Randolph Friends Meeting House

History

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This chronology was compiled in 2008 by Association President Margaret L. Steneck from the minutes of Hardwick-Mendham Monthly Meeting and Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting, Society of Friends; Minutes of the Friends Meeting House and Cemetery Association of Randolph Township, 1898 -2008; the scrapbook of Clara Brotherton Cook; Richard Irwin, "A History: The Religious Society of Friends of Randolph Township, A.R.B.O.R.,American Revolution Bicentennial Observance Randolph Township, 1973; Richard Irwin, editor, A History of Randolph Township. Township of Randolph, 1976; Margaret L. Steneck, "Bylaws of the Friends Meeting House and Cemetery Association of Randolph Township with a Brief Organizational History, 1975; and from numerous additional primary and secondary sources. Additions and correction are welcomed.

 
 
History Chronology Brief history
Date Event
1730s and 1740s Quaker families, members of the Religious Society of Friends, begin to settle in the northern part of Mendham Township, Province of New Jersey, some of them on land owned by the Quakers William Penn and Joseph Kirkbride.  They are the first people of European descent to settle in this part of Morris County.  Most of these early Quakers are farmers, but some, such as the Schooley family, are involved in the iron mining business as owners or operators of forges in the area.    
1730s and 1740s The early Quaker settlers gather informally for worship at each other's homes.  By the early 1750s, these families include Brotherton, Dell, FitzRandolph, Laing, Schooley and Shotwell.  
1740 On March 15, the Mendham Quakers apply to Woodbridge Monthly Meeting, Society of Friends, for permission to hold a meeting of Friends once every three months at the home of William Schooley.  Their request is granted.  The members of the Society of Friends in Mendham and the surrounding area begin to organize for worship on a regular basis.
1746 The Society of Friends members who gather for worship at the home of William Schooley increase in number and request permission to hold meetings once a week.  Woodbridge Monthly Meeting grants permission to hold weekly meetings.
1756 With their numbers increasing and the group of Friends flourishing, Mendham Preparative Meeting , Religious Society of Friends is established (hereafter Mendham Meeting). Mendham Meeting will be part of Woodbridge (later Rahway-Plainfield) Monthly Meeting and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. (The name of the meeting will change to Randolph Meeting after Randolph Township is set off from Mendham.)  As numbers increase and Mendham Meeting prospers, members begin to consider constructing a meetinghouse. 
1758 On April 19, Mendham Meeting requests permission of Woodbridge Monthly Meeting to purchase property on which to construct a meetinghouse and as a place to bury their dead. Permission is granted, and a committee is established to draw up plans. Hartshorn FitzRandolph, Robert Schooley, and Jacob Laing of Mendham Meeting are on the committee along with John Vail, Samuel Marsh and Abraham Shotwell of Woodbridge. The decision is made to construct a wood frame meetinghouse "twenty six foot wide and twenty five foot long, and that it should cost 23 [pounds] or sumthing over."  
1758 On August 5, Robert Schooley sells an acre of his land on the "Great Road" (now Quaker Church Rd.) to members of Mendham Meeting Jacob Laing and James Brotherton for "4 pounds current money." On August 6, Laing and Brotherton acknowledge in a second deed that they hold the land in trust solely for "the people called Quakers" of Mendham. James Brotherton and members of the Brotherton family will continue to hold the deed to the property for over 200 years.
1758 The members of Mendham Meeting build their meetinghouse and establish their cemetery on the one acre of land on the Great Road in Mendham deeded to the Meeting by Robert Schooley. (Hereafter the Mendham meetinghouse will be styled the "Meeting House" and the cemetery as "Quaker Cemetery" in keeping with customary use through the years, a tradition carried on by the modern Association.)   John "Quaker Preacher" Vail from Littleton, assisted by his son, build the Meeting House. The clapboard building is of pegged construction, as are the interior benches, with a second story gallery and shutters (partitions) that can be lowered to divide men from women during their respective meetings for business.  73 pounds is rasied to build the structure.  Stables to shelter the horses in bad weather and a shed are eventually built at the back of the site.   
