Quakers (Friends)

★959★

Alaska Yearly Meeting

℅ Walter E. Outwater
Box 687
Kotzebue, AK 99752

As early as 1897 Quaker missionaries from the California Yearly Meeting, an independent programmed meeting of Friends, began work among the Eskimo people in Alaska. In 1970 the work had grown to the point that it was organized as a yearly meeting affiliated with the California Meeting, which maintained a Bible Training School. A goal of turning the work of the Meeting entirely over to its Eskimo constituency was completed in 1982 when the last of the missionaries were withdrawn and the Alaska Yearly meeting became fully independent. The California Meeting has joined the Friends United Meeting.

Membership: In 1981 there were 11 congregations and 2,860 members.

Educational Facilities: Bible Training School.

★960★

Central Yearly Meeting of Friends

Rte. 1, Box 226
Alexandria, IN 46001

The Central Yearly Meeting of Friends was formed in 1926 by several meetings in eastern Indiana who were protesting the liberalism of the Five Years Meeting. Doctrinally, the Central Yearly Meeting of Friends is evangelical and very conservative in matters of personal holiness. Worship is programmed. Churches of this small body are found in Indiana, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Ohio. Missionary work is sponsored in Bolivia.

Membership: In 1981 the meeting reported 11 congregations (monthly meetings) organized into 3 quarterly (district) meetings and 446 members.

Educational Facilities: Union Bible College, Westfield, Indiana.

Periodicals: Friends Evangel. Send orders to 5601 E. Co. Rd. 6505, Muncie, IN 47302.

★961★

Evangelical Friends Church, Eastern Division

5350 Broadmoor Circle NW
Canton, OH 44709

Prior to 1971 known as the Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends, the Evangelical Friends Church is that branch of the Friends most influenced by the holiness movement. The Evangelical Friends have a programmed worship service with a minister who preaches. Formed in 1813, the Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends supported the Gurneyites, followers of Joseph John Gurney, a promoter of beliefs in the final authority of the Bible, atonement, justification, and sanctification. After the Civil War, the Ohio Yearly Meeting became open to the holiness movement through the activities of such workers as David Updegraff, Dougan Clark, Walter Malone and Emma Malone. The latter founded the Cleveland Bible Insititute (now the Malone College) in 1892, and it now serves an interdenominational holiness constituency.

The Evangelical Friends Church, never a member of the Five Years Meeting, has become a haven of conservative congregations who have withdrawn from the Friends United Meeting in both the United States and Canada. Mission work is sustained in Taiwan and India. The church participates in the Evangelical Friends Alliance.

Membership: In 1990 there were 8,610 members in 93 churches.

Educational Facilities: Malone College, Canton, Ohio.

Periodicals: The Facing Bench.

Sources:

DeVol, Charles E. Focus on Friends. Canton, OH: Missionary Board of the Evangelical Friends Church–Eastern Division, 1982.

Faith and Practice, the Book of Discipline. Canton, OH: Evangelical Friends Church–Eastern Region, 1981.

★962★

Evangelical Friends International

5350 Broadmoor Cir. NW
Canton, OH 44709

The Evangelical Friends International came into being in 1990 when it superseded the former Evangelical Friends Alliance. The alliance had existed as an association of four autonomous Quaker groups, the Evangelical Friends Church-Eastern Region, the Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting of Friends, the Evangelical Friends Church-Mid-America Yearly Meeting, and the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends. These groups represented the most theologically conservative element in the Friends movement, much of it having been influenced by the holiness movement of the nineteenth century. The Evangelical Friends Alliance had been founded in 1965 but was restricted at the end of the 1980s in recognition that the four affiliated groups in fact had come to exist as a single denomination. The members of Evangelical Friends International attribute their change to the general evangelical renewal within Christianity, the new scholarly recognition of the evangelical nature of early Quakerism, and the cooperative work of the Evangelical Friends Alliance.

The Evangelical Friends Church, Eastern Region, which existed for many years as the Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends, was formed in 1813. As the work developed, members became attracted to the preaching of Joseph John Gurney, who had been deeply affected by Methodist holiness doctrines. Most active in promoting the holiness movement in Ohio were David Updegraff, Dougan Clark, Walter Malone, and Emma Malone. The Malones founded Cleveland Bible Institute (now Malone College) in 1892.

