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History of Hadley Friends

 

Since most of the older records were destroyed in the tornado of 1948, we cannot give accurate dates but have had to rely on memories of the older Friends.

 

Hadley Monthly Meeting of Friends was first a part of Blue River Quarterly Meeting, then Whitelick , then Plainfield, and now Danville quarterly meeting, all of which were affiliated with Western Yearly Meeting.

 

The Meeting House is in the central west part of Hendricks County. The land for the building was donated by Nathan Hadley. Tradition has it that to establish a burial ground, a man with a spade was sent out to find a suitable place for that purpose. He reported that a gravelly hill located not far from the Meeting House would be ideal for a burial ground, and that hill became the accepted location. The oldest date on the monuments in the cemetery is 1888, though it is believed that there might have been earlier burials. A new section has been added and Clifford Hadley has the plot and records for this addition.

 

The first known Meeting House was moved to a new location and was used as a dwelling, and the two-room structure built in the late 1880s or early 1890s, replaces it. This new Meeting House was rather unusual for the time as it was built with a sloping floor and had a “hung” ceiling, which means that there were no supports or obstructions in the main room. The architect for the building is thought to be Eli Hodson. The lumber used in the building was native sawed, taken from the surrounding woods, but the lumber used for finishing was hauled to Danville and finished and then brought back. This hauling was all donated labor. Morris Hadley said that when he was in his early teens and on one of these return trips with a wagonload of finished materials, the road between Mill Creek and Hadley was so bad that he got stuck in the mud.

 

Hadley was established a preparative Meeting December 30, 1874. On August 6, 1881, Danville Quarterly Meeting established Amo Monthly Meeting, which included Hadley and Spring Meeting. Then on September 28, 1912, Hadley became a Monthly Meeting in her own right.

 

It has been said that at Hadley there was a time when every other person you met could be addressed, as Mr., Mrs., or Miss Hadley and you would be right, as four families of Hadley’s - Nathan, Mordecai, Addison, and Job – were early settlers in the vicinity. Of these families only the Nathan Hadley family had children to carry on the posterity and the descendants of two of these children have played a prominent part in the Hadley Meeting through the years and today.

 

Nathan Hadley’s son David, and his wife, Sarah, was both ministers. David served as superintendent of Western Yearly, served as pastor in Whittier, California, was a trustee of Earlham College, was active on Western Yearly committees and was in demand for speaking engagements along with his interests and work with the Hadley Meeting. All of his five children received college educations, most of them going to Earlham College. Morris was the one son who remained at Hadley and Morris’s son, Clifford, and his wife, Anna Lydia, hold a prominent place in our Meeting. They have served on Yearly Meeting committees and they attended the Oxford conference in England. Morris’s daughter, Bernice Hadley Mills, also attended the Oxford conference, is President of the United Society of Friends Women and has served in other capacities in Western Yearly Meeting as well as local meeting.

 

David’s son, Murray, became a doctor and surgeon locating in Indianapolis. The three daughters, Ella, Josephine, and Geraldine, were schoolteachers and faithful church workers. Josephine Hadley Wilson was a fine storyteller, a talented reader, and was interested in children. One time while stressing the need for small chairs for the children in Sunday school, she illustrated the uncomfortableness of the children having to sit on the larger chairs with their short legs stuck straight out, by assuming that same position herself on a table and then asked the adults how they would enjoy sitting like that for a half hour. The children sized chairs were purchased. Geraldine Hadley Moorman has served as assistant pastor of First friends in Indianapolis, served as trustee of Earlham College and has tendered valuable services on numerous committees of Western Yearly Meeting.

 

Nathan’s daughter, Hannah, married Tilghman Hadley and settled at Hadley. Their six children attended Plainfield Academy. Their grandchildren include a municipal judge in High Point, North Carolina, a business man in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a minister’s wife, several teachers, and a welfare worker.

 

Hannah’s son, Seth, a stock trader, resides in the family residence east of Hadley. Another son, Will, a civil engineer, worked on the building of the Panama Canal, then settled in Hadley along with the rest of the family and they became merchants and farmers.

 

During the Civil War, two daughters of Nathan Hadley, Alida and Hannah, went to Gallatin, Tennessee to teach in a school held for slaves. They related that one-day a Confederate army so large that it required the entire day for it to pass. Some of the soldiers, noting the Negro school, set fire to it but their general sent men back to put it out.

 

The Haworth family also was staunch Hadley Friends. The best known name in this family is that of Lester, who was a trustee of Earlham College, teacher at Guilford College in North Carolina, and was a noted Y.M.C.A. worker. His son and daughter each gave one year’s work abroad with the American Friends Service Committee.

