The Oskaloosa herald., 1908-09-10
HISTORY OF IOWA
YEARLY Meeting
FRIENDS FIRST ORGANIZED IN
THIS STATE IN 1887.
PRESENT HOME BUILT in 1864,
Original Society in This Territory Was
Organized Near the Present
Town Of Salem in Hen
ry County.

occasioned by the statement that the
first Iowa Yearly Meeting was held in
1868. Many have mistaken the asser.
ton to mean that the first meeting of
the Iowa Friends was held on the pres.
ent grounds and in the building now
used, in that year. This superstition is
in error. The present Yearly Meeting
1864 and IS and the first meeting was
held in the new building in the fall of
1865. The history OF the Iowa Friends
however, antedates this meeting in the
big Yearly Meeting house.
The first recorded melting of Iowa
Friends originated in a settlement
started in Henry county at a Quaker
settlement" near the town of Salem
about 1887 or possible 1893. Two
monthly meetings were established
near that place within the next yeasr
About 1S42 a number Of Friends came
to the vicinity of OskalooSa and il
the year 1914 Joseph d. Hoag held the
first Friends meeting in Mahasha com
ty ut The residence OF Thomas Staff
ord. The door step served as pulpit
and bonfire of logs in the yard fllrl-
ished illumination for the scene. The
house was filled with women aud the
yard with men and boys. From this
date INDUCED meetings were neld
here and there as opportunity was af-
forded until 1S4S when "a meeting for
worship" and "preparative" meeting
was formally established at Spring
Greek east of the site of Oskaloosa.
The first Quarterly meeting in Iowa
was held at Salem in August of 1S4S
were developed at Pleasant Plain, Red
Cedar and Western Plain, now Bangor,
in Marshall county. On December IL,
1858 committee appointed from the
four quarterly meetings met at Oska-
loosa and prepared petition to the
Indiana Yearly Meeting of which they
were affiliated, asking that separate
Yearly Meetb 6 be established in Iowa
to be known as the Iowa Yearly Meet
ing of Friends. The petition, taking
course in the Yearly Meeting, the APP
pointment of investigation committee
and reports in succeeding years, was
granted in October, 1860 and the first
session of the Iowa Yearly Meeting
of Friends" was held in 1863. s
This historical meeting, the result of
years of trial, effort, petitioning, in
vestigating and discussion, was great
event in that early day. The meeting
was held in the Spring Creek meeting
house near Oskaloosa and was at the
same place in 1864 The meeting grew
with wonderful strides and better ac-
commodations became necessary. Mon
ey was forthcoming from members of
the Iowa Meeting and assistance was
volunteered from Friends in the east
and the new Yearly Meeting house in
which the Friends are gathered this
year was the result. The original build
ing was one hundred and four feet in
length by fifty two feet in width and
the first cost was twenty-five thousand
dollars. 1t was two story structure
and was originally planned for meet
ing of the men OH the first floor and
a meeting of the women OH the second
floor. Each room was made to &C
commodate a congregation of about
nine hundred souls. The building has
since been somewhat enlarged and
improved from time to time, but in
form and purpose it is the same prop
erty that was erected in 1865. The
building was erected on the crest of
a hill northwest of the city. 1t was
an enormous structure for that day
and the land about being almost bar
rem of trees, it was a land mark for
miles and miles. 1t gave the young
town of Oskaloosa a statewide promi-
nence that endures to this day. Hosts
of people recall with the name of the
city the fact that it is the home of
the Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends.
And in this building have great works
been wrought. History has been made
therein. Men of world wide reputa-
tion have been heard within its walls
and the results of meetings held have
been felt at the ends of the earth. The
first minister of the Spring Greek meet
ing was William Pearson.
Another meeting associated with the
Oskaloosa meeting was that known as
Center Grove Meeting" about two
miles north of the city, and it later be-
came identified with the Oskaloosa
Friends. The first ministers were
William Pearson and BENJAMIN Fry.
and later names are still associated
with the great work of the Friends
DIR. Elias Jessup, Micajah Pickerel and
Nerius Hodgins. DR.. Jessup was the
first minister to preside in the New
City Church of the Oskaloosa meet
ing which stood on Gospel Ridge"
corner of High avenue and Third
street on the corner lot now occupied
by the 'Duffin House." This was the
home OF the Oskaloosa church for
years, and in connection with 1t are
indellibly stamped the influences Of
those who ministered from its pulpit
to goodly congregation. such men
and women as Dorcas Hunt. Sarah
Gruwell, James e. Bailey. Jeptha W.
Morgan, Charles A. Tibbitts and Mary
Tibbitts, Ellison r. Purdy Is the pres