FIRST - Site of the first monthly meeting of the "Religious Society of Friends" in Canada - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

A large account of the "Religious Society of Friends" can be found at The Quaker Library including the following excerpt:

Friends began settling in the Niagara region in 1786. They were part of a larger migration "from the states of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, particularly the county of Sussex, in the latter state".(1) Many incoming settlers, including some Friends, had stood loyally by King and country during the American Revolution and could be counted as refugees from the United States. Nearly all Friends who came to Niagara had taken no active part in the war and did not claim to be Loyalists. They had suffered nevertheless from double taxation and the loss of civil rights for their refusal to bear arms or pledge to defend the new nation. These penalties continued after the war. In 1778 Quakers in Chester County "in behalf of themselves and others in similar circumstances" petitioned the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania for relief stating that "being conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms, they have been fined in considerable sums for not attending militia musters" and their property seized by local collectors who gave no receipts so "the petitioners are still chargeable with the same fines." In urging repeal of "the present disgraceful test law" in 1789, the editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette observed that: Virginia, and the governor of Canada, have already taken advantage of our folly; they invite Quakers, and other sects who are opposed to oaths, and promises of fidelity to government to come and settle among them.(2)

At this specific site, which also happens to be a cemetery, can be found a plaque dedicated to this group and the location where the first monthly meeting took place.

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