 

A prominent friend from Hadley was Addison Coffin, who traveled around the world and wrote a book of his travels. His daughter and a grand daughter were teachers, the Doan’s

 

Eunice, daughter of Nathan Hadley, and her husband, Addison Clark, left Hadley taking their family and settled in the west. Two of their sons, Chase and Brazilla, became governors of Idaho and Worth and D. Worth were senators from that state.

 

Mary Smith, a niece of Nathan, became a doctor and served in mental hospital in New York.

 

Clifton Wheeler was a well known artist whose father was a businessman in Hadley.

 

Beside David and Sarah Hadley, others who were called to the ministry were Solomon Haworth and Edward Woods.

 

Many fine Friends have called Hadley home but only a minority can be called prominent in the sense of the meaning of the word, “widely and favorably known”. We would like to recognize some who are remembered locally for their services. Some Friends who worked with the pastors and were more or less the head of the Meeting and sometimes served in that capacity for several years, were Frank Beard, Perry Hunt, Morris Hadley, Geraldine Moorman, and Bob Christie.

 

One minister who is remembered, respected and loved by all and who came to our Meeting as his first pastorate, is Milo Hinkle. It is something of an event whenever it is possible for him to be in our midst today.

 

James and Margaruiete Carter created an interest in Quaker Haven and saw to it that the young people had transportation to the camp.

 

Zamora Stevenson gave a number of years as a Sunday school Superintendent. Her son, Jewel, became a county judge.

 

In later years Marjory Hartsaw, a Sunday school superintendent, was instrumental in getting members to participate in vocal prayer.

 

Wynona Stuart, a teacher, was the originator of the Easter Sun Rise service at Danville.

 

Ella McCollum Hadley had a unique way of getting boys to take parts and practice for Children’s Day programs. She told them to come early and have a swim in the creek first. It worked. We would like to pay tribute and express our appreciation to the Sunday School teachers who have served our Meeting. They are too many to enumerate here, but the teaching is embedded in our beings.

 

Our entire Meeting, quite willingly, gives its time and labor and goods to whatever need arise, whether the need be local, national or international through American Friends Service Committee.

 

Recently the men of the Meeting donated their time and labor to build and inside stairway to the previously established basement.

This last year, when a new heating system became a must, a way was opened where, with the Ladies Aid working and with the cooperation of the whole Meeting, the financial need was met and the new furnace was installed.

 

Addison and Martha Hadley were so much interested in Women’s Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) work that they donated land for the establishment of a Girls Industrial home east of Hadley. One of the girls, Grace Daugherty, and Luther Hadley were married and established their home here where Grace is remembered for her work with the children. Martha Hadley willed $800 to the Hadley Meeting, the interest accrued from this is to be used for the upkeep of the cemetery.

 

Nat Britt willed a property to the Meeting, a house that was paid for by rental payments.

 

In 1948, at the time the tornado damaged our Meeting House, about $600 was received from different meetings which were interested in helping repair damage. At this same time, four carpenters from Indianapolis donated two days time and labor on roofing.

 

Hadley has entertained many visiting and some itinerant ministers. One time a visiting minister wished to leave immediately after the worship service on Sabbath morning, but the noon train, the only transportation out of Hadley, was a through train and did not stop, so the problem arose how to get him to the next service in time. After the service Nathan Hadley planted himself squarely in the middle of the track and flagged the train to a stop. The irate conductor told him that this train did not stop here, to which Nathan replied, “Thee did stop, thee made a nice stop.” During the exchange of words, the minister climbed aboard and was soon on his way.

 

Down through the years the political trend has been to the Republican party, but there was a time when Prohibition was the leading party. Politics was not taken as lightly then as it is today. People were really concerned over what happened at Washington. When the word came of the death of Abraham Lincoln, Nathan Hadley called the family and all the men working for him, and together they sat down for a period of quiet worship.

 

There were also times of humor along with their politics. The story has been handed down, though details vary some. The first Meeting House at Hadley was built on posts set into the ground and since the ground slopes, it left an open side and it was generally known that sometimes hogs would get under there to sleep. On this particular night, after prayer meeting, there was scheduled a political celebration, one following a presidential election called as illumination. Some of the young men grew impatient at the length of the meeting, so they took matters into their own hands and stirred up the hogs. With all of the snorting and thumping and bumping on the floor the prayer meeting soon came to an end and everyone went on to the celebration. Bee Hadley remembers this incident, however she did not get to go to the celebration.

 

Hadley Meeting had 6 soldiers in World War I and 4 in World War II. During World War I, prayer was offered each Sabbath morning for our boys in the war and all returned safely.

