Talk:New Bedford Meeting House

Is the meeting about the building or the congregation?
The article is written right now based on the building, constructed in 1822. But, members met before that in New Bedford.

For the moment, I am going to edit as if it's about the building - constructed in 1822... with background about the history of the Quakers in New Bedford. But, if someone thinks otherwise, please say something here.–CaroleHenson (talk) 01:51, 30 March 2020 (UTC)


 * Also, would the original date in New Bedford be 1785 (date of Spring Street church) or 1789 (quarterly meeting)?–CaroleHenson (talk) 01:55, 30 March 2020 (UTC)

Hi Carole,

Great question. The meeting refers to the congregation (New Bedford Monthly Meeting) and the meeting house is where it meets. So the current New Bedford Meeting House has been the home of New Bedford Monthly Meeting since 1822; before that, as I understand it, the older meeting house was on the site where the 1822 meeting house now stands.

From notes I took on the meeting's 100th anniversary celebration pamphlet, I have 1792 as the date when NB Monthly Meeting was established as a monthly meeting; before that it would likely have been a "preparative meeting," -- a group worshipping on Sundays that was still part of the larger meeting in Dartmouth. I can check that, but not immediately, because of social distancing/the COVID-19 pandemic.

One thing that I'm pretty sure is wrong about your version of the article is you have Quakers setting in Dartmouth in 1652. It's not your fault that that's incorrect; I can see where you got that. There's a New Bedford Standard-Times article that states that, but it's contradicted by a more reliable scholarly source. (George Fox didn't start the Quaker movement in England until just a few years before 1652, so 1652 would be awfully early for a Quaker to get all the way to Dartmouth.) Here's a quote from Thomas D. Hamm's book "The Quakers in America" (Columbia University Press, 2003): "Scholars are agreed on the identity of the first Friend to arrive in North America. She was Elizabeth Harris, who traveled in the Chesapeake region as early as 1655 or 1656." . So I'm taking out the 1652, since it's contradicted by Hamm. Friends in the Dartmouth meetings can likely get us accurate information on the date, but not tonight.Memangel (talk) 03:21, 30 March 2020 (UTC)[User: memangel]

Hi Carole, I'm also taking out your line about a Quarterly Meeting being established in New Bedford in 1789; that's incorrect. In Quakerism, Quarterly Meetings are regional gatherings that are held once a quarter (in other words, four times a year) and often rotate among various meeting houses in the region. It looks like the statement you're referring to just means that the person spoke at Quarterly Meeting when it was held in New Bedford sometime in 1789. By way of analogy, Sandwich Quarterly Meeting was held at New Bedford Meeting House a few months ago -- but that doesn't mean that Sandwich Quarter is based in New Bedford. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Memangel (talk • contribs) 03:30, 30 March 2020 (UTC)


 * Excellent! Go for it. As long as when you add sources for any new / corrected info, I am cool!–CaroleHenson (talk) 03:35, 30 March 2020 (UTC)


 * Hi Carole, I went ahead and made the edits -- and thank you very much for adding footnotes for some things I had put in earlier! (I haven't done much work with Wikipedia pages, as you could probably tell!) I also added a line about Rachel and Susan Howland, but put in footnotes for both of them. Note: I took out the reference to Abolition Row, but only temporarily and not because we don't want to mention Abolition Row. It just shouldn't be the primary source for more information about the meeting house - which is the way it seemed to be positioned. Our meeting's clerk suggested maybe we could add in a line instead about the meeting house being now part of Abolition Row. That makes complete sense, I just don't have all the info handy yet. Happy to chat more. Memangel (talk) 04:18, 30 March 2020 (UTC)Memangel


 * Thanks so much for you work on it, ! It's so nice to have you ensure that the information is correct! I really appreciate it. Sure, I would be happy to chat more, too.–CaroleHenson (talk) 06:02, 30 March 2020 (UTC)