A generation after their movement into Ohio, Friends moved into Kansas and from there into Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, and Colorado. A Kansas Yearly Meeting now the Evangelical Friends Church-Mid-America Yearly Meeting was formed in 1872. In 1900 it affiliated with the Five Years Meeting but withdrew in 1937 as more conservative elements came to dominate the Meeting. In 1934 the Kansas Meeting established a mission in the Congo (now Burundi) and later founded Camp Quaker Haven at Arkansas, Kansas, for its youth.

The Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Church dates to the movement of Friends into the Willamette Valley of Oregon in the late-nineteenth century. The first settlers had been from Iowa and they continued their affiliation with the Iowa Yearly Meeting, but by 1893 they had grown sufficiently so that an independent Oregon Yearly Meeting could be set apart. As work expanded into Washington and Idaho, the present name was assumed. From 1902 to 1936, the Oregon Yearly Meeting was affiliated with the Five Years Meeting but withdrew because of the growing conservative theological stance of Friends in the Northwest.

The Northwest Meeting sponsors four campground facilities, Friendship Manor (a retirement home), Barclay Press (a printing company), George Fox University, and several elementary and high schools.

The Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting was established in 1957 from congregations formerly affiliated with the Nebraska Yearly Meeting. The Nebraska Meeting was affiliated with the Friends United Meeting, and the Rocky Mountain Meeting did not continue that relationship. It sponsors a campground near Woodland Park, Colorado.

Now, the Evangelical Church-Southwest (formerly California Yearly Meeting) and Alaska Yearly Meeting have joined EFL, as well as with mission ministries in twenty-five countries, the worldwide attendance is 140,000 up from 105,000 just five years ago.

Membership: Not reported. In 1999 there were 300 congregations with 35,000 attendees.

Educational Facilities: Malone College, Canton, Ohio; Barclay College and Academy, Haviland, Kansas; Friends University, Wichita, Kansas; Houston Graduate School of Theology, Houston, Texas; George Fox University, Newberg, Oregon.

Periodicals: The Friends Voice, 5350 Broadmoor Cir. NW, Canton, OH 44709.

Sources:

Barrett, Paul W. Educating for Peace. Board of Publication, Kansas Yearly Meeting of Friends, n.d.

Choate, Ralph E. Dust of His Feet. The Author, 1965.

DeVol, Charles E. Focus on Friends. Canton, OH: Missionary Board of the Evangelical Friends Church-Eastern Division, 1982.

Discipline. Kansas Yearly Meeting of Friends, 1966.

Faith and Practice of the Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting of Friends Church. Pueblo, CO: Riverside Printing Co., 1978.

Faith and Practice, the Book of Discipline. Canton, OH: Evangelical Friends Church-Eastern Division, 1981.

The Story of Friends in the Northwest. Newberg, OR: Barclay Press, n.d.

25th Anniversary Committee. Friends Ministering Together. Pueblo, CO: Riverside Printing Co., 1982.

★963★

Friends General Conference

1216 Arch St.,
2B Philadelphia, PA 19107

The Friends General Conference is an association of otherwise autonomous yearly meetings in the United States and Canada, most of which emphasize the authority gained through the direct experience of God, are open to theological diversity and the enrichment it can bring, and follow an unprogrammed pattern of worship. The yearly meetings which make up the Conference incorporated three strands of American Quakerism: The "Hicksite" and "Progressive" movements of the nineteenth century, and the twentieth century "independent meeting" movement.

History. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1827, a crisis ensued that resulted in separations in most of the yearly meetings (regional associations) in North America. Those who followed Hicks did not necessarily share either his political views or his theology, but they insisted that ministers must be free to speak as led by God. The Hicksite yearly meetings which emerged from the split tended to be more rural, less wealthy, more "quietist" or "sheltered", and more mystical than their Orthodox counterparts.