1758-1790 Meetings at the Mendham Meeting House are held regularly on the first and fifth days (Sunday and Thursday) of each week at 11:00 a.m.  The Meeting House is reported to be "well filled both above and below, people driving or coming on horseback several miles to attend.  Richard Dell and others minister to their spiritual needs."  (Association President Eugene Carrell, Annual Meeting 1938.  See 1938 below for a list of many of the families who were members of Mendham/Randolph Meeting, 1758-1865.)  
1774 New York Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends bans members from owning slaves.
1775 Hartshorn FitzRandolph, Isaac Hance and Henry Moore of Mendham Meeting along with other anti-slavery advocates found the first anti-slavery society in NJ.  It is called the "New Jersey Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery."  Members and supporters, including members of Mendham Meeting, protest slavery in peaceful ways, including refusal to purchase products made or produced by slave labor.
1776 Adam Miller of Boonton, a Quaker slave owner, manumits (frees) his slaves, the first known slaveholder in Morris County to do so.  He could not remain in the Society of Friends had he not freed his slaves.
1777 Their pacifist views cause most Quakers to refuse to bear arms or to fight in the militia during the American Revolution and the lengthy War for Independence.  They also fear that the protection they enjoy under the English to worship as they choose might disappear if Puritans emerge as the dominant power of an independent country.  They must decide which competing principles will guide their actions: loyalty to the king, loyalty to their colony and the rebellion, or their belief as members of the Society of Friends that paying taxes contributes to the war effort, in effect causing them to be participants in that war.  Allowing their Friends principles to guide them, the Quakers of Mendham refuse to fight or to pay taxes to the rebellious Whig government and face severe penalties for their refusal to join the rebellion.  Hartshorn FitzRandolph, leader of the Quaker community, is forced to appear before the Council of Safety in Morristown but is released upon convincing the Council that neither he nor any members of the Meeting are disloyal to the elected government.  The Whig government confiscates Quaker cattle, corn and clothing and exacts fines for non-payment of war taxes.  Refusing to collect assessed taxes, Hartshorn FitzRandolph resigns as moderator (mayor) of Mendham for the duration of the War.
1779-80 General George Washington secures food for his troops from Quaker farmers in Shongum.
1796 Extensive carpentry work is carried out on the Meeting House.
1797

Due to a decline in numbers, Mendham Meeting is joined with Hardwick Meeting to become Hardwick-Mendham Monthly Meeting.  New families, such as the Mott family, also add vigor to a revived meeting. (return to top)
1801 A Quaker School is established and operates until 1813.
1804 The New Jersey State legislature, after years of effort by anti-slavery advocates, including FitzRandolph, Hance, Moore and other Friends in Mendham Meeting, passes legislation that begins the gradual emancipation of slaves in the State of New Jersey.
1805 The citizens of the new Randolph Township honor the first-generation Quaker leader Hartshorn FitzRandolph by naming the township after him when Randolph Township is set off from Mendham Township.  Isaac Hance, a member of Mendham Meeting, is elected the first Mayor.
1810 Joshua Mott and his sons William, John, and Joshua Jr., purchase the gristmill of Quaker William Shotwell, who moves to New York State.  The Mott family establish other industrial mills (fulling, carding, oil and tanyard) along the Mill Brook.  The area becomes known as "Mott Hollow."
1811 The name of the Meeting is changed from Mendham Meeting to Randolph Meeting.
1821 Benjamin Lundy of Hardwick-Randolph Monthly Meeting moves to Illinois and begins the Genius of Universal Emancipation, the first long-running national anti-slavery newspaper.  Lundy helps recruit the poet John Greenleaf Whittier to the anti-slavery cause.
