Emergence of the Inner Light -The Society of Friends in Western New York

By Paul Lubienecki, PhD Copyright ©2025 All rights reserved by the author.

Portrait of George Fox, courtesy of Wikipedia

The religious history of the United States is one of persecution and yet tolerance. Differences in theological perspectives, politics, and loyalties existed among all denominations and religious communities. This aspect of life was also prevalent among the Society of Friends. Their spiritual life and journey to western New York reflected their civil and religious values as they established themselves in local society.

Origins

The Society of Friends originated from the aftermath of the English Civil War in the 1650s. Religious persecution and corruption that plagued England during the Civil War provoked many people to desire religious freedom and toleration away from the Anglican Church and other orthodox denominations. The Society of Friends emerged in the midst of chaos under George Fox, a dissenting preacher and the son of a wealthy weaver from Leicestershire, England.^[1]  Fox looked down upon those who claimed to be professors of God’s truth and developed radical social views for the seventeenth century. George Fox turned away from most forms of religious authority by rejecting ordained ministers or clergy as interpreters of God’s word and looked with disgust at many forms of corruption in those church positions. Fox developed his own belief, which became the foundation of the Society of Friends. He focused his confidence in the direct revelation of Christ through the Inner Light to the individual believer.  Soon, people who believed in the Inner Light, like Fox, met at a “meeting house” without a designated priest and reflected during a quiet time interspersed with many testimonies that gave glory to God.^[2]

Other non-typical norms of seventeenth-century people that Friends implemented included neither swearing oaths to the state nor paying tithes to church leaders who functioned as part of the State. Those practices led early Quakers to be persecuted.  Unlike other orthodox religious groups, such as the Anglicans or Presbyterians, Friends did not believe in sacraments at their meetings. Communion is derived from a silent meditation with God, not an outward show of taking bread and wine like other denominations. Friends also disregarded both infant and adult baptisms, believing that a relationship with God is an inward connection; consequently, it was not necessary to represent it on the outside through water baptism.^[3]

There are two fundamental aspects to Quaker faith. First, Friends believe that all people are capable of directly experiencing the divine nature of the universe, which is known by many names, such as God, the Holy Spirit, or simply Spirit, and is among the most common. They believe that you do not need a priest or any other kind of spiritual intercessor and do not need to perform any kind of ritual. Quakers profess that when you need to hear from God, you will. When the Spirit has a message for you to share, you should share it.

The second key principle is belief in continued revelation. In the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, there are many stories of God communicating directly with people. Friends believe God’s revelations have never stopped, and that God might reach out to anyone at any time. When Quakers come together to meet for silent worship, they participate in a shared space in which all strive to recognize such divine messages. The Religious Society of Friends does not have an unshakable system of religious dogma. There is no specific belief about the “right” way to experience contact with the divine. It is a relationship with divinity and ultimately unique to each person.

Many scholars today consider Quakers radical Puritans because the Quakers carried many Puritan convictions to extremes.^[4]  They stretched the sober deportment of the Puritans into a glorification of "plainness." Theologically, they expanded the Puritan concept of a church of individuals regenerated by the Holy Spirit to include the indwelling of the Spirit, or the "Light of Christ," in every person. Such teaching struck many of the Quakers' contemporaries as dangerous heresy.

Quakers were severely persecuted in England for daring to deviate so far from orthodox Christianity. By 1680, 10,000 Quakers had been imprisoned in England, and 243 had died of torture and mistreatment in the King's jails. This Reign of Terror impelled Friends to seek refuge in New Jersey in the 1670s, where they soon became well-established. In 1681, when Quaker leader William Penn (1644-1718) parlayed a debt owed by Charles II to his father into a charter for the province of Pennsylvania, numerous Quakers were eager to seize the opportunity to live in a land where they might worship freely. By 1685, as many as 8,000 Quakers had come to Pennsylvania. Although the Quakers may have resembled the Puritans in some religious beliefs and practices, they differed from them over the necessity of compelling religious uniformity in society.

Quakers were pacifists, an ideology that also developed from the turmoil of the English Civil War, and carries through into the present day.  This viewpoint separated Quakers from most other religious groups in England and made them outcasts, considered as traitors to the established Church and to the State in times of war.  Friends' refusal to take up arms stemmed from their pacifist views, belief in religious tolerance, and a need for separation between Church and State domination. Equality was another area where Friends set themselves apart, as women and men were viewed in society as equal in the eyes of God. Belief in equality also led some Quakers to advocate for the abolition of slavery in the eighteenth century and, more forcefully, in the years leading up to the Civil War. It became an issue that led to disagreements among Quakers throughout the Antebellum period in America.

