Genesee Valley Quaker Meeting

05/02/2026

Quaker connection to the Mason-Dixon line.

Jeremiah Dixon was an English Quaker surveyor and astronomer. He was written out of Raby Meeting in Durham in 1760 at the age of 27 with this minute:

“Jery Dixon, son of George and Mary Dixon of Cockfield disowned for drinking to excess.”

But that reputation didn’t affect his career, as he and Charles Mason were selected by the Royal Society to observe the transit of Venus the following year. After this success, the pair were next contracted to resolve a boundary dispute between Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. Dixon, Mason, and their Iroquois guides spent 1763-1767 surveying the boundary, but had to abandon the project before its completion when they came to Lenape territory and the guides refused to go farther. The border became known as the Mason-Dixon Line, and when Pennsylvania abolished slavery in 1781, this line was the boundary between slave states in the south and free states in the north.

The most famous story about Jeremiah Dixon shows off his Quaker conscience, if not his Quaker methods. One day, Dixon came across a slave driver beating an enslaved woman.

Going up to him, Dixon said, “Thou must not do that!”

He received the curt answer, “You be damned! Mind your own business.”

Dixon replied, “If thou doesn’t desist, I'll thrash thee!” Then he seized the slave driver’s whip and with it gave him a sound thrashing. Dixon kept the whip as a trophy and took it back with him to Cockfield, where it was long regarded as a family treasure.

Dixon's name may be the origin for the nickname “Dixie" used for the Southern United States.

04/19/2026

There is the literal Quaker tapestry, shown below, and the metaphorical tapestry in which we are each threads in a diverse weaving that is Quakerism.

We're thrilled to hear that the Quaker Tapestry will be made available to the public again from 6 May.

We're also thrilled that FWCC trustees from Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, El Salvador, Australia, Aotearoa, Philippines, Germany and the USA will be there on the day of the reopening.

The Quaker Tapestry is hosted by Quakers in Kendal (North West England), but the story it tells us is shared by Friends all over the world.

Thank you to all who help us to keep sharing this common heritage.

See BBC news story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy411jlk8p8o

Pictured: Final panel of the Quaker Tapestry, representing the world family of Friends

03/22/2026

NYYM weekly update — news & events for Friends - https://mailchi.mp/nyym.org/weekly-update-13484159

03/09/2026

Some Quaker humor 😂

Back by popular demand, it's time to set up your March Madness bracket, Quaker style!

This year it's Quaker mascots. From the Quaker Oats guy (did you know his name is Larry?) to the many unsettling sports mascots (Go fightin’ Quakers!), it seems like everyone wants Quakers on their team.

Check in every Friday, when we’ll reveal who made it to the next round.

Vote for your favs here: https://theequaker.org/march-madness-26-quaker-mascots/
(Voting closes at 11:59 PM Eastern on Tuesday, 3/10.)

Who do you think will win it all?

Key:
1. Plainfield High School, Quakers
2. Wilmington College, Quakerman
3. Old Quaker bourbon
4. Quaker City String Band, Philadelphia mummers group
5. Quaker Oats, Larry
6. Quaker Boy, hunting whistles
7. Earlham College, Big Earl
8. Quaker Maid Milk
9. Salem High School, Quaker Sam
10. Guilford College, Nathan the Quaker
11. Quaker Maid Meats
12. Quaker Steak & L**e, restaurant chain
13. William Penn statue, City Hall, Philadelphia
14. Quaker Maid, golden table syrup
15. University of Pennsylvania, The Quaker
16. Quaker star, originally used to identify Quaker relief workers

03/08/2026

We are deeply disappointed that the Senate failed to pass a War Powers Resolution to stop President Trump’s illegal and immoral war on Iran.

But we must clear: This vote does NOT equal an affirmative authorization for war. This war remains unconstitutional. It is illegal under international law. It is deeply immoral and reckless. It must stop immediately.

Now, the House plans to take up this measure as soon as today - they have an opportunity to do the right thing.

Rep. Ro Khanna laid out the stakes powerfully: This is"not a procedural vote," he said. "It is a profoundly moral vote. It is a vote to direct our resources toward healing our own people -- towards healthcare that saves lives, jobs that restore dignity, housing that shelters families -- instead of raining destruction on other nations."

! !

03/08/2026

03/08/2026

NYYM weekly update — news & events for Friends - https://mailchi.mp/nyym.org/dec-19-13484046

03/08/2026

Today’s Daily Quaker Message. Subscribe for free: DailyQuaker.com/subscribe

We must be confident that there is still more ‘life’ to be ‘lived’ and yet more heights to be scaled. The tragedy of middle age is that, so often, men and women cease to press ‘towards the goal of their high calling’. They cease learning, cease growing; they give up and resign from life. As wisdom dawns with age, we begin to measure our experiences not by what life gives to us, not by the things withheld from us, but by their power to help us to grow in spiritual wisdom.

Citation: Evelyn Sturge, 1949
British Quaker relief worker

03/02/2026

Also not the same as Amish

There's a new film - released internationally this week - about the Shaker movement, and some people are mixing us up.

Centring the life of a millworker from Manchester, it tells the story of the ‘Shaking Quakers’, also known as Shakers.

As the name suggests - and as the film makes clear - the Shaker movement shares some insights with Quakers, including the importance of inward experience, a preference for simplicity and a commitment to peace.

A central theme of the film is women’s speaking and ministry. This belief in gender equality was likely shaped by the Quaker origins of Jane Wardley and her husband who founded the Shakers.

However there are key differences: While Quaker forms of worship vary around the world, in Britain where the film begins Quakers worship in contemplative silence rather than with ecstatic movement.

Quakers also don't forbid s*x, and in fact are quite affirming on the subject.

Today there are around 400,000 Quakers in 100+ countries. We are definitely not nearly extinct.

02/19/2026

The first Quakers didn’t use the word “empathy,” as it doesn’t appear in English until the early 20th century. But embracing empathy for others reflects the highest of Quakerly aspirations—to accept the summons of the Inward Light to pattern our minds after that of Jesus, “to do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, looking not to your own interests but to the interests of others.”

https://quaker.org/2026/02/16/we-are-treated-as-impostors/

02/19/2026

There is a Quaker Meeting House in the village, and so much more history to explore.

Genesee Country Village and Museum explores the connection between Quaker reformers and Black abolitionist Harriet Jacobs through our Seeking Freedom Initiative.

The Quakers began arriving in the Genesee Valley around 1803 and became known for their involvement in the abolition movement and the Underground Railroad. Quakers in the Rochester area assisted freedom seekers by providing them shelter during their escape from slavery.

One such freedom seeker was Harriet Jacobs, who escaped Slavery in the early 1840s and ended up living in Rochester with Quaker activists Amy and Isaac Post. During her time living with the Posts, Jacobs helped establish an Anti-Slavery Reading Room in Rochester.

Harriet Jacobs is remembered today as the first woman to publish a narrative of her life during slavery, including a detailed account of her incredible escape, titled Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. You can learn more about Harriet Jacobs and the Posts through GCV&M’s Seeking Freedom Initiative here: https://gcv.pulse.ly/36ke8xqsja