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CHAPTER VIII Churches
and Religious Institutions |
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BY MARC
P. DOWDELL The initial formal religious activities in and about Trenton
were undertaken by members of the Society of Friends as early as 1684. Sundry members of the Society who
had landed at Burlington in 1678 soon pushed on towards "Ye ffalles
of Ye De-la-Warr" to take up land in the neighborhood. Scattered
clumps of log houses sprang up quickly in the region which centered
loosely around Crosswicks and soon extended to the mouth of the Assunpink
Creek where Mahlon Stacy had settled and built a grist mill in 1679.
1 1 See Chap. I "The Colonial Period " above. It should be explained at the outset
that the Society of Friends in Trenton was from the beginning affiliated
with the Monthly Meeting which had its headquarters at Crosswicks and
was known as the "Chesterfield Meeting." This was the center
from which for many years radiated the Quaker influence and activities
operating in this section of New Jersey. The history of the Chesterfield
Meeting includes therefore that of the Trenton Meeting which cannot
property be isolated from it. THE ORIGINAL CHESTERFIELD MEETING
By
August 1684, temporal affairs were sufficiently advanced for the Friends
to meet together for worship at the home of Francis Davenport, their
spiritual leader, at Chesterfield, or Crosswicks as it is now known,
and to establish the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting of Friends. The original
minute book of this meeting, now preserved among the records at the
Trenton Meeting House, Hanover and Montgomery Streets, contains a paean
of praise to God for His blessings in leading His people to a place
where they could worship Him in peace and after a fashion of their own.
This declaration was probably written by Francis Davenport and is signed
by him and by John Wileford and William Watson. On
the occasion of this first meeting of Friends Davenport's house was
selected as a place of worship and for the transaction of the business
of the monthly meeting until otherwise ordered, the day chosen being
the first Thursday of each month. Births, burials, and marriage bans
were to be recorded at the monthly meeting. It
is on record that Samuel Bunting and Mary Foulkes were the first pair
to signify their intention of marriage. Their bans were published on
September 9, 1684, and the marriage was solemnized according to good
order and the custom of Friends on September 18, following. Witnesses
at the Bunting wedding numbered most of the original settlers. They
were: Thomas Foulkes, Sr.
Robert Murfin John
Tomlinson Thomas Foulkes, Jr.
Peter Fettwell Sarah
Davenport Job Bunting
Thomas Lambert Esther
Gilberthorpe Francis Davenport
Samuel Sykes Mary
Wright Thomas Gilberthorpe
John Curtis Elizabeth
Curtis The
first direct evidence that a considerable settlement of Friends existed
at the Falls, or Trenton, appears in the action taken November 7, 1695,
when the first death occurred among the colonists, that of John Brown.
This brought a decision by the Society to establish burying grounds
both at the Falls and at Chesterfield. John
Lambert granted a portion of his estate at the Falls for this purpose.
The plot was used by Friends for a long period, finally becoming a part
of the present Riverview Cemetery. The trustees named to accept Lambert’s
gift were: William Emley, Thomas Lambert, John Wileford, Joseph Wright,
Mahlon Stacy, and Joseph Eby. All of these are presumably to be included
among Trenton's earliest settlers. At
the same monthly meeting the settlers at the Falls were given permission
to establish a branch meeting for week-day worship each Thursday. They were to meet in rotation at the homes of Mahlon
Stacy, Thomas Lambert, Samuel Sikes, and William Black. That
there were non-Quaker settlers in the community at least as early as
1686 is established by the fact that on April 4, 1686, Alice Fulwood
asked the monthly meeting to grant her permission to wed a non-Quaker.