Due to the chaos in England following the English Civil War and the Friends’ desire to spread their beliefs in the Inner Light far and wide, Quakers began the first of many migrations of their faith to the American colonies and the Caribbean. Upon arrival in the New World in the seventeenth century, Quakers settled alongside other religious groups in the New England colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. In the mid-Atlantic region, the colony of Pennsylvania became a refuge for Quakers and many other diverse populations.

Pennsylvania: The Quaker Colony

Pennsylvania was founded through a grant from the King by wealthy Quaker William Penn, a businessman and a philosopher in his own right. King Charles II of England owed a debt to Penn’s father, an admiral and a politician who sat in the House of Commons. To repay his debt, King Charles II gave Penn the land now known as Pennsylvania.  Pennsylvania became a haven for Quakers from England under the guidance of William Penn’s “holy experiment” to establish the colony, almost autonomous from the others in the Delaware Valley, based on the Quaker political and social belief systems. ^[5] Pennsylvania, and especially Philadelphia, became the center for American Friends, and the Philadelphia Meeting served as a model for other Yearly Meetings as they were established throughout the colonies during the eighteenth century.

Quakers dominated Pennsylvania’s government and provided models for the Society for almost seventy years. As the diversity of the Quaker population grew in the middle colonies, it inevitably led to disagreements between Friends.  Arguments and disagreements were tied to where Friends lived, whether Friends were urban or rural. Urban dwellers, according to the rural Friends, believed that Quakers living in Philadelphia had become too worldly or “church-like.”^[6] Deviance from Quaker tenets led to Quakers becoming disowned. The politics of who ruled the meetings became too intertwined in the society, so many Friends attempted to maintain their pure society by migrating south and west. Subsequently, many Quakers moved away from the Delaware Valley, Maryland, and Virginia.

Settling in Western New York: Orchard Park

Members of the Society of Friends began settling in the Niagara region in 1783. They were part of a larger migration “from the states of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, particularly the county of Sussex, in the latter state.”^[7]  Many incoming settlers, including some Friends, had stood loyally by “King and country” during the American Revolution and could be counted as refugees from the United States. Nearly all Quakers who came to the Niagara region had taken no active part in the war and did not claim to be Loyalists. They had nevertheless suffered from double taxation and the loss of civil rights for their refusal to bear arms or to pledge to defend the new nation. These penalties continued after the war.  Settling around present-day Fort Erie, Ontario, these new immigrants crossed the rugged terrain of Pennsylvania with a caravan of handcrafted furniture, cattle, and religious zeal.

Permanent settlements on the American side of the Niagara River were practically non-existent at this time, as the area was primarily under the control of Native Americans.  In 1791, Seneca Chief Cornplanter visited the nation’s capital in Philadelphia and met with the Quaker community. Impressed with their qualifications, he sent two Seneca Nation boys to be educated by them.  This was followed in 1794 with Chief Sacarese of the Tuscarora Nation meeting Quakers from Philadelphia at Canandaigua, New York, during treaty negotiations. The Quakers were appointed to assist the Native American tribes in education and “European style” of agriculture, supplying them with “ploughs, axes, and hoes,” being “liberally” supplied to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.^[8]  These Quakers, at the request of Chiefs Cornplanter and Sacarese, established missions in Allegheny and Cattaraugus counties, as well as on Tuscarora lands.

The Holland Land Company, a syndicate of land developers, surveyed and purchased large tracts of land bordering the Genesee River in the east to the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario in 1792.  This was within Native American territory, and multiple disputes arose over ownership and use.  This area of western New York remained unsettled and primitive. The Philadelphia Committee on Indian Concerns visited the area as needed, supplying the Native Americans with materials required for construction and industry.^[9]Yet a prevalent problem remained: alcoholism among the native population.  The Quakers, in conjunction with tribal elders, moved to ban the sale of alcohol.

