History of Baltimore Yearly Meeting

Key Dates for Baltimore Yearly Meeting

Mid-1650’s     A Quaker presence began to be felt along the east coast of the United States

1672                A General Meeting was held at West River and was the first large scale gathering of Friends.

1677                Minutes of half-yearly meetings survive from alternate year meetings at Tredhaven (Third Haven, also known as the Eastern Shore), in the house of                     John Pitts followed by John Edmundson, and West River (also known as the Western Shore) in the home of George Skipwith and others

1682                West River Meeting House was built

1775                Meetings happening just once a year, still alternately at West River and Third Haven.

1785,               The Yearly Meeting was held for the first time in “Baltimore Town”. Soon after, the Yearly Meeting of Maryland became known as the “Yearly Meeting held at Baltimore for the Western Shore of Maryland and the adjacent parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia.”

1790                Transferred the Eastern Shore Quarterly Meeting to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and accepted the transfer of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's     Fairfax  and  Warrington Quarterly Meetings

1819                Accepted the transfer of Nottingham Quarterly Meeting from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

1828                The Separation of 1828 split the “Yearly Meeting held at Baltimore for the Western Shore of Maryland and the adjacent parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia” in two. The Hicksite branch retained the name, while the Orthodox branch renamed itself The Yearly Meeting of Friends for the Western Shore of Maryland and Adjacent Areas of Pennsylvania and Virginia, in unity with the Ancient Yearly Meeting of Friends.

1886                The Orthodox branch was incorporated as the Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends, Orthodox. It was also referred to as the Baltimore Yearly   Meeting, Homewood, as it has been held in the Homewood Meeting House since 1922.

1867                The Hicksite branch was incorporated as Baltimore Yearly Meeting held at Lombard Street

1889               Baltimore Yearly Meeting held its first sessions at their new meeting house on Park Avenue (and Laurens Street).

1944                The Yearly meeting was held at Stony Run, and the Hicksite branch became known as Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Stony Run.

1968                The Hicksite and Orthodox yearly meetings reunited to form the Baltimore Yearly Meeting for the Religious Society of Friends.

Timelines from local BYM Meetings

MAPS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dandelion, Pink.  An Introduction to Quakerism (Introduction to Religion). 2007.

 Dudiak, Jeffrey. “The Meaning of ‘Quaker History.’” Quaker History, vol. 106, no. 1, 2017, pp. 1–21. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/45180017. Accessed 1 Mar. 2021.Copy

Forbush, Bliss.  A history of Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends; three hundred years of Quakerism in Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and central Pennsylvania.  1972.   

Gummere, Amelia Mott. “CCL. The Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, May 4th to 7th, Inclusive, 1922.” Bulletin of Friends' Historical Society of Philadelphia, vol. 11, no. 2, 1922, pp. 65–68. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41945225. Accessed 1 Mar. 2021.

Haines, Deborah L. “Friends General Conference—A Brief Historical Overview.” Quaker History, vol. 89, no. 2, 2000, pp. 1–16. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41947642. Accessed 3 Mar. 2021.

Hamm, Thomas D. “The Hicksite Quaker World, 1875-1900.” Quaker History, vol. 89, no. 2, 2000, pp. 17–41. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41947643. Accessed 3 Mar. 2021.Copy

Hickey, Damon D. “PIONEERS OF THE NEW SOUTH: THE BALTIMORE ASSOCIATION AND NORTH CAROLINA FRIENDS IN RECONSTRUCTION.” Quaker History, vol. 74, no. 1, 1985, pp. 1–17. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41947031. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.

Richardson, William E. “The Quaker Meeting House on ‘I’ Street and Its Historical Background.” Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., 40/41, 1940, pp. 33–51. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40067549. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.

Account of locations of early Washington Meetinghouses, mentions the Johns Hopkins family.   Opening of Sidwell Friend’s School 1883.  Friends in Maryland in 1655.  George Fox spent several months preaching in Maryland – “…meetings attended by the Lord Proprietor, members of the Council and Assembly, and people of all classes, including even the slaves and the Indians.” 

 T. K. B.  Review: [Untitled] Reviewed Work: The Story of Baltimore Yearly Meeting from 1672 to 1938 Anna Braithwaite Thomas, Bulletin of Friends Historical Association, vol. 28, no. 1, 1939, pp. 49–49. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41944114. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.

Thomas, Allen C. “TRANSFER OF MEETINGS BETWEEN PHILADELPHIA AND BALTIMORE YEARLY MEETINGS IN 1790 AND 1819.” Bulletin of Friends' Historical Society of Philadelphia, vol. 3, no. 3, 1910, pp. 122–130. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41944843. Accessed 1 Mar. 2021.

Thomas, Anna Lloyd.  The Story of Baltimore Yearly Meeting from 1672 to 1938.  Baltimore, The Weant Press, 1928.