■ 127 
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 QUAKER HILL 
 
 (1X>CAL HISTOBYj 
 
 S E R I E S 
 
 XIV. Zbc putcbase 
 Meeting 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES WOOD 
 
THE PURCHASE 
 MEETING. 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES WOOD. 
 
 READ AT THE SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE 
 QUAKER HILL CONFERENCE, SEPTEMBER 
 THE SEVENTEENTH, NINETEEN HUND- 
 RED AND FOUR. 
 
 PCBLISHED BT THE QUXJEER HiLL CONFBRBNOB ABBOOIATION 
 
 Q0AKKR Hill, New York 
 1905 
 
Publlcmionj "^ 
 
 Of the Quaker Hiix Confeeence Association 
 
 A Critical study of the BibU, by Rev. Newton M. 
 Hall of Springfield, Mass. 
 
 The Relation of the Church at Home to the 
 Church Abroad, by Rev. George William Knox, D. D., of 
 New York. 
 
 A Teuable Theory of Biblical Inspiration, by 
 
 Prof. Irving Franci* Wood of Northampton, Mass. 
 
 The Book Farmer, by Edward H. Jenkins, Ph. D., of 
 New Haven, Conn. 
 
 LOCAL HISTORY SERIES 
 David Irish-A Memoir, by his daughter, Mrs. Phoebe 
 
 T. Wanzer of Quaker Hill, N. Y. 
 Quaker Hill in the Eighteenth Century, by Rev. 
 
 Warren H. Wilson of Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 Quaker Hill in the Nineteenth Century, by Rev. 
 
 Warren H. Wilson of Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Hiram B. Jones and His School, by Rev. Edward L. 
 Chichester of Quaker Hill, N, Y. 
 
 Richard Osborn— A Reminiscence, by Margaret B. 
 Monahan of Quaker Hill, N, Yl.'. 
 
 Albert J. Akin— A Tribute, by Rev. Warren H. WUson 
 of Brooklyn. N. Y, 
 
 Ancient Homes and Early Day.t at Quaker Hill, 
 
 by Amanda Akin Stearns of Quaker Hill, N. Y, 
 
 Thomas Taber and Edward Shove— A Rominiscenca 
 —by Rev. Benjamin Shove of New York. 
 
 Some Glimpses of the Past, by AUcia Hopkins 
 Taber of Pawling, N. Y. 
 
 The Purchase Meeting, by James Wood of Mt. 
 Kisco, N. Y. 
 
 Any one of these publications may be liad by addressing 
 the Secretary, Rbv. Edward L. CniCHKsxER. 
 
 Quaker Hill, N. Y 
 Frlos len Cent*. Twelve Cents Postpaid 
 
 Gift 
 Publisher 
 
THE PURCHASE MEETING. 
 
 -o- 
 
 From 1 73 1, when the first Friends came 
 to Quaker Hill, until the year 1800 when 
 the meeting here, known as The Oblong, 
 became a part of the Nine Partners Quar- 
 terly Meeting its members belonged to and 
 were a portion of the Purchase Quarterly 
 Meeting and hence the history of the latter 
 meeting for the period named has a close 
 connection with the religious history of 
 Quaker Hill. Indeed, the history of The 
 Oblong is a part of the history of The 
 Purchase Meeting. Rev. Warren H. Wil- 
 son in his valuable historical papers entitled 
 "Quaker Hill in the Eighteenth Century,'' 
 and " Quaker Hill in the Nineteenth Cen- 
 tury," has given a very complete history 
 of the meeting of Friends here during those 
 centuries; and 1 am now asked to furnish 
 that portion of the history which is includ- 
 ed in that of The Purchase Meeting. 
 
 It may be well to state at the beginning 
 the order of rank of the various meetings 
 3 
 
in the Quaker organization. The highest 
 authority is vested in the Yearly Meeting. 
 It includes all the meetings and their mem- 
 bers in an extended district, as for exam- 
 ple, the State of New York. It is the only 
 legislative body in the organization. It 
 enacts regulations of discipline and super- 
 vises and directs the religious life and 
 effort of all its membership. The execu- 
 tive authority is vested in the Monthly 
 Meeting. By it the enactments of, the 
 Yearly Meeting are put into operation and 
 carried out. The Monthly Meeting re- 
 ceives members and disowns offenders, it 
 acknowledges ministers, appoints elders 
 to co-operate with and aid the ministry, 
 appoints overseers to watch over the 
 moral conduct of its membership, levies 
 the monies to be raised, holds the titles of 
 real estate and is the practical working 
 body of the organization. Between the 
 Yearly and Monthly Meetings is the 
 Quarterly Meeting,which has neither legis- 
 lative nor executive authority. It includes 
 the monthly meetings in its territory, as 
 for example, Dutchess County. The 
 Quarterly Meeting supervises the religious 
 and philanthropic enterprises of its constit- 
 uent meetings, gives advice in all matters 
 