The area around Buffalo was slowly growing with the emergence of new settlements surrounded by farms, grist mills, saw mills, and other businesses. In 1804, Quaker Amos Colvin and Baptist Deacon Ezekiel Smith purchased substantial acreage from the Holland Land Company in the southwest of present-day Orchard Park, New York. The acquisition was for his family for farming and development. ^[10]  News of land opening up in western New York for purchase and development spurred settlers and speculators to migrate there. These new Quaker pioneers came from various parts of New York State, Pennsylvania, and New England.  In 1805, Quaker Gideon Dudley purchased 200 acres in the Town of Hamburg, New York, and David Eddy acquired sizable acreage in Orchard Park.

The Society of Friends in this area south of Buffalo was growing, but no formal Meeting House had yet been established. The nearest recognized meeting was in Bertie, Ontario (Ft. Erie), some twenty miles away.  With the influx of settlers, Orchard Park was rapidly evolving into a predominantly Quaker district.  A prominent Friend was Obadiah Baker. He relocated his family from Vermont in 1807, purchasing 100 acres for farming, and constructed a log cabin on the site.

Before his arrival, the small but growing Quaker population sought a “proper” local meeting house for worship.  This group of Friends was under the jurisdictional control of the Pelham Monthly Meeting (Canada), and the Quakers in “the district of Erie near Buffalo” petitioned for their own meeting house.^[11]  In 1807, a Meeting House for Worship was approved in the district of Erie near Buffalo (Orchard Park) under the care of Pelham Friends Meeting (New Welland, Ontario). Friends first met in the home of Obadiah Baker in 1807 on East Quaker Road, and continued to meet there until a log Meeting House was completed in 1812 near the corner of East Quaker Road and Buffalo Road. David Eddy, the first settler of the Village of Orchard Park, who built and operated an inn and tavern in the village, sold the land to the Quakers.  By this time, there were 25 Quaker families in the community, and the number was growing.  

In 1817, the Meeting purchased three acres of land at the corner of East Quaker Road and Freeman Road from Aldrich Arnold and obtained the approval of Farmington Quarterly Meeting to build a larger, more suitable meeting house.  This meeting house served them until the early 1820s, when they built and occupied the current structure. Additionally, the first lending library was established by the Quakers in February 1823 with an assortment of books donated to the Meeting, with the charge that their curators “lend them to such families as they shall find to be most in need, having a particular regard to women Friends.” ^[12]                    

The Southtowns Region

As Quakers settled in the Orchard Park area, others relocated to lands further south, closer to Lake Erie and the Native American reservations. The plight of the Native Americans was a constant concern for the Philadelphia Committee on Indian Concerns. Jacob Taylor, representing the Committee, opened a mission in 1809 in Collins, New York, near the Cattaraugus Reservation of the Seneca Nation. While the Quaker missionaries worked with the Native population, they did not try to convert them; their purpose was to educate.^[13]   The following year, Quaker families settled in Gowanda, New York.  These new families: Tucker, Sission, Haight, Barker, and others established homesteads for farming, fishing, commercial enterprises such as grist mills, lumber mills, carpentry, woodworking, and furniture production, and most importantly, missionary work with the Senecas. 

During the following years, Quakers continued to migrate to the lands south of Buffalo and Erie County.  These settlers came from Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other parts of New York State.  Their settlements became the present-day towns of Eden, Evans, Boston, and Collins.^[14]Quaker pioneers were no different from others who settled the land. They sought fertile farm land, raised cattle, cleared forests, and operated small business ventures.

The Quaker population continued to swell and move further out.  While worship services were held, they became somewhat sporadic, and the potential for lax practices existed. However, a review of the matter by the Pelham Monthly Meeting group found that the worship services were “reputably kept up.”^[15]  Although Friends were established there by 1820, Collins and Concord had no formal meeting house. Schools were established as early as 1815, but the first Quaker meeting house in Collins was finally built in 1888.^[16]

Imminent Conflict

Political tensions began to percolate as early as 1811 between the United States and Great Britain. With the apparent eruption of hostilities, the Farmington (New York) Monthly Meeting noted the situation and the potential for a great divide between the Pelham (Canada) Friends and those in New York State.  The Farmington Friends sent a delegation to Pelham to ascertain the conditions between the two national groups. They reported that at that time, no animosity existed between the Canadians and Americans.

