USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > London Grove > Two hundredth anniversary of the founding of London Grove Meeting by the Society of Friends at London Grove, Pennsylvania, tenth month third, 1914 > Part 1
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Gc 974.802 L84f 1822025
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02220 8364
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/twohundredthanni00soci
1714
1914
Two- Hundredth Anniversary 200th
of the founding of
London Grove Meeting
by the
Society of Friends
at
London Grove, Pennsylvania
Tenth Month Third, 1914
1822025
.4
DEDICATION
To all in the past and present who have made this book possible, we dedicate it, and to the spirit of unity and progress and the larger knowledge of truth, which must be the inspiration of the future.
Iffs
INNES & SONS PHILADELPHIA
FOREWORD
T HE following pages contain the addresses delivered at London Grove, Pa., at the celebration of the two-hundredth anniver- sary of the founding of London Grove Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.
A joint committee of both branches of Friends worked actively for many months in preparing a programme and looking after the material arrangements necessary to make the day a success. The work was carried on in the spirit of the fullest co-operation and all who were privileged to share in it, experienced something of the joy of fellowship in service.
The third of Tenth month, 1914, was fixed upon for holding the commemorative exercises. One of the finest days which this season affords, lent its physical environment. The large Meeting House and its spacious grounds were filled to overflowing with the neighborhood residents, and visitors whose lives had in some way been touched by the influences radiating from this Meeting.
In the afternoon, the speakers delivered their addresses to those who found sitting or standing space inside the Meeting House, and again to an expectant group outside, who gathered under the fine old trees, already touched by the golden glory of Autumn. The attendance is estimated at nearly twenty-five hundred.
The admirably planned arrangements for the care and comfort of the guests insured an enjoyable as well as profitable day to all who attended. Mingling with the three hundred automobiles and hundreds of horses and carriages of modern build, was an ancient two-wheeled chaise bearing riders garbed after the manner of the Friends who founded the Meeting. The appeal of things which have been a part of scenes and events long before our time, was evidenced by the interest taken in this vehicle and its occupants, and by the constant throng which crowded around the relic exhibit, upon which much time had been successfully expended.
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The papers which follow tell their own story. Those who were present will read them with a mental background of the day and scene, and with a subtle inner spirit of appreciation, which cannot be transmitted to those who were not privileged to attend.
To enter fully into the spirit of an anniversary, we should pause to consider what it profits us to observe these way-marks of the ages. An anniversary-day is a time of accounting for the use of the gifts which the days and years bring. As we build our common everydays into the structure of an unchanging past, we are too close to the work to see it in true perspective, and each year's work shows little change in the completed whole. Only as the years are piled century-high can we justly estimate the influences which go out from a Meeting like this, upon the community-life.
It is, therefore, fitting that we pause at the summit of the years, whence we may look both backward and forward, and contemplate how goodly a monument our fathers have builded, in the develop- ment of strong men and women whose influence has shaped not only the neighborhood life, but has extended far beyond its borders.
As we justly measure the principles which have been built into the past life of London Grove Meeting, are we not inspired to do our work as well as those who have gone before? The lesson of each worthy anniversary is pre-eminently that it is worth while to cultivate the same virtues and the same spirit, in making our con- tribution to the work of this generation, that woven into the warp and woof of the history of two hundred years, makes the contem- plation of the past a present satisfaction.
I gladly embrace the opportunity to pay tribute to the influ- ence which the Meeting at London Grove and the Friends who gathered there, exerted upon my own life. The best wish that I can make for those who read the volume of proceedings, is that they may in a measure absorb in the reading, some degree of the moral vigor, social earnestness, and spiritual power, which for two cen- turies have radiated from this Meeting, through the two branches of Friends.
JANE P. RUSHMORE,
Philadelphia.
