Early Quaker education in PennsylvaniaWoody, Thomas
History
Early Quaker education in Pennsylvania
Woody, Thomas
Education -- Pennsylvania -- History; Society of Friends -- Education -- History; Thesis (Ph. D.)
The concern for the promotion of schools, under the
directions of Friends revived, Samuel Harlan, John Way, Aaron
Hollingsworth,—John Swain, Amos Harvey, Samuel Pennock, and
James Jackson are appointed to have the care and oversight of
schools, also promote the establishment of schools where there
is yet want of assistance, and report to this meeting when
necessary.[535]
In the same year it was also recommended to the preparative meetings that
each appoint a committee of their own to represent them and act with the
committee of the monthly meeting in the concern of schools.[536] The
intervening years, from 1783 to 1785, offer nothing beyond the usual
general reports concerning the appointment of committees and the like. In
1785, the committee on schools produced this report:
[Sidenote: Several schools reported; some according to demand of yearly
meeting]
We have lately had a conference on the subject, and do
find that there are several schools in the compass of our
monthly meeting, kept by Friends and under the care of this
committee, and may inform that they are kept to a good degree
of satisfaction, yet there are some that employ teachers, not
members of our society, without the advice of the committee
or the monthly meeting. We, likewise, agree to lay before the
monthly meeting the reappointment of a committee for this
service in future as the members of this committee have been
long on the appointment and desire to be released, which we
submit to the meeting. Signed—John Way (and five others).[537]
The answer to the fifth query of the same year likewise informs us that
care has been taken in the education of the poor children, and Friends’
children “are generally placed among Friends.”[538]
[Sidenote: New school committee appointed]
The request for the appointment of a new committee on schools, made by
the old committee, does not seem to have received consideration till
1788. In the meantime we must assume that the old committee continued to
serve, since occasional reports were sent in. The men appointed on the
new committee were: Jacob Greave, Samuel Nichols, Amos Harvey, Samuel
Harlan, Moses Pennock, Robert Lambourn, Jr., Christopher Hollingsworth,
John Way, and William Phillips, Jr.[539] In 1790 the monthly meeting
ordered a special committee to recommend a deeper educational concern to
the particular meetings.[540]
The desired results, in the shape of a more perfected organization and
permanent foundation to be provided for schools, did not come until
about 1792 and thereafter. In that year, the committee reported its past
activity in respect to schools established, and made certain valuable
suggestions to guide future action, as the following extract witnesses:
[Sidenote: Ground purchased]
[Sidenote: Rules adopted for the school]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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