Historical News

Historical News Friends Historical Association The Spring Meeting of Friends Historical Association was held at London Grove Meetinghouse, near Toughkenamon, Pennsylvania , on Fifth Month 21, 1955, Henry J. Cadbury presiding. Arthur E. James, President of the Chester County Historical Society and author of books on Chester County potters and clockmakers, spoke on "Some Chester County Quaker Craftsmen, 1750-1850," regaling his audience with a series of entertaining and informative anecdotes from his unequaled store of knowledge on this subject. After the address, Anna P. Webb, Clerk of London Grove Monthly Meeting, was called upon for some informal remarks on the history of the meetinghouse, which was built in 1818 on a generous scale to accommodate Quarterly Meeting Friends. From Quaker Libraries Two groups of Yarnall family letters have lately been placed in the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. The smaller one comprises a number of letters of Mordecai Yarnall ( 1705-1772 ) mostly written during a visit in the ministry to England in 1757-58. These letters vividly illustrate the hazards of wartime travel in the eighteenth century. Mordecai's ship was taken by a French privateer after a six-hour chase, was retaken in the Bay of Biscay five days later by a British privateer, and then, within sight of England, was recaptured by another French vessel. After being imprisoned at St. Malo for several days, the passengers were finally allowed to proceed to England. Mordecai Yarnall calmly writes his wife that he must delay a few days before setting out on his gospel service "to get my clothes washed and some new ones made"—for, having been twice plundered, his wardrobe was depleted. He even remarks that his health has been improved by his sea voyage! The other group of letters was written by Mordecai Yarnall's grandson Peter Yarnall (1790-1878), who settled in Ohio early in the nineteenth century. His letters, written to his sister Rebecca in Columbia, Pennsylvania, are full of details of pioneer life. 110 ...