Hadley and Amo Meetings have a combined Missionary Society and have brought a number of missionaries of those interested in missions to out Meeting. Some of those were Mildred White, Annice Carter, Eleanor Zealott, A.A. Bond, and Merle Davis

 

It has been the custom for a number of years, that anyone having a birthday gives a penny offering for each year of age, this amount goes to missions. At the time of the offering the congregation repeats the birthday wish in their honor.

 

            Here is the wish:

                        Many happy returns of the day of thy birth

                                    May sunshine and gladness be given.

                        And may the dear Father prepare thee on earth

                                    For a beautiful birthday in heaven.

 

It has also been a custom that the Sunday School offering of the first Sabbath of the month be given to Missions.

 

The children have participated in a number of sharing projects as Houses for Korea, milk for Korea, the mitten tree, a collection of buffalo nickels for Indians, sox for the American Friends Service Committee, besides giving of clothing to the Red Cross and American Friends Service Committee. These last projects created a lot of interest when names and addresses were placed in pockets of garments and shoes and sox, and letters came from Greece, East and West Germany, and Finland. One letter from Greece during the war told of the escaping of the family from the back door as the enemy entered at the front. Two packages of gifts and medicines were sent to Grecian families from this contact. Mrs. Hedwig Bruggeman, who has immediate family ties in Germany, saved her bacon drippings during the war years and when she had sufficient amount to send, she would strain it, pack it and mail it to Germany. Her relatives wrote her and asked her not to strain out the bits of meat. This made us aware of the scarcity of meat in Europe.

 

We have had young people who have participated in Young Friends activities. Patty Hadley attended the United Nations Seminar in New York and went to work camp for the Kickapoo Indians in Oklahoma. Betty Hadley twice attended the work camp at Friendsville, Tennessee. Mary Jo Hadley went to the political seminar at Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Five Years Meeting. Our children have attended Quaker Haven camp and some have participated in the Jr. Yearly Meeting in recent years.

 

Hadley Meeting was kept fully aware of the need for national legislation during the lifetime of J. Hadley. His letter to President Wilson in February, 1915, on behalf of our Meeting, urged a conference of the neutral nations of the world and protested against increased armament by the United States. This was just one of his letters concerning legislation.

 

The introduction of music into Hadley meeting was strongly objected to by some of the older Friends. The young Friends, or Christian Endeavor, held their meetings in what is know as the back room. They obtained an organ for use in their meetings but when the session was over, it was carried over to a neighbor’s house until the next endeavor meeting when it was just as promptly carried back.

 

Hadley meeting attained its largest membership around the years 1915 and 1916 when the Sunday School attendance reached close to 100 every Sunday. The large families and small farms of the period accounted for this large attendance.

 

After the death of Morris Hadley, who had been out spiritual leader for several years, and after Geraldine Moorman who succeeded him, had moved away, wonderings were heard as to whether to continue our meeting or not. The meeting seemed to be diminishing and there seemed to be no outstanding leader available at that time. We are truly thankful that the faith of our small Meeting carried us through that period. Today we have a group of young people who are participating in Vacation Bible School, Quaker Haven and other Friends activities. We feel we are helping to build future Friends leaders.

 

At the present time our “request” Friends and “birthright” friends are about equally represented in our Meeting. In a sense we are a community church, the melting pot of a number of denominations but having Friends affiliation with Western Yearly Meeting.

 

Hadley has been fortunate in this respect, in that the young men of the Meeting have brought into the Meeting, by marriage, young women, sometimes of other Church denominations but who have willingly accepted responsible positions in the community and Meeting. Today at the Sabbath worship service, you would probably meet these families: Cupp, Whicker, Underwood, Bruggeman, Hadley, Good, Rumley, Lones, Stuart, Stevenson, Springer, Spencer, Hunt and occasionally a visitor.

 

The non-resident members are a perplexing problem in that their large numbers sometimes causes financial hardship to the home meeting but we have found that older “birthright” Friends have a definite feeling of “belonging” to their mother church regardless of the amount of support they do or do not give. They feel it is their home church and this fact is not to be treated lightly or inconsiderately.

 

Hadley Meeting has always been a rural Meeting in a farming community where families participate as a group in their social life. As machinery has replaced man power, young men have gone to find work elsewhere and have established homes closer to their work. A number of factories are just minutes away from Hadley due to good reads and speedy transportation, and today some of our farmers do their farming and hold full time jobs. Higher education and then serving according to their talents have caused our young people to seek work elsewhere but it makes us feel that we have had a part in laying the foundation of a Christian life when they establish church connections in their new homes.