This was reluctantly given and Mary Andrews and Sarah Davenport were
appointed to see that the Friends ceremony was used. The wedding took
place on May 1, 1686, but Alice was too staunch in her upbringing to
be comfortable, and on June 5 following she confessed in Meeting to
an uneasy conscience for her act. On
June 5, 1686, John Lambert asked permission to wed Rebecca Clower, daughter
of John Clower of the Pennsylvania Falls Meeting, for which permission
was granted July 2. In
July 1686 the Quakers organized their first local charity. A store of
corn at Stacy's Mill was provided under the administration of John Wileford,
for the assistance of Friends who had met with misfortune. This action
was determined by a fire which destroyed Robert Shelby's home, and Thomas
Lambert and Mahlon Stacy were sent to inquire of Shelby if he was in
need of help. Trenton's
first representative to the yearly meeting, which then met alternately
at Philadelphia and Burlington, was Mahlon Stacy, who with William Biddle
of Crosswicks was deputized to attend that held in Burlington on July
8, 1686. A readjustment
of places of meeting was effected on May 5, 1690, when it was determined
that the monthly meeting should gather in turn at the home of Francis
Davenport, Chesterfield; then at Edward Rockhill's, Chesterfield; at
Thomas Lambert's, Nottingham; at Robert Murfin's, Nottingham; at William
Biddle's, Chesterfield; and finally at Mahlon Stacy's, at the Falls,
and then in rotation down the list again. By this arrangement it would
appear that the membership was about evenly divided geographically between
Chesterfield and the settlement at the Falls, or Trenton, for Thomas
Lambert's estate, on the bluff overlooking the river just below the
Falls, is spoken of as being at Nottingham, but subsequently became
a part of Trenton. A MEETING HOUSE BUILT On
January 5, 1691, it was proposed that two meeting houses be built, one
at Chesterfield and the other at the Falls. Discussion came up at each
successive meeting until June 6 when it was decided that only one meeting
house should be built for the present and this at Chesterfield. On November
11 of the same year definite action was taken and Davenport, Samuel
Andrews, William Wood, Samuel Bunting, and Thomas Gilberthorpe were
appointed to secure estimates on the cost of building the proposed structure.
Nothing more appears on the record until October 4, 1692, when John
Greene was awarded the contract to build the meeting house. On June
3, 1693, the first meeting was held in the new building. Apparently
Greene rendered a bill for services in excess of expectations, for on
November 4 it was recorded that the meeting had reasoned with him and,
according to agreement, had paid him 40 pounds for materials, 1 pound
for his work, and 2 shillings overage. At the same time Davenport reported
that he had paid 6s. 8d. for the lime used and had 4 pounds 11 shillings
1d. left in his hands. LEGAL AND DISCIMINARY MEASURES Light
on the attitude of the Friends towards the sale of liquor is cast by
a minute dated March 5, 1687, when the meeting was informed that one
of its members, John Bainbridge, had been selling rum to Indians. John
Bunting and Samuel Sykes were appointed to remonstrate with the offender.
At the following monthly meeting, April 2, Friends Sykes and Bunting
reported that the rum had been sold by John Bunting, Jr., who, at the
time of their visit had been hard and defiant. At a quarterly meeting,
which had been held in the interim, John had been present and at that
time, so Sykes and Bunting reported, "the Power of the Lord broke
his spirit" and he had confessed to Samuel Bunting his determination
to abstain from the practice. For
many years subsequent to their original settlement the Quakers shunned
all courts of law. They had had enough of these proceedings with their
corresponding penalties in the mother country. Hence the Society insisted
on settling all differences arising among its own membership and if
any member failed to accede to the terms of settlement he suffered summary
expulsion, and then only the offended member was permitted to appeal
to the courts of the Colony for justice. The
first case for settlement before the Chesterfield Meeting was recorded
on December 8, 1684, when Robert Murfin and William Black reported the
need for an arbitrator. Robert Wilson was appointed to hear the testimony
and make a decision. On January 5, 1685, Wilson reported that the difference
had been settled to the satisfaction of both parties. In November
1697 came the first of a long series of expulsions when Esther Gilberthorpe,
wife of one who had been most prominent in meeting affairs, was read
out for "scandalous gossiping." Thomas, her husband, thereafter
absented himself from meeting. In 1699 a committee was sent to reason
with him but without avail and he was the second to be dropped from
the rolls. Gilberthorpe was carried as a member until 1703 when the
Friends finally whipped themselves up to a public denunciation
of him. By this
time a new wilderness-raised generation was coming on to plague the
old zealots in their endeavors to maintain the traditional Quaker discipline.
