1 Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) Settlement at Adolphustown

As a result of increased harassment of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in the United States following the American Revolution (1775-83), members of the Friends settled in Adolphustown Township in 1784. The first Preparative Meeting of Quakers in either Upper or Lower Canada took place in Adolphustown in 1798 at the house of Philip Dorland (1755-1814). That year, a meeting house and burying ground were built on Dorland's farm at Hay Bay. By 1801, the local Quaker population had grown sufficiently to warrant the establishment of an Adolphustown Monthly Meeting. Although a new meeting house was built in 1868 to replace the original Hay Bay structure, many of the Quakers’ descendants had either moved away or joined the Methodists, greatly reducing the congregation’s size. The Adolphustown Monthly Meeting was discontinued in 1871. The Hay Bay meeting house gradually fell into ruin; all that remains is a small burying ground marking the site.

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