USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Concordville > Two-hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of Concord Monthly Meeting of Friends : Concordville, Delaware Co., Pa > Part 4
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Nathaniell Parke
2
12 6
Benj. Mendenhall
6
6
0
Elizebeth Hickman
1
5
0
Thomas King
3
5
0
Nicoles Pyle
3
6
0
William Cloud
3
6
0
William Collett
2
0
0
-
Edward Jones
1
16
0
John Sanger
0
6
0
Nicoles Newlin
6
15
0
Henry Obern
2
5
0
Peter Dix
4
15
0
George Pearce
5
6
0
Isack Tailler
2
8
0
James Hayerd
0
13
0
Will Brainton senior
3
10
3
Will Brainton Junier
2
16
0
39
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Two hundred and twenty-fifth Anniversary
Richard Wodderd
1
18
0
John Huchin
1
2
6
John Bennett
4
5
0
Robert Way
1
6
0
John Mendenhall
2
16
0
Edward Bennett
1
6
0
Thomas Radly
1
0
0
Richard Thacher
1
15
0
ffrancis Chadzy
1
15 0
Joseph Edwards
0
15 0
Jonathan Thacher
1
10
0
Joseph Gilpin
0
10
0
Samuel Scott
0
10
0
Godin Walter
0
5
0
Daniell Davis
0
5
0
An account of those yt have bin concerned with the fencing in of ye Buriall ground afore mentioned with their sub- scriptions.
£
6
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Nicoles Newlin
00
18
0
Nathaniell Newlin
00
14
0
Nicoles Pyle
00
12 0
Nathaniell Parke
00
04
0
Peter Dix
00
09
0
William Cloud
00
08
0
Benj. Mendenhall
00
08
0
Thomas King
00
06
0
Samuel Scott
00
04
8
George Pearce
00
10
0
John Mendenhall
00
08
0
Henery Obern
00
09
0
Robert Pyle
00
11
0
Godin Walter
00
06
0
Joseph Hickman
00
04
8
Robert Way
00
05
0
Richard Woodiard
00
02
6
Joseph Edwards
00
03
0
William Roe
00
06
6
Isack Tailer
00
02
0
Edward Jones
00
02
0
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Concord Monthly Meeting of Friends
CONCORD MEETING.
At Quarterly Meeting, 1st of 9th Mo. 1685:
"It is agreed yt ye meeting formerly held at John Gibbons house should from this time forewards be held one first day & one fourth day at John Gibbons & another first day & fourth day at Nicolas Newlands untill further order."
2d of 6th Mo. 1686 :- "Agreed yt ye meeting formerly ordered to be one first day at nicolas newlands and ye other first day at John Gibin's be from this time removed & kept at nicholas newlands only till further order (viz.) ye first & 4th days meeting."
John Gibbons and Margery his wife had taken some offence at the meeting, and it appears by the rough minutes of 4 Mo. 13, 1692, that they had been keeping a meeting in their own house for some time.
11 Mo. 11, 1696 : George Pearce, Nicolas Pyle and Thomas King desired to be released from their appointment "to inspect & indever to amend such disorders as they should see among such as profest Truth." At the next meeting, 12 Mo. 8, 1696, they were released, as were also William Hughes (Hewes), Robert Pyle and John Kingsman, who held the same appointment at Chichester Meeting "After some debate & consideration have concluded for ye present to try some time without choyce" of others to succeed them. These were appointed 8 Mo. 14. 1695.
At Nathaniel Parke's, 7 Mo. 9, 1700 :- "In pursuance of an order of ye yearly meeting for the preserving of unity & the more desent behaviour To be kept & preserved Amongst friends According to Truth : This meeting have ordered these friends viz. Nathaniell Parke, Nicoles Pyle, George Pearce & Thomas King; Ann Pearce, Elizebeth Newlin, Jane Tratcher & Elezebeth Parke for Concord meeting, To meet on the Last fourth day before every monthly meeting-And Philip Roman, William Browne, John Kingsman & Robert Carter, Deborah Hewes, Elizebeth Swaffer, Mary Bales & ffrances Barnard for Chichester Meeting, to meet on teh Last fifth day before Every monthly meeting: To hear & consider of matters that May be for the service of Truth hear after mentioned."
Here follow eight articles of advices.