It is on record that several of the young bloods - Richard French, Thomas
Curtis, and David Curtis - were forced to apologize publicly for "rowdy
conduct." The Society thenceforth found its attempt to regulate
the private lives of its members a most difficult task, and it is a
tribute to the unbending fortitude of the leaders that they did not
cease their attempts to disown those whom they considered to be unworthy
until they thereby had reduced the Society's place among the religious
bodies of the era from a dominant position to a quite minor one. A NEW STRUCTURE PLANNED The
original meeting house, built in 1692 at Crosswicks, was found to be
inadequate for its purpose and a new structure requiring forty thousand
bricks was determined upon in 1706. Davenport and Wood entered into
a contract with William Mott for the required number of bricks at a
stipulated price of 40 pounds. On November
11, following, the bricks were reported as having been made and Samuel
Bunting, Davenport, Wood, William Tantum, Thomas Lambert, and Robert
Wilson were named the building committee. Tantum was hired to do the
carpenter work and John Farnsworth was sent to Burlington to buy two
hundred bushels of lime. Tantunt and Lambert agreed to furnish the shingles. Early
in 1707 Francis Davenport died and the meeting lost its first leader.
Samuel and John Bunting thenceforth were to hold joint possession of
the records, and, by implication, to assume the leadership of the meeting. OTHER MEETINGS ESTABLISHED In
1709 the first of the distant meetings recognizing the authority of
the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting was established at Little Egg Harbor
and a small meeting house was built. Six years later, in 1715, this
branch was strong enough to become a monthly meeting itself. Stony
Brook Meeting House was the next to be built by the Chesterfield Meeting,
a stone structure 34 feet by 3cs feet being agreed upon on May 2, 1724,
at a cost of 150 pounds. Some months later, on January 4, 1725, Tanturn
and Lambert, the building committee, reported that the cost would reach
200 pounds and subscriptions to this amount were asked. This meeting
house is still standing on the historic Princeton battlefield. The
growth of the Chesterfield Meeting was rapid from that time forward
and in 1727 collections were being taken for the building of still another
meeting house at Springfield, near Mount Holly. THE EARLY STAND AGAINST SLAVERY Friends took an early stand against
slavery. In 1730 we find that the members of Chesterfield Monthly Mecting
were holding prolonged and anxious discussions over a question submitted
to them by the yearly meeting, and on July 3 Benjamin Clark, Thomas
Lambert, and Isaac Horner were appointed to draw up a reply. At
the next meeting the paper was ready for approval and was duly recorded.
It read: "This Meeting having considered
the proposal of some Friends to our last Quarterly Meeting to restrict
Friends from purchasing Negroes imported into these parts. It is the
sense of this Meeting that as Friends both here and elsewhere have been
in the practice of it for some time past and many Friends differing
in their opinions from others in that matter we think restricting Friends
at this time and bringing such as fall into the same thing under dealing
as offenders will not be convenient lest it create contention and uneasiness
among them, which should be carefully avoided. We hope those Friends
that are dissatisfied with such actings will not only be exemplary but
in a Christian spirit persuade against a practice so contrary to that
Noble Rule laid down in Holy Scriptures in doing to all as they would
that they should do to us. Signed by order and in behalf of said meeting by Thomas Lambert." Conservative
ideas prevailed in 1730 in the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, but abhorrence
for slavery had crept in and less than a score of years afterwards the
Society had purged itself of participation it the slave traffic and
was preparing for that long campaign against it which finally led up
to the Civil War and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. In
October 1731, Friends at Bethlehem, near Belvidere, set up a brand of