Friends who shard Hicks' radical social views were not always welcome in Hicksite meetings. Out of their common concern for abolition, women's rights, and economic jusice grew the "Progressive" Quaker movement, which flourished in the midnineteenth century, and continued to hold annual meetings through the 1930s. The Progressive yearly meetings did not have formal membership. They were in effect a support group for activist Friends like Lucretia Mott, who remained a member of Hicksite meeting, as well as disowned Friends and non-Friends concerned about social injustice. The Progressive influence was a major, although largely hidden, source of energy in the founding of Friends General Conference.

From the beginning, the Hicksite yearly meeting corresponded with each other about common concerns. In 1868, the inter-yearly meeting First Day School Association was established, followed by the Friends' Philanthropic Union in 1882. The regular biennial conferences of these groups wove the seven Hicksite meetings together. By the 1890s, these two associations were holding combined conferences every other year. The Religious Conference was added in 1894, and the Education Conference in 1896. In 1900 Friends General Conference was established on a permanent basis to support the work of these four groups, as well as the independent Young Friends Associations. Progressive Friends were prominenting the leadership of the Philanthropic Union, the Religious Conference, and Friends General Conference itself during its first few decades.

The third strand woven into the history of Friends General Conference was the independent meeting movement. The work of the American Friends Service Committee during and after World War I attracted many newcomers to Quakerism. Beginning in the 1920s new unprogrammed meetings sprang up, often in college towns and cities. These meetings were neither Hicksite, nor Orthodox. They tended to value individualism, social racicalism, open worship, and theological diversity. As these growing independent meetings organized into new yearly meetings and regional association, most chose to affiliate with Friends General Conference. By the mid-1970s, there were fourteen yearly meetings and associations affiliated with Friends General Conference.

Organization. Friends General Conference held conferences every other year until 1962, when off-year conferencs were introduced. In 1968, the conferences became annual "Gatherings" which emphasized fellowship and spiritual enrichment in place of business meetings. The ongoing work of the organization is overseen by a central committee of about 160 membes appointed by the constituent yearly meetings, and an executive committee made up of committee clerks and yearly meeting representatives.

The program in carried out by eight standing committees: Advancement and Outreach, Christian and Interfaith Relations, Long Range Conference Planning, Ministry and Nurture, Ministry on Racism, Publications and Distribution, Religious Education, and The Traveling Ministries Oversight Committee. The Friends Meeting House Fund, Inc., which holds funds for meetings in need of buying, building or remodeling buildings, operates with a separate board of directors appointed by the central committee. The Friends Journal, an independent publication, is closely identified with FGC.

Included in the conference are the Baltimore, Canadian, Illinois, Lake Erie, New England, New York, Northern, Ohio Valley, Philadelphia, South Central, and Southeastern Yearly Meetings; the Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association, Piedmont Friends Fellowship (NC), Central Alaska Friends Conference, and seven monthly meetings.

Membership: In 1997 the conference reported approximately 32,000 affiliated Quakers in 600 meetings and worship groups. Of these members, 1,200 were in Canada.

Periodicals: FGConnections. • Friends Journal. Send orders to 1216 Arch St., 2-B Philadelphia, PA 19107.

Sources:

Bacon, Margaret Hope. Mothers of Feminism. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986.

Boulding, Elsie. My Part in the Quaker Adventure. Philadelphia: Religious Education Committee, Friends General Conference, 1858.

Doherty, Robert W. The Hicksite Separation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1967.

Jones, Rufus M. The Latter Periods of Quakerism. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1970.

Rushmore, Jane P. Testimonies and Practice of the Society of Friends. Philadelphia: Friends General Conference, 1945.

★964★

Friends United Meeting

101 Quaker Hill Dr.
Richmond, IN 47374

The largest of all the North American Quaker bodies, the Five Years Meeting of Friends was formed in 1902 as a loose coordinating agency by 12 yearly meetings. By the addition of programs and agencies, a full denominational structure has developed. There are now 27 yearly meetings in what became in 1965 the Friends United Meeting.

The Friends United Meeting represents the continuation of the "orthodox" Friends who had survived the Hicksite (Friends General Conference) and Wilburite (Religious Society of Friends Conservative) schisms, but who had existed throughout the nineteenth century as independent, geographical yearly meetings. Most worship is programmed. Ecumenical efforts began in the 1880s and a series of conferences every five years led to the formation of the Five Years Meeting.

