The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1916-02-18

ries OF Interesting addresses dealing
with the history OF the Society OF
Friends in America. delivered at the
West Richmond Friends church. Below
arc given extracts OF the one entitled
The Quakers in the Old Northwest"
Pennsylvania was one of the last
of the English colonies formed in
America. The favorable terms offered
by William Penn caused such rapid
emigration to the colony that the parts
near Philadelphia were soon occupied
and there was demand for fresh
lands which resulted in the expansion
of the colony to the southwest as the
lands near the coast were already set
tied.
The emigration continued south.
ward entered South Carolina soon al
ter 1860 and in few years large and
prosperous settlements Of Friends
were formed in Union and Newberry
counties. South Carolina and in Column
bia county, Georgia.
AT time when human slavery
seemed to be the natural order OF
events. when the advancement OF civil,
ization itself seemed to depend upon ii,
tuC COSICty vi TitCuuo aPPCoiCo W th~
universal consciences of mankind and
stood as opponents of the system OF
slavery.
Friends at first in common with
others held slaves to some extent but
there was all the time a protest agains,
the practice as inconsistent with the
Christian profession.
Finally all slaves were freed. This
pronounced stand of course put them
in opposition to the prevailing senti
ment of the country. Migration to the
northwest began in 1895 and by 1900
there were six Friends settlements In
Ohio--three in Ross county. two in
Warren county and one in Lawrence
county.
"The new northwest territory then
opening to settlers with its fundamen'
tai ordinance dedicating it forever IL
freedom and free institutions, proved
to be the land which would fulfill the
vision OF these Southern Friends.
The South Carolina Friends came
first to the Miami country, Ohio. and
found some Friends from Guilford
county, North Carolina, who had come
the year before.
Miami monthly meeting, the first
Friends business meeting located was
opened in 1903. For the next four
years the names of all Friends located
in western Ohio and Eastern Indiana,
who brought removal certificates are
given in the record of Miami monthly
meeting.
Friends who had moved westward
from the Ohio settlements or who had
come direct from North Carolina and
Virginia were among the first settlers
in the eastern part of Indiana and
very early in the century North Caro-
lima Friends commenced to make set
Elements in southern and western In
diana.
"The early settlers in Virginia and
the Carolinas had taken the lead In
the struggle for federation during the
first half OF the eighteenth century as
the Presbyterian did In the second
half They had become the largest or
ganized body of dissenters in the
Southern colonies and were prosecuted
in Virginia and disfranchised in the
Carolinas In North Carolina they
struggled not only for religious but
for political rights. Their thrift no less
than their non-resistance made Their
property the prey OF the British tax
gatherer before the war and mauraud-
ers OF both parties during the war.
Since slavery had been one Of the
chief causes for the Quaker movement
TO the northwest, 1t was only to be
expected that they would maintain
their interest in the subject. There
was not a year from the establishment
OF the Friends in the northwest until
the slave was freed but what their at
tention was called officially to the
subject in an annual query asking
whether Friends bore testimony
against slavery.
1.-The legislatures of the states form
ed from the northwest territory were
frequently petitioned on the subject
OF the so-called BLACK Laws" The
Friends were especially emphatic in
their opposition to the admission OF
Texas.
"Their most immediate labors in be
half of the slaves we're eXerted in the
activities Of the Underground Rail
read, one Friend having assisted 5000
negroes northward and another ex
pressing regret that he had only had
the opportunity Of assisting ZOO when
the Emancipation Proclamation was
issued.
"Thc final status of slavery in lndi
ana was determined after long and
vigorous contest. in every stage OF
which the Friends were factor after
they had entered the territory. They
were determining factor in the cam
paien of 1910 when the anti-slavery
forces triumphed in the election OF a
representative to the u. c. Congress
ut is worth noting that Edwin NJ
Stanton OF Ohio came of ii long line OF
Quaker ancestry as did George w. Ju
liam of Indiana The Quakers being op
posed to slavery supported the Whis
or Free Soil parties until the formation
OF the Republican party when they
joined il
I'm the early history of the state of
Indiana. illiteracy was alarming but
the Friends had schools organized