Main content
Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting Records (including Woodbridge)
Notifications
Held at: Quaker Meeting Records at Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections and Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Quaker Meeting Records at Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections and Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
A monthly meeting at Amboy was established in 1686 as part of Shrewsbury Quarterly Meeting. It began to circulate to Woodbridge in 1689; from 1689 to 1704 this meeting was discontinued due to the Keithian Separation; in 1706 a monthly meeting was reestablished at Woodbridge. In 1763, Woodbridge Monthly Meeting began to circulate between Plainfield, Rahway, and Woodbridge. In 1769, the monthly meeting moved from Woodbridge and alternated between Plainfield and Rahway; its name was changed to Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting. In 1827 it divided into Orthodox and Hicksite branches. The Orthodox branch stayed within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and was laid down in 1910; its members were attached to Chesterfield. The Hicksite branch affiliated with New York Yearly Meeting (Hicksite) in 1833 along with the rest of Shrewsbury Quarterly Meeting (Hicksite). Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting has continued to the present day.
Records of the current Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting (and its Hicksite predecessor), 1685-present. Includes minutes 1686-1992, vital records 1705-1979, miscellaneous 1773-1989, and newsletters 1937-2007.
Significant bodies of records beyond business minutes include a comprehensive recording of property (title, disputes, legal opinions, etc.) related to the 1828 Separation and the eventual 1911 sale of some of the meeting property to the United States for a post office expansion, as well as the Religious Education Committee's curriculum and spiritual focus in the 1950s and 1960s.
While some pre-Separation records retained by the Hicksite branch are described here, the bulk of Pre-Separation and Orthodox records are described in QM-Ph-R338.
Divided into series: Minutes; Women's minutes; Vital Records; Ministers' and Elders' Minutes; Miscellaneous; Newsletters.
Volume 3.5 also has Ministers' and Elders' minutes, 1966-71.
The Hicksite records at Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College, formerly catalogued as RG2/Ph/R337, were transferred to RG2/NY/R431 in 2011.
Pre-Separation, Hicksite, and United records deposited by New York Yearly Meeting in 1997. Pre-Separation and Orthodox records deposited by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Additional accruals of pre-1750 minutes and property and financial records made by the monthly meeting.
Organization
- Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends : 1763-1828 : Plainfield, N.J.)
- Woodbridge Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends : 1686-1763 : Woodbridge, N.J.)
- Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends (1828- : Plainfield, N.J.)
- Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting of Friends (Orthodox : 1827-1910 : Rahway, N.J.)
Subject
- Publisher
- Quaker Meeting Records at Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections and Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
- Finding Aid Author
- Inventory prepared by: FHL Staff
- Finding Aid Date
- 2007
- Access Restrictions
-
Where available, access is through microfilm.
- Use Restrictions
-
Information on reproduction policies available in the library.
Collection Inventory
Copy and abstract by Hugh D. Vail, ca.1870.
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-Ph547
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Pre-Separation/Hicksite
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY125
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Pre-Separation/Hicksite
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-Ph660
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Pre-Separation/Orthodox
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-Ph660
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Pre-Separation/Orthodox
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY125
1 volume and 1 envelope of enclosures
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Pre-Separation/Hicksite
1 folder
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY125
1 volume and 1 envelope of enclosures
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Pre-Separation/Hicksite
Removal and disownment of Charles Allen and John Thorn respectively.
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Pre
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-.
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Pre-Separation/Hicksite
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY291
2 folders
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Hicksite
There are at least two runs of forms (probably from an earlier culling of inactive member forms) in no consistent alphabetical order. A name index (through the 1980s) for Rahway & Plainfield was made prior to this deposit; it is possible these records include material or names that were not indexed or abstracted.
Physical Description1 box
Material Specific DetailsHicksite/United
(also Ministers' and Elders' minutes)
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY291
1 folder
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: United
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY291
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: United
Directories file also includes a few statistical reports from the Recorder.
Physical Description1 folder
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY165
1.40 1686-1750; 1.41 1750-1788
Physical Description2 volumes
Material Specific DetailsPre-Separation
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY285
Caution: volume is brittle
Physical Description1 volume (in box)
Material Specific DetailsPre-Separation
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY127
1.2 (1777-1781); 1.3 (1784-1789); lacking 1782-1783
Physical Description2 volumes (in box)
Material Specific DetailsPre-Separation
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY126
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsPre-Separation
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY127
1 volume (in box)
Material Specific DetailsPre-Separation
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY126
1.6 (1800-1808); 1.7 (1809-1819)
Physical Description2 volumes
Material Specific DetailsPre-Separation
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY127
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsPre-Separation/Hicksite
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY129
1 volume and 1 envelope of enclosures
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY290
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY285 (1887-1934)
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY286 (1935-1946)
Minute volumes are 1.10 (1887-1893); 1.11 (1893-1905) with envelope of enclosures; 1.12 (1906-1913); 1.13 (1914-1921) with envelope of enclosures; 1.14 (1922-1928); 1.15 (1929-1934); 1.16 (1935-1939) with envelope of enclosures; 1.17 (1939-1946).
