Evesham Friends Meeting House

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History of Evesham Monthly Meeting

The first account we have of meetings at Evesham, is of one held at the dwelling of William Evans, in 1694—his wife Elizabeth, who was a minister.^[1]

The Evesham Preparative (weekly) Meeting was established by the Newton (Haddonfield) Monthly Meeting. In 1717, the weekly meeting alternated between Evesham and Chester. A preparative or weekly meeting for worship, entirely in Evesham, was established in 1736.^[2]

The Evesham Monthly Meeting was "established in 1760 by authority of Haddonfield Quarterly Meeting by setting off the friends of Evesham and Chester from Haddonfield Monthly Meeting. The meeting was discontinued in 1884, the members thereof being attached to Chester and Medford."^[3]

On 18 November 1793, the Monthly Meeting of Evesham proposed to the Quarterly Meeting held at Haddonfield, that there be a division of that Monthly Meeting. The Friends of Upper Evesham and Cropwell Particular (weekly) Meetings united to form Upper Evesham Monthly Meeting. The meeting was organized and its initial meeting was held on the First Mo. 1794. [In 1850, Upper Evesham Monthly Meeting had its name changed to Medford Monthly Meeting.]^[1][4]

Evesham Friends Meeting House

A meeting-house was built in 1698, which was replaced by another, in 1760, of stone, this was enlarged in 1798, and formed the present venerable-looking structure, which stands as a monument to the liberality of Friends of that day.^[1]

The current building was constructed in 1760 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.^[5]

The original meeting house was erected in 1698 on the current site, directly behind the current building. ^[5]

The meeting house was originally located in Evesham Township, hence its name. Mount Laurel was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 7, 1872, from portions of Evesham Township. The township was named for a hill covered with laurel trees. The Evesham Meeting House is considered a historical landmark in Mount Laurel.^[6]

Also known as the Mount Laurel Meeting Place^[7]

Evesham/Mount Laurel Friends Burying Ground

Common surnames found in this cemetery - Borton, Buzby, Dudley, Engle, Evans, French, Garwood, Griffits, Haines, Hewlings, Hollinshead, Hooten, LIppincott, Mason, Matlack, Moore, Roberts, Warrington, Wilkins

Note - This Burying Ground has two listings at Find a Grave.

• Evesham Friends Cemetery-Defunct The original cemetery is no longer in use.

In 1798, a new cemetery was established about 1/3 mile away and is today called Mount Laurel Friends Burial Ground.

• Mount Laurel Friends Burying Ground - Find A Grave

• Burials listed at Wikitree

Members of Evesham Monthly Meeting

• Listing of Members of Evesham Monthly Meeting at Wikitree

Records Kept by Evesham Monthly Meeting

Men's Minutes, 1760-1827

Men's Minutes, 1827-1884

Women's Minutes, 1760-1827

Birth and Deaths 1713-1827

Marriages, 1760-1794.

Births and Deaths, Marriages, etc. 1827-1884^[8]

Minutes 1762-1827, Meetings of Ministers and Elders^[9]

Minutes, 1828-1884, Meetings of Ministers and Elders^[9]

Evesham Meeting References

• Book - Meldrum, Charlotte D, Early Church Records of Burlington County, New Jersey (Family Line Publications, Rear 63 East Main St, Westminster, MD 21157 800-876-6103. 1995), Pages 131- 203

• Records of Evesham Monthly Meeting (Mount Laurel, NJ) - A Finding Aid for its Meeting Records Deposited in Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College and Haverford College Quaker Collection.

Evesham and Specific Surnames

• Borton - Mason - Book Mason, Freeman Clark, History of the Borton and Mason families in Europe and America (1908, Dowagiac, Mich., Printed by H.F. Agnew).

Links to John Borton & John Mason on Wikitree

• French - Book - French, Howard Barclay. Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas French (Philadelphia, privately printed 1913 selected Evesham Records related to the French Surname - page 498 (index listing of pages)

Link to Thomas French on Wikitree

• Haines - Book - Haines John Wesley, Richard Haines and his descendants; a Quaker family of Burlington County, New Jersey, since 1642 (Boyce, Va., Printed by Carr Publishing Inc. 1961). Two Volumes

Link to Richard Haines on Wikitree

Links

• Library of Congress Photos, Prints, Drawings
• Evesham Quaker Meeting House - Facebook
• Evesham Meeting House and the Revolutionary War
• Settlements of Friends’ Meetings in New Jersey
• A History of Mount Laurel by Eileen L. Flynn
• Image and Biographical Sketch History of Burlington and Mercer counties, New Jersey, with ... Woodward, E. M. (Evan Morrison) p. 375

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Jerseyman. History Than and Now.
2. ↑ Meldrum, Charlotte D, Early Church Records of Burlington County, New Jersey (Family Line Publications, Rear 63 East Main St, Westminster, MD 21157 800-876-6103. 1995), Volume 2, page v.
3. ↑ Ancestry.com. A list of the records of the meetings constituting the yearly meeting of the Society of Friends [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: Bunting, Morgan.. A list of the records of the meetings constituting the yearly meeting of the Society of Friends : held at Fifteenth and Race Streets, Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Printed for the Representative Committee, 1984. Subscription - [1]
4. ↑ Ancestry. U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935 Index: New Jersey> Burlington> Medford Monthly Meeting> Minutes, 1793-1919 Image, p. 1
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Wikipedia Evesham Friends Meeting House
6. ↑ Mount Laurel at Wikipedia
7. ↑ Google Maps [2]
8. ↑ Ancestry.com. Subscription- A list of the records of the meetings constituting the yearly meeting of the Society of Friends Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: Bunting, Morgan.. A list of the records of the meetings constituting the yearly meeting of the Society of Friends : held at Fifteenth and Race Streets, Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Printed for the Representative Committee, 1984.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Ancestry.com. Subscription - A list of the records of the meetings constituting the yearly meeting of the Society of Friends Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: Bunting, Morgan.. A list of the records of the meetings constituting the yearly meeting of the Society of Friends : held at Fifteenth and Race Streets, Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Printed for the Representative Committee, 1984. Subscription -