"It was agreed by the meeting yt there should be but three men and three women friends to Attend each preparative
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Two hundred and twenty-fifth Anniversary
meeting: And in order thereunto ye meeting have chosen Phillip Roman, Johns Kingsman & James Swaffer, Liddy Carter, Elizebeth Swaffer & Ann Johnson for Chichester : George Pearce, Nicoles Pyle & Thomas King, Ann Pearce, Elizabeth Parke & Abigail Pyle for Concord, To take the care And charge of ye meetings According to the former orders And thare to continue their care & diligence untill otherwise ordered By the meeting."
The foregoing appears to be the beginning of the appoint- ment of overseers. Those who received the appointment, for Chichester for some years later, were John Beales, 1702; James Whitaker, 1706; Thomas Dutton, 1707; John Dutton, 1708; Thomas Barnard, 1719; Edward Robinson, 1722; Nathan Wood, 1724. Several of these received reappoint- ments in the meantime.
The overseers for Concord Meeting, following those already named, were John Bennett, Nathaniel Newlin, Ann Bennett, Sarah Bennett, Jane Brinton, 1701; Henry Oburn, 1704; Benjamin Mendenhall and Edward Bennett, 1705; William Brinton, 1706; Jacob Vernon, 1710; Moses Key and Joseph Baker, 1712; John Mendenhall and Peter Hatton, 1714, Philip Taylor, 1721; Ann Mendenhall and Ann Gibbons, 1722 ; Ralph Eavenson, 1723; Elizabeth Key and Ann Taylor, 1723; Joseph Gilpin and William Pyle, 1727. The early women's minutes are missing.
6 Mo. 6, 1716 :- "Newark monthly meeting Requests there be two Quarterly Meetings of Business Kept Every year at Concord, which is Left to the further Consideration of friends in Each monthly meeting against the next Quarterly Meeting."
At the next Quarterly Meeting it was granted that those in the third and ninth months should be held at Concord, instead of Providence as heretofore.
The monthly meetings having alternated between Concord and Chichester since 1711, it was agreed, 11 Mo. 14, 1716, "that their shall three monthly meeting be held at Concord meeting house sucsesifly the 10th, 11th & 12th, until further orders and they outher meeting to goe in course as usall." These three were the winter months of December, January and February.
6 Mo. 4, 1729: "The monthly meeting Is Concluded to be settled at Concord till further orders, only to be keept at Chichester ye next time." This action was in response to
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Concord Monthly Meeting of Friends
the request of Birmingham Friends, made several months before.
At Quarterly Meeting, 6 Mo. 10, 1730 :- "it is unanimously agreed in this meeting that our Quarterly Meetings of busi- ness be hereafter kept at Concord Meeting house till further order."
10 Mo. 8, 1712 :- This meeting appoints George Pearce, Nicholas Pyle, Nathaniel Newlin, Benjamin Mendenhall, Richard Webb, John Lea & Henry Oburn to be Feoffees for the Burying ground at Concord & to take care to get a new Deed as soon as possibly & when done that they make return to the next meeting."
8 Mo. 2, 1734 :- Peter Hatton, Thomas Marshall, Benj. Mendenhall Jr, Moses Key, John Newlin, Richard Eavenson, John Pyle, Caleb Peirce & Ralph Eavenson are appointed to be entered in the declaration of trust in respect to the meeting house & ground in Concord.
2 Mo. 7, 1740 :- "This meeting appoints Moses Key, Ralph Eavenson, Benj. Mendenhall, Caleb Peirce, John Pyle, Peter Hatton, John Newlin & Thos Marshall to be entered in the declaration of trust for a pice of Land that Jovnes to Concord Meeting house and ground, conveyed by Nicholas Newlin and wife for the youse of the said meeting. This meeting ap- points William Brinton, Joseph Pyle to see the Declaration of trust signed and delivered."
Concord Meeting House was burned 1 Mo. 27, 1788.
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Two hundred and twenty-fifth Anniversary
1686. IN YE OLDEN TIME. 1911.
BY BENJ. F. LEGGETT.
How grandly sweep the centuries On downy pinions by : Nor leave a furrow on the sea, Or shadow on the sky :-- As softly as the crimson light The grail of azure fills, Or silently as morning drifts Above the dreaming hills !
So pass amid the silences The sandaled feet of 'Time, Above the smallest dust of earth, Beyond the spheres sublime :- The years mar not the mountain's crown,- The lasting hill's repose, Though all the wilderness rejoice And blossom as the rose.
O vast New World that held the fate Of people yet unknown ! What changes time in thee hath wrought While centuries have flown ! What sage, or seer, dare prophesy Whereto the seed would grow They planted in the Jamestown wild Three hundred years ago?