the Chesterfield Meeting with Charles Wolverton and Daniel Robins as
overseers appointed at Chesterfield and reporting there. ANOTHER MEETING HOUSE BUILT Mansfield meeting house was the
next to be built, Joseph Pancoast and Isaac Horner being appointed to
receive subscriptions for it in April of 1732. The
claims of Trenton as a center were again put forward in 1734 and, in
April of that year, a group headed by Isaac Harrow was given permission
to hold meetings there on First Days (Sundays), for a trial period of
six months. Bordentown friends received the same recognition in November
following. In 1736
a general subscription for some unreported purpose was ordered taken
and the listing of those appointed to take funds shows the number of
branches of the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting then existing, These were
located at Chesterfield, Springfield, Mansfield, Stony Brook, Bethlehem,
and Trenton. For some unknown reason the Bordentown group was omitted
from this list, although at the monthly meeting of September 1736 Isaac
Horner, Richard French, William Morris, Joshua Wright and Marmaduke
Watson were appointed to treat with Joseph Borden for land for a meeting
house at Bordentown. In October
1736, Samuel Satterthwaite, Benjamin Shreve, Thomas Newbold, Benjamin
Clark, Jr., Ananiah Gaunt, and Joseph Gardiner were appointed to receive
two parcels of land from Borden, one for a meeting house and the other
for a burying ground. On May 7, 1737, the deeds were executed. PROJECT FOR A MEETING HOUSE AT TRENTON REVIVED About the year 1730 the group of Friends living at Trenton or Trent Town, as it was then called, acquired a new leader in the person of William Morris who came thither from Barbadoes and apparently established himself as an importer of West Indian products, probably sugar and rum, and, perhaps, slaves. Morris soon was a recognized leader in the monthly meeting and was chosen to attend quarterly and yearly meetings and appointed on various special committees. It was he, doubtless, who revived the project for a meeting house at Trenton, for on December 2, 1737, he, with Isaac Horner, headed a delegation asking permission to build the structure.
The
following month Joseph Reckless, clerk of the monthly meeting, was ordered
to draw a deed for a meeting house plot in Trenton. It was to be conveyed
by William Morris to Benjamin Smith, Stacy Beakes, William Plasket,
Joseph De Cow, Nathan Beakes and Isaac Watson. John Tantum and Benjamin
Smith were named overseers to supervise the transaction. On August 5
Reckless reported that the deeds had been completed for the meeting
house and burial plot in Trenton. The
committee in charge at once proceeded to erect the building, the work
being completed in November 1739, when William Morris made application
for subscriptions, saying that he had expended 25 or 30 pounds in excess
of the money in hand. Meanwhile
the building of another meeting house had been authorized "near
the home of Robert Lawrence." For some reason Friends were not
satisfied with the location they had acquired for the Bordentown meeting
house, and Thomas Potts, Jr., and Preserve Brown, Jr., were authorized
to see Borden in an effort to exchange the plot for one across the street
from it. This was done and the transfer effected. The building of the
Bordmtown meeting house was begun in 1742. SHRINKAGE IN MEMBERSHIP In 1743
the meeting at Bethlehem broke away from the parent monthly meeting
and became an independent monthly meeting. Prior to this dissolution,
the Chesterfield Meeting embraced nine meeting houses which were scattered
from Mount Holly (Upper Springfield) to Bethlehem, near Belvidere. It
is estimated that the total membership of the Chesterfield Meeting just
before the Revolutionary War numbered about eight thousand. The present
membership of Friends within the same area is probably fewer than one
thousand, despite the vast increase in population. Doubtless
the chief reason for this shrinkage lies in the fact that the Society
set itself firmly against the tendency to exalt worldly advantage as
opposed to the old Quaker simplicity. Friends were not given to compromise.
When they believed a thing was wrong they opposed it at whatever cost.