1828 Minutes of the Monthly Meeting note that costly work is needed to repair the Meeting House.
1829 Quakerism splits into two factions, Orthodox and Hicksite. The split leads to a decline in the influence and vitality of Quakerism throughout the United States.  The majority of Randolph Quakers are Hicksite.
1829 Benjamin Lundy recruits William Lloyd Garrison, the future great abolitionist, to the anti-slavery cause and makes him a partner in publishing "The Genius of Universal Emancipation."
1820s and 1830s The number of people attending Randolph Meeting decline as several Quaker families emigrate to New York State or further west.
1830s Richard and Mary Brotherton provide a safe haven for run-away slaves on their farm near the Meeting House.  The Randolph Friends remain true to their anti-slavery beliefs and traditions as they work to abolish slavery in the United States.
1837 Benjamin Lundy, formerly of Hardwick-Mendham Monthly Meeting, works with Lucretia Mott and other Philadelphia Quakers in founding the Pennsylvania State Anti-Slavery Society.
1838 Benjamin Lundy's press and papers are destroyed when Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia is burned by a pro-slavery mob.
1844  Jacob Lundy Brotherton of Mendham Meeting becomes an agent for the New Jersey State Anti-Slavery Society and works to recruit members across Sussex, Warren, and Morris Counties. He is physically assaulted and locked out of Millbrook & other churches when attempting to organize anti-slavery meetings.
1845 A stove is installed in the Meeting House with a long brick chimney reaching through the gallery to the roof.
1861 Benjamin Price, a schoolmaster in Millbrook, drills his older students on the green in front of the Meeting House.  In the fall of 1861 Price closes his school and enlists in the First New York Excelsior Regiment as Captain.  He is promoted to Major and killed at Manassas Gap, July 24, 1863.
1861-64 Randolph volunteers drill on the Meeting House grounds prepatory to active service in the Union Army during the Civil War.  Although most Quakers stay true to their pacifist beliefs and do not actively support the war, at least one member of Randolph Friends Meeting does enlist.  Alexander L. Mott of Shongum serves in Company B, 27th Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, a company which is raised in Randolph.
1864 The meeting is so depleted from removals to other meetings, particularly to upstate New York and further west, that meetings for worship are discontinued, except by appointment.
1865 Randolph Friends Meeting is laid down (brought to an end).  Events are held in the Meeting House by the surviving Quakers over the ensuing years and burials continue in Quaker Cemetery.  Many of the burials are not Quaker.  The last surviving members of Randolph Meeting residing in the area, Rachel Brotherton Vail & her brother James W. Brotherton, as well as Rachel's husband John Elwood Vail and other descendants, continue to maintain the Meeting House and Quaker Cemetery until formation of the Association in 1898.
1869-1919 Several veterans of the Union Army are buried in Quaker Cemetery in the decades after the Civil War:  John Doland (death date unknown), Gideon Hewitt (1869), Alexander D. Massaker (1882), George Crane (1899), John W. Mills (1903), Farrington P. Moore (1910), Alexander L. Mott (1919).  
1870 John Hance, Isaac Alward, John Vail and other descendants contribute money to build a stone wall to enclose the Meeting House and Cemetery grounds on three sides.
1880 The stone wall is relaid by Isaac Alward and an iron fence is constructed across the front from subscriptions raised by John Vail and John Hance.  Around this time the stables and shed at the back of the property, which had become dilapidated, are torn down.
1890s Clara Brotherton Cook, granddaughter of Jacob Lundy Brotherton, begins taking professional quality photographs of the Meeting House and Cemetery. These photos, along with one 1890s post card, are the oldest surviving images of the site.
1898 On June 28, descendants of the Mendham/Randolph Friends Meeting and of individuals interred in the Cemetery meet in the office of attorney Eugene J. Cooper in Dover.  They agree to form an Association to acquire and to preserve the Meeting House and Quaker Cemetery.  They have been called together by James W. Brotherton and Rachel Brotherton Vail, the last surviving members of the old Randolph Meeting still residing in the vicinity.  Along with other descendants they have preserved the site over the years.  Now aging, they recognize the need to form an official body to assume oversight and perpetual care of the property.