 

Several years ago, state and county Sunday School conventions were held and Hadley was faithful in sending delegates. Today, conferences and workshops are designed for those who are interested in special phases of work.

 

Hadley has participated with other denominations at Amo in World Day of Prayer and at one time joined with Amo in Vacation Bible School. When it seemed impossible for us to have full time Friends pastor, we turned to Canterbury College for leadership for worship and later turned to DePauw University, giving potential young ministers a chance for practical experience and thereby benefiting ourselves and giving us a better understanding and respect for other denominations, and it is possible that the experience has made us appreciate more the simple worship service according to the way of the Friends.

 

 

Leona B. Hunt

Historian

R.R. #3

Danville, Indiana

 

Anna Lydia Hadley

Clerk of Hadley

Monthly Meeting

 

 

 

HADLEY HISTORY 1973 – 1977

 

We have been in our new Meeting House for three years. We may have relaxed after the strenuous time when we were all centered on our building project, we all had a common interest, something tangible as a goal and being out of debt let us settle into the complacency of being through.

 

Due to the dedication of its’ members, Hadley has survived down through the past century, serving the community, presenting the message of Friends to our posterity, teaching the Bible, present God and the teachings of Jesus for our souls’ salvation. We have had some slow periods and a few trials, but by the grace of God we have overcome the obstacles as they arrived, one of our biggest problems has been pastoral leadership.

 

Bob Eichenburger was with us at the time of the fire and then Paul Kitley of the Butler Seminary came to us for two years. He had a talent for communication and quickly entered into the Church family, giving us his message according to the guidance of God. Our present student minister is Mark May; he will be with us until July next year, anyway.

 

Hadley feels honored that we have two members studying for the ministry; Anna Lydia Hadley and Jim Bryant. Ministry and Council have recommended them. Anna Lydia was recorded at Yearly Meeting this year, Jim needs a little more time before his recording.

 

Our Church has been remembered in many nice ways:

A plaque for rural improvement and $25 was presented to Hadley Meeting from the Indiana Farm Bureau due to the efforts of Harriet Whicker who was woman leader at that time.

 

$13,000 was received from the estate of Rosa Gross. The interest which is to be used on the care of the cemetery.

 

$10,649 was received from the estate of Basil Bales, a former member.

 

The Christian Education Board of Yearly Meeting presented a copy of the London Yearly meeting Faith and Practice to Hadley Meeting.

 

Clifford and Anne Hadley gave a land extension to the cemetery on the west and  an addition to the Church grounds on the west side for a recreation area or a parking lot, our sincere thanks to them. Clifford asked consent to keep the gate locked to keep out trespassers. He reminded us to think about the access to the cemetery if the real estate ever changed hands. The new addition has been plotted and a record kept by the trustees.

 

We have continued having Easter services, sometimes with Amo, a breakfast or Sunrise service. Our Homecoming service is still in the fall. This 1977 will be our Centennial year and it was decided over a year ago that we would celebrate the occasion.

 

Our Monthly Meeting convenes on the 4th Sunday, while the children are in Sunday school.

 

We experimented in trying a new schedule of holding the worship service first on Sunday morning and the Sunday school following but this arrangement was not popular with the members, so we still keep the old way with the worship service first.

 

The young women of the Meeting formed an “Iris Circle” in memory of Iris Bryant who passed away the fall of 1973. They supported a Multi-Retarded home and remembered the elderly with cards every month, along with other projects.

 

The older women continue with their “Aid”. A number of baby blankets were made and sent to AFSC. They tack comforts when available, have served sale dinners to make money and they purchased a dozen folding chairs for the Church, more may be needed later. For some time they have been combining a social time along with the Aid meeting, the hostess preparing a luncheon and the members paying for their meal. They are always on hand in case of a need in the community and they share their food whenever sickness or bereavement strikes.

 

Remembering how fortunate we were to have help in our disaster, the monthly Meeting has voted $500 to the Danville Presbyterian Church of Danville when their building was gutted by fire, sent $75 to Guatemala, $20 to Amo for Religious Education classes for 5th and 6th grade children, $10 to FCNL, $10 to the boy in Brazil for Christmas, 4100 to Azalia, Ohio, after a tornado hit, $25 to a Senior Citizens party at Christmas, and $25 to Lorton Heusel at the time of their tragedy.

 

We continue most to the Good Works we have advocated through the years:

            Give one Sunday offering a year to the Aged Ministers Fund.

            Conduct Vacation Bible School in June.

            Unify with Amo at times.

            Support a Brazilian child.

            Clifford and Anne Hadley furnish “The Upper Room” for all members

            Supply Yearly Meeting Minutes to members.

            The youth group still goes caroling at Christmas.