The statement of faith of the Meeting, based upon the teachings of Jesus as "we understand them," includes beliefs in 1. true religion as a personal encounter with God rather than ritual and ceremony; 2. individual worth before God; 3. worship as an act of seeking; 4. essential Christian vitures of moral purity, integrity, honesty, simplicity, and humility; 5. Christian love and goodness;6. concern for the suffering and unfortunate; and 7. continuing revelation through the Holy Spirit.

Organization. The work of the meeting is carried out through its general board. The department of World Ministries oversees missions in Cuba, Jamaica, Belize, West Bank in Israel, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and the United States. The department of Meeting Ministries serves the needs of the local congregations promoting spiritual development, church planting, evangelism, and Christian education programs. Friends United Meeting also operates a retail bookstore and a book publishing enterprise called Friends United Press. Member Yearly Meetings are: Baltimore, Canada, Cuba, East Africa, East Africa (South), Elgon, Indiana, Jamaica, Iowa, Nairobi, Nebraska, New England, New York, North Carolina, Southwest, Southeastern, Western, Wilmington, Bwase, East Africa (North), Kaka Mega, Luggri, Malava, Nandi, Tanzania, Uganda, Vokoli, and Canadian Central. It is a member of both the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches.

Membership: In 1996, the meeting had 46,789 members in the United States and 1,129 members in Canada, with an additional 100,000 members in Africa, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, and Israel.

Educational Facilities: Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana.

Earlham School of Religion, Richmond, Indiana.
Guilford College, Greensboro, North Carolina.
William Penn College, Oskaloosa, Iowa.
Friends Theological College, Tiriki, Kenya.

Periodicals: Quaker Life.

Sources:

Hall, Francis B., ed. "Friends United Meeting". In Friends in the Americas. Philadelphia: Friends World Committee, Section of the Americas,1976.

★965★

Intermountain Yearly Meeting

℅ Martin Cobin
1720 Linden Ave.
Boulder, CO 80304

In the early 1970s, the Pacific Yearly Meeting devised a plan to divide its widely scattered membership into more geographically workable units. Members in Arizona and New Mexico joined with otherwise independent friends in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado, as well as Colorado Friends who had withdrawn from the Missouri Valley Yearly Meeting, to form the Intermountain Yearly Meeting. The group had its first annual session in 1975. Most congregations are unprogrammed. The Mexico City congregation affiliated with the Pacific Yearly Meeting also participates in the Intermountain fellowship.

Membership: In 1991 the meeting reported 997 members in 17 monthly meetings and 18 worship groups.

★966★

Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends (Conservative)

Yearly Meeting Clerk
Scattergood Friends School
West Branch, IA 52358

The Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends was established in 1877 by Conservative Friends who separated from the Iowa Yearly Meeting, which is now a part of the Friends United Meeting established in 1863. It keeps unprogrammed meetings for worship and operates the Scattergood Friends School, a coeducational college-preparatory high school, near West Branch, Iowa.

Membership: In 2001, there were 548 members in 11 monthly meetings.

Sources:

Hall, Francis B., ed. Friends in the Americas. Philadelphia, PA: Friends World Committee, 1976.

★967★

Missouri Valley Friends Conference

℅ Penn Valley Friends Meeting
4405 Gillhan Rd.
Kansas City, MO 64110

The Missouri Valley Friends Conference was formed in 1955 as an association of unprogrammed Quaker meetings in the Midwest which were not affiliated with any other established yearly meeting. The conference meets annually. Over the years some of the local groups have affiliated with the yearly meetings and discontinued participation in the conference. At the same time, new unaffiliated meetings have joined the conference, so attendance has remained fairly constant.

The group's Internet address is http://www.quakernet.org/Monthlymeetings/PennValley/mvfc-1000.html.

Membership: Not reported.