1898 On October 14, trustees of Rahway Plainfield Monthly Meeting (successors to Woodbridge Monthly Meeting) relinquish claim to the Meeting House and Quaker Cemetery and transfer title to James W. and Etta H. Brotherton and to Rachel Brotherton Vail.  James and Rachel have been members of Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting since the Randolph Meeting was laid down in 1865.
1898 On October 22, theFriends Meeting House and Cemetery Association of Randolph Township, New Jersey is established.  The organizational meeting is held in the office of Eugene J. Cooper in Dover.  Descendants present at this organizational meeting are:  James W. Brotherton, elected Chairman; Henry Alward, Cornelius D. Burg, Eugene A. Carrell, Eugene J. Cooper, M. Wheeler Corwin, Phoebe J. Corwin, Edward S. Hance and Elias B. Mott.  Following adoption of the bylaws, the Association elects the first Board of Trustees, who then elect the first officers.  The first officers of the Association are: James W. Brotherton, President by a unanimous vote; William H. Baker, Treasurer; Edward S. Hance, Secretary.  The other trustees elected that day are: Henry Alward, Eugene A. Carrell, M. Wheeler Corwin, and Elias B. Mott.  James W. and Etta Brotherton and Rachel Brotherton Vail then transfer title to and responsibility for the site to the Association, 140 years after the pioneer settlers James Brotherton and Jacob Laing first accepted the deed in trust for Mendham Meeting.  
1899-1955 The trustees elected during this first phase of Association history subsequent to its founding are: Charles H. Brotherton, Sr., Edward S. Hance, Frederick Hance, E. Bertram Mott, Thomas H. Baker, Clifford H. Alward, Rev. Harold L. Meyers, Jr., James H. Bennett, Charles H. Brotherton, Jr., and Henry O. Baker.  Many trustees serve for several decades.  Following the bylaws, Annual Meeting is held each year in June.
1899 The Association replaces the old roof, which had been leaking, with a new slate roof. (return to top)
1907 New York Yearly Meeting, Society of Friends, holds a meeting for worship in the Meeting House on August 11, the first official Friends meeting to be held in the Meeting House since Randolph Meeting was laid down in 1865.  Double the number of people attend who can sit or stand in the building. This is the beginning of annual fall meetings held the first Sunday in October under the auspices of New York Yearly Meeting.  The meetings are very popular and often feature prominent speakers on the history and practise of Quakerism and on Quaker life.  
1912 Eugene A. Carrell becomes President of the Association upon the death of Association founder James W. Brotherton.
1915 The Association creates the position of Custodian for Buildings and Grounds who is to take charge of Quaker Cemetery where burials continue to be held.  Charles H. Brotherton, Sr. is elected the first Custodian.  
1932 The October meetings held annually since 1907 under the auspices of New York Yearly meeting come to an end.  
1936 The Historic American Buildings Survey produces measured drawings of the Meeting House, an invaluable source of information for later Association trustees, architects and contractors.
1936 The Meeting House, which had originally been unpainted and then stained and painted in muted colors, is painted white. 
1938 At Annual Meeting, Association President Eugene Carrell gives a talk on the history of the Meeting House.  He includes a list of the family names of people that he and the other Association members know to be members of or attenders at the Mendham/Randolph Friends Meeting between 1758 and 1865.  The list is not meant to be exhaustive, but they are the only families known.  In alphabetical order these families are: Adams, Alward, Brotherton, Carrell, Crane, Dell, Eagles, Evers, Fitz Randolph, Hance, Laing, Lamson, Laws, Miller, Moore, Mott, Patterson, Sammis, Schooley, Searing, Shotwell, Tone, Vail, Willson and Young.