            A service and offering to the Gideons each year.

 

Our young people are active in their interests, though few in number just now. Under the leadership of Jim Bryant, they had their social affairs, fellowship nights and some fund raising, which netted them $52. Jim was interested in Christian living and doing, getting involved and getting others involved. He was especially concerned about the starvation in Africa. When Jim married and left us, he was greatly missed as he could be depended upon for a service if the occasion arrived. We are sure he will be faithful to his calling when he is recorded as a minister. Leona Hunt replaced him on Ministry and Counsel.

 

Some books were found in the Hadley library, which formerly belonged to J. Hadley and Ben and Zamora Stevenson. The books were presented to their descendants as we felt their families would treasure them.

 

In former years Hadley did not cancel Sunday services at Yearly Meeting Sunday, but the decision this year was to cancel all services and permit all to attend Yearly Meeting on Sunday. A number from Hadley attended the recording service of Anne Hadley the Saturday night before.

 

There have been 6 wedding in our new Church of our members:

            Larry Good                 5-17-1975

            Mike Whicker            8-3-1975

            Becky Miller              11-20-1976

            Mary Beth Springer    6-11-1977

Each couple was given a Bible as a wedding gift from Hadley.

 

New members added to our Meeting in the past 4 years are:

            Tony Peyton from associate to active

            Jim Bryant

            Mike Peters

            Jim Sanders

            Rebecca Sanders

            Jim Sanders Jr. associate member

Patty McCarty associate member

 

We have had some transfers:

            Alma H. Hopkins to 1st Assembly of God, Marion, IN

            Larry Good to 1st United Methodist, Columbus, IN

            Clark Hadley to West Newton Friends

            Howard Cupp to Amo Friends

            Lillian Stevenson requested her name-dropped

 

There were deaths also:

            Iris Bryant

            Hoyt Spencer

            Jim Sanders

 

The young people continue to keep the Sunday school records. Tony Peyton participated in a “Bike Ride for Truth” to Washington, D.C., which was sponsored by the United Friends Meeting.

 

Clark and Diana Hadley served as counselors at a “Youth Quake” in California.

 

When Clifford and Anne Hadley entertained Sadie Vernon of Belize, Honduras, we became interested in her mission work. As a result we gathered a shipment of articles she said she could use and sent them to her. It contained plastic knives, forks, spoons, trays and containers and also included sewing notions and remnants of cloth.

 

We wish to commend our building and fund raising committees for so effectively completing their assigned tasks and given us such a nice building. We want to give credit to all other individuals; the trustees who still have responsibilities, also the officers of Monthly Meeting which have carried their work so faithfully, to Floy Spencer our pianist of may years, those who quietly work behind the scenes calling and visiting and the Sunday School teachers for their faithfulness. So much credit goes to David Whicker and Donald Good for their activities in promoting work of the Church and for the cemetery.

 

We have a project coming up that of enclosing the west door of the basement to keep out the west winds of winter. We will accomplish that in time.

 

Another suggestion has been made to establish a sign on State Road 36 for directions to Hadley for our visitors.

 

The excitement of celebrating our Centennial is building up as we near the date of October 2, 1977. Invitations have been sent and the Publicity committee has contacted the papers, the various committees have worked to complete their assignments and we feel that being 100 years old is a time for rejoicing.

 

Our members have always enjoyed the time of Home Comings in former years, and we feel this will be something special as we gather together and see former members again., the fellowship, the reminiscences of the “Good Days” at Hadley and in the partaking of the bounteous cooperative noon meal.

 

Down through the years a new leader has been raised up to replace those who have passed on and we pray that Hadley may be that fortunate in the future.

 

Hadley has a history of continuation, with or without a pastor.  We have been fortunate to have been served by several good Christian persons:

 

           

Rev. Howard Cupp

            Rev. Bob Garris

            Rev. Sue Whitesell

            Rev. Chris Wynn

 

In the periods between ministers, members of the congregation have brought messages for the meeting.  We are prepared to do this because each week one of the meeting attendees is assigned a “Sharing Time”, in which he/she shares the good news of the Gospel.  This can be directly from the Bible, or showing some way the good news is lived in daily life.

 

Today, Hadley Friends Meeting is a vibrant growing community of Friends.  We welcome intellectual discussion and attendees are encouraged to share their personal beliefs and convictions with others.  This often leads to lively discussions.  We sometimes have to agree to disagree, but this is done in the spirit of Christian love.

 

Hadley has much strength, and we look forward to the continuation of our meeting into future generations.

 

If you are in the area on Sunday Morning, please feel free to join our friendly group.  You will leave refreshed and encouraged and ready to face the coming week!