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Chester Monthly Meeting Records

 Collection
Identifier: QM-Ph-C431

Scope and Contents

Records of the Chester Monthly Meetings in Chester and Media, Pennsylvania. Includes: births, deaths, marriage certificates, and other vital records, 1677-1961; men's, women's, and joint minutes, 1681-1984; records of the Meeting of Worship and Ministry and Overseers and its predecessors; financial records; and committee and other miscellaneous records. Of additional interest are pre-Separation accounts of sufferings, 1778-1783; manumissions, 1776-1780; and a series of scrapbooks assembled by Gilbert Cope which contain a variety of meeting acknowledgements, disownments, removals, and other records.

Dates

  • Creation: 1677-2004

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Access may be provided via digital or microfilm copy, per repository policy.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright has not been assigned to the Repositories All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to the individual Meeting or its successor. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Repositories as the holder(s) of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by reader.

Biographical / Historical

Chester Monthly Meeting was established as a monthly meeting for Marcus Hook and Upland by the general meeting held at Burlington in 1681. Its first business sessions were held in Eleventh Month, 1681/1682. In Twelfth Month, 1683/1684, the meeting became part of Chester [Concord] Quarterly Meeting. At the time of the Hicksite Separation of 1827, two branches of this monthly meeting were formed.

Chester Monthly Meeting (Hicksite): In 1934, Chester Monthly Meeting (Hicksite) was discontinued, and its two preparative meetings, Chester and Providence, were established as monthly meetings. Chester Preparative Meeting (Hicksite) then became the new Chester Monthly Meeting (Hicksite). In 1948, Chester Monthly Meeting (Hicksite) merged with the Twenty-Fourth Street Monthly Meeting --formerly Chester Preparative Meeting (Orthodox)-- to form Chester United Monthly Meeting of Friends. This meeting was the forerunner of the current Chester Monthly Meeting of Friends, and continuing records are described here.

Chester Monthly Meeting (Orthodox): In 1948, Chester Monthly Meeting (Orthodox) released some of its members to form Springfield Monthly Meeting. The members of Chester Preparative Meeting (Orthodox) merged with Chester Monthly Meeting (Hicksite). The membership of Chester Monthly Meeting (Orthodox) was therefore identical with that of Media Preparative Meeting, its only remaining preparative meeting. The preparative meeting was accordingly discontinued. In 1952, the monthly meeting became a united meeting by affiliation with the two Concord Quarterly Meetings. In 1952, the Orthodox branch became a united meeting by affiliation with the two Concord Quarterly Meetings. In 1955, the meeting's name was changed to "Media Monthly Meeting". This is currently an active monthly meeting, and its records can be found in the "Media Monthly Meeting Records" collection.

Extent

35 linear ft.

Language of Materials

English

Physical Location

This collection is stored at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Deposit

Title
Chester Monthly Meeting Records
Date
2011
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Find It at the Library

Most of the materials in this catalog are not digitized and can only be accessed in person. Please see our website for more information about visiting or requesting repoductions from Quaker Meeting Records at Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections and Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Library