date of school

Endowment for use of poor

Richland Monthly Meeting (1742), the latest of all in Bucks County to be established, with which we are now dealing, belonged to the Abington Quarter (whose limits were chiefly in Montgomery County). The school, its date of beginning not known (probably in 1742),[439] was early endowed with legacies left voluntarily and primarily for the education of the poor; the first one of considerable worth was that of Morris Morris. An extract from the minutes shows that,

At this meeting were exhibited two bonds for two sums of money amounting in the whole to £100, it being a free and generous donation given by our ancient Friend, Morris Morris, for the use and encouragement of a school to be kept at or near this meeting house, which bonds are legally executed to the Friends heretofore appointed as trustees for this meeting, who are to take care from time to time to lay out the interest arising from the said donation for procuring necessary learning for such poor Friends’ children who may be the most proper objects of such charitable help and the said trustees to render yearly account to this meeting of their service in the said distribution.[440]

This beginning was increased in 1796 by £20 granted from the estate of Edward Roberts.[441] The following record from a school account book of legacies, known as the “Jonathan Walton Fund” is cited, which indicates the manner of the school expenditures[442]:

Items of expenditure for schooling in Richland

1792—for schooling
to Jesse Foulke15/10/00
to Jonathan Carr1/10/00
to ditto7/00
to Abraham Walton16/6/00
to Jesse Foulke1/10/7
to John Nash5/00
to Jesse Hicks1/2/6
1793—
to Jonathan Carr7/6
to Nathan Walton5/4
to Sam Norris2/12/11
to Abraham Walton18/7
to Jesse Hicks15/00
to Samuel Norris3/6/3½
Paid to Daniel B. Ayres for teaching children2/1/8
3/2/2
Paid for teaching and books2/1/4

SUMMARY

The meetings