New York Yearly Meeting at Poplar Ridge and the Primitive Friends

NEW YORK YEARLY MEETING AT POPLAR RIDGE AND THE PRIMITIVE FRIENDS By A. Day Bradley* One of the "Smaller Bodies" resulting from the "GurneyiteWilburite " separation was New York Yearly Meeting (Wilburite) held at Poplar Ridge in Cayuga County. A sharp difference of opinion concerning the publication of the Journal of Joseph Hoag by the Poplar Ridge Meeting resulted in the separation of this meeting into the "Otis" and "King" Yearly Meetings, so named from their clerks James D. Otis and John King. Eventually other meetings recognized one or the other of these two small yearly meetings. The meetings which recognized the Otis branch became known as Primitive Friends. The distinction between Wilburite and Primitive Friends has been noted by Allen and Richard Thomas. It remains to state there is still another body of Friends, known to the census as Primitive. These are really Wilburite, but more exclusive and entirely independent.1 Rufus Jones mentions the "small bodies of Friends in America known variously as Primitive or Wilburite."2 In 1846 New York Yearly Meeting (Orthodox) recognized the "Larger Body" of New England, but sentiment was divided in the Quarterly Meetings of Scipio and Farmington. There were separations in four monthly meetings; Scipio in Cayuga County, Hector in Schuyler County, De Ruyter in Madison County, and Hartland in Genesee County.3 As early as 1838 Joseph Hoag (1762-1846) of Charlotte, Vermont, had predicted a separation in Ferrisburgh *A. Day Bradley lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. He is a member of Scarsdale Monthly Meeting. 1.Thomas, Allen and Richard, A History of Friends in America, (4th ed., Philadelphia, 1905), 156. 2.Jones, Rufus M., The Later Periods of Quakerism, (London, 1921), II, 984. 3.Minutes of New York Yearly (O) and Scipio Quarterly Meeting (O), 1846-1848. New York Minutes quoted are in die Haviland Records Room of New York Yearly Meeting; other minutes quoted are in the Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore. Meetings are indicated as follows: Orthodox or Gurneyite (O), Wilburite (W), Otisite or Primitive (P), Kingite (K). 75 76QUAKER HISTORY Quarter of New York Yearly Meeting (O) due to a difference in doctrine.4 However the separation in Vermont occurred in 1849 when Starksborough Monthly Meeting allowed the marriage of its member, Narcissa Battey, to Alexander G. Coffin, a member of the Wilburite Meeting in Nantucket.5 Starksborough Monthly Meeting was promptly laid down by Ferrisburgh Quarter, only to be revived as a Wilburite Meeting by Ferrisburgh Quarter (W). The new Quarterly Meeting defended its position in a printed Address to New York Yearly Meeting. The Address stated it was "believed right after reconsidering the subject relative to Starksborough Monthly Meeting to restore that meeting with the subordinate meetings and members to all their former rights and standing."6 A second Address published in 1853 by the Wilburite Quarter reprinted a previously issued call for a Yearly Meeting to meet at Poplar Ridge Meeting House in Venice, near Scipio, Cayuga County, New York "on the 2nd day after the 4th 1st day in 5th mo. next (1853) at 10 A.M." This Address noted that Scipio Quarter (W) "held at Hector 9th mo. 29th, 1852 had united with the proposition."7 William Hodgson states that the Yearly Meeting was held as planned and recognized by the "Smaller Body" of New England.8 In 1858 the Poplar Ridge Meeting decided to publish the Journal of Joseph Hoag and the manuscript was sent to a Philadelphia Friend (William Hodgson?) for editing: 4.Testimony of Starksborough Monthly Meeting (W) concerning Joseph Hoag, dated 4th of 3rd mo. 1853. Pages 381-389 of the 1861 edition of Joseph Hoag's Journal, described below. 5.Alexander Coffin (1817-1901). Narcissa Battey (1818-1892), granddaughter of Joseph Hoag, a recorded minister of Nantucket Meeting (P). 6.Minutes of Ferrisburgh Quarterly Meeting (O) 6th 3rd mo. 1850— 6th 8th mo. 1851. Address of Ferrisburgh Quarterly Meeting (W) to the Members of New York Yearly Meeting, (Burlington, Vermont, 1851). Copies at Haverford and the Vermont Historical Society. The Address is signed by the clerks Amos Battey and Susanna Hoag. Amos Battey (18001872 ) removed from Vermont to Hesper, Iowa. Susanna Harkness (d. 1879), was wife of Jarvis...