1939 First historical tours for school children are held, which continue to date.
1945 Thomas H. Baker becomes President of the Association.
1953 Charles H. Brotherton, Sr. becomes President of the Association.
1954 Members of the Society of Friends from New York City who vacation in the area during the summer ask permission of the Association to hold meetings for worship in the Meeting House during the summer months.  Association trustees grant permission to the Friends to use the Meeting House for weekly meetings.  
1954 The Association amends its bylaws to increase the Board from seven to nine members.  

1955

On September 18, Dover Monthly Meeting, Society of Friends is organized.  It grows out of the meetings first held during the summer of 1954.  Those meetings attracted many local attenders and continued without interruption through 1954 and 1955.  With Association approval, Dover Monthly Meeting continues to use the Meeting House as its spiritual home.  
1956 E. Bertram Mott becomes President of the Association.
1956 An oil furnace is installed in a shed built abutting the Meeting House with ductwork running around the perimeter on the inside of the building.  It replaces a kerosene heater and lap robes used by attenders at meeting during the first two winters.
1958 Three members of Dover Monthly Meeting are elected to the Board of Trustees to fill vacant trustee positions: B. Chandler Bellows, Jr., Richard Haydock, and W. Dumont Van Doren.  They are the first non-descendant members of the Board.  Trustees elected before 1958 continue to serve until their resignation or death but no other trustees are elected during these middle years of Association history.
1958-1973 Dover Monthly Meeting assumes primary responsibility for the Meeting House and Quaker Cemetery.  The Association communicates largely by correspondence and telephone with few meetings.
1961 Chandler Bellows, Jr. becomes President of the Association.
1964-65 A real estate building constructed in the 1920s is donated to Friends Meeting by Dean Freiday, a Quaker writer and businessman active in New Jersey real estate development. The building is moved to the site, and designated the "Annex."  Association President and member of Dover Friends Meeting Chandler Bellows, Jr. and his family contribute a fireplace and chimney for the Annex.  A kitchen and lavatory are added through donations from the Dumont and Van Doren families and other members of the Meeting, providing these facilities on site for the first time.
1973 Concerned about the future of the site, Richard Irwin, Chairman of Randolph Landmarks, Marion Irving, Clerk of Randolph Meeting, and Chandler Bellows, President of the Association and a member of Friends Meeting, identify potential new members for the Association and inaugurate a new era of Association activity.
1973 Richard T. Irwin writes "A History: The Religious Society of Friends of Randolph Township." It is published by A.R.B.O.R.:  American Revolution Bicentennial Observance Randolph Township.
1973 The Meeting House is listed on the National and New Jersey Registers of Historic Places and is designated a Randolph Municipal Landmark.  One expert notes in the nomination application that the Meeting House may be the "finest example of a rural Meeting House interior" in the nation.
1975 At a meeting in November, the remaining trustees of the middle period, Charles Brotherton, Chandler Bellows and Richard Haydock, admit new members under the old bylaws that restrict membership to descendants and members of the Society of Friends.  The bylaws are then amended to extend membership to people with an interest in preserving the site who are neither descendants nor members of the Friends faith.  A new generation of members and trustees becomes active.
1976 A History of Randolph Township, edited by Richard T. Irwin, is published by the Township of Randolph.  The volume contains several articles that include historical information on Mendham/ Randolph Meeting and the Quaker families associated with the Meeting.
1976 The new trustees of the modern era who are elected for the first time in 1976 and include descendants, members of Dover Friends Meeting and interested preservationists are: Edith E. Alward, James T. Brotherton, Sr., Richard T. Irwin, Albert B. Jeffers, Harriet C. Meeker, John R. Mott, Sr. and Hope G. Stewart.  Charles Brotherton and Richard Haydock continue as trustees.