Physical Description8 volumes
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY286
3 folders
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY286
1 folder
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY286
2 folders
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY286
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: United
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY287 (1955-1961)
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY288 (1962-1965)
3 folders
Material Specific DetailsUnited
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY287 (1955-1961)
3 folders
Material Specific DetailsUnited
3 folders
3 folders
Available on microfilm in the Library:
Physical Description3 folders
Available on microfilm in the Library:
Physical Description2 folders
Available on microfilm in the Library:
Physical Description2 folders
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY288 (1966-1967)
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY289 (1968-1974)
4 volumes
Material Specific DetailsUnited
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY289
2 folders
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: United
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY289 (1976)
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY290 (1977-1983)
Minute volumes are: 1.34 (1976), 1.35 (1977-1979), 1.36 (1979-1981), 1.37 (1982-1983). Unbound minutes for 1979-1983 are also available (1.38-1.39).
Physical Description4 volumes
Material Specific DetailsUnited
Minute folders are: 1.38 (1979-1982), 1.39 (1983-1988), 1.40 (1989-1992). Minutes 1979-1983 are also available bound (1.36-1.37)
Physical Description3 folders
Material Specific DetailsUnited
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY128
1 volume and 1 envelope of enclosures
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Pre-Separation
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY128
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Pre-Separation
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY127
1 volume in box
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Pre-Separation/Orthodox
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY129
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Hicksite
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY129
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Hicksite
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY291
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Hicksite
(Joint from 1881)
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY291
1 volume and 1 envelope of enclosures
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Hicksite
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY292
1 volume and 1 envelope of enclosures
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Hicksite
1 disbound volume
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY292
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: Hicksite/United
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY292
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: United
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY292
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: United
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY292
1 volume and 1 envelope of enclosures
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: United
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY292
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: United
Primarily related to inquiries and clearness committees around marriage and membership
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsUnited
Spiritual State of Society reports, including a handful of monthly committee reports. Fairly comprehensive 1969-1988, then sporadic.
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsUnited
The daybook's blank pages were also used for the First-Day School Fund's accounting.
Physical Description1 volume (in box)
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
The fund was entered into blank pages at the end of the treasurer's Daybook (7.4)
Account ledgers for (7.1) 1928-1944, (7.2) 1945-1957, (7.3) 1958-1965.
Physical Description3 volumes
Material Specific DetailsHicksite/United
Typewritten transcription of the 1788 deed for Plainfield Meetinghouse property, undated but probably typed in the 1980s.
Physical Description1 folder
The file begins with a 1939 letter inventorying the contents "received of William Newcorn [...] loaned to him in re sale of property located on Watchung Ave., Plainfield to the United States Government" for a post office expansion. William Newcorn was not a meeting member, but a Union County judge and politician.
The inventory lists at least a hundred documents, and includes a number of mortgages, deeds, and indentures. The papers returned include several title abstracts for the property, a legal opinion related to post-Separation Hicksite/Orthodox ownership dispute, and property papers collected by former member and trustee Clarence Vail. Because of the complications of title research, files include more general memoranda of law along with genealogical research into relevant families (Matthias Brown, Elijah Shotwell, etc.).
Additional property papers received from attorney Craig Marsh are also part of this file, although they are not inventoried and presumably were not borrowed by William Newcorn.
The documents have been unfolded, flattened, and foldered, and the wrappings have been discarded. Foldering is based upon the original order in which the materials were received.
These papers were deposited by Rahway and Plainfield Meeting in 2020, and provide a very comprehensive accounting of both the kinds of property disputes that were common and enduring after the 1828 Separation as well as an example of the complicated title history of many 17th- and 18th-century Quaker properties in the United States.
Physical Description12 folders
Material Specific DetailsPre-Separation/Hicksite
Receipts related to the construction of the Meetinghouse in Rahway (built in 1803, sold in 1893) that was used by the Rahway Preparative Meeting. Also includes the ms draft Articles of Agreement (1803) between Isaac Vail and the state of New Jersey related to the property, and an unbound account book ("Acc. of the New Meeting House in the year 1803")
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsPre-Separation
Receipts and vouchers retained by Samuel Marsh, treasurer of Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting.
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsPre-Separation
A mix of unsorted property papers (primarily deeds and indentures) related to properties under the care of Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting.
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsHicksite/United
Papers include notices related to the Friends School Society meeting at Plainfield (1830s), legal filings related to the railroad and right-of-way (1867), affidavits related to the post office property sale (1910)
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
Includes a mix of unsorted financial papers, including the 1867 conveyance of right-of-use to the railroad, the c. 1890s [Hicksite] meeting's agreement to split the proceeds of the Rahway Meeting House sale with the Orthodox branch, a 1910 indenture releasing Orthodox claims on Plainfield meeting properties, and tax papers related to meeting properties.