The Quaker equivalent of excommunication, "disownment," received
its first use, as noted before, against a family which had been one
of its honored founders in the wilderness. After the original leaders
died off, "disownment" began to be used much more frequently
and ruthlessly. OPPOSITION TO "WORLDLINESS" In 1724
the Society's concern for the spiritual purity of its membership resulted
in the following minute being published: This Meeting, having considered the great love of God in gathering His Church
to the true knowledge of Himself, are careful that all members of it
be under their immediate care and therefore think it necessary to recommend
to such Faithful Friends as this meeting approves of for that service
to have the oversight and regard to the actions and practices of such
as pretend to be of us and use their seasonable endeavors by way of
advice, reproof, etc., as occasion may require and advise this meeting
as they find cause. John
Tantum, Isaac Horner and Benjamin Clark were named as the first
elders and were commissioned to attend meetings of ministering Friends
then being organized by the yearly and quarterly meetings. The
opposition to "worldliness," of which the above was a symptom,
brought an ever-growing stream of charges and disownments of
those who chose to lead their lives rather in keeping with the
general spirit of the community than in conformity to the notions of
conduct as laid down by their elders. In 1745
England was engaged in one of her numerous wars with France and Dr.
Thomas Cadwalader, first burgess of Trenton, the friend of Benjamin
Franklin and the founder of Trenton's first public library, was moved
by his patriotism to join with others in fitting out a privateer warship.
His membership in the Socicty ceased from the moment his shocked
fellow members could act. Here is the indictment they drew up
against him: Whereas it appears to this meeting that Thomas Cadwalader
is concerned in privateering vessels contrary to our ancient
testimony and the discipline established among Friends and it appears
he hath been tenderly cautioned and dealt with from time to time
in order to bring him to a sense of his undue liberty, but he
refusing to give such satisfaction as the offense requires, therefore
this meeting appoints Isaac Horner and Marmaduke Watson to draw a paper
of testification against the said Thomas Cadwalader and his practice
and to declare him out of unity with us as a Society until he
shall give satisfaction to this meeting suitable to the offense. TRAVELLING MINISTERS The period of the 1740's marked the rise of a system of voluntary travelling ministers who ranged up arid down the countryside, living at the homes of the more well-to-do members of the Society and preaching on Sundays. These travelling ministers bore as credentials letters from their home meetings, testifying that their messages were in "unity" with Friends' principles. Nearly every meeting had, at some time or other, one or more of these travelling ministers and it was through them that the Society, as a whole, was led to take the vigorous stand on such moral questions as slavery and rum selling. Among the earlier travelling Friends bearing the credentials of the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting were Jacob Andrews, Joshua Shreve, and John Sykes. THE "WOMEN'S MEETING" BY 1753 the Chesterfield Meeting House at Crosswicks needed enlargement to care for the "Women's Meeting." A 16-foot addition was thereupon authorized. Among Friends it had been customary for the men and women to sit in separate sections of the meeting houses on Sundays and to meet entirely separately for the transaction of business, committees from each sex arranging the details of questions involving the meeting as a whole. This, perhaps, was the first recognition of woman suffrage
in America and of her status as an individual apart from her husband. The first woman to
be recognized as a minister and elder of the Chesterfield Meeting was
Margaret Porter, who was so named in 1760. MANY "DISOWNMENTS" A resumption
of military activities by the Colony in 1756 brought a recurrence of
disownments for participation by Friends. Joseph Thorne, Aaron Quickes,
Francis Key, Marmaduke Bunting, John Schooley, John Shrieve, and Daniel
Shrieve were youths who suffered this fate. Samuel Farnsworth was disowned
for challenging a squad of soldiers near Bordentown to fight, by which
it would appear that Farnsworth must have been a mighty man of valor,
akin to one of Dumas' fire-eaters. Two
members of the Stockton family of Princeton suffered disownment in 1758.