 4 
 
pertaining to the spiritual welfare of the 
 meetings and receives from the monthly 
 meetings the record of business to be for- 
 warded to the Yearly Meeting. It hears 
 cases of appeal from the monthly meetings, 
 but such cases may be carried to the 
 Yearly Meeting for final decision. An in- 
 dividual congregation forms a Preparative 
 Meeting, called preparative because it pre- 
 pares the business that is to go to the 
 monthly meeting, to which it reports all 
 matters requiring executive action. 
 Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly Meetings 
 are so named because of the periods when 
 they are held. 
 
 The Oblong Meeting had its own Pre- 
 parative Meeting. That meeting with 
 New Milford Preparative Meeting formed 
 the Oblong Monthly Meeting. The Oblong 
 and Purchase Monthly Meetings con- 
 stituted the Purchase Quarterly Meet- 
 ing, while that and the other Quarterly 
 Meetings formed New York Yearly Meet- 
 ing. 
 
 The first Friends who came from Eng- 
 land to America, came to Massachusetts. 
 Their reception there was not over cordial, 
 but they continued to come. Whittier in 
 
 5 
 
" The King's Missive," says of Governor 
 Endicott: 
 
 "His brow was clouded, his eye was stem, 
 
 With a look of mingled sorrow and wrath: 
 ' Woe's me! ' he murmured, ' at every turn 
 
 The pestilent Quakers are in my path! 
 Some we have scourged, and banished some, 
 
 Some hanged, some doomed, and still they 
 come. 
 Fast as the tide of j^on bay sets in. 
 
 Sowing their heresy's seed of sin.' " 
 
 Finding the climate of Massachusetts 
 harsh and uncongenial the Quakers sought 
 a more comfortable abiding place and nat- 
 urally turned to the Dutch. The Puritans 
 themselves had gone from England to Hol- 
 land in search of liberty and peace and fol- 
 lowing their example the Quakers sought 
 liberty and peace in the New Netherlands. 
 
 Many beside Friends came to Long 
 Island from Massachusetts to escape relig- 
 ious restraint. The first who afterwards 
 became connected with Friends was Lady 
 Deborah Moody. She settled in Lynn, 
 Mass., in 1640 and received a grant of 400 
 acres of land. Gov. Winthrop thus speaks of 
 her in his Journal: " In 1643 Lady Moody 
 was in the Colony of Massachusetts, a wise 
 and anciently religious woman; and being 
 taken with the error of denying baptism to 
 
 6 
 
infants was dealt withal by many of the 
 elders and mothers, and admonished by 
 the Church of Salem, whereof she was a 
 member; but persisting still, and to avoid 
 further trouble, etc., she removed to the 
 Dutch against the advice of her friends." 
 On December 19, 1645, Gov. Kieft of New 
 Amsterdam issued a general patent for the 
 town of Gravesend, Long Island, to Lady 
 Deborah Moody, Sir Henry Moody, her 
 son, George Baxter, and James Hubbard, 
 their heirs and successors, "to have and 
 enjoy free liberty of conscience, according 
 to the customs and manners of Holland, 
 without molestation." Friends came to 
 Gravesend in considerable numbers in 1656 
 and 1657. The historian of Long Island 
 states that " many of the inhabitants read- 
 ily embraced their doctrines and discipline 
 and the first regular meeting on the Island 
 was organized and maintained here." 
 ' 'Meetings were held at the house of Lady 
 Moody, who managed all things with such 
 prudence and observance of time and place 
 as to give no offense to any person of any 
 other religion, so she and her people re- 
 mained free from all molestation." 
 
 Flushing was also settled by people 
 7 
 
from Massachusetts. Gov. Kieft granted 
 them a charter October lo, 164s. Friends 
 very early joined the settlement, promi- 
 nent among whom was Richard Smith. 
 Robert Hodgson and Robert Fowler were 
 the first ministers there, of whom we can 
 fmd any records, in i6s7 they held meet- 
 mgs in Hempstead, Jamaica, Flushing and 
 Gravesend. Increasing numbers continued 
 to arrive and meetings were established at 
 Oyster Bay, following those at Gravdsend 
 and Flushing, and later at many other 
 places. In 1672 George Fox, the founder 
 of the Society in England, visited America, 
 and spent some time on Long Island, draw- 
 ing great crowds to hear his ministry. The 
 large meeting house, still standing at 
 Flushing, was built in i6q6. 
 
