QUAKER-ROOTS-L Archives

From: Candy Roth <>
Subject: Quaker splits/PA input..
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 20:45:00 -0500

Seth!

I so enjoyed your discussion re: splits in the Ohio Quaker groups....I have
found an informative bit from the Western Quarterly Meeting Publication
regarding the issue as well....understandably it chronicles the meetings of
that area, and some of the thinking and concerns of that time and place.

In part:

"....The foundations of Quakerism in PA were laid, except for the small
Upland settlement, by Wm. Penn. Arriving in 1682 in Upland (now Delaware
County) he at once renamed the village, calling it Chester and giving the
name of Chester Co. to the whole area south and west of
Philadelphia....settlers who came with him in the 'Welcome' and in the ships
which kept arriving regularly from England for a number of years...spread
out in the direction of what is Western Quarter now. Old Kennett
meeting...has records going back to 1686.

...Penn's major problem was the boundary dispute with Lord Baltimore. In
theory, Penn controlled PA and DE while Lord Baltimore controlled MD; but
the lines of the two grants were laid out in London by people who never saw
the land they were apportioning. ...A temporary accommodation was arrived
at with Penn's heirs in 1732, and finally in 1767 two surveyors named Mason
and Dixon drew the famous line which defines the boundary today. When this
happened, one of Penn's early settlements at Nottingham was cut in two and
the Meeting Houses located there proved to be in Maryland.

...Development of Quakerism in Wester Quarter was very rapid during the
eighteenth century. In this period of settlement and rapid growth, life
went on as recorded, often in careful detail....

...Quakerism in southeaster PA had problems associated with rapid
growth and what in effect was a population explosion. Religious enthusiasts
from inside and outside the Society of Friends saw, as George Fox had
seen...'a great people to be gathered.'

The earliest of these missionary spirits was George Keith, who was an
associate of George Fox, Robert Barclay and other early English Friends, and
arrived in PA in 1684. He was a charismatic preacher and soon built up a
personal following, a group which became known as the Christian Quakers. A
number of Meetings already established in PA and NJ were influenced by his
ideas, but the dates are too early for any of these to have been in Western
Quarter's territory, George Keith was finally disowned, first by
Philadelphia Y.M. and then, some years later, by the yearly meeting in
London. Eventually he returned to PA as an ordained minister of the church
of England, and led a number of his earlier followers into the Episcopal
Church: others gradually rejoined the mainstream of Quakerism.

The next major disruptive effect was felt about 80 years later, at the time
of the Revolutionary War. At this time a small number of Friends advocated
taking part in the struggle for independence, and they were disowned by the
strongly pacifist Quaker meetings which adhered to the traditional peace
testimony. These disowned Friends and their families took an active part
in the war, some in military service and some in the legislature....most
famous of this group was undoubtedly Betsy Ross; one of her daughters is
buried at Colora in Western Quarter....As for those Friends who stood by
their peace testimony, and refused support to either side in the
revolutionary war, the record of their sufferings is well documented...

Friends' experiences during the revolutionary period had far-reaching
effects. A general soul-searching began, and efforts were made to tighten
up not only obedience to the peace testimony but also adherence to other
principles such as better indoctrination of children in Quaker schools,
abstention from tavern-keeping, and of course manumission of slaves.

It would seem from this that the changes made by the crisis of the
Revolutionary War led directly into the next major division within the
Society of Friends, by far the most extensive and traumatic in its history.
This was what is known as the Great Separation of 1827-28; later historians
always refer to it as the Separation, the capitalization making quite clear
which separation is meant.

Observances in most meetings had become more strict as a result of the Free
Quaker schism, and a tendency toward bureaucratic rule by a small number of
elders caused increasing restiveness....A traveling minister, Elias Hicks
from Long Island, became the voice of these disaffected Friends; he visited
most of the Meetings in Western Quarter in 1797-98. From 1819 onward there
were increasing evidences of serious disagreements within the membership,
both as to the perceived rigidity of the older leadership, and about such
doctrinal matters as the divinity of Christ and the literal truth of the
scriptures.

Finally in 1827-28 the division between Orthodox and Hicksite Friends took
place....

Feelings between the two branches was a times very bitter....No overt fights
between adherents of the two bodies seem to have taken place, at least in
Chester co., but actual violence did break out over the next issue, which
was that of slavery....after many years of laboring with the problem, the
yearly meeting in Philadelphia went on record as firmly opposed to the
holding of slaves by Friends. Some accepted disownment rather than make
what seemed to them an unreasonable sacrifice.
-----------------------------------

This thread:

• Quaker splits/PA input.. by Candy Roth <>