Amy Stockton had married her cousin contrary to rule and was disowned
in April. The following month Daniel Stockton was found guilty of military
service and of marrying outside of the meeting. Benjamin Thorn and Clement
Rockhill were "dealt with" for military service. In July Abigail
Schooley was disowned for the heinous offense of visiting her husband
in a military camp. November brought the disownment of John Thorne for
teaching the elements of military drill to William Black and Benjamin
Field. December brought disownment to Joseph Bunting for training Francis
Borden and Samuel Allen in military principles. The
following year brought more disownments to the Stockton family when
Samuel was read out of meeting for fighting, militarism and marrying
contrary to discipline. With
clouds of the Revolutionary War darkening the horizon the Friends were
whirled irresistibly into dissension. Many of the younger men were sympathetic
towards the cause of the Colonies. Their elders, in common with a large
proportion of the more substantial citizens, abhorred the idea of a
revolution which involved a bloody war fought at their doorsteps with
a traditionally invincible mother country. Moreover, the conscientious
members of the Society were convinced beyond any chance of conversion
that war on any pretext was an inexcusable offense against the Almighty. It
thus came about that the Society took a firm stand against participation.
Disownments for military activities were redoubled, the penalty being
invoked against active Tories or patriots. Only a public confession
of error before the meeting could excuse members embroiled on either
side. Not
all of the "disowned" Quakers were patriots, Many of them,
perhaps the larger number, were loyalists. They came of prosperous families
who were satisfied with the established order and who looked upon the
Revolution as "Rabbleism," as did many members of the propertied
classes in other Colonies. And thus as loyalists, they hastened to join
the British Army in Canada. But
the Revolution was the beginning of a steady decline in the membership
of the Society of Friends. Meetings ceased to grow and many of the old
places of worship had to be "laid down." Many
Quakers salved their consciences and the demands of the meeting by submitting
more or less cheerfully to levies on their properties imposed by the
new government for failure to take the oath of allegiance. Stacy Potts,
who led in the searching out of military offenders, was himself fined
100 pounds and submitted to seizure of goods to that value by the sheriff. THE "HICKSITES" Following
the Revolution the Society resumed its campaign for the abolition of
slavery, a campaign which helped to foment another and equally terrible
war. But before that campaign had borne fruit another crisis within
the body had to be faced. This was the famous doctrinal controversy
precipitated by the preaching of Elias Hicks of New York, one of the
itinerant preachers who travelled from meeting to meeting. In
1827 this controversy reached the breaking point. Separation took place
in a number of meetings, among them the Chesterfield Meeting. In Trenton
the meeting house was retained by the "Hicksites." In Stony
Brook, on the contrary, the Orthodox succeeded in the legal maneuvering
which retained ownership for them. A famous lawsuit resulted,' one which
has set precedents cited to this very day in the courts of New Jersey
and other States. I See under "Famous Cases Tried in Trenton,"
Hendrickson vs. DeCow, in Chap. XII, below. In
1873 the Hicksite Friends of Trenton enlarged the original meeting house
at Hanover and Montgomery Streets and changed its aspect considerably.
Some of the original walls built in 1738-39 are incorporated in the
present structure. It
is noteworthy that three Signers of the Declaration of Independence
were members of families associated with the Chesterfield Meeting. These
were George Clymer of Morrisville, whose body is buried in the Hanover
Street Meeting House yard, Richard Stockton of Princeton and Joseph
Hewes of North Carolina. QUAKERS AS OFFICE‑HOLDERS Owing
to the original Quaker settlement in these parts, members of the Society
of Friends naturally had a share in local civic affairs in the early
days. Mahlon Stacy served as justice of the peace and member of the
Colonial Assembly from 1684 to 1699; Thomas Lambert served as a justice
for several terms as did also Peter Fretwell. The latter was also Provincial
treasurer in 1699. William Biddle served as commissioner, justice, assemblyman
and member of the Council. William Emley was a justice, registrar of
the Ninth Tenth, member of the Assembly and of the Council. Joshua Wright
served several terms as an assemblyman. Robert Murfin and John Lambert
were constables. George
Hutchinson was an assemblyman, member of Council, and Colonial treasurer.