 As Friends became numerous at Flushing 
 they easily crossed the East River to Throgs 
 Neck and became established in the town 
 of Westchester, then called by the Dutch 
 Vredeland, or Land of Peace, "a meet 
 appellation," says the historian of the New 
 Netherlands, " for the spot selected as a 
 place of refuge for those who were bruised 
 and broken by religious persecution." 
 Soon afterwards other Friends settled in 
 Mamaroneck. We do not know when 
 
 8 
 
meetings were first established tiiere, but 
 we find tiiem regularly organized in 1685. 
 
 In the year 1695 a step was taken that 
 proved of great moment in the settlement 
 of Friends on the mainland. John Harri- 
 son and others of Flushing purchased of 
 the Indians a tract of land of about eight 
 thousand acres, which is now the town- 
 ship of Harrison in Westchester County. 
 Harrison soon after received a patent for 
 the tract from the British Government. It 
 was known as Harrison's Purchase and af- 
 terward as " The Purchase." The name 
 was given to the meeting established there 
 and continues to the present time. 
 
 The Yearly Meeting for New England 
 held on Rhode Island, the oldest in Amer- 
 ica, set off a Yearly Meeting to be held at 
 Flushing, L. I., in 1695. In 1725 the 
 Yearly Meeting at Flushing established a 
 monthly meeting for the mainland which 
 was held at Westchester. On the 13th of 
 third month, 1742, the monthly meeting 
 was held for the first time "at The Pur- 
 chase in the Rye Woods," as the minutes 
 state. 
 
 Harrison's Purchase was made for settle- 
 ment by Friends. Soon the lands 
 were all occupied. Then began a 
 
remarkable line of settlements to the 
 north in the narrow strip of land, left 
 comparatively unoccupied between the 
 English of Connecticut on the east and the 
 Dutch on the west. The first settlement of 
 any considerable numbers was upon Quaker 
 Hill in the Oblong. These settlers came in 
 1 73 1. They had been preceded two or 
 three years by a few settlers from Connect- 
 icut. Their church membership was at the 
 Purchase, and hence the meeting established 
 here belonged to Purchase monthly hieet- 
 ing. It is thus The Purchase Meeting is a 
 part of the history of Quaker Hill. A 
 meeting house was built here in 1741 or 42. 
 An earlier meeting had been set up by 
 Purchase monthly meeting at New Milford 
 in 1 73 1. In 1744 the Oblong became a 
 monthly meeting with all the authority of 
 such a body. All the monthly meetings on 
 the mainland as yet belonged to the quar- 
 terly meeting on Long Island. Among 
 the first acts of the Oblong monthly meet- 
 ing was to institute proceedings for the 
 establishment of a quarterly meeting on the 
 mainland. We find upon the records of 
 the Purchase monthly meeting held 8th of 
 9th month, 1744, the following; "a proposi- 
 tion was read at this time from the 
 
 10 
 
monthly meeting at the Oblong recom- 
 mending to our consideration the applying 
 to the quarterly meeting for to have a 
 quarterly meeting on this side which this 
 meeting doth approve of." The proposi- 
 tion was forwarded to the yearly meeting 
 and the request was granted. A quarterly 
 meeting was therefore established at the 
 Purchase and its first session opened with 
 this minute:— "On the 3d of 6th month, 
 '174s, was held a quarterly meeting at the 
 meeting house at the Purchase agreeable to 
 and by the appointment of the yearly meet- 
 ing held at Flushing in the third month 
 last, and the meeting appointed John Bur- 
 ling clerk of the same." In 1749 it was 
 decided to hold the quarterly meeting part 
 of the time at the Oblong. Oblong and the 
 Purchase were thus united until the year 
 1800, when upon the establishment of a 
 Stanford quarterly meeting a readjustment 
 of monthly meetings was made by the 
 yearly meeting and the Oblong was united 
 with Nine Partners quarterly meeting, 
 where it has since remained. The north 
 line of meetings established as the settle- 
 ments of Friends required was in the follow- 
 ing geographical order, viz. ; Westchester, 
 Mamaroneck, The Purchase, North Castle, 
 11 
 
Chappnqua, Croton Valley, Amawalk, 
 Salem, Peach Pond, the Valley, the Oblong, 
 New Milford, the Branch, Nine Partners, 
 the Creek, Stanford, North East, and so on 
 to Ghent, Chatham and the north. 
 
