MOUNT VERNON — Many people flocked to the Knox County frontier in the early 1800s. But one of the most important and successful groups were those popularly known as “Quakers,” due to their church’s faithful aspiring to reach a level of engagement with the Holy Spirit that would cause them to tremble with emotion.
The church called themselves the Society of Friends and were prominent in the colonies and early years of the United States. Knox County’s Friends came from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, and many settled in what is now the northwestern corner of the county.
Known Quakers were among the earliest settlers, including William Y. Farquhar and his cousin William W. Farquhar, who later served as representative. Others included John Lewis, Samuel Willett, Thomas Townsend, Henry Roberts, John Kerr, Samuel Greg and their families.
Years of success
The Friends built their meeting house in a grove of trees near the intersection of Quaker Road and Fredericktown Road. Today this is the intersection of Zolman Road and Friends Lane, thanks to the rearrangement of the map when the Route 13 bypass came through nearby.
The land was donated by church member Samuel Wilson, and a log meeting house was built for the faithful to meet twice weekly, on Sundays and Wednesdays. The adjoining burial ground may have been in use before 1810, making it one of the oldest graveyards in Knox County.
The Quakers, highly involved in the life of nearby communities such as Fredericktown, Batemantown, Ankenytown and Waterford, thrived for a number of years, resulting in a new brick building being raised to replace the log structure in 1822.
To allow for multiple groups to meet, the rectangular structure had sliding partitions in the middle of the interior and large fireplaces at either end of the plain but handsome building.
The serpent of discord
Unfortunately for the Friends, things began to change. As N.N. Hill’s 1881 History of Knox County, Ohio memorably puts it, “the serpent of discord entered the Eden of brotherly love.”
A church member named Elias Hicks began to speak out about the spiritual visions he was having, and before long had announced that his own visions were truer than those of society founder George Fox. This created great disputes within the church. For while Quakers were sworn to nonviolence, they were allowed to argue and availed themselves of it heartily.
The temporary partitions down the middle of the church were nailed into place permanently, and the two factions attempted to function independently. Of course, this failed, and local Friends began to align themselves with other congregations, such as the Alum Creek Friends in Morrow County.
In time the meeting house was abandoned, and the Quakers ceased to operate as an organization in Knox County. Today the grove of trees has overgrown any traces of the old building.
Reach Knox Pages historian Mark Jordan at HistoryKnocks@sinisterhandmedia.com.
