Every First Day (Sunday) Mrs. Latimer would go to