John Hooton, elected to the Assembly, failed to take his seat and was
fined twenty shillings. Thomas Folke, Jr., was appointed a ranger. Anthony
Woodward, John Abbott, William Wood, Richard Stockton, I, John Wilkinson,
Richard Ridgway, Joseph Kirkbride, Roger Park, William Watson and Thomas
Folke, Jr., were named to various offices during the first fifty years
of the Colony's history. Francis Davenport, however, was the original
of the famous "Pooh Bah" of Gilbert and Sullivan's opera,
holding at one and the same time the offices of high sheriff of Burlington
County, justice of the peace of Somerset, Essex, Bergen, Gloucester,
Burlington, Salem, Cape May, Monmouth and Middlesex Counties. He was
also an assemblyman at various times, and a judge of the higher courts,
thus serving continuously in several important offices until his death. As
time went on members of the Society held public office less frequently,
partly as a result of the influx of new immigration, and partly, no
doubt, owing to the Society's policy of avoiding "worldly things"
as much as possible. Since
the Civil War, however, members of the Society have had a share in public
office. Former City Commissioner J. Ridgway Fell is an instance in this
locality, as also is State Senator A. Crozer Reeves. MEMBERSHIP A DWINDLING ONE Though the membership has been
a gradually dwindling one, the Quaker leaven of religious tolerance,
avoidance of war, personal liberty, popular education and the spirit
of benevolence towards all mankind irrespective of color or race has
been a patent example and influence in the community. During the Civil
War and the reconstruction period, the Trenton Society of Friends united
with their associates throughout the country in corporate works of relief,
nursing and education. Also in the World War and subsequently in the
efforts to provide for the needs of the suffering peoples in war-stricken
Europe, the Friends of Trenton have played a conspicuous part. The
present officers of the Hanover Street (Trenton) Meeting (Chesterfield
Monthly Meeting) are A. C. Reeves, chairman, and a council associated
with him of fifteen others. Overseers of the Trenton Meeting besides
Mr. Reeves are Sarah C. Reeves, Arthur E. Moon, Elizabeth B. Satterthwaite,
Sarah C. Atkinson, Caroline S. Bamford, Jane H. Armstrong, Mary T. Finley,
Norman B. Zimmerman, Cassel R. Ruhlinan and Dr. Joseph H. Satterthwaite.
Clerks of the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting are Jane H. Armstrong, Clara
M. Newbold and Helen T. Hollister. The treasurer is Arthur E. Moon,
the recorder Elizabeth B. Satterthwaite and the treasurer of the trustees
Harvey T. Satterthwaite. The organizations include the Lucretia Mott
Parent-Teacher Association, a First Day School, and a study group. The
present membership is 282. The
Trenton Meeting is now the most prominent in the Chesterfield Monthly
Meeting. QUAKER SCHOOLS THE FIRST Friends
have been credited with organizing the first schools in Trenton. Occasional
instruction was given in members' homes from 1684 to 1786, when the
Chesterfield Meeting reported to the Yearly Meeting that schools had
been established at convenient places. Thenceforward there were always
schools for the children of the members until the establishment of the
public school system had made such institutions no longer necessary. THE ORTHODOX FRIENDS MERCER STREET After
the great schism of 1827, those who adhered to the old doctrine formed
a separate Meeting. Complying with the suggestion of the Courts, the
Hanover Street meeting house was surrendered to the Hicksite branch
and the Orthodox met until 1856 in what had formerly been a Methodist
church located at Academy and Broad Streets. Since that time the meetings
have been held in the building on Mercer Street. Weekly meetings are
held on Sundays and Thursdays. Monthly meetings are held alternately
here and in Crosswicks. The Quarterly Meeting, known as the "Burlington
and Bucks County," is held in Burlington, and the Yearly Meeting
in Philadelphia, designated as the Yearly Meeting "For Friends
of Philadelphia and Vicinity." The present
head of the Mercer Street Meeting and the preacher is William Bishop,
the clerk is James W. Edgerton, the elders are Ellen P. Reeve, Martha
H. Bishop, Sarah E. Wright and Caroline Allison, and the overseers are
John R. Hendrickson, Eliza F. Ivens, Mary Anna Hendrickson and James
W. Edgerton. There are seventy enrolled members. |
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