I first “met” Murray Shipley when I began researching my book Friends Past and Present: The Bicentennial History of Cincinnati Friends Meeting (1815–2015). I was immediately intrigued by his character and accomplishments. A deeply devout man, Shipley was very active in Cincinnati Friends Meeting, and was recorded as a minister
Sabrina Darnowsky
CFM Roots: Marriage Among Friends
Since its beginnings in the 17th century, the Religious Society of Friends had dispensed with an official priesthood. This raised an important question within the community: how were marriages to be conducted? Our Society’s founder, George Fox, prescribed an orderly process: I was moved to exhort them to bring all
CFM Roots: Matters of Membership
Historically, membership in a Quaker meeting was traditionally established in one of three ways: birth, transfer, or request. According to the 1819 edition of the Discipline of the Society of Friends of Ohio Yearly Meeting, any child “whose parents have accomplished their marriage according to our Discipline” would automatically be considered
CMF Roots: Early Meetinghouse Maintenance
Like any organization with property, Cincinnati Friends Meeting had to deal with the costs related to maintaining their meetinghouse on Fifth Street and other necessities. The 19th-century monthly meeting minutes contain discussions about whether the old log building should be plastered, as well as the need for firewood for the
CFM Roots: Worship in the Manner of Friends
When Cincinnati Friends Meeting was established in 1815, worship was conducted in much the same manner that Quakers had been using for the preceding 150 years. Women sat on one side of the meetinghouse, and men on the other. When the Religious Society of Friends was founded by George Fox