When the War of 1812 commenced, the British controlled Lake Erie, blocking access to Canada and the Pelham Quakers. As a pacifist group, the Friends endeavored to remain politically neutral and openly refused military service. Their theology commanded that Christians were to be obedient to the law. Still, when governments interfere with the “religious rights or bind the consciences of their subjects, then Christians are to endure sufferings rather than comply with the laws of men which violate their higher and supreme obligation to God.”^[17] 

After the American Revolution, many Friends settled in Canada, leaving extended families in the newly formed United States. This ultimately meant compulsory military service for Quaker men living in Canada. During the War of 1812, young Quaker Aaron Hambleton was forced to join the Canadian military. He refused and was jailed, where he subsequently died. The family was then compelled to leave their property near present-day Toronto and relocate to Orchard Park.^[18] Just a few years later, Aaron’s father, Moses, plagued by the tragedy, drank heavily and was disowned by the Society of Friends; he died soon afterwards.^[19]

When British troops destroyed Buffalo and Black Rock, the Quakers of Orchard Park and the Southtowns feared that this same devastation would happen to them. Fortunately, the British army saw no consequential value in marching south of Buffalo. But communication between the Orchard Park group and Pelham was now “interrupted.” The Orchard Park Friends soon separated from the Pelham community and were now under the care of the Farmington Friends Monthly Meeting.

Commerce, Growth, Expansion

With the conclusion of the war, commerce on Lake Erie restarted. Western New York became the gateway to the Midwest as grains, furniture, clothing, produce, cattle, and other goods passed through the area on their way west. This created multiple business opportunities for the area’s Quakers. As an independent and self-sufficient group, they disliked government intrusion, taxes, and regulations on their work but complied as necessary.

The initial Quaker pioneers cleared the land for farms, cattle, swine, and orchards. As more skilled craftsmen and artisans arrived, their entrepreneurial character evolved. Obadiah Baker farmed the land and built houses. Dry goods stores opened, selling groceries, clothing, window glass, nails, and other household necessities.  The barter system was the common method of transaction.^[20] David Eddy, an intermittent member of the Society of Friends, built an inn at Orchard Park’s Four Corners area. Still, controversy surrounded this enterprise as it was believed he also owned an adjacent tavern. Eddy also operated a saw mill on Smokes Creek in the town, and his business partner, James Reynolds, managed a dry goods store. Just west of the village, Obadiah Griffin founded a grist mill, and Daniel Nichols and Seth McKay established a wool works and fulling mill for cloth.^[21] In nearby Colden Benoni, Sprague operated a tannery.

The majority of the men in this Quaker colony were farmers, while others had skills necessary for frontier life. Carpenters, furniture makers, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, coopers, cheese makers, and potters comprised the additional work.  Quaker women benefitted from mostly equitable roles in both religious and familial life. Women were responsible for the household, which required working a loom, sewing and tailoring clothes, baking and cooking, canning produce, and knowledge of medicinal remedies and animal husbandry.  Education was a cooperative endeavor, but women were the primary instructors in children's schooling.

The growth of Quaker communities in Erie County, New York, in the years after the War of 1812 was dynamic. In 1813, the Concord and, later, Collins Friends Meeting were recognized, and the following year, the Eden Monthly Meeting was separated from Farmington. The Eden Monthly Meeting was further divided into three local groups, and in 1817, three log meetinghouses were built in the present-day Eden, Collins, and Boston, New York. Quakers also established a Meeting in a private home south of Orchard Park in Holland, New York. Within twenty-five years of the first Quakers settling in western New York, a quarter of the land was cleared for farming and housing, six townships, with Quaker roots, were formed, and five meetinghouses were built. ^[22] 

The Great Separation

As the nation expanded westward away from the eastern seaboard, a spirit of adventure and the desire to cultivate a new society motivated these pioneers.  This hope-filled attitude was prevalent among men and women of all faiths and creeds.  The new nation’s economic prosperity gradually created social classes and friction between urban and agrarian populations and between the wealthy and the poor.  This was evident for America’s Society of Friends as these socio-economic divisions birthed a theological split.

In 1827, America’s Quakers experienced a tragic split among the Society of Friends. The Orthodox-Hicksite Separation, also known as the Great Separation, began over a theological dispute about the role of the Bible and Jesus Christ in the individual faith of believers. The Hicksites, led by Elias Hicks, emphasized the importance of the Inward Light in guiding the individual believer in matters of faith and conscience. The Orthodox Quakers, influenced by the Second Great Awakening, which occurred at this time, adopted a more Protestant emphasis on Biblical authority.  This split resulted in two distinct groups. There was a mid-twentieth-century reunification of the Society of Friends and the development of a more inclusive and diverse membership.^[23]

The implications for the Quakers on the Niagara Frontier were substantial.  At Orchard Park, two-thirds of the members aligned themselves with Hicks, and the Orthodox group relocated to another site in the village. This scenario was repeated throughout the area, and new meeting houses were constructed in Evans and Collins to accommodate the new Orthodox members.