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsHicksite/United
This file is a mix of material retained by the meeting as "Old Property Papers" and deposited in 2020. Papers cover a number of properties held by the Trustees (398 East 8th Street, 253 W. Front Street, Watchung Avenue), include incorporation paperwork for the Cemetery Association, and a number of legal filings related to assessments and mortages and related correspondence.
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
Includes clippings, meeting records, bid and budget papers, and grant records of a historic preservation project to restore the Plainfield Meetinghouse.
Physical Description1 folder
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: United
2 folders
Clerk's file inclues minutes (likely duplicative); correspondence to and from the trustees about meeting business; and by-laws, budget, and insurance information.
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsUnited
1 folder
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-NY293
1 volume in box
Material Specific DetailsUnited
1 volume
Material Specific DetailsUnited
Includes notes, committee reports to the monthly meeting, and survey responses and related correspondence with other meetings about youth facilities.
Physical Description3 folders
1 folder
Charles Detwiller, the architect responsible for the alterations and addiions to the carriage sheds, include copies of his letters to the meeting and committee members, as well as a specifications document for the project. Some related architectural plans are housed in oversize.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Includes a circa 1986 plot map of the burial ground, a partial list of burial request, and advance planning documents.
Physical Description2 folders
Material Specific DetailsUnited
2 folders
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: United
Clerk's file is arranged chronologically and includes committee minutes as well as outreach, correspondence, and clippings related to the committee's work or otherwise of interest to the clerk at the time. At end is miscellaneous records retained by the committee clerk but not yet organized into yearly files.
The file also includes many member responses to a 1994 committee survey on activist activities, giving a broader sense of the predominant social concerns of the meeting at the time.
Physical Description3 folders
1 folder
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
1 folder
Material Specific DetailsUnited
2 bound files (compiled in 1965) of minutes, reports, and related records of the Religious Education Committee from 1914 through 1965. Binders include curricular material and ephemera.
Physical Description2 volumes
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
This file consists of the internal lesson plans, objectives, and assignments for various age groups of First-Day School, although they were likely based upon broader published resources.
Physical Description4 folders
Material Specific DetailsHicksite/United
1 folder
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
Includes miscellaneous records of the Secretary Committee as well as the log books of the secretary (an employee of the meeting managed by the committee)
Physical Description2 folders
Arranged and bound alphabetically
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsUnited
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-.
2 folders
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: United
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-.
6 folders
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: United
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-.
5 folders
Material Specific DetailsAffiliation: United
Available on microfilm in the Library:
- Swarthmore: Microfilm MR-.
2 folders
Material Specific DetailsUnited
1 folder
Material Specific DetailsPre-Separation
Hicksite
1 folder
Mostly Rahway and Plainfield's response to the annual statistical surveys of New York Yearly Meeting (1983-1990). The file also includes information sent from NYYM regarding the 1976 Structure Committee, the main office abilities and facilities, and the Haviland Records Room.
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsUnited
Records from the occasional Quaker Fair, which was a bazaar that raised funds for various meeting-related and non-meeting-related causes. Records are from the 1956, 1965, and 1969 fairs and include committee minutes, budget reports, some publicity materials, and other ephemera.
Physical Description3 folders
Material Specific DetailsUnited
1 folder
Includes a circa 1907 inventory of papers in the Plainfield Meeting House, several inventories of records sent to New York Yearly Meeting's Records Committee (and now held at Swarthmore), and a 1926 letter to the Records Committee about information related to the Rahway Meeting property (sold in 1893 with proceeds split between the Orthodox and Hicksite branches) and the Hardwick Meeting property in Morris County (formerly the site of Hardwick and Randolph Monthly Meeting before being laid down in 1855).
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
1 folder
1 folder
The file includes correspondence to and from the Centennial Committee (including an invitation to John Greenleaf Whittier), a program and ms speeches given at the celebration (on early Friends in Plainfield and on women in the Society of Friends), and newsclippings about the centennial.
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
File includes "The Evolution of a Quaker Meeting, 1686-1938" which talks about the history of Plainfield Meeting and the 1788 Meeting House, and discusses three foundational concerns of the congregation: peace, race relations, and temperance. Records also include a guide to exhibits, a summary of the Meeting's first (1686-1750) and second (1751-1788) minute books, and photocopies of newsclippings.
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsHicksite
File includes a "theoretical meeting for business" script composed out of excerpts of 18th-century minute books, the anniversary program, a memory book made by the committee for the future use of the 200th anniversary, and invitation lists and newsclippings.
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsUnited
File includes a lot of correspondence (replies to invitation, etc.), a copy of the invitation, an epistle "To Friends of the Future" included in a time capsule buried at the celebration, committee records related to the anniversary and program, and a playscript for "Washington Rock."
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsUnited
Includes Margaret Vail's 1913 account of the Plainfield Meeting House, an offprint from "A History of New Jersey Quakers," a 1998 one-sheet on the meeting house, photocopies of Dr. Robert W. Harper papers on the Underground Railroad in South Jersey (including a photocpy of a Salem County manumission), and a 2000 newsclipping about New Jersey Historic Trust's grant to repair the Meeting House.
Physical Description1 folder
Material Specific DetailsHicksite/United