Ohio Yearly Meeting
Ohio Yearly Meeting is one of three yearly meetings of Conservative Friends. Its business sessions are held at Stillwater Meeting House near Barnesville, and sometimes the yearly meeting is called Ohio Yearly Meeting (Barnesville). The yearly meeting is comprised of two quarterly meetings encompassing nine monthly meetings and four worship groups.
Contents |
Subordinate Meetings
The larger of the two quarterly meetings is Stillwater QM. Organized in 1821, Stillwater Quarterly Meeting recently absorbed Short Creek QM, the first QM established west of the Ohio River. The QM is comprised of Stillwater MM, which has a worship group in Flint, Michigan; Short Creek MM; Chestnut Ridge MM; Chesterfield MM; Rockingham MM in Virginia, which has worship groups in Scotland and Greece; and Keystone Fellowship MM in eastern Pennsylvania.
The smaller of the two quarterly meetings is Salem QM. Organized in 1806, Salem QM has absorbed the former New Garden QM, Redstone QM, and Springfield QM. It is currently comprised of Salem MM, Middleton MM, and Winona MM, which has a worship group near Cleveland named Seeker's Haven.
Historic Overview
Early History (1775-1813)
Ohio Yearly Meeting was formed out of meetings west of the Allegheny Mountains belonging to QMs formerly subordinate to Baltimore YM. The first meeting was formed at Westland in 1780. By 1798, when Redstone QM was established, Friends were settled throughout southwest Pennsylvania. Beginning in 1800, Friends began to move into the Northwest Territory, where slavery was forbidden. The first house of worship constructed by any denomination northwest of the Ohio River was Concord in 1801, established by Friends from eastern North Carolina. By the end of the decade, Baltimore YM had established Short Creek QM and Salem QM (Ohio YM).
The first yearly meeting session was held at Short Creek. In the following years, Ohio YM constructed the Mount Pleasant Meeting House as the yearly meeting house. Within a decade, the western QMs of the yearly meeting were set off as Indiana Yearly Meeting.
Nineteenth Century and Divisions (1813-1900)
The Hicksite division at Mount Pleasant in 1828 was particularly difficult. A disowned Hicksite threw the yearly meeting Clerk out the gallery door and onto the ground outside of the meeting house. By YM time, divisions had already taken place in Short Creek QM, Salem QM, New Garden QM, and Stillwater QM. The remaining QM ( Redstone) divided in the fall of 1828. The Orthodox YM retained roughly 60-65% of the membership of the pre-division Ohio YM.
Ohio Friends faced a trial in the mid-1830s which played a major role in the following decades. A recorded minister and former YM Clerk, Elisha Bates, began to make statements in his sermons tending to contradict traditional Friends doctrine. Bates complicated the situation when he travelled to London Yearly Meeting without asking for a travelling minute, and while there submitted to water baptism. He was disowned after his return. The discussions regarding doctrine at this time set the stage for the Wilbur-Gurney controversy. Joseph J. Gurney, an English minister and supporter of Bates, travelled through North America in 1837-1838. His reception in Ohio was not as welcome as in many other Orthodox meetings.
By 1840, the national meetings of the General Committee made evident that Ohio and Philadelphia Yearly Meetings were the strongholds of ministers who advocated the need for an inward awakening and transformation. Once the Wilburite-Gurneyite division began in New England YM, both Ohio and Philadelphia strongly supported New England Wilburites. The two YMs acted in unison throughout the 1840s and early 1850s.
Ohio Yearly Meeting suffered its second major division in 1854. That year, Gurneyite ministers from other YMs attended and warned Ohio Friends to reject New England YM (Wilburite) or face disassociation. Gurney's widow, who also attended, spoke in ministry early during yearly meeting week and stated that Thomas B. Gould, Clerk of New England YM, was headed for the lowest depths of hell. These poor decisions by Gurney leaders pushed most moderates into the Wilburite camp when the division finally took place, and the Wilburites left with 67% of the members. Wilburites in Baltimore and Indiana YMs followed suit, establishing their meetings within the Wilbur circle.
During the period of "revivalism" in the Midwest, Ohio Friends participated in the effort to keep moderate Gurneyites in traditional Quakerism. In 1881, Ohio Yearly Meeting began to recognize the Conservative Yearly Meetings. Since Philadelphia Yearly Meeting did not suffer a Wilbur-Gurney division, it had to step back and allow Ohio Friends to take the leading role in nurturing the new Conservative Yearly Meetings. From that time, the "brown bonnets" of Ohio Yearly Meeting (a friendly nickname for Ohio Friends) became the "elder sister" in the newly-formed circle of Conservative Friends.
The Twentieth Century
The culture of Ohio Yearly Meeting was strong as the 20th century opened. It included meetings in eastern Ohio, southwest Pennsylvania, eastern Iowa, and at Pasadena, California. It was able to print the journals of several ministers when changes in printing technology in the 1880s drastically reduced the expense of such publications. The Boarding School (later renamed Olney Friends School) continued to prepare young Friends to teach in Friends schools and was a magnet for Conservative Friends from throughout the nation. Ministers of Ohio Yearly Meeting continued the traditional "sing-song" mode of ministry and maintained the the traditional Quaker theological understandings of earlier decades in their travels throughout Conservative Quakerism. When Conservative Friends held a conference in 1911 to prepare a statement of faith, Ohio Friends hosted the conference and played a major role in the final text.
In the 20th century, Conservative Friends wrestled with two major questions: nonconformity and modern theology. By mid-century, the faction supporting modern theology and social conformity had the upper hand in Ohio, North Carolina, and Iowa. Plain-dressed Friends of the time were willing to bend on nonconformity with the understanding that principles were not going to be on the table. Ohio YM revised its Discipline during these years to substantially its current text. In the 1960s, the Conservative YMs were bending on theology as well. By the early 1970s, a movement began of Friends who sought a more Christian theology but not nonconformity. Thus Conservative Friends had three general interest groups in the late 20th century. In Iowa and North Carolina, plain-dressed Friends seceded, along with most Friends with a Christian theology but conformed social outlook. By contrast, in Ohio it was the Friends with a modern theology who left. This has created tension as North Carolina and Iowa YMs currently challenge the traditional definitions of the identity of Conservative Friends.
Sources
William P. Taber, The Eye of Faith (1985)