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CONTENTS
Page
Frontispiece, London Grove Meeting House facing I
Dedication. 2
Foreword, by Jane P. Rushmore. 3
Contents
Reading from the Scriptures, by Edward A. Pennock 7
5
Address of Welcome, by Augustus Brosius. 8
Response, by Zebedee Haines IO
Old London Grove Meeting, by John Russell Hayes. 12
The Record of an Early Settler in America, by Emma Taylor Lamborn 1 5
Illustration facing 20
A Historical Sketch, by Davis H. Forsythe 20
The Growing Oneness of the Denominations, by J. Mason Wells
3 1
The Place of the Church in the Community, by Dr. O. Edward Janney . 45
Rhymes of Marlborough Street, by Ellen Pyle. 51
The Influence of Friendly Ideals on Our National Life, by Isaac Sharpless. 59
Friends in Public Life, by A. Mitchell Palmer 74
Closing Remarks, by Edward A. Pennock. 84
London Grove Meeting and Its Environs, by Gilbert Cope. . 85
Collection of Antiques . 104
Committees. 107 A Partial List of Those Present 109
Badge (Illustration). 127
Map of Land Owners in 1714 facing 128
5
Reading From the Scriptures By EDWARD A. PENNOCK, Chatham, Chairman
"H AST thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the ever- lasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no search- ing out his understanding."
"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength."
"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:"
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
"Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations."
"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlast- ing, thou art God."
"For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night."
"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."
"And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it."
Address of Welcome By AUGUSTUS BROSIUS, Avondale
W ITH the presumption that this vast audience already feels assured of a hearty welcome on this unusual occasion, it would seem that the office assigned the speaker of giving utterance to the feeling entertained by the residents of this com- munity was a superfluous appointment; and yet we cannot be reconciled to the thought of allowing the opportunity to pass without expressing our appreciation of the sacrifices many of you no doubt have made in order to be present, and the delight it affords that you have evinced such a degree of interest as to come from far and near in such goodly numbers to partake with us of the enjoyment of this rare event of celebrating the bicentennial at our meeting. The reviving of precious memories and the more secure preservation for posterity of the records of the past, as well as having our perceptions enlarged concerning the part the Friends as a body have played in former beneficent achievements, together with the unlimited avenues that are open to us now for the future development of society and our country, if we are awake to the opportunities presented, is the labor of the hour.
A meeting that has passed through the vicissitudes of two centuries cannot but have exerted by its devout and consecrated adherents a potential influence in shaping public thought! and could these aged walls give voice to the words of wisdom that have fallen from the lips of dedicated souls who have occupied these benches, it would form a volume of ancient and modern thought of intense interest! And could the figures of the absent ones who were the worshippers here (even within a generation) be through memory arrayed before us, their familiar forms would furnish a striking lesson of the changing scenes of time, and of our limited period of probation. Very many of you no doubt have enshrined on memory's canvass recollections, or have received from ancestry records of events, of an earlier time, that perhaps will be revived as the various speakers, or the historian of the day, present the history of this spacious old house around which cluster so many tender recollections; and of the grand old trees that surround us, monarchs of the forest, whose sheltering shade has for many generations cooled the brows of those who sat beneath their protecting boughs.
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How we prize them as sentinels pointing Heavenward; reminders of the long ago, and under which our children still give vent to youthful exuberance.
The part that London Grove Meeting has had in the develop- ment of improved conditions during the past two hundred years cannot be measured. We know however that to promote peace, harmony, and righteousness has been the highest aim of its mem- bership; and if the ideals presented to the world have not been realized, we feel assured a conspicuous place has been occupied in the advocacy of conditions that tend to higher Christian manhood and womanhood.
To a hearing of the records and achievements of the past and the inspirations which the other exercises of the day may bring us, together with the period of social intercourse, wherein we trust may be felt the cementing influence of Christian fellowship, we cordially welcome you, and may we all in contemplation of the needs and demands of the present, more fully appreciate the part we can still play in the progress of the world, and with an increased zeal con- tribute to conditions that recognize the common brotherhood.
