Abington monthly meeting manumissions

Among the early settlers to the area were Richard Wall and his wife Joane, who arrived in mid-summer of 1682, and purchased 300 acres listed in Penn's original land-grant. The Wall farmhouse was the first gathering place for meetings of the Religious Society of Friends in the area, which originally convened there Dec 3, 1683. In 1697 John Barnes donated 120 acres "for erecting a meetinghouse for Friends and toward the maintenance of a school under the direction of Friends." The original meetinghouse was erected on the donated site between 1698 and 1699. The first recorded Abington Monthly Meeting for business was held there on April 9, 1702. By the middle of the 18th century Abington's meetinghouse was the only building large enough to hold Quarterly Meeting. In 1760 a blacksmith shop was built adjacent to the meetinghouse. Many Quakers came to meeting in horsedrawn vehicles or on horseback; by having a blacksmith shop and engaging a smith for the day they could have their horses shod while they worshiped or attended to business. The original school met in the meetinghouse until a separate structure was built for it in 1784. The meetinghouse was enlarged in 1786, and again in 1797.

During the Orthodox-Hicksite separation, a small Orthodox faction built the "Little Abington" meetinghouse on a separate property.

Source: History of Abington Monthly Meeting, abington.quaker.org