1976 Richard Haydock becomes President of the Association.
1977-1987 Trustees of the Association first elected during this decade are: Edward M. Emire, Dorothy E. Mott, John S. Ruch, Helen R. Emire, Margaret L. Steneck, Marion W. Irving and William D. Mott.
1977 The Meeting House is now nearly 220 years old.  Though it has been conscientiously maintained by the members of the two Friends Meetings who have occupied it as their spiritual home and by the Association formed in 1898 to protect it, the building is showing serious signs of aging.  The modern era of Association activity and preservation begins with replacement of the slate roof, which is leaking, is not authentic to the original building, and is too heavy for the wood frame structure.  A cedar shake roof replaces the slate roof, a joint project of the Association and Randolph Township and funded by a HUD block grant. Township Manager Peter Braun represents the Township on the project.  Architect for the project is preservation architect John B. Dodd, A.I.A., who will oversee preservation and restoration work at the site until his death in 2000.
1978 The 19th-century iron fence is restored with replacement pickets cast in Birmingham, Alabama.  
1980 The name of Dover Monthly Meeting is changed to Dover-Randolph Monthly Meeting.
1984 Margaret L. Steneck becomes President of the Association.
1985 Architect John Dodd prepares a "Guide to Historic Structure Preservation of the Friends Meeting House."  The "Guide" forms the basis for future preservation/restoration efforts by the Association. Basile Bros., General Contractors, work on the Meeting House for the first time and repair siding.
1986 First fire detection system is installed, contributed by Kidde Systems, Inc.
1987 The unused 19th-century brick chimney in the Meeting House is removed as it is causing stress on the interior oak beams.  Three courses of brick are left as an historic record.  Flashing is repaired.
1987 The bylaws are revised to expand the number of trustees to 12 and to create the position of Vice President for Buildings and Grounds.  James T. Brotherton, Sr., son of the first Custodian of Buildings and Grounds Charles H. Brotherton, is elected to the new position.  
1987-2007 Trustees first elected during these two decades are: Mary E. Robinson, Henry A. Emmans, Richard V. Lenat, James T. Brotherton, Jr., William H. Haydock, Kathryn M. Munch, Mary F. Brotherton and Leonora P. Whildin.
1988 Restoration of the foundation sills, studs, and end-posts is funded by a grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust.  Basile Bros., General Contractors who specialize in preservation contracting, do the restoration work and will be the general contractors for future work on the Meeting House and Annex.  As preservation contractors, Basile Bros. make every effort to save all original materials by supporting worn timbers and treating with epoxy consolidation.
1989 Wood gutters are reconstructed.  Interior stabilization of the first floor is begun.  Asbestos insulation, used in the 1977 roof replacement, is encapsulated.
1991 The Association incorporates.
1992 Mott Hollow, site of the Quaker mills along the Mill Brook, is declared a historic district and is placed on the National and New Jersey Registers of Historic Places.
1992 The interior stair is stabilized through construction of a new stairway.  The original 18th- century treds and risers are restored, preserved and then installed on top of the new stair.
1992 Quaker Cemetery is surveyed by Bruce Bevan of Geosight Ground Penetrating Radar System in an attempt to identify 18th-century graves which had no tombstones.  The project is sponsored by the J. Malcolm Mossman Charitible Foundation.  Nothing definitive is determined though possible gravesites are identified.  Repair of tombstones is carried out by John Sperry of Gies Brothers Monuments.  An Open House and tours showcase the recent preservation work.
1993 Quaker Cemetery is photographed by Richard T. and Richard C. Irwin who produce a study of the Cemetery entitled, "Time Erases All Epitaphs Graven in Stone."
1993 Windows are reglazed and cracked panes replaced with hand blown 19th-century glass.
1995 A gallery cover is constructed and installed, which can be opened in the summer and closed in the winter.
1998 Exterior stripping of paint on the Meeting House begins.  The Meeting House will be returned to its original unpainted treatment as the paint is causing damage to the wood.  Restoration of window shutters and floor joists is completed.
