UPPER SPRINGFIELD MONTHLY MEETING

A meeting for worship was established at Upper Springfield (later Damascus) by Salem Quarterly Meeting in 1807 and a Preparative Meeting was granted in 1808. One of the first appointments was that of William Morris who was to act as housekeeper. He agreed to keep the house, furnish and cut the wood for the fires, etc., for the sum of six dollars a year, said amount to be paid in produce, eggs and butter.

In 1825 a monthly meeting was established by Salem Quarterly Meeting and it remained a part of Salem Quarterly Meeting until 1837 when a Quarterly Meeting named Upper Springfield was established, composed of Marlboro, Sandy Spring and Upper Springfield Monthly Meetings.

Friends began settling in this part of the state as early as 1800. Among these early settlers were Samuel Woolman, Thomas Stanley, Catlett Jones, Joshua Lynch, Anthony Morris, Naddy Stanley, Thomas French, Isaac Votaw, Samuel Hicklin, James Stanley, Zacheus Stanton, Amos Holloway, Lemmel Terrell, Pleasant Cobbs, Soloman Stanley, Stacey Shreve, Benjamin Butler, Sr., William Faucett, Robert Armstrong, Abraham Warrington, Littleburg Stanley, Barzilla French, Thomas Longstaff, James Cattell, Zachariah Ellyson, John Carson, Louis Townsend and Edmond Stanley.

During these early years, schools were maintained by each preparative meeting, held mostly in log houses with crude equipment. In a report made on education in 1839 for Upper Springfield Quarterly Meeting, monthly meetings reported the number of schools taught by members within the limits to be twenty-three and ten of these were under the direction of monthly and preparative meetings.

The first marriage accomplished by sanction of Upper Springfield Monthly Meeting was that of Basil Brook and Rachel Morris.William Wade Hinshaw