★968★

North Carolina Yearly Meeting of Friends (Conservative)

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The North Carolina Yearly Meeting of Friends (Conservative) is the result of a separation among Friends in North Carolina at the beginning of the century. At that time there was a move to form what would become the Five Years Meeting (now known as the Friends United Meeting). As part of the developments, a new book of discipline was adopted. The Cedar Grove Monthly Meeting opposed the new trends it saw emerging and placed special emphasis on the retention of the unprogrammed meetings for worship. In 1904 they formed a separate yearly meeting and over the years other monthly meetings have been added. They have found fellowship with the other conservative Friends in the Ohio and Iowa Yearly Meetings, and periodically gather with them for fellowship.

Conservative Friends, also called Wilburites, place special emphasis in their faith and practice on the direct, unmediated experience of the presence and guidance of God. Their worship consists of waiting silently for this presence to become manifest, and vocal ministry is limited to those words the speaker feels confident are inspired by God. They do not act on any matter until moved of God; but after that, are not easily or soon dissuaded.

Membership: In 2000 there were 450 members in eleven monthly meetings.

Educational Facilities: Guilford College, Greensboro, North Carolina.

★969★

North Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

3311 NW Polk
Corvallis, OR 97330

In the early 1970s the Pacific Yearly Meeting, which had congregations spread over a cumbersome distance, divided into several yearly meeetings. In 1972 members in Oregon and Washington became the North Pacific Yearly Meeting and held the first session in 1973. Since its formation groups have been added in Idaho and Montana. The Meeting keeps close ties with the parent body with whom it jointly supports a periodical. The Meeting is governed in a non-hierarchical fashion. A steering committee provides continuity and a clerk convenes its gatherings, records its minutes, and represents it to to others.

Membership: In 1997 the meeting reported 18 monthly meetings, four quarterly meetings, and 32 worship groups gathered in the quarterly meetings. There were approximately 761 members.

Periodicals: Friends Bulletin. Send orders to 5238 Andalusia Ct., Whittier, CA 90601.

Sources:

Faith and Practice. Corvallis, OR: North Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, 1986.

★970★

Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Church

200 N. Maridian St.
Newberg, OR 97132-2714

Quaker settlers in the northwest first gathered in the fertile Willamette Valley in Oregon in the late nineteenth century. These early settlers were from Iowa and associated with the Iowa Yearly Meeting. In 1893 they were officially established as an independent yearly meeting by the Iowa Yearly Meeting with the name Oregon Yearly Meeting of Friends. Because some churches were located in Washington and Idaho, the name was changed to Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends. From 1902 to 1936, the Oregon Yearly Meeting was a part of the Five Years Meeting, but has in more recent years affiliated with the Evangelical Friends International.

The doctrine of the Northwest Yearly Meeting (NWYM) is biblically based with a central message of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The emphasis of salvation through the Lord coupled with a strong sense of social commitment have been the two dominant themes of the meeting.

NWYM maintains a relationship with four camping facilities, Friendsview Manor (a retirement home), Barclay Press (a publishing company), George Fox University, and several elementary and high schools. Missionary work is carried out in cooperation with the Evangelical Friends International. A joint mission program is supported in Mexico, Rwanda, Burundi, Taiwan, Peru, and Bolivia.

Membership: In 2001, NWYM reported 7,017 members, 51 churches, including six extension churches. Ten mission points/ church plants are under the care of the Board of Evangelism.

Educational Facilities: George Fox University, Newberg, Oregon.

Periodicals: The Friends Voice. Send orders to 2748 E. Pikes Peak Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80909.

Sources:

This Story of the Friends in the Northwest. Newberg, OR: Barclay Press, n.d.

★971★

Ohio Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends

61830 Sandy Ridge Rd.
Barnesville, OH 43712

History. The Ohio Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends was established in 1813 and originally included most of the Friends west of the Alleghany Mountains. The meeting was also one of those most affected by the the conflict in the 1840s between English Quaker Joseph John Gurney and John Wilbur. Gurney had absorbed much from the British Methodists, and Wilbur saw Methodist doctrine replacing the traditional Quaker reliance on the Inner Light. Beginning in 1845, Wilbur's supporters began to separate from the main body of Quakers and are generally known as Conservative Friends. The Ohio Yearly Meeting aligned itself with the Conservative cause.