Years passed and to the northern strand That keeps their name and fame, The Mayflower braved December's storm- The sturdy Pilgrims came ;--- And later still another band Of fearless, godly men, Who built a state and kept for aye The name of William Penn!
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Concord Monthly Meeting of Frienas
But two-score years had come and gone Since he of Drayton-town, Went forth to preach the Newer Life On English dale and down :- Illustrious Fox! whose burning words Smote Error's gilded mail, While Bunyan dreamed his Pilgrim Dream In grim old Bedford jail !
So near was he to those brave days When blind old Milton's strain Rehearsed the epic of our race In Eden's loss and gain ;--- When Cromwell prayed, and Hampden strove, And faithless kings were spurned And Right was more than Royalty, And fires of Freedom Burned, --
What wonder that his soul was stirred With zeal of Heaven born, To wake the land to purer life, To preach, rebuke and warn ;--- To mend the crooked ways of Earth And make them straight again Beneath the gracious Light Divine- The heritage of men !-
-How changed the tangled forest wide, By swift red hunters trod, Since first the Fathers builded here A place to worship God ! And here within an humble fold- A loghouse low and rude, They waited for the Guiding Light, The Spirit's quietude.
They tamed the trackless wilderness, They wrought with picus care, The first to build in Penn's broad land The peaceful fanes of prayer! They planted in the New World soil, Ere smoke of battle curled, A vine of Peace amid the wild To grow and bless the world.
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Two hundred and twenty-fifth Anniversary
And 'neath its sheltering shade there grew The fireside and the school, And well they kept their simple faith And lived the Golden Rule :- Love hedged them round with quietness And bade all striving cease, Contentment was their heritage, They loved the ways of Peace .-
-Two hundred years! Two hundred years And half of fifty fled, Since first they builded here and walled Yon city of the dead ;--- With willing hearts and willing hands They wrought at eve and morn, And builded better than they knew For ages yet unborn :-
To-day we look across the land Lapped in the summer glow, But not as they who lived and loved In dead years long ago! The same sun shone above their heads, The stars and sunbeams smiled, But Nature held primeval court For them amid the wild!
Where now the fruitful farms are spread Beneath the summer sheen, The swarthy leagues of wilderness Waved their unbounded green; But here and there a clearing smiled And sunshine filtered through, And smoke of homes and wigwams curled And blended with the blue.
Through passing years the clearings grew, The wildness passed away ; New hearthfires lent a-brighter glow To cheer the toiler's way ; Hope sprang anew and Fortune smiles Above the favored land,
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Concord Monthly Meeting of Friends
And these old walls uprose and stood As here to-day they stand !
What sturdy men of might they were Who reared these walls of old ;--- The tamers of the wilderness These men of manly mould ! Could we but call the honor-roll Of that long vanished day, The Brintons and the Mendenhalls Would surely answer-aye!
The Peirces, Palmers, Scotts and Ways Beneath the open sky, The Trimbles, Gilpins, Taylors, Rings, And Newlins would reply :- The Marshalls, Pennells, Hannums, Pyles, Would listen to the call, And hosts of others yet unnamed Would answer one and all :---
-The generations pass and go With Life's swift ebbing tide, But still some trace they leave for aye, Their deeds and works abide :- God's acre holds their sacred dust Unmarked by date, or name, For lichened słab, or leaning stone, Are vain as earthly fame .--
O ancient House upon the hills ! What histories untold Are thine since first thy walls were tinged With morning's ruddy gold !- Thou heard'st the cry of Liberty, The challenge Freedom hurled,- The Bell that rang the olden chime That startled half the world !
And when September gathered gold Amid the autumn shine Thou heard'st strange thunders in the air From hills of Brandywine!
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Two hundred and twenty-fifth Anniversary
And from the smoking field of strife, Led on by trumpet calls, The men of battle rested here Within these ancient walls!
And thou wast here in that dark hour- The night so long ago,
When Freedom kept her watch and ward On blood-stained fields of snow :-- When camp-fires waned and. Hope almost Her starry pinions furled, While brave men kept at Valley Forge The fate of this New World !
-- What aching hearts have gathered here And brought their dead to thee, And laid their sorrows at His feet Who wept at Bethany :--- What bridal trains have hither come, Led on by Love unfeigned, What happy twains made one for aye, Whose moons have never waned !-
-Long live thy old-time builded walls, With all their antique charms, -- Old Concord Meeting on the hills Amid the peaceful farms :--- The mother fond whom hearts revere Since from her fold they came,- The loyal sons of vanished years Who shares her name and fame.
