4 The Second Quaker Meeting House

Its School, Cemetery and Other History

We have covered a great deal of information as it pertains to the site of the first Quaker meeting house on what became known as the Sears farm. It was through an old 1921 Harrison County history¹⁶ which finally brought to light the fact that there was a first Quaker meeting house, of round logs, school, and cemetery on what we call the old Sears farm, and later, a second meeting house of brick within what we know as the Greenmont Union Cemetery. It was about this time that I found , and received permission from Alice Morton to reproduce her diagram (216) of Greenmont Union Cemetery in her Freeport Township cemeteries book. The second meeting house of brick was built where the Black Family lots now lie in Greenmont Union Cemetery. That meeting house has since been dismantled (1875) and moved to downtown Freeport, rebuilt, and was used by the Friends Society for several more years. It is now, in 2009, the main building of the (218) TNT Tire Shop.

Jeff Ferrell, Freeport Township Trustee, has been kind enough to send me photos and a written description of the second Quaker cemetery within the bounds of the Greenmont Union Cemetery. He says the Quaker section is approximately 100 feet by 120 feet with nothing on it other than grass. The edges are marked by a large stone with a plaque attached and two cut stones 10 inches by 10 inches at the corners (see photos). His observation was that if there are any other markers for this section, they would be the marble markers leading up to the plaque, but he said he couldn’t verify this. With this written description, he also took (219) six photographs of different views of the section which I have included in this publication. I have electronically marked parts of the photos where it is difficult to notice some of the important points. I have also added his captions which help to describe each scene.

If you are studying this document because of its references to the Quakers who either owned a portion of this property at one time, or attended meeting, or your ancestors were affiliated with the meeting house on the property of either the Sears farm, or the meeting house within what is now the Greenmont Union Cemetery grounds in the early 1800s, the following additional supporting documentation of deeds and statements will be important. If you are not familiar with Quaker record keeping, it is helpful if you find a resource which defines the organizational structure of the Friends’ Society. Without knowing and understanding this structure, you will find some information confusing.

Land Records

This series of entries refers to land changing hands which culminated in Quaker property at the southern end of what became Greenmont Union Cemetery, second Quaker meeting house, school and cemetery. Again, refer to the map 210A that shows Freeport Town-ship’s Sections 12 and Section 7 so that you may see exactly where each of the cemeteries lie, practically side by side, and a miniature layout of the Greenmont Union Cemetery.

27 Jan 1806	James Winder of Redstone Township, Fayette County Pennsylvania. Steubenville, Ohio Land Office, by certificate #2111, the NW ¼ of Section 12, Township 11, Range 7, which land lies immediately east and north of the center of the present town of Freeport, Ohio.
20 Oct 1813	The remainder of the information for the previous entry was prepared by Ann Winder with permission to include in this document: “James Winder deeded this entire quarter-section of land to his son, Daniel Winder. Later deed records show sales of parts of this quarter-section by Daniel and his wife, Mary. Daniel sold 2.5 acres to the trustees of the Nottingham Friends Meeting, the land now occupied by Greenmont Union Cemetery (Deed Book B., page 523). It may be that this sale of land to the Quakers was somehow the inspiration for Hanna’s claim, as noted in his Historical Collections, that Daniel Winder was a charter member of the Nottingham Meeting. No evidence has been found to support this claim of Hanna. Daniel Winder’s father was not a Quaker, and the only member of his family known to have become a Quaker was Daniel’s sister, Elizabeth, who was received into the Smithfield Meeting, in Jefferson County, Ohio by request in 1805, under her married name of Elizabeth McGrew.”⁴⁵, ⁴⁶ [Author’s Note: I have double-checked that this Daniel and his father, James, whose wife was Elizabeth Grable, were not Quakers, just as Ann Winder says. The James Winder family who were Quakers are listed in the Westland and Redstone Monthly Meeting minutes. That James Winder’s wife’s name was Deborah Allen; their ages and events were twenty years later, and they did not have a son, Daniel. I have examined the minutes carefully, and working through Hinshaw’s Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Volumes IV and V, I did not find a Daniel Winders who had a father with the name James. This is another case in point of how important is the name of the wife in identifying who the husband is.]
10 Dec 1813	James Winders of Fiatte/Featte sp [Fayette] County, Pennsylvania to Daniel Winders of Harrison County: NW ¼ of S12 T11 R7. Source: Land Records, Book A, page 135, Recorder’s Office, Cadiz, Ohio (Wardell). Daniel is the son of this James.
January 1815	John Dicks to George Brown: 70 acres of SE ¼. Source: Land Records, Book A, page 195-6, Recorder’s Office, Cadiz, Ohio.(Wardell).

The Brick Meeting House Built in 1817

This new meeting house would be the one built within what is now the Greenmont Union Cemetery grounds because of the ‘highway that was changed,’ which forced the Friends (referring to those on the Sears farm) to change their place of meeting. “In 1817, Nottingham Preparative Meeting built a large, brick house, planned for a quarterly meeting house and the name was changed from Nottingham to Freeport. This was a Preparative Meeting for Flushing Monthly Meeting in Belmont County.” ⁴⁷

It should be noted that the reason for the change in the name from Nottingham to Freeport was directly related to changing boundaries in county and township lines. You will see the same kind of name changes in the early county tax lists and the Poll Books when elections were held for township officers. One would think their ancestors moved from one community to another, but the fact was that the boundaries around them were changing. In 1813, the tax records showed that Nottingham and Freeport townships were listed as one (Nottingham-Freeport).⁴⁸

21 Dec 1820	Daniel Winder to John Dicks, David Allanson, Henry Carver, Jr., Daniel Chicken et. al. 2.5 acres of NW 1/4 section 12 for use of Friend's Meeting House. Source: Land Records, Book B, page 523. (Wardell).
06 Dec 1829	Daniel Winder and his wife, Mary, sold the remaining part of Section 12, Township 11, Range 7 acquired from his father, to W.B. Hubbard, along with part of the SE quarter of the same section which he had acquired from Amasa Lipsey in an exchange to make Big Stillwater Creek the boundary between them, rather than the arbitrary survey lines.

I’m sure we’ve missed a few property-owner changes that might apply to our discussion, but we have found enough to be able to see a portion of what was happening. On the next page, I have compiled an account of the Quaker burials recorded for Greenmont Union Cemetery. If you have access to Alice Hayhurst Morton’s, “Freeport Township Cemeteries, Harrison County, Ohio” you will be able to view the names of those buried there. At least the libraries in Freeport and in Cadiz will have a copy. The Harrison County Genealogical Society, 45507 Unionvale Road, Cadiz, Ohio 43907-9723 holds full copyright to the book.

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Two Quaker Cemeteries

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