Vassalboro Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends) Records
1858-2010
9 vols., 1 box (2.5 linear feet)
Call no.: MS 902 V377
Friends began to gather for worship in Vassalboro, Maine, in 1780, shortly after Quakers began to settle the Kennebeck Valley to escape the American Revolution. Their numbers grew sufficiently to be granted states as a monthly meeting in 1787, and they have subsequently been the sponsor for a number of worship groups and preparatory meetings in central Maine, as well as the source from which five monthly meetings have been laid off.
The records of Vassalboro Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends) are spotty and incomplete, but include minutes of meetings for business from 1950s through 1980s, sporadic financial records, and a substantial, but incomplete series of newsletters from 1987-2010.
Background on Vassalboro Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends)
Abbie Loring in Cape Cod Quaker attire, ca.1930. Photo by Alton H. Blackington
Friends began to gather for worship in Vassalboro, Maine, in 1780, shortly after Quakers began to settle the Kennebeck Valley to escape the American Revolution. Their numbers grew sufficiently to be granted states as a monthly meeting in 1787, with their first meetinghouse constructed in 1798, followed by a more substantial brick building in 1833.
Organizationally, Vassalboro has passed through the care of three quarterly meetings -- Salem (1787-1794), Falmouth (1794-1813), and Vassalboro (1813- ) -- and it has in turn been the sponsor of numerous worship groups and preparatory meetings, most formed and laid down around the turn of the nineteenth century. Notably, it was also the springboard from which five monthly meetings were set off, including Sidney (1802), Harlem (1813), Saint Albans (1841), Oak Grove (1922), and Orono (1973). Vassalboro was called East Vassalboro Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends) in the late 1980s.
Worship groups
Belgrade (1801-1802)
Bristol (1787-1801, 1819-1826)
Camden (1798-1813)
Colby (1988-1989)
Dresden (1798)
East Benton (1892-1925)
East Vassalboro (1797-1799)
Fairfax (1810-1812)
Fairfield (1789-1802)
Harlem (1802-1809)
Lincoln Jackson (ca.1810-1813)
Orono (1801-1819)
St. Albans (before 1833-1837)
Sidney (1795-1800)
Sonnabeck (before 1802-1813)
Winthrop (1792-1802)
Preparatory meetings
East Vassalboro (1799-1828): also called East Pond, Pond, Outlet, or Twelve-mile Pond
Fairfax (1812-1813)
Fairfield (1801-1819)
Harlem (1809-1813)
Saint Albans (1837-1841)
Sidney (1800-1802)
Vassalboro (1787-1893): also River Meeting
Winthrop (1802)
Scope of collection
The records of Vassalboro Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends) are spotty and incomplete, but include minutes of meetings for business from 1950s through 1980s, sporadic financial records, and a substantial, but incomplete series of newsletters from 1987-2010.
Cite as: Vassalboro Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends) Records (MS 902 V377). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
Search terms
Subjects
New England Yearly Meeting of Friends
Quakers--Maine
Society of Friends--Maine
Vassalboro (Me.)--Religious life and customs
Contributors
Vassalboro Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends) [main entry]