Beliefs. The Ohio Yearly Meeting places great emphasis upon providing a form of worship which is simple, pure, and spiritual. They advocate the unprogramed meetings in which believers wait in silence for the movement of the Spirit. The yearly meeting has taken a strong stand in opposition to capital punishment, the taking of oaths, participation in war, racial discrimination, and the use of intoxicants.

Organization. The yearly meeting, composed of representatives of the monthly meetings, provides general oversight of the society. Each monthly meeting appoints two members of each gender to act as overseers to have responsibility for pastoral care of members and spiritual oversight of the meeting for worship; two elders to have oversight of the ministry; and ministers as are called.

The yearly meeting is a member of the Friends World Committee for Consultation. Fellowship is kept with the other two remaining Conservative Yearly meetings–North Carolina and Iowa– and there are periodic gatherings of members from the three groups. There is no direct missional program, but a number of service projects are supported through the American Friends Service Committee.

Membership: In 1997 the meeting reported 537 members in 10 monthly meetings.

Periodicals: Ohio Conservative Friends Review. Send orders to 8106 Sherbrooke Ct., Springfield, VA 22152.

★972★

Pacific Yearly Meeting of Friends

2151 Vine St.
Berkeley, CA 94709

Quakers began to establish congregations on the West Coast in the 1880s. In 1931, with impetus from Howard H. Brinton and Anna Brinton, a meeting was called which led to the formation of the loosely organized Pacific Coast Association of Friends. In 1947, the Pacific Yearly Meeting was established within the Association. Over the next decade it grew to include forty congregations as far apart as Mexico City, Honolulu, and Canada. As a result, a committee recommended the division of the meeting into three meetings which led to the establishment of the North Pacific Yearly Meeting (1972) and the Intermountain Yearly Meeting(1973). Though each is independent, there are close familial ties and they jointly publish a periodical.

Its worship is unprogrammed. Membership though concentrated in California includes congregations in Mexico City and Honolulu.

Membership: Not reported. In 1981 the meeting reported 1,452 members in 35 congregations. In 1996 there were 48 congregations in California and Nevada.

Periodicals: Friends Bulletin. Send orders to Friends Bulletin Corporation, 5238 Andalucia Ct., Whittier, CA 90601-2222.

Sources:

Brinton, Howard H. Guide to Quaker Practice. Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill Publications, 1955.

Faith and Practice. San Francisco: Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, 1973.

★973★

Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting

Beaver Park Friends Church
140 Illinois Ave.
Penrose, CO 81240

The Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting was established in 1957 by separation from the Nebraska Yearly Meeting and did not continue the latter's affiliation with the Friends United Meeting. Worship is programmed. Mission work is carried out by the Navajo Indians at the Rough Rock Friends Mission near Chinle, Arizona and by other individuals through cooperation with Evangelical Friends Mission. Quaker Ridge Camp is maintained north of Woodland Park, Colorado.

Membership: Not reported. In 1997 the meeting reported 1,162 members in 20 congregations located in Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, and Arizona. These include four Navajo in the Rough Rock area.

Educational Facilities: Barclay College, Haviland, Kansas.

Friends University, Wichita, Kansas.
George Fox College, Newberg, Oregon.

Periodicals: The Traveling Minute. • Friends Voice. Send orders to 600 E. 3rd St., Newberg, OR 97132.

Sources:

Faith and Practice of the Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting of Friends Church. Pueblo, CO: Riverside Printing Co., 1978.

25th Anniversary Committee. Friends Ministering Together. Pueblo, CO: Riverside Printing Co., 1982.

★974★

The Rogerenes

(Defunct)