Stand ever thus, O ancient fane, In storm, or cloud, or shine, To hasten on the brighter dawn- The sway of Love Divine, --- When Peace shall reign, good-will abide, And war's last flag be furled, One God, one Faith, one Brotherhood, One Hope of all the world !
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Concord Monthly Meeting of Friends
WOMAN-WHAT THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS HAS DONE FOR HER DEVELOPMENT AND ADVANCEMENT.
BY EMMA SPEAKMAN WEBSTER.
The higher the religious plane on which a man's life is developed, the broader his view of humanity in general, the greater his conception of the unity of forces, the clearer his comprehension of duty devolving upon him and consequently a more sacred regard and respect for womankind.
Thomas Clarkson in his Portraiture of Quakerism, pub- lished in 1806, emphasized this thought when he wrote:
"Christianity has operated, where it is felt in the heart, to the production of a tender attention to women and to the procuring of an honorable station for them in society." He further states, "It seems to have been reserved for the Quakers as a religious body to insist upon that full practical treatment and estimation of women which ought to take place wherever Christianity is professed."
Taking this as a keynote, we can well analyze the atti- tude of George Fox when he stood upon the high vantage ground as a religious reformer and rays of light and truth emanating from him penetrated the shadows and darkness of religious oppression, illuminated the secret recesses and inspired and reassured the souls of men.
History tells us that he was the son of a weaver who "was exemplary in his character and highly esteemed." Of his mother, Mary Lago Fox, William Penn writes more at length, saying, "she was a pious woman, of the stock of mar- tyrs and accomplished above most of her degree in the place where she lived."
All that George Fox did in his time to elevate woman may have been inspired by the sterling character of that same good mother. Did he not receive from her by inherit- ance that same martyr spirit, high accomplishment, spirit- ual insight and keen sense of justice which could not permit
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Two hundred and twenty-fifth Anniversary
him to bow to kings and others in authority when the cause of religious liberty was at stake? Furthermore, can we doubt for one moment that George Fox did not realize and appreciate the sterling character of his mother? Can we doubt but that she was the standard by which he meas- ured the ability of women?
"Let your women keep silence in the church, for it is not permitted them to speak for it is a shame for them to speak in the church." George Fox interprets the "speaking" referred to here by St. Paul, to mean "arguing" or "disputing," and not preaching, and suggests that St. Paul approved of disputes and disagreements being settled at home and not to be brought into the church.
In reference to women preaching he implies that it is a fulfillment of the prediction of Joel when he said, "It shall come to pass in the last days, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" (prophesying meaning preaching).
As early as 1647 George Fox, a young man of twenty- three, passing through Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, met Elizabeth Hooten, who embraced his views, became a Friend and the first woman preacher.
Thomas Clarkson says of George Fox: "He introduced also into his system of discipline privileges in favor of women, which marked his sense of justice and the strength and liberality of his mind. The men he considered, un- doubtedly, as the heads of the church, and from whom all laws concerning it should issue: but he did not deny women on that account any power which he thought would be proper for them to hold. He believed them to be capable of great usefulness and therefore admitted them to the honor of being, in his own society, of nearly equal importance with the men. He gave them meetings for discipline of their own, with the power of recording their own transactions.
In the "Story of Quakerism," by Elizabeth B. Emmott, concerning Men's Monthly Meetings she writes: "At the same time we find that George Fox encouraged women to take their share of work in the church and advised the hold- ing of Women's Monthly Meetings. There were evidently people then, as there are now, who were afraid that this was taking women out of their proper sphere, for George Fox had a good deal to say in answer to their objections, quoting instances from the Old Testament of women's assem-
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Concord Monthly Meeting of Friends
blies and adding, "Now Moses and Aaron and the seventy elders did not say to those assemblies of women, 'We can do our work ourselves and you are fitter to be at home to wash dishes,' or such like expressions, but they did encourage them in the work and service of God." He goes on to say that if women in the days of Moses were allowed to help in the service of God, it is even more fitting that in this day of Christ's Gospel they should serve about His heavenly taber- nacle.
Among the early Friends the men felt the need of assist- ance of the women to care for the sick, etc., as is indicated by the following statement: "It is not so proper for the men as for the women to visit the sick and to search out the necessities of the poor weak widows and aged," and thus the Box Meetings were established, the members of which at- tended to charitable demands; they possessed considerable funded property and freehold estate from which much in- come was derived, so they were enabled to make disburse- ments of which they were not called upon to give account to any other meeting.
Thus there was a line of service especially committed to women Friends.
