Society of Friends Records

The Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, is a religious society which traces its beginnings to the mid-17th century in England with the teachings of preacher George Fox (1624-1661). Quaker practice finds its roots in English Protestantism, though not everyone who identifies as Quaker may identify themselves as "Christian." Facing persecution in England due to their perceived heretical beliefs, many Quakers migrated to English colonies in what is now the Northeastern United States of America beginning in the mid-to-late 17th century.

Friends Societies formed from informal meetings of likeminded individuals, which would affiliate with the larger "Monthly Meetings." Monthly Meetings are gatherings of one or more Quaker communities and are the basic structure of Quaker organization, dealing with vital records, receiving new members, or business sessions of the community. Preparative Meetings are meetings that formulate recommendations to be acted upon in the Monthly Meeting, typically held in an individual community if part of a larger Monthly Meeting. For example, in Vermont the first ever Monthly Meeting was the Danby Monthly Meeting which split off from Saratoga (Easton) in 1795, consisting of the Danby Preparative Meeting and Ferrisburgh Preparative Meeting. Quarterly meetings are meetings held between two or more Monthly Meetings four times a year. Yearly Meetings are similarly composed of Quarterly Meeting groups that come together to oversee a larger geographic area.

Quakers began organizing in New England in the 1660s with Rhode Island and Massachusetts as the central points of early activity. Quakers similarly were active in New York since the 1650s when it was under Dutch administration as New Amsterdam. Some states such as Maine and New Hampshire can trace their meetings back to Massachusetts settlers, while Vermont traces its meetings' legacies back to New York Quakers, though the settlers in the area came from all over New York and Massachusetts. An example of such settlers were Joseph and Huldah Hoag from Duchess County, New York, who settled in Vermont around 1789/1790, serving as recorded ministers (recognized and respected speakers at meetings.) Some New York Quaker meetings trace their legacy back to Vermont meetings, such as Peru, New York's community.

While active in many communities, few Quakers, especially in New York and New England, held prominent political offices, though exceptions such as Montpelier, Vermont's town clerk Clark Stevens (1764-1853) were not uncommon.