The Rogerenes were a small religious group which began as Baptists but were strongly influenced by members of the Society of Friends. They were orginally led by John Rogers (1648?-1721). James Rogers, John's father, had settled in New London, Connecticut, in 1656 and soon became one of the wealthiest men in the colony. Then in 1674 John and his wife Elizabeth withdrew from the Congregational Church and joined the Seventh-Day Baptist Church at Newport, Connecticut. Soon afterward, Elizabeth's father pursuaded her to leave her husband and return home, a separation that became permanent. But other members of the family joined him, and they began a Baptist congregation in New London. John Rogers became the pastor. He actively attacked the state-supported Congregational Church, especially its support of infant baptism and the forced payment of church taxes. As Rogers ideas became more radical, the congregation also broke its ties to the Baptists in Newport around 1677. One of the radicalizing influences was the visits in 1675 between John and members of the congregation and William Edmundson, a Quaker from Ireland visiting America. Out of these discussions, the Rogerenes, as they were soon to be known, dropped the sabbatarian beliefs. But though they worshipped on Sunday, they felt that all days were alike. Rogers especially attacked idolatry which for him included many of the practices of the Congregational Church, such as a salaried ministry and the use of elaborate titles of respect. The group adopted plain clothes, refused to use oaths, and opposed war and violence. John Rogers became a shoemaker as a means of demonstrating the belief that ministers should make their own living. They also opposed contemporary medical practice, replacing it with clean living, good nursing, homemade remedies, and prayer. The group continued to disagree with the Quakers on the issue of sacraments. They baptized new members and celebrated the Lord's Supper annually.

Almost from the beginning the group was persecuted and John Rogers seems to have spent as much as one-third of his life in jail for his religious beliefs. It should be noted that the group did little to decrease the tension with the state church. Members refused to pay church taxes. They would travel on Sunday to attend meetings in defiance of state regulations. They periodically staged demonstrations against idolatrous practices. For example, they would attend the Congregational services and bring work with them. They would interupt and contradict the minister. Gordon Saltonstall, the Congregational minister in New London and later governor of Connecticut, led the persecution until his death in 1724. A final period of intense persecution occurred in the mid-1760s.

John Rogers was succeeded in leadership of the group by his son John Rogers, Jr. (d.1853) and he by John Walterhouse, John Bolles, Samuel Whipple, and Jonathan Whipple (1794-1877). Bolles was an early abolitionist who had freed his slaves in the 1720s. In 1735 a group of Rogerenes moved to Morris County, New Jersey, and established a colony. Three years later they moved to Monmouth County, New Jersey, near present-day Ocean City. The settlement died out by the end of the century. During the 1740s, land was purchased near Groton and Mystic, Connecticut, and over a generation the group migrated eastward. Its prosperity in spite of difficulties during the Revolution and the War of 1812 is shown by the erection of a new large meetinghouse in 1815 and an even larger one in the post-Civil War era.

The twentieth century saw the decline of the church. Some families had moved west before the turn of the century, and others drifted to other churches. By the 1940s only a small group was left in Mystic and a smaller group in California. A generation later, while some descendents of former Rogerene families still identified themselves with the group, it seems to have ceased to exist as a church body.

Sources:

Brinton, Ellen Starr. "The Rogerenes." The New England Quarterly16 March 1943): 3-19.

Randolph, Corliss Fitz. "The Rogerenes." In Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America. Plainfield, NJ: Seventh Day Baptist General Conference, 1910.

★975★

Southeastern Yearly Meeting

PO Box 510795
Melbourne Beach, FL 32951-0795

The Southeastern Yearly Meeting is a small body established in 1962 and is composed mostly of Friends who migrated south to Florida. They support a retreat and study center near Orlando, Florida. In 1967, there were ten congregations, one of which was in Georgia, with a membership of 389. Membership is from various Friends' traditions.

The group's Internet address is http://www.seym.org.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: SEYM Newsletter. Send orders to 1375 Talbot Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32205.

★976★

Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association

℅ Peggy Bonnington, Clerk
408 Coy Circle
Clarksville, TN 37043

The Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association of Friends was formed in 1970 at Crossville, Tennessee. It was established by congregations in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, West Virginia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, some of which had been associated together as early as 1940 in the South Central Friends Conference (and later in the Southern Appalachian Association of Friends). Congregations are unprogrammed and there are no paid ministers. Annual meetings, held in May, center on silent worship, a search together on a chosen theme, and social concerns. While existing for some years as an independent Meeting, the Southern Appalachian Association has recently become a constituent part of the Friends General Conference.

Membership: See Friends General Conference (separate entry). In 1991 there were an estimated 433 members.

Periodicals: Southern Appalachian Friend. Send orders to 3848 Wilmot Ave., Columbia, SC 29205.