 That Friends, when established in the 
 Purchase, became very active in spreading 
 their views, is shown by the following ex- 
 tract from the report of Rev. John Wet- 
 more to the society in London for propo- 
 gating the gospel. He was the rector of 
 Rye and wrote in 1750: "Where an^ of 
 them settle they spare no pains to infect 
 their neighborhood. Where they meet 
 with any encouragement they hold meet- 
 ings day after day. Celebrated preachers 
 are procured from a distance and a 
 great fame is spread before them to 
 invite many curiosities. Our people of 
 credit often go their meetings, especially 
 their great and general meetings." He 
 thought they were pernicious and ought 
 to be suppressed. He wrote and printed 
 two letters and three dialogues in refuta- 
 tion of the Quaker doctrines which he 
 hoped might be of great service to "stop 
 the growth of Quakerism in these parts." 
 But great accessions to membership con- 
 tinued so that with those who had come 
 12 
 
from Long Island and those who joined 
 with them, the central line through West- 
 chester, and up into Dutchess County was 
 distinctly Quaker territory. This was so 
 marked that on great occasions, such as 
 the holdmg of a quarterly meeting, the 
 population turned out en masse. Piety 
 and worldliness both observed the day. 
 The latter class gathered about the meeting 
 house, had wrestling matches and various 
 athletic sports in the neighboring fields and 
 horse races on the adjacent roads. The 
 meetings regularly appointed committees 
 as a police force to keep order about the 
 meeting house during the time of worship 
 and business. 
 
 Friends everywhere took an early stand 
 against slavery. Their position concerning 
 it was one of gradual development. At 
 first Friends upon Long Island and through- 
 out Purchase quarterly meeting held slaves 
 without objection, the meeting sometimes 
 assisting members in their purchase. On 
 the 14th of eighth month, 1684, this 
 record was made: "At our half-year 
 meeting at Matinecock, the necessity of 
 John Adams being laid before the meeting 
 for their consideration and assistance for 
 some speedy supply for part of the pay- 
 13 
 
merit for a negro man that he hath lately 
 bought, the meeting appoints and desires 
 John Bowne to take care in behalf of the 
 meeting to procure a sum of money on as 
 cheap terms as he can for the supply as 
 aforesaid and the meeting engages to reim- 
 burse him." Some Friends were even en- 
 gaged in the slave trade. But a conviction 
 of the wrongfulness of human slavery 
 gradually developed, until it was decided 
 that members should neither buy nor sell 
 slaves, but might retain those they had in 
 possession. The monthly meeting at 
 Flushing 26th of first month, 1774, recorded 
 " John Whitrow sold a negro man and 
 the meeting thinks he should return the 
 money to the purchaser. As he refuses he 
 is disowned." In the same meeting, tenth 
 month, 10th, 1775, recorded: "Charles 
 Doughty sold a negro and justifies himself 
 therein. He is disowned." On 2d of 
 fifth month, 1776, the monthly meeting at 
 Flushing recorded "the committee on 
 negroes report that many Friends have 
 them but seem disposed to free them. 
 Some have manumitted them and instruct 
 their children in necessary learning. Some 
 justify their bondage. The committee is 
 to labor with Friends who keep these poor 
 14 
 
people in bondage, in the ability that truth 
 may afford for their release and, if insensi- 
 ble, then Friends can have no unity with 
 them so far as to accept their services in 
 the church or receive their collections. 
 No Friend shall hire any negro held in 
 bondage, neither hire any negro or other 
 slave that is not set free when of age, nor 
 do any act acknowledging the rights of 
 slavery." When Friends freed their slaves 
 they continued to care for their education 
 and religious welfare. 
 