1998 In October, the Association and many visitors to the site celebrate: the 240th anniversary of the building of the Meeting House and establishment of Quaker Cemetery; the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Association; and the 25th anniversary of the listing of the Meeting House on the National and State Registers of Historic Places and declaration of the site as a Randolph Township Landmark.   A meeting of commemoration is held in the Meeting House.  Later, speaking from a large tent on the grounds, Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen affirms the importance of preserving our national heritage.  A copy of the tribute to the Association that Congressman Frelinghuysen read into the Congressional Record was presented to the Association, as were proclamations from Randolph Mayor Myma Andersen, representing the Randolph Township Council, and from the Morris County Heritage Commission.  A video is shown that was produced to highlight the recent preservation activity.  (Copies are still available for purchase.)  A display of historical artifacts in the Annex chronicles the history of the original Quaker settlers.  Visitors also enjoy tours of the Meeting House and Cemetery, demonstrations on construction techniques used to build the Meeting House, browsing through photo albums of the site and of the preservation work, the delicious refreshments and the beautiful fall day. (return to top)
2002 Exterior paint stripping continues though slowly as it is found to be a highly labor intensive and expensive process.  West wall framing is stabilized.  Work proceeds on stabilization of the east and south walls.
2003 The Association adopts a Cemetery Policy that continues interments in Quaker Cemetery but for cremated remains only, which conforms with State policy, and establishes guidelines for future burials and memorials.
2003 Contractor Basile explains the preservation work at an Open House.  Exterior work continues.
2004 Stabilization of the east and south walls, windows and doors is completed.  The Annex receives a new roof, a joint project of the Association and Friends Meeting.
2004 An historical reenactment commemorates passage of the 1804 act that begins the gradual emancipation of slavery in New Jersey, highlighting the efforts of Hartshorn FitzRandolph, Isaac Hance and Henry Moore of Mendham Meeting to promote passage of that legislation.  At the February event, Mayor Edward Tamm of Randolph presents a proclamation to the Association honoring the involvement of the Mendham/Randolph Friends in the long struggle for freedom for all Americans.
2004 The position of Vice-President for Buildings and Grounds is named the "James T. Brotherton, Sr. Vice-President for Buildings and Grounds."  The bylaws are again amended to establish definite 5-year terms of office for trustees.  
2005 Replacement of the heating system is funded by a grant from the Morris County Historic Preservation Trust Fund.  John Bolt, A.I.A. is architect for the project.  The work includes removal of the old furnace shed and interior ductwork.   A new gas furnace is installed in the Annex that is connected to ductwork installed below the floor of the Meeting House.  An Open House is held to celebrate completion of the project.  The Alward replacement tree is planted in the Cemetery grown from a seed of the maple tree planted by Meeting member Charlotte Alward in the 19th century.
2005 The window shutters are restored and rehung.
2006 One of the large spruce trees in Quaker Cemetery is struck by lightning, which enters the Meeting House and damages the electrical system.  The tree is removed and the damage is repaired.  A bench and two dogwood trees are added to the Cemetery as a memorial donation Association Historiographer Richard T. Irwin and his family.  
2006 Sunday tours of the site are begun by trustee Richard Lenat assisted by trustee Lee Whildin.  Visitors can enjoy a guided tour of the Meeting House and Cemetery between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. the first Sunday in each month from April through November.  
2006 An Association Web site is launched.
2007 A grant from the Morris County Historic Preservation Trust Fund enables the Association to complete the exterior treatment of the Meeting House, stripping of paint and staining of the Annex, and restoration and treatment of the cedar shake roof of the Meeting House.  An Open House is held in October to celebrate completion of the project.  
2007 A new security system is installed in the Meeting House and Annex.
2008 The Association prepares for the 250th anniversary of this historic and treasured site.  A Celebration will be held on October 11 at the Meeting House.  We hope you will join us! (return to top)