South Kingstown Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends) Records

Background on South Kingstown Monthly Meeting

South Kingstown Monthly was the home meeting of John Wilbur and as such, the epicenter of the Wilburite separation of 1845. Meetings for worship began in Kingstown in 1701, with South Kingstown setting off from Greenwich Monthly Meeting in 1743. Sometimes called Narragansett Monthly Meeting, South Kingstown was part of Rhode Island Quarter throughout its existence. In turn, it was the parent for worship groups at Charlestown (1743-1745), Westerly, (1777-1800), Western (near Matunuck, 1750-1885), and Wood River (1825-1834), as well as Preparatory Meetings at Hopkinton (1743-1888) and Westerly (1743-1777).

A prominent minister, Wilbur grew uneasy with the evangelical direction of Quakerism spread through the influence of the English minister Joseph John Gurney, and he began to advocate vociferously for a "traditional" Quakerly worship emphasizing immediate revelation. In 1838, an attempt by the New England Yearly Meeting to discipline Wilbur for speaking critically of Gurney was rebuffed by South Kingstown, after which the Rhode Island Quarter responded by laying down the monthly in 1842 and attaching its members to Greenwich Monthly Meeting. Greenwich disowned Wilbur a year later.

In the regional split of 1845, a Wilburite meeting was established at South Kingstown, surviving continuously to the general New England reunion in 1945. The Gurneyite meeting at South Kingstown was laid down in 1899.