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My Main Quaker Page Judah Bowerman and his wife, Lavina Saylor owned lot 18, 1st Concession N.W. of West Lake. Part of this lot is known as "Bowerman Hill" or just "The Hill". There is a small rise or hill on the south side of the road overlooking a marshy cove that is part of West Lake. The first Quaker Meeting House was built on this hill and the burial ground was there as well. In 1810, a new Meeting House was built in Bloomfield and a new Quaker burial ground was established across the street. This farm was kept in the Bowerman/Cronk family for over 200 years until sold by the last owner, Marion Cronk. Members of the family continued to be buried on "the Hill", and the last burial to be permitted was Marion Cronk in 2009. A lot of ephemera had been kept by the family on the farm and this material is now the Marion Cronk Fonds. The work of Albert C. Bowerman was found documenting many early County families. Judah's first wife was Abigail Hughes, sister to Sam Hughes who was an influential figure in the Yonge St Quaker Meeting and the Children of Peace movement. It is through this connection that his journals and many letters also ended up in the hands of Marion Cronk. Marion and her family had deep roots in the West Lake Meeting, Bloomfield area and the wider Quaker community. The material came to light when Janet Kellough, transcriber with the Quaker Project, wrote a newspaper article about the project and expressed the hope that other material might exist in Prince Edward County. Gord Moran read the article and called Randy Saylor and, as we say, the rest is history. It is a wonderful collection of material. The fonds was turned over on Jan 22/06. |