History of Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting

During the 18th Century many Friends were attracted southward into Virginia and the Carolinas and became involved in the institution of slavery. Near the end of that century, as a result of the labor of John Woolman and others, Friends came to believe slavery a curse; and slowly the conscience of the Society of Friends there awakened to the evil. Seeing no other way out of their dilemma, most Friends decided to transfer title of their slaves to the Yearly Meeting (North Carolina), since it was illegal to free them; sell their property, which brought only one-half of its real worth; and migrate to the Northwest Territory to begin a new life there.

The migration to the Waynesville area began in 1799 when Abijah O'Neal and his family left Bush River, South Carolina, and settled on some 3,000 acres on the east bank of the Little Miami River north of Caesar's Creek. Within 15 years more than 18,000 followers of Fox and Penn left the land of slavery and made for the North to find a home in the Northwest Territory. Others came to the Miami country from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other seaboard states.

In April, 1801, twelve families (81 individuals) in the Waynesville area began meeting for worship in a member's home. Near the end of that year they sent a request to Westland Meeting, Pennsylvania (Baltimore Yearly Meeting) for establishing a regular meeting for worship on First and Fifth Days. This request was granted in Ninth Month, 1802. The Meeting was called Miami. Early in 1803 Miami asked Westland Meeting for permission to establish a Monthly Meeting; and when the request was approved, the Monthly Meeting was opened, Tenth Month, 13, 1803. The eastern boundary was the Hocking River, the southern was the Ohio River, but there was no limit to the north or to the west. During this period of migration, hundreds of Friends from the Carolinas and Georgia brought their member ship to Miami Monthly Meeting, until such time as other meetings could be established in the Northwest Territory. By 1815 Miami Monthly Meeting was said to have the largest membership of any Friends Meeting in Quakerdom.

After its establishment in 1803, Miami Monthly Meeting set off many new Meetings. Among the earliest ones were Lees Creek, Hardin Creek, Caesar's Creek, West Branch, Elk, Center and Whitewater. In 1807 Miami, West Branch and Center Monthly Meetings requested that a new Quarterly Meeting be established to be known as Miami Quarterly Meeting, to be held at Waynesville, Ohio, on the second Seventh Day in the Second, Fifth, Eighth and Eleventh months. Baltimore Yearly Meeting having approved the request, Miami Quarterly Meeting was opened, Fifth month 1809. The building of the White Brick Meetinghouse at Waynesville was begun in 1811 to accommodate the Quarterly Meeting.

In 1812 Baltimore Yearly Meeting granted permission to the Quarterly Meetings west of the Alleghenies to form a yearly meeting which was called Ohio Yearly Meeting. The first session was held at Short Creek on the 14th of Eighth month, 1813. The Ohio Yearly Meeting included all meetings in Ohio, Indiana Territory and adjacent areas of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

In 1820 Miami Quarterly Meeting proposed that all Meetings in Illinois, Indiana and western Ohio be known as Indiana Yearly Meeting. The Quarterly Meetings making up the new proposed Yearly Meeting were Miami, West Branch, Fairfield, Whitewater and Blue River Quarterlies. Ohio Yearly Meeting approved the proposal, and the first session was held at Whitewater, Eighth month 10, 1821.

When the separation occurred in 1828 , the Yearly Meeting split into two bodies: Indiana Yearly Meeting Orthodox (later Friends United Meeting) and Indiana Yearly Meeting Hicksite (later Friends General Conference). At Waynesville the Hicksite body retained the Meetinghouse; however, in most other cases west of the Alleghenies, the Orthodox body retained it.

In 1975 there were two reasons why it seemed desirable for this Yearly Meeting (Indiana Yearly Meeting Friends General Conference) to change its name: one, the unavoidable confusion which resulted from identical names; and two, the need to better identify the area included in the membership. For these reasons representatives to the Yearly Meeting in 1975 approved changing the name of Indiana Yearly Meeting Friends General Conference: to Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting. The change became effective in 1976. At that time the Yearly Meeting was composed of two Quarters: Miami and Whitewater.

The Monthly Meetings in Whitewater Quarter were Clearcreek and Whitewater in Richmond, Indiana; Fall Creek in Pendleton, Indiana; Lafayette in West Lafayette, Indiana; Lanthorn in Plainfield, Indiana; Maple Grove in Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Marion Community in Marion, Indiana. Miami Quarter consisted of Campus Meeting in Wilmington, Ohio; Clifton Meeting and Community Meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio; Dayton Meeting in Dayton, Ohio; Green Plain Meeting in Selma, Ohio; Lexington Meeting in Lexington, Kentucky; Louisville Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky; Miami Meeting in Waynesville, Ohio; and Yellow Springs Meeting in Yellow Springs, Ohio.