Established in 1708, the Nantucket Monthly Meeting of
the Society of Friends has had a distinctive history marked by the separations that
troubled Quakerism in the nineteenth century. In 1830, Nantucket became one of the
few monthly meetings in New England to divide along Hicksite and Orthodox lines, and
as that separation was healing in 1845, the Wilburite and Gurneyite factions
separated. Uniquely, the Wilburites split further in 1863, when the "Primitive" or
"Otisite" Friends departed. Quaker worship was effectively absent on Nantucket from
1894 to about 1939.
This fraction of the records of the Nantucket Monthly
Meeting of Friends documents the history of the meeting up to and through the
Wilburite-Gurneyite schism. With the exception of some loose materials from the
Women's Meeting from 1776-1781, the collection contains little from the first
several decades of the meeting (these are housed at the Nantucket Historical
Association), but there is rich content on the state of the meeting and the conflict
that followed the separation of 1845, along with minutes from the decade leading up
the Wilburite-Gurneyite reunion in 1944.
Background on Nantucket Monthly Meeting of Friends
Abbie Loring in Cape Cod Quaker attire, ca.1930. Photo by Alton H.
Blackington
The history of Quaker meetings on Nantucket is as varied and complex as in any other
location in North America and more than idiosyncratic most. Meetings began on the
island as early as 1704, with regular meetings for business beginning since 1708.
Formally part of the New England Yearly Meeting, the distance from the mainland led
Nantucket to operate as a "Yearly Meeting for Worship" from 1711 to 1829, and with
its strong maritime and family connections to Atlantic Canada, it oversaw nascent
meetings not in Massachusetts, but in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, beginning in 1752.
The Friends' presence on Nantucket grew steadily through the eighteenth century,
resulting in the construction of a second meetinghouse in 1792, which became the
home of the Nantucket Northern District Monthly Meeting two years later. This
meeting, however, did not thrive and was laid down in 1829. This failure, perhaps,
was a harbinger of things to come when Nantucket became an epicenter of the
separations that plagued nineteenth century Quakerism. Although New England was
little affected by the controversies that cleaved the Yearly Meetings in
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York from 1827 to 1830, Nantucket was an exception.
Neither the Hicksite nor Orthodox meetings that split in 1830 survived long, but the
separation weakened Quakerism on the island.
The Wilburite and Gurneyite controversy in New England was far more serious, and led
to a bitter separation on Nantucket. Unlike elsewhere in New England, the Gurneyite
faction on Nantucket was smaller than the Wilburite, and survived only until 1869.
The Wilburites experienced still another separation when the "Primitive" or Otisite
Friends on Nantucket -- and in Warwick, R.I., and Lynn, Mass. -- broke away from
1863 to 1911. Quaker worship on Nantucket effectively ceased from 1894 to 1939.
Today, the island is home to a worship group under the care of Sandwich Quarter.
Scope of collection
This fraction of the records of the Nantucket Monthly Meeting of Friends documents
the history of the meeting up to and through the Wilburite-Gurneyite schism. With
the exception of some loose materials from the Women's Meeting from 1776-1781, the
collection contains little from the first several decades of the meeting (these are
housed at the Nantucket Historical Association), but there is rich content for the
two decades beginning at the time of great separation. Although the minutes of
business meetings are absent, there are a fascinating set of answers to queries on
the state of the meeting, and abundant material on discipline, contention over the
meetinghouse and other property, and financial accounting during the difficult
period. The collection also contains minutes of the meeting during the decade
leading up the Wilburite-Gurneyite reunion in 1944.
The Archives has a small, but useful collection of notes on the various meetings of
Nantucket Friends, mostly compiled by Robert Leach.
The records of the Nantucket Northern District Monthly Meeting, the Hicksite Meeting,
and most of the records of the Nantucket Monthly Meeting are housed at the Nantucket
Historical Association, including. The latter includes:
Cite as: Nantucket Monthly Meeting of Friends Records
(MS 902 N368). Special Collections and University Archives, University of
Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
