later joined Newark Meeting was Edward R. Pierson. When he died, he left his sizable estate for the use of Friends, with the sole determination as to its use left to two trustees: Henry Woolman, who never joined Montclair Meeting, and Clarence W. Smith, who was active in Montclair from the beginning and who brought his membership from Newark in July 1928.
This large gift from Edward R. Pierson had been with- held until Montclair should prove itself and until a truly earnest effort had been made toward the financing of a building, with no windfalls in prospect. Now the gift fur- nished funds necessary to proceed with the building of our meeting house. Part of the fund was used outright for building purposes. Capital from the Educational part of the Fund was lent to the Meeting for building purposes. This was paid back over the years, with interest. Interest
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from this Pierson Education Fund is still furnishing schol- arship aid to members of our Quarter and also assisting in other educational projects.
The Meeting House
The minutes for 1930 and 1931 are replete with refer- ence to the building project. Herbert C. Petty was the tireless chairman of the Building Committee. First came the selection of a lot, which must be centrally located, near public transportation, convenient for attendance by automobile to Friends scattered over most of Essex County, and also from Passaic, Bergen, Union and Hudson Counties. There was a strong feeling, too, that the site should be at a point where there were not several well established churches. We remembered our meeting in the temple and the hymn singing next door. Also we hoped to attract people from the neighborhood. (When the meet- ing house was finally opened, a neighborhood boy who had side-walk-superintended its building, greeted Friends at the door. He became an enthusiastic member of the First Day School and later of the Meeting. )
In December 1931 the Meeting authorized the purchase of the land at the corner of Park Street and Gordonhurst Avenue in Upper Montclair. The considerable delay in the decision to buy this land was due to the conviction of a few Friends who felt that Glen Ridge offered a better loca- tion. The matter was tabled over and over, in the manner of Friends, to avoid any feeling that the majority was forcing its decision upon a small minority. Those opposed to the purchase finally voluntarily withdrew their objec- tions, and the building project could go forward.
In February 1932 the Meeting approved the Building Committee's selection of Walter Price of Philadelphia as architect. At the Monthly Meeting in May, the building contract was let to Milton W. Young of Overbrook, Pa.
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And on June 16th ground was broken, with Russell B. Hobson lifting the first shovelfull of earth.
The cornerstone was laid on the afternoon of October 22nd, 1932, with appropriate ceremony. Sealed in the box in the cornerstone are-
1) A list of members of Montclair Meeting as of that date; a list of the signers of the 1926 declaration; a copy of the first Newsletter; and a picture of 41 The Crescent where we had met for so many years. ( Placed by Alan Johnson, Chairman of Overseers )
2) A list of children enrolled in the First Day School. (Placed by Anne Milburn )
3) A summary of notable events in the history of Mont- clair Meeting extracted from the minutes; a list of Offi- cers and Committees; copies of the Friends Intelli- gencer, The American Friend, The Friend (Philadel- phia) and the Friend (London); and a paragraph on William Penn. (Placed by Thomas H. Haines, Clerk of the Meeting)
4) A photograph of the Breaking Ground Ceremony. (Placed by Russell Hobson )
5) The Friendly Trail. (Placed by Caroline Borton )
6 and 7) Copies of the addresses delivered by Clarence W. Smith and Herbert C. Petty on this occasion.
8) A minute from Daniel Batchellor from Washington,
D. C.'s new independent Meeting.
9) The Program of the ceremony. ( All placed by Helen H. Haines, the chairman of the event)
Much of the furniture for the Meeting House came from the American Friends Service Committee's Self-Help Pro-
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gram at Morgantown, West Virginia, where unemployed miners were taught furniture making. It turned out that this furniture constituted a "sample-room" that made many more sales for the Self-Help Program.
The first Meeting for Worship was held in the new Meeting House on December 4th, 1932. Many Friends from other Meetings came that day to worship and to help dedicate the new home of Montclair Friends.
On the 9th of December there was a dinner and kitchen shower, skillfully managed in spite of the fact that the builders were not yet through. The invitations read-
LET'S CELEBRATE!
The house is complete,
The kitchen and all.
A dinner we'll serve
To you whom we call.
A shower is needed
The kitchen to fill,
So dinners hereafter
May be given at will.
The price of the dinner Fifty Cents
The first Monthly Meeting to take place in the Meeting House was held December 14th, 1932. An Adult Class for Bible study was started, to meet in the Library at 10:30 A.M., while the children of the First Day School held their joint assembly and hymn-sing in the community room. Christmas Day was celebrated with a carol service and pageant.
The Quaker Ladies began to use the Meeting House on the regular sewing days, acquiring sewing machines and
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other equipment. Forum meetings, preceded by teas, flour- ished under the chairmanship of Howard Kershner. That the choice of site of the Meeting House was most fortu- nate was soon indicated by the attendance of many people from the neighborhood, several of whom subsequently joined the Meeting.
When the Building Committee's task was complete, it was replaced by a House and Grounds Committee. Anna Turner was the first chairman, and continued in that office for many years. When she finally turned the responsibility over to another, she remained on the committee as one of its most valued members.
The Library gradually filled with books, to the point where its shelves are now no longer adequate. The Chil- dren's Library, established by Dorothea Davis in memory of Jarvis Carter Davis (a loyal member of our First Day School) has also grown with the years.
Montclair Meeting House was busy. The Meeting had matured.
Postscript
Since this paper is prepared at the request of the Meet- ing to be "a history of the establishment of Montclair Meeting," we feel that this is an appropriate place to stop. Minutes are available for future historians. There is a com- plete file of Newsletters in the Library, to be read if not borrowed. One of our most exciting events-the Hiroshima Project-is fully documented and in the Library. (It is regretted that no one took over and kept up Helen Haines' Scrap Book.)
Montclair Meeting grew up when it settled into its own Meeting House, widening its activities as the way opened. The Meeting at Ridgewood, under the care and guidance of Montclair, was started in 1936. In 1939, when it became
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the Ridgewood Monthly Meeting and added a second Meeting to our Quarter, All Friends Quarterly Meeting too came of age.
The "early days" of our United Meeting were over.
We are indebted to our member Lucy Karr Milburn for this history. Her dedication to the task and the hours of time she gave to it for research, writing and editing made its prepara- tion and publication possible.
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