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Response By ZEBEDEE HAINES, West Grove
I N the reading to which we first listened, which was so clearly spoken, so impressively put before us, I marked those words: "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;" and they took hold of my mind, as very fitly connecting the present with the two hundred years that have passed since the establishment of this place as a place of worship.
This great company, I expect, mostly, like myself, have been glad at heart to be invited to come to this celebration. Many of our ancestors, no doubt, were among those who worshipped here. Almost the whole community, I presume, two hundred years ago, was connected with the people who established this place as a place of worship. It was not a place of entertainment; it was not a place of assembling for the opportunity to hear, or to deliver, speeches ; but I presume it was a place, in accordance with the past history of our people, where, by agreement, they came together to wait upon God, believing, as we believe, that the words still ring true that "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."
I am sometimes glad that I had an ancestry among this people. I don't know how else I would have come to have been among the people called Quakers. We are so much influenced by the sur- roundings of our childhood years; and, my friends, to-day, wher- ever we stand in the religious world, or wherever in the irreligious world, for, unfortunately, there are many in our community who are as innocent of religion as a new-born child-let us gather with our hearts centered to the great foundation truth of the dependence of the human race, of the dependence of the individual beings of that race, upon our Heavenly Father and the puttings forth of his love, the shedding forth of his love which is manifest, is made evident through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
I used to worship here with our people; and it has always been a trial to me that we come no longer to this beautiful site, where it always seemed to me that, as we gathered, there was an atmosphere about the place, there was something in the situation and the out- look, that favored that spiritual exercise in which my soul not only now delights, but has delighted for half a hundred years. I hope
IO
our gathering to-day will not only be of interest, and instruction, and entertainment, but it will help us to center down deep, once more, to the foundation, which is the revelation of God's holy spirit in the human heart and mind. We are all glad, I believe, to be received and welcomed here to-day.
Old London Grove Meeting (1714-1914) An Original Poem By JOHN RUSSELL HAYES, Swarthmore College
I
FEEL it as a great privilege to have any place on the program on this distinguished anniversary. I would have been very well content to come and listen all day, instead of reading a few verses. When Edward Pennock wrote and asked me to write something, and in his letter he said this: "We know thy reverence and love for this ancestral shrine"-and how well those words speak what all of us feel to-day in this dear old meeting,-"Love and reverence for this ancestral shrine" !- when Edward wrote me that, I felt that I would try to write something; so I wrote a few lines about some thoughts of mine, one day last summer, under the mag- nificent old oak tree which stands in the middle of the yard here.
I
While memories of the sainted souls remain Whose dust in yonder grave-yard long has lain,- While children yet unborn shall hold The hopes and visions of our sires of old,- So long dear London Grove shall stand A noble tower of strength in this loved land.
II
'Neath yon great Oak, last Quarterly Meeting day, I lingered through the happy hour of noon; I watched the breeze-touched branches softly sway, And heard the locusts chant their sleepy tune Among the emerald meads of fragrant hay, In that calm hour of noon.
It was a golden day of summer peace;
The hills of harvest sounded with the song Of reapers garnering the rich increase
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Of yellow wheat-fields; and I lingered long Beneath the ancient Oak-tree's towering green That rises o'er the grass's velvet sheen And spreads its mighty branches in the breeze Superbly grand and strong.
III
The happy children played beneath the trees And romped around the porch, a joyous band, The while their elders clasped the friendly hand And woke old memories of days gone by, Looking across the dear, full-freighted years Of hopes and griefs, of mingled joys and tears, With reminiscent eye.
And watching them, I thought of all the love And kindliness outpoured in plenteous streams, The heavenly intimations from above,
The prayers, the aspirations and the dreams, Of earnest souls and true,
Which those two hundred long, long years have seen In this old Meeting on its hilltop green,
Beneath the heaven's blue.
IV
As that great Oak has grown from its green youth And gained in splendor slowly year by year,- So London Grove has spread the light of truth, And lit with radiance beautiful and dear The heart of many a one, Slow building up its power through sire and son, Mother and daughter, day by patient day, Through full, ripe years of sunshine and of storm. Beneath this roof, inspiring words and warm Have roused the listening soul, Stirring the heart with dreams of human good, Of noble justice and of brotherhood,
Of righteousness and hope.