The Hicksite Separation created four new meetings, many of them weak and lacking leadership or deep spiritual motivation. In later years, a few additional meetings were set up. Orthodox Friends started a meeting in Buffalo about 1840.^[24]  It maintained some degree of activity for a quarter of a century.  Both groups shared similar characteristics: members becoming increasingly influenced by worldly concerns rather than spiritual concerns; a lack of strong leadership; a lack of spiritual leadership; and many Quakers moving out of the area in search of opportunities in other Midwest locations. Consequently, both factions disowned each other, creating friction, and the theological and organizational divisions continued throughout the 19th century. This led some to leave the Society of Friends and join various spiritualist communities that formed in the area during the 1830s and 1840s. 

Further controversy and divisions continued in the mid-1800s.  Following the Hicksite/Orthodox separation of 1828, Orthodox Friends were further divided by a Wilburite separation in 1847-1848, and the Wilburites were subdivided into Kingite and Otisite branches in 1859.  During the 1860s and 1870s, there were four different bodies called Scipio Monthly Meeting: Hicksite, Orthodox, Kingite, and Otisite.  The Wilburites later reunited and affiliated with the Canada Yearly Meeting (Conservative).  Finally, in 1955, the separate groups in New York State united.

Social Advocacy and the Civil War

Since they arrived in western New York, the Quakers have been involved with the local Native American tribes.  This consisted of education and support of their legal rights and a fight against the appropriation of their traditional ancestral lands. Prior to the Civil War, the local Society of Friends was involved in the anti-slavery movement and in the Underground Railroad. They established two “stations” in the area, calling themselves the “Liberty League.”^[25]  

In November 1846, Quakers in Collins organized the Western New York Free Produce Association. Their purpose was to restrict the sale and purchase of goods produced by slaves, especially the very necessary items of sugar and cotton cloth. The following year, this same group sent “94 bushels of corn and $25 in cash” to assist with Irish famine relief.

The Civil War created a dilemma for the Quakers. As a group opposed to slavery, they were not prepared to participate in an armed conflict that would ultimately decide the fate of the nation. The many Friends' anti-slavery organizations were concerned about being too politicized or affiliated with clergy who disagreed with Quaker theology.  Many were hesitant to mix with non-Quakers, and apprehension was apparent. Meetinghouses in Eden and Collins were available for rallies, but local Quakers concentrated their efforts on shuttling runaway slaves to Canada via the Underground Railroad.

Military service in this war was a contentious matter for eligible men. Draft riots and paying commutation to avoid fighting in the war were common.  Quakers wrestled with how best to serve the country and be a good Christian. At the New York Yearly Meeting of 1863, the issue was addressed. The Society of Friends reissued their Peace Testimony, stating: “We love our country and we are grateful for its many blessings,” and had no sympathy for the rebel cause. Quakers were not to profit from the business of war, and they were only to be warriors for Christ.^[26] However, several Quaker men from western New York served with the Union forces.

The exact number is unknown. Those who did serve from other areas of New York State were disowned for not adhering to Quaker doctrine.

Equality and Idealism

From the outset, Quaker women enjoyed near-equal status with men in worship services and were permitted to openly voice their testimony. Some were even leaders at the meetinghouse. Yet in matters of business, women occupied a subordinate place.  As America became more progressive, women's roles in society advanced.

Quakers, especially women, occupied an important role in prison reform, women’s rights, and the suffrage movements of the nineteenth century.  The tradition and values of the Friends centered on a belief in women’s God-given rights, responsibilities, and equality, which the men supported. This was at the core of their activist activities. Additionally, since the early 1800s, Quakers were concerned about the social impact of alcoholism.  Temperance societies and anti-salon leagues, organized by women, appeared throughout the state. Batavia, Rochester, and Utica became headquarters for these movements. The Women’s Crusade of 1874 organized protests in the state and nation, closing hundreds of salons and taverns.^[27]

Quaker women occupied a prominent place in these campaigns, and the most renowned was Susan B. Anthony.  Born in Massachusetts and raised as a Quaker, her family relocated to Rochester, New York in 1845. It was in this faith tradition that she was immersed in the values of morality and zeal for the betterment of others through progressive causes.^[28]  Her crusades in the temperance movement and political engagement led to much-needed reforms that altered the roles of women and society.