 In 1767 the records of the Purchase quar- 
 terly show that a step was taken that was 
 markedly in advance of any before taken 
 in any church or legislative body concern- 
 ing the intrinsic wrong of human slavery. 
 At the quarterly meeting held 2d of fifth 
 month, 1767, the following proposition was 
 forwarded to the yearly meeting: "If it is 
 not consistent with Christianity to buy and 
 sell our fellow men for slaves during their 
 lives and their posterity after them, then 
 whether it is consistent with a christian 
 spirit to keep in slavery those that we 
 have already in possession by purchase, 
 gift, or any other ways." Rev. Mr. Wilson 
 has shown that Purchase quarterly meeting 
 at that session was held at the Oblong. 
 15 
 
Thus this pioneer movement was organized 
 here upon Quaker Hill. The subject came 
 up at the yearly meeting held at Flushing 
 on the 30th of the same month and was 
 considered with some hesitation. The 
 following year satisfactory action was 
 taken and in succeeding years more firm 
 positions were taken. In 177s this declar- 
 ation was made: " It is our solid judgment 
 that all in profession with us who hold 
 negroes ought to restore them their natural 
 right as to liberty as soon as they arrive at a 
 suitable age for freedom." Three years 
 later the following minute was recorded: 
 " The matter respecting those Friends that 
 continue to hold slaves being now taken 
 under consideration it is the judgment of 
 the meeting that such Friends as still refuse 
 to free them, ought to be dealt with as 
 disorderly members." Monthly meetings 
 proceeded to disown such members. 
 Finally in the year 1783 it was reported that 
 no slave was held by any member of the 
 New York Yearly Meeting. 
 
 But the conscience of Friends did not 
 allow them to rest with merely liberating 
 their slaves. They felt that liberated slaves 
 should be reimbursed for past services, in 
 1 781 monthly meetings were directed "to 
 
 16 
 
appoint a number of solid, judicious 
 Friends as a committee to visit such Friends 
 who have set their negroes free, and in- 
 spect into the circumstances of such ne- 
 groes, and afford them such advice both 
 with respect to their spiritual and temporal 
 good as they may be enabled to do, and 
 also to find what in justice may be done to 
 such negroes as may have spent the prime 
 of their lives in the service of their mas- 
 ters." They were likewise authorized to 
 determine the amount so due when the late 
 masters were willing to leave it to the 
 judgment of the committee. They were 
 also directed to see that provision was 
 made for the proper education of the negro 
 youth. Reports were made from time to 
 time of the progress of this work until in 
 1784 it was recorded: "It appears from 
 the reports from the monthly meetings 
 that they have attended to the settlement 
 between Friends who have set negroes 
 free and the negroes so set free, and they 
 find that such settlement hath been gener- 
 ally made when it was necessary.' 
 
 Schools were provided for negro child- 
 ren and meetings for religious work and 
 instruction were held among the negroes. 
 
 The Friends of the Purchase Meeting 
 17 
 
went still further and settled their liberated 
 slaves upon lands set apart for them in the 
 northwest portion of Harrison's Purchase. 
 The settlement thus made continues to the 
 present day, with the descendants of those 
 slaves. This district N. E. of the village of 
 White Plains is known as "The Hills." 
 
 The Friends of Purchase quarterly meet- 
 ing gave early and careful attention to the 
 education of their children, and it was the 
 rule for each congregation to have a school 
 of its own, supported by the meeting. 
 There were then few if any public schools. 
 The interest grew until 17Q6 a yearly 
 meeting boarding school was established 
 at the Nine Partners, in Dutchess County. 
 
 During the sixty-nine years that the Ob- 
 ong was a part of Purchase quarterly 
 meeting the closest and most cordial rela- 
 tions existed between the membership. 
 Visits were frequently exchanged and the 
 residents of Quaker Hill found hospitable 
 stopping places along their route to the city 
 of New York whenever business or pleasure 
 took them thither. Four times each year they 
 met to transact the business of the church, 
 and watch over the spiritual life of the 
 members and advise in matters pertaining 
 to their religious interests, Peaceful and 
 
 18 
 
contented lives went calmly on into serene 
 old age and then descendants and acquaint- 
 ances revered their memory. 
 
 But what was the outcome of it all ? As 
 a church, the Quakers here missed their 
 great opportunity. As settlers came among 
 them in increasing numbers the Friends 
 became very solicitious to preserve the 
 strictest moral observances among their 
 members. They withdrew from contact 
 and association with the world about them 
 and confined their religious influence and 
 effort to themselves. The strictest watch 
 was maintained over the deportment of 
 old and young. Members were dismissed 
 for comparatively trivial offences. Immi- 
 gration further reduced their numbers. 
 Hypercriticism produced disagreements 
 among themselves. Finally doctrinal diff- 
 erences arose which resulted in a disas- 
 trous separation into two bodies in 1828. 
 The field that a peculiar combination of 
 circumstances had placed in their hands 
 was lost and their moral influence, high 
 and pure and strong, was all that remained 
 for them to give to the communities about 
 them. 
 
 19 
 
LIBRORY OF CONGRESS 
 
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