13
Here tender sympathy has helped console Sore-burdened hearts when all seemed dark and drear. Faint purposes have taken courage here And dared with evil fearlessly to cope. At London Grove were sown the seeds That ripened into splendid deeds; And many a corner of the earth Has felt her faith and love, her weight and worth.
O Father, may she still Work out Thy heavenly will; And may her children, as in years of yore, Be consecrate to Thee forevermore!
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The Record of an Early Settler in America By EMMA TAYLOR LAMBORN, Kennett Square
P ERHAPS the most interesting part of this Record is the love story of Robert Lamborn and Sarah Swayne. Robert was born in East Hampstead, Berkshire, Old England, in 1697. He was the first child of Josiah Lamborn. There were other chil- dren, boys and girls. His family were Episcopalians, and he was baptized in the Episcopal Church, as the baptismal records show.
Francis Swayne and family were neighbors in Berkshire, and were members of Friends' Meeting. There was a strong attachment between Robert and Sarah Swayne. The parents did not encourage this affection, on account of their youth, and all attempts to subdue it only intensified it. When Robert heard that the Swaynes were preparing to leave for America, he was dismayed and longed to accompany them.
Being susceptible to parental restraint he yielded to their persuasion. The Swaynes came to America in 1711 and settled in Chester county, near the present site of London Grove. The land they bought was the farm on which Pennell Taylor now lives, with much more land on the north side of the Street road.
This story is told by Robert Lamborn the third, the grandson of our early settler, he who lived in Kennett and gave the land for the meeting house. It was written on the Third month, 1814, one hundred years ago.
The separation did not lessen the affection of the young lovers. Robert resolved to find his love, determined that old ocean should not do what parental veto, time and distance could not do.
He did not know in what part of the New World his love had gone, so he was debarred from even the pleasure of an occasional letter. With this determination in his mind, he sought from his parents their consent, and in 1713, two years later, after many tears and admonitions, farewell was said forever to loved ones, and Robert set sail for America to find a new life and an old love.
His parents accompanied him to London. They bade a final farewell, they strewing their tears on their return up the street, and he in a broken and forlorn manner plentifully strewed his tears as he passed down the street to the ship in which he took passage, finally arriving in Philadelphia.
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We suppose that the vessel landed at Chester, for the story says -- He lived in and around Chester and Darby for a time. In Darby he met a man named William Horn, who was guardian and father to him. He took him to his home, this stranger in a strange land.
But Robert could not long remain in Darby; his desire to find his dear one made him restless to push further into the country, encouraged also by the advice of his friend Horn and others, who urged him to go forward into the wilderness of Chester County where they believed he could find land in the country which is now known as London Grove Township.
With some money which his father had given him ( and per- haps same from his friend Horn for work which he had done) he found his way from Darby through the forests of Pennsylvania to Philadelphia.
Standing alone and forlorn in the street he saw Francis Swayne enter a store. With much trepidation as to how Francis Swayne would receive him he awaited his exit from the store. To his great joy Friend Swayne showed himself glad to see his young friend and invited him to his home in the vicinity of London Grove, saying, "I have but one horse, Robert, but we will ride and hitch." Robert would gladly have walked, had it been a thousand miles. One rode a few miles and hitched the horse some distance ahead of the walking traveler, who, on coming up to the horse, would ride until he had passed the other. This gave both horse and riders an occasional rest. Each hitch brought the young lover nearer to his dear girl, who was all unconscious of his coming.
Francis Swayne managed the hitches; getting to the house first, he sent Sarah out to bring the horse home. One can imagine the surprise of Sarah to see her lover in America, the joys and tears of both when Robert clasped her to his heart. Perhaps they walked arm in arm across the sloping green meadow leading to the log Homestead, only a short distance away, with the horse's bridle over Robert's left arm.