It was, no doubt, the result of such encouragement that caused a concern in the mind of Priscilla Wakefield, of Tot- tenham Monthly Meeting, who resided in the Ship Yard, to establish a savings bank; that at Tottenham founded by her is said to be the earliest.
The "Free Rent Roll" for all the London Meetings was under the care of the Women's Meetings. The Meeting pro- vided a fund for the purchase of flax for the poor to spin and a woman was appointed superintendent to sort, oversee and direct the work.
The cause of education was not neglected by the women, and their Meetings volunteered to bear part of the education of poor Friends' children.
When William Savery, of Philadelphia, crossed the broad Atlantic in 1798 and preached in a Meeting in England, we know not the subject of his discourse, but there was present at that Meeting a beautiful, attractive young girl of eighteen in fashionable attire, the daughter of a rich banker, who was so deeply impressed that shortly afterward she laid aside her gay attire, adopted the dress of a plain friend and during
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Two hundred and twenty-fifth Anniversary
the remainder of her sixty-five years gave of her means, time and strength to the elevating of her sex and to the bettering of their physical conditions. This daughter of John Guer- ney, Betsy Guerney, of Earlham Hall, better known by her married name, Elizabeth Fry, stands out as a great beacon light in illuminating the way to prison reform, not only in England but upon the Continent as well. This wonderful woman with the effect of that sermon indelibly impressed upon her in her girlhood days was the great pioneer through whose influence schools and factories were established for the employment of female convicts and matrons were ap- pointed to care for them. The name of Elizabeth Fry and Newgate prison in indissolubly connected, and that picture where she is seen preaching to the women in that prison must inspire everyone who looks upon it after the lapse of a cen- tury since her days of active service.
"In Earlham's bowers, in Plashet's liberal hall, In the great city's restless crowd and din, Her ear was open to the Master's call, And knew the summons of His voice within.
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Tender as mother, beautiful as wife Amidst the throngs of prisoned crime she stood,
In modest raiment, faultless as her life,
The type of England's. worthiest womanhood."
What Quakerism has done for women through its educa- tional institutions may be strikingly illustrated by a board- ing school at Nine Partners, Dutchess County, New York. There is not the last doubt but that Lucretia Coffin inher- ited a goodly degree of common sense, moral rectitude, spir- itual insight and independence from her splendid sturdy Nantucket ancestry, but that school at Nine Partners did not allow her receptive mind and her undeveloped resources to lie dormant and when she deemed it wise to leave school and marry one of its teachers she was not only fitted to meet all the domestic relations required but she proved herself a charming hostess and a veritable home-maker for her companion, James Mott.
It is almost needless even to touch upon the public life of Lucretia Mott. All Friends know well her active and perilous participation in the anti-slavery movement, her
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Concord Monthly Meeting of Friends
deprecation of war, her effective testimony in favor of peace and arbitration and temperance reform.
Her eloquence as a preacher, her liberality of thought, her persuasive utterances carried weight that was felt and made her a conspicuous leader in her time.
Her work and that of her society was retroactive. She gave most freely of herself, while the Meeting accorded her as a member that freedom of expression and of action which would have been denied her by any other religious organiza- tion ; consequently she was not hampered by creed or dogma and found no cause for repression of spirit. Ofttimes be- cause she was a woman she was denied certain rights and privileges as a citizen, the injustice of which she felt most keenly, for she was a firm believer in the equality of woman.
While our Society cannot yet boast of its ambitious women aspiring to the mayoralty of any city, like the successful candidate of Hunniwell, Kansas, nevertheless a member of our Society lent dignity and grace as mistress of the White House after she had laid aside her Friendly garb. While Dolly Madison may never have been a convinced Friend at heart, nevertheless we can admire that Quaker courage that saved Stuart's painting of Washington and the Declaration of Independence from the flames of the enemy and we are ready to place the stamp of approval upon her ability as a housewife inasmuch as we are indebted to her for that deli- cious, cooling concoction, ice cream.
Many vexed problems in which women have borne their share have been solved, but to-day others are presented. While slavery in the United States is now a thing of the past yet faithful consecrated women Friends are in the van- guard striving to uplift the colored race both in the North and in the South. Industrial education was introduced into the Schofield School by a woman Friend before Hampton was established.
What the Society has ever accomplished, either for its women or its men, has been achieved through the steadfast- ness of its individual members; nevertheless the Society as a whole gives to the woman every opportunity for her to assert her rights. Whether her advancement is to be impeded or not depends upon herself. Lukewarmness and simply drifting cannot make for progress. Women should be more than willing to accept the responsibility of various forms of
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