Minute Book of the Gainsborough Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends, Volume II (1689-1709)

This book continues from Volume 1 starting at the transcription of page 145 (1689) of the Minute Book and continues to page 340 (1709). The text covers a period of consolidation. The Toleration Act of 1689 enabled Meeting House to be built and licensed, so business concerning real property begins to appear in Monthly Meeting Minutes. Preoccupation with discipline, leading to the appointment of Overseers ; structural elaboration as in the establishment of Preparative Meetings; meticulous recording of names of Representatives, to Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, and of those appointed to inquire into the “clearness” of the parties to a marriage; are all indicative of congelation from a movement into an organisation.
Adapted from the Preface.