2018 Annual Report

Our board of trustees, which includes community members as well as Friends from several Quaker Meetings, works under a provisional charter as a museum from the New York State Education Department. With a grant from Humanities New York, we provided a full season of speakers and programs, lifting up issues and challenges of equal rights. One highlight in 2018 was hosting the North Star Players in “No Struggle, No Progress” which included riveting renditions of the speeches of Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. Historian Ann Gordon spoke on Susan B. Anthony and the role of African-American women in the fight for women’s suffrage, and Michelle Shenandoah (Wolf Clan, Oneida Nation) joined Mattie Schmitt and Mike Farrell of Rochester Friends Meeting in sharing perspectives on how we might all be allies of Native peoples in ongoing witness for respect and justice. Other programs that focused on contemporary issues included “Refugees — the New Underground Railroad” and “50 Years Later — Reflections on the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.”

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Post and Beam Restoration
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Near the end of 2018, the characteristically quiet Quaker Crossroads Historic District was an intersection of vision and activity as the post and beam frame of the 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse was restored to its original dimensions. Guided by John G. Waite Architects of Albany, and carefully following the research in our Historic Structure Report, which was compiled by both professional historians and local enthusiasts, crews carried out a 21st century version of an old-fashioned “barn raising.”

 

Funds on hand were sufficient to qualify for the balance of our matching Environmental Protection Fund historic preservation grant, and thus we met the costs for what was accomplished before winter weather set in.

Why all this attention to and expense for what still looks like an old barn?! For decades this was the site where Farmington Friends welcomed, witnessed, and often led important reform movements that helped shape American democracy. The 1816 Meetinghouse served as the gathering place for annual sessions of Genesee Yearly Meeting, and Farmington served as the crossroads for those working for equal rights for all people, most especially women, African-Americans, and Native Americans. Lucretia Mott, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and Susan B. Anthony are among those documented to have spoken in Farmington on the issues of their time – and our time.

 

Full restoration will require additional historic preservation grants and contributions from many individuals who share the vision of the 1816 Meetinghouse as a center of history and interpretation of the Quaker values which point to a society of equality, peace, and justice.

After having been moved twice in its first two centuries, the building now sits squarely on a new foundation on land donated by Farmington Friends Church across the road, and is posed to stand as an active and interactive witness, challenging students, visitors, and tourists from around the world to consider how best to let their lives speak for justice.

 

Watch our website for updates on plans for the next phase of restoration as we envision “Joining Past and Present.”

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Donors 2018

Organizational Grants
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50 Farmington Historical Society

400 New York Yearly Meeting

1000 Canandaigua National Bank

5000 Humanities NY

25000 Rochester Area Community Foundation

 

Individual Contributions

$5000 and up
Lucy & Kenn Harper

Judith Wellman

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$500 to $4999

Anonymous

Margaret & Paul A Bringewatt

Madeline H Schmitt & Mike Farrell

Mary & George Hamlin IV

Kathleen Hendrix

Susan L Howard

Marvin Ritzenthaler & Steven Jarose

Wayne Jenks

Lyle Jenks

Mary Lou & Thomas Mees

Dorothy C Morton

Robert Shrum & Marylouise Oates

Jean A Parker

Preston E Pierce

Meg & Glenn Reed

Sylvia E Rose

Helen & Ed Stabler

 

$250 to $499

Linda Doyen

Ann Gordon

Peter Ingalsbe

Kate Clifford Larson

Reginald & Mary Neale

Kathleen Rayburn

Susan K & Richard W Regen

Diana & Rudolf Vander Velden

 

$100 to $249

Anonymous (2)

Geoffery Astles

Kaheryn Bacon

Jane H Burke

Jody G & James C Davis

Laura & Christopher Densmore

Carol Elaine & Richard Deys

Jeffrey Fitts

Agnes E Griffith

Dianne Herrick

Lynn B. Herzig

Nancy Hewitt

Gary A Hughes

Mary M Huth

Stephen Lewandowski

Theresa Loar

William Monteversi, Jr

Sally Mueller

Justin Murphy

Marcia Neale

Patrick Neale

Polly S Nicholson

Patti McGill Peterson

Barbara F Popenhusen

Carol & Allen Reeder

Ann Schauman

Rima M Segal

Janet M & Milton C Sernett

Jean A Shafer

Raymond Shedrick Jr.

Donald Simkin

Lacy Smith

Mary Ellen Sweeney

Marilyn Tedeschi

Jill McLellan & John Tornow

Constance Valk

Marie Waterstraat

Susan Wood

 

Up to 100

Anonymous

Highland tour 5/23

Fred Armstrong

Michele Howland

& Bill Banaszewski

Lois Barber

Gregory Barnes

Georgiana Binder

Kathryn G Blackburn

Barbara Wood Borne

Linda Braun

Mark Briggs

Patricia F Brown

Jean U Bub

Martha Burk

Kiran Chaudhary

Gladys E Cooper

Ezekiel Densmore

Alice Ennis

Michelle Finley

Douglas Fisher

Adrian R Ford

Barbara Gibbs

Mary Louise Reynolds

& Thomas Hamm

Thomas D Hamm

Omar Hendrix

Donna Herendeen

Linda Houser

Dale Jacobs

Judy Jensen

James Johnson

Helen Kirker

Mary Kosbab

Dennis Lambert

Teresa K Lehr

Charles Lenhart

Camille Marchetta

Lenora Monkemeyer

Betsy & Richard Nicholsen

Jane Olsen

Richard S Onze

Marjory A Perez

Ellen L Peterson

Ellen Polimeni

Margot K & Vaughan R Pratt

Eloise Prostka

Diane M Robinson

David Schuh

Cynthia Schwab

Ira Srole

Marlene H & Robert Sutliff

Jean E Trost

Ann K. U. Tussing

Richard W Tuttle

Sally Roesch Wagner

Dorothy C Willsey

 

In-Kind Contributors

David Bruinix

Ann Morton

Francis Caraccilo

David Schuh

Dylan Urquhart

Wegmans

 

 

2018 Board of Trustees

Willie Bontrager

Carol Elaine Deys

Peter Evans

Doug Fisher

Kenn Harper

Kathleen Hendrix

Lyle Jenks

Helen Kirker

Charles Lenhart

Ann Morton

Reginald Neale

Barbara Popenhusen

Diane Robinson

Sue Stehling

Judith Wellman

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We apologize for any omissions or mistakes.
Please send corrections to info@farmingtonmeetinghouse.org

​Tax-deductible donations toward costs of next steps in restoration and also our community outreach program costs are much needed and most welcomed. Contribute securely by credit card on our website or by mailing a check to:

 

1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse

P.O.Box 25053

Farmington NY 14425