"The Iowa Freeman", Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Tuesday, July 10, 1849; Kelsey & Howe, Editors)

A large and important meeting was held on the 4th, 5th and 6th ult., at Waterloo, N.Y., consisting of Seceders from the Society of (Hicksite) Friends. It was the principal object of the persons in attendance to form "a new religious organization, of a more liberal and reformatory character than that of the old sects". Among the active members of the meeting are found Lucretia Mott, Nicholas Hallock, J.A. Dugdale and Ruth Dugdale. The principal topics for discussion and action were, Intemperance, Slavery, War, Licentiousness, Land Monopoly, the rights and wrongs of Woman, Priestcraft, Sectarianism, Capital Punishment. The meeting memorialized Congress for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia and the Territories, and the Inter-State Slave Trade, and against the extension of slavery to California and New Mexico. It prayed the N.Y. Legislature to abolish Capital Punishment. It also unanimously adopted an interesting and able "Address to Reformers;" from which we make the following selection:

[The article continues with an extensive sermon which implores the attendees to continue their work]

Finally, dear friends, be vigilant in the work to which you are called; and may the God of Truth inspire you with wisdom and strength, and crown your labors with glorious success.

Signed on behalf of the Yearly Meeting of Congregational Friends, held near Waterloo, Seneca County, N.Y., from the 4th to the 6th of the 7th month, 1849.

Thomas M’Clintock and Rhoda DeGarmo, Clerks.

RESEARCH NOTES:
Samuel Luke Howe (1808-1877) founded Mt. Pleasant’s Howe’s Academy. He was an ardent abolitionist and editor of the short-lived newspaper, "The Iowa Freeman".

Joseph A. Dugdale (1810-1896) was a Quaker reformer devoted to social justice causes including the anti-slavery movement, the woman's rights movement and various peace movements. Born in Pennsylvania, he lived in Ohio and Pennsylvania before moving his family to a farm in Henry County, Iowa in 1862.

Thomas McClintock (1792–1876) was a leading Quaker organizer for many reforms, including abolishing slavery, achieving women's rights, and modernizing Quakerism.

Rhoda DeGarmo (1798–1873) was a Quaker reformer, abolitionist, and women’s rights activist. She served on the committee that planned the nation’s second women’s rights convention, held in Rochester in August 1848, two weeks after the first convention in Seneca Falls, and was one of 14 women arrested alongside Susan B. Anthony in 1872 for voting illegally.

The "Yearly Meeting of Congregational Friends" was held June 4 through June 6, 1849, at Waterloo, Seneca County, N.Y.