Testimony of Peace

A core value of the Society of Friends is that of a pacifist. This trait was predominant during the twentieth century. The Quaker response to the events of World War 1 posed a dilemma for Quakers as a matter of faith and patriotism. During World War 1 Quakers could not escape the difficulties of holding fast to a pacifist testimony.  This experience for Western New York Quakers was awkward, as the area was mostly settled by Germans, and their language dominated work and life, particularly in Niagara County.

American Quakers in Erie County and New York State were caught off guard by World War 1. The scope of the conflict and the astonishing violence were unprecedented.  American Quakers were not only ill-prepared on how to respond to being drafted but also lacked religious unity. Guided by the Inner Light, each person had to weigh their spiritual values against loyalty to their country. The additional problem was the draft and the consequences of not serving in the military.

The statistics for western New York Quaker men who served are imprecise, but most who were drafted served in combat positions during World War I. Overall, of those who objected on religious grounds, only a small portion took the absolutist position and refused to participate in the war effort in any capacity. Figures from the War Department show that “3,989 out of 2,810,296 inducted men made any claim in camp for exemption from any form of military service.” ^[29] Quaker bravery during battle was admired:

“Unarmed and essentially non-combatant, the members of our American

unit were many times under fire and showed bravery in its highest sense. They performed construction work while the enemy bombarded, and they risked

life repeatedly to aid in the rescue of wounded soldiers.”^[30]

Local Quakers worked closely with the Red Cross, preparing medical equipment, supplies, and food packages for the front lines. Protests against the war were practically non-existent as the Friends’ patriotic response was to serve those in need and not necessarily take up weapons.

The American Quaker response to this war was the formation of the American Friends Service Committee. Founded in Philadelphia in 1917, it was established to assist civilians and war refugees through various relief efforts. As the first war ended, tensions arose in Europe during the 1930s, and the AFSC assisted German Jews in leaving Nazi Germany.^[31]

As new wars and conflicts continued into the twentieth century, Western New York’s Society of Friends sought a unified response. Unlike the First World War the reaction to Second World War was somewhat different. A direct attack on the United States aroused a more patriotic response.  Many served in the military, but some continued to refuse to carry weapons. Buffalo was a major manufacturing source for the military.  Some women labored in local factories in support of the war effort. Others objected to this direct work of violence but contributed to relief efforts through the Red Cross or the AFSC.

Social Justice Practiced

Western New York’s Friends were active participants in the social justice issues of the 1960s. They were ardent advocates for Civil Rights and prison reform. Historically, campaigns for prison reform were always a primary effort, but prison reform legislation did not achieve the successes hoped for in the state. However, some Quakers worked with both the victims of crime and those newly released from incarceration.

The Vietnam War protests demonstrated the Quakers’ resolve to promote non-violence and also relief efforts.  On Easter Sunday, 1967, friends gathered at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo to march into Canada, taking medical supplies for both North and South Vietnam.  It was uncertain whether the governments of Canada and the United States would permit such an endeavor, and the possibility of arrests loomed. There was significant publicity about the event, and protestors heckled the Quakers at the bridge. Ultimately, both governments agreed to allow the Quakers to march into Canada with their medical supplies.^[32]  The Society of Friends continued non-violent protests and relief efforts for both sides throughout the war.

As the Quaker communities progressed into a new century, their social justice attention focused on immigration reforms and assisting those migrating into the area. Additionally, their works include housing, environmental concerns, relief to third-world peoples, and advocacy for the poor and marginalized.  The meetinghouses throughout New York State are vibrant and continue to flourish. The primary mission of the Society of Friends is that of a spiritual community seeking to hear that still small voice, following the inner Light, and respond in ways that spread peace and love to the wider community. This was evident from the establishment of the first meetinghouses on the Niagara frontier and continues to this day.