Robert soon bought land about a half a mile west of London Grove meeting house. After having made some improvements in clearing the ground and cultivating the land, he built a home, a solid stone dwelling of two rooms, one below and the other upstairs, with a huge fireplace in cach room.
The time had now come for their marriage, which took place on the fifth day of the 9th month, 1722, by Friends' Ceremony in the house of John Bailey, near the old Hotel called Worth's Tav- ern on the Street road.
Two children were born before he became a member of Friends' Meeting, although he had been received among them with the greatest kindness, and during the whole course of his time among them he had not been debarred the privileges of the Society, but had adopted their forms and found them delightful.
Feeling himself in sympathy with Friends, he had not requested to become a member. All the certificate he had which would allow his marriage was the vocal testimony of William Horn, who informed the meeting that he had long known Robert Lamborn and knew him to be a sober young man, therefore he was admitted to accomplish his marriage.
It was afterward observed by some friend that there was no record of his admission to meeting, so it was thought advisable for him to make a formal request for himself and his two minor chil- dren. This advice being complied with, they then became acknow]- edged members of our Society, as from the records of the New Gar- den Meeting may fully appear.
Here was his settlement in early life, early in the cultivation of the wilds of America, as it were on the margin of civilized society. The Indian natives were his nearest neighbors, and his most fre- quent visitants, of whom my grandfather spoke in high favor of their veracity, hospitality and social intercourse, all in the greatest harmony and confidence. Their customs were then, as has been their practice since, in their native state, to depend on the chase in the forest for their sustenance and supply of their provisions and clothing.
And in their excursions, frequently wet, cold and weary and ofttimes at night, and perhaps almost all hours of the night, they would use the freedom to open the door, rouse up the fire, cook, roast or broil of their venison, regale themselves and then stretch down on the floor, feet to the fire, and were frequently found by the old patriarch, my grandfather, in the morning, sometimes to the number of eight or ten.
What native sociability, no fears on either side, all friendship and a benevolent disposition cherished in the fullest confidence to
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comfort and oblige one another! If only one was lucky, all shared alike in the remainder of the game, as they frequently took a part with them for present need and left the rest, suspended on a sapling bent downward. Ofttimes Lobat's horse (Lobat being their name for Robert) must go for the venison, but Lobat was sure to obtain his share with them, freely given, and sometimes "you Lobat, go bring Indian venison, Indian tired. Go bring 'im up such a run. creek or in yonder hill or valley, find 'im."
Once an Indian asked Robert to go with him and he would show him the best land in the world. He took him to where the city of Lancaster now stands. But Robert did not like the situ- ation, it being too far from Philadelphia. On their return the Indian was taken sick and Robert was his doctor. The Indian's name was Tom. Sometime after, Tom said: "Bob when you trace lands with an Indian again, do not walk in front of him, as you did with me. I drew my tomahawk different times to strike you, but something told me not to do it, or you would have been killed."
Pennsylvania perhaps above all the states of the Union may boast of the blessings of Peace in the settlement of the States, this not the first settled of the States. My grandfather knew himself to be the farthest west white inhabitant in America, with one excep- tion, which was about four miles west of his land, where there lived a man by the name of Panthro, on the land since known and occupied by Joseph Pennock and son Levis, both men of my knowl- edge. In later years settlers came more numerously and life was more cheery and comfortable. The London Grove Meeting House was built in 1724, two years after Robert's marriage.
Some days ago my daughter and I in company with Marshall Swayne and wife of Kennett Square (Friend Swayne being a descendant of the first Swayne who came over, and once living in the old homestead, knows the country well,) drove out the Street Road beyond the Meeting House about half a mile and up a very steep lane to the left, which brought us to the two old stone build- ings built by Robert Lamborn in the early days. It was a great disappointment to find them in ruins, for only three years ago friend Swayne visited them and found them in quite good condition. He was able to walk in through the large door-way through which the Indians used to come to lie down before the great stone fire
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