Bolton Monthly Meeting of Friends Records
A Quaker worship group was formed in Bolton, Mass., in 1763 and grew into a separate monthly meeting in 1799. Always a small outpost, regular worship continued there until 1954, when the meetinghouse was sold to the museum at Old Sturbridge Village. The meeting was formally laid down to Worcester Monthly Meeting in 1972.
The surviving records of Bolton Monthly Meeting include relatively complete minutes from 1799 to 1972, plus records of marriages, births, and deaths into the latter years of the nineteenth century.
Background on Bolton Monthly Meeting of Friends
A Quaker worship group was established in Bolton, Mass., in northeastern Worcester County, in 1763. After transferal from the care of Salem Monthly Meeting to Uxbridge Monthly in 1785, Bolton was set off as a separate Monthly Meeting in 1799.
Following a slow decline in numbers, Bolton Friends agreed to sell their meeting house to Old Sturbridge Village, where it remains as part of a museum display of nineteenth century New England life. For several years thereafter, Friends in Bolton joined in federated worship with the Universalist and Baptist churches until their meeting was formally laid down to Worcester Monthly Meeting in 1972.
Scope of collection
The surviving records of Bolton Monthly Meeting include relatively complete minutes from 1799 to 1972, plus records of marriages, births, and deaths into the latter years of the nineteenth century.
Inventory
Administrative information
Access
The collection is open for research.
Provenance
Gift of the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends Records, March 2016.
Related Material
This collection is part of the New England Yearly Meeting Records.
Processing Information
Processed by I. Eliot Wentworth, November 2018.
Language:
English
Copyright and Use (More information )
Cite as: Bolton Monthly Meeting of Friends Records (MS 902 b658). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
Search terms
Subjects
- Bolton (Mass.)–Religious life and customs
- Quakers–Massachusetts
- Society of Friends–Massachusetts
Names
- New England Yearly Meeting of Friends
Genre terms
- Minutes (Administrative records)
- Vital records (Document genre)