1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse

Mission

The 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse Museum preserves, maintains, and interprets the 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse as a national site of conscience and a cornerstone of historic movements for equal rights, social justice, and peace, including rights for Native Americans, African Americans, and women, inviting visitors to explore issues of equality and justice in their own lives.
 
 
 
 
 
 

February 2026 Newsletter

“I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”


Frederick Douglass, The Anti-Slavery Movement: A Lecture Before the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society (Rochester: Lee, Mann, & Co., 1855), 33.

 

“Let us, my Friends, for the passing hour, make the slaves case our own. — As much as in us lies, let us feel that it is ourselves, and our "kith & kin," who are despoiled of our inalienable right to life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness.”



Susan B. Anthony, “Make the Slave’s Case Our Own,” undated speech, 1859  

Contents
  1. 1816 Meetinghouse and February Birthdays
  2. Map of Haudenosaunee Lands in 1720
  3. Annual Appeal: Thank you all!
  4. Restoration: Next Steps
  5. Programs, 2026
  6. Sister Organizations
  7. How you can help
 
 
 
 
 
 

 1816 Meetinghouse and February Birthdays


A History Spotlight article by Judith Wellman

 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse Museum

February 2026

In honor of the February birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, we focus this newsletter on the connection of these two national figures to Farmington.

 
Read the Full Historical Article (PDF)
 

Map of Ho-de-no-sau-nee-ga, or the territories of the People of the Long House in 1720: exhibiting the home country of the Iroquois with the aboriginal names of their villages, lakes, rivers, streams & ancient localities, and the courses of their principal trails. League of the Ho-de´-no-sau-nee, or Iroquois / by Lewis H. Morgan (Rochester, Sage & Brother, 1851). Engraved on stone by R. H. Pease, Albany, N.Y. Courtesy University of Pittsburgh.

MAP OF HAUDENOSAUNEE LANDS IN 1720.


Thanks to Bill Hecht for sharing a copy of a beautiful map of Haudenosaunee lands in 1720, published by Lewis Henry Morgan in 1851, the same year that he published his famous League of the Ho-dé-no-sau-nee or Iroquois (1851), dedicated to Ely S. Parker (Donehogawa), who lived on the Tonawanda Seneca homelands. Can you find the location of Farmington on this map?

ANNUAL APPEAL: THANK YOU ALL!


Thanks to all of you, we raised more than $33,990 from our annual appeal this year, over $10,000 what we collected last year. We will include a breakdown of our income and expenses in our annual report.

 

We extend special thanks to Lyons National Bank, which gave us a loan so that we could pay our contractors while we await reimbursement through the State Historic Preservation Office of our grant from New York State’s Environmental Protection Fund.


We are also very grateful to the NYS Council on the Arts for its grant of $10,000 to help with our operating expenses, as we continue to support our programs and move toward hiring part-time staff, beginning with a bookkeeper and a part-time Executive Director. 

RESTORATION: NEXT STEPS


We continue to work on developing next steps for restoration of the 1816 Meetinghouse. These will include dropping the current second floor back to its original first-floor location, restoring framing structure of galleries, restoring/reconstructing windows and clapboards, and completing parking lot and landscaping, so that we can open the Meetinghouse regularly for visitors, with exhibits and docent-led tours by 2028.

 PROGRAMS, 2026

 

Our program committee, chaired by Carrie Magnan, is working hard in cooperation with the Macedon Historical Society, Farmington Friends, Ontario County Historical Society, Ganondagan, AKWAABA, Women’s Rights National Historical Park and other groups to develop a stellar series of programs for 2026.


One of our major programs will be on Friday, June 19, 2026, Juneteenth. We will welcome Tony Cohen, who is walking along one of Harriet Tubman’s main routes and will be stopping for public programs along the way. He will be accompanied by Wesley Wofford’s famous statue Journey to Freedom. Stay tuned for details!

 SISTER ORGANIZATIONS

The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, located in Peterboro, NY, announces the 2026 Black History Month video series, which this year focuses on Abolition. Beginning February 1st, ten videos will address the Abolition movement in the United States and globally, including the role of women, the development of the Underground Railroad, the role of religion in Abolition, and the afterlives of slavery that exist today.  

Videos can be accessed on The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum YouTube channel,  www.youtube.com/@AbolitionHallofFame, and the NAHOF website. The Black History Matters series was founded in conjunction with the Upstate Institute at Colgate University.

The Susan B. Anthony National Museum & House is hosting a special program on Thursday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m., featuring historian Ellen Carol DuBois. She’ll be discussing her newest work, A Revolutionary Life, a definitive biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.


Both virtual attendance and limited in‑person seating in their Carriage House are available with advance reservations.


Register here: Ellen Carol DuBois – National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House






 HOW YOU CAN HELP


Follow us:

Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/1816farmingtonquaker/

Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/1816FQMM/

 

Subscribe to this newsletter at the bottom of our webpage: https://farmingtonmeetinghouse.org/


Attend & bring friends to our public programs—free and open to all!

 

Volunteer (programs, hospitality, transcription of Quaker–Seneca papers, collections, exhibits, education, fundraising; especially exhibit review & publicity/design)


Train as a docent

 

Support: Consider a legacy gift in your will or estate plan to help us restore the Meetinghouse and grow our endowment with the Rochester Area Community Foundation. Your gift will help carry out our mission for many years to come. Donate to our annual appeal to help fund our operating expenses.

 

Reply & Contact: To respond to ideas in this Newsletter info@farmingtonmeetinghouse.org or Judith Wellman, Executive Director - historicalnewyork@me.com.
 
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1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse | 230 Sheldon Rd. | Farmington, NY 14425 US

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