About the author: Paul Lubienecki obtained his Ph.D. in History from Case Western Reserve University and has taught courses in American history, theology, spirituality, and museum studies. He is a contributing editor to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. He has been a Special Studies Instructor at the Chautauqua Institution. He is the founding director of the Boland Center for the Study of Labor and Religion, where he teaches, publishes, and lectures on the integration of history at the intersection of religion and the labor movement.

Sources:

^[1] Rufus M. Jones, ed., the Journal of George Fox (New York: Capricorn Books, 1963), 81. They called themselves 'Friends' because of the words of Jesus recorded in John 15:14, 'You are my friends, if you do what I command you.' 

^[2] Jones, 93-102. Also see: George Fox, “The First Years of Ministry 1648-49,”

^[3] Hiram Hilty, “North Carolina Quakers and Slavery” (PhD diss., Durham: Duke University, 1969), 2.

^[4] Quakers are officially called "The Society of Friends". The word "Quaker" was originally a derogatory term used by King George to William Penn, who would not take his hat off in deference to his majesty. Penn told the King that instead of worrying about a silly thing like hats, he should be "Quaking before the Lord." The King then responded "Get this quaker out of here!" So at first, "Quaker" was actually a slur. To counter this the Society of Friends adopted the term in reference to themselves. Melvin Endy, William Penn and Early Quakerism, (Princeton University Press, 2015), 10.

^[5] Samuel M. Janney, The Life of William Penn (Philadelphia: Friends’ Book Association, 1878), 163.

^[6] Frederick Tolles, Meeting House and Counting House: The Quaker Merchants of Colonial Philadelphia, 1682-1763 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1948), 230-41.

^[7] Robert W. Ramsey, Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwest Frontier, 1747-1762 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1964), 10.

^[8] Karim Tiro,  ""We Wish to Do You Good": The Quaker Mission to the Oneida Nation, 1790-1840". Journal of the Early Republic. 26, 2006, 353–376.

^[9] “Rev. David Bacon’s Visits to Buffalo in 1800 and 1801.” Erie County Historical Society Journal, Vol.6, 185-186.

^[10] Frank Sererance, Quakers Among the Senecas, Buffalo Historical Society publication, Vol. 6, 167.

^[11] Suzanne Schultz Kelp, Our Quaker Legacy. A Documented History of the Early Quakers, Their Migration and Settlement in Western New York, (Orchard Park Historical Society, Orchard Park, NY, 2019), 65-67.

^[12] Ibid, 68.

^[13] Lorna Spencer, History of Collins, (Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, 1971), 4.

^[14] Perry Smith, History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County, (D. Mason & Co., 1884), 116-120.

^[15] Kelp, Our Quaker Legacy, 71.

^[16] Spencer, History of Collins, 2.

^[17]Hugh Barbour, ed., Quaker Crosscurrents: Three Hundred Years of Friends in the New York Yearly Meetings, (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1995), 63-64.

^[18] Kelp, Our Quaker Legacy, 73.

^[19] Farmington Monthly Meeting minutes, May 1821.

^[20] Advertisements in the Buffalo Gazette announced the opening of a new store by Mr. Shepherd in Orchard Park in 1815 accepting “most kinds of country produce will be taken in payment.” Buffalo Gazette November 23, 1813.

^[21] Buffalo Gazette, November 9, 1813.  Fulling is a process of cleaning and processing wool.

^[22] Levinus Painter, “Quaker Settlements in Erie County, New York,” Quaker History, Vol. 55, No. 1 (Spring 1966), 28.

^[23] Hugh Barbour, ed., Quaker Crosscurrents, 100-110.

^[24] Painter, “Quaker Settlements in Erie County, New York”, 29.

^[25] Ibid., 31.

^[26] Hugh Barbour, ed., Quaker Crosscurrents, 190-193.

^[27] Sabron Reynolds Newton “New York Friends and the Concern about Alcohol” based on New York Yearly Meeting minutes, various years, 1992.

^[28] Emily Morry, Susan B. Anthony’s Rochester, Rochester Beacon, February 6, 2020.

^[29] Lester M. Jones, Quakers in Action: Recent Humanitarian and Reform Activities of the American Quakers (New York: The Macmillan Company,1929), 206.

^[30] No author listed, Advocate of Peace, journal, 1919, 245.

^[31] AFSC staff  writer, "Love in action: A brief history of AFSC's work in the past 100 years". American Friends Service Committee Bulletin,2024.

^[32] Hugh Barbour, ed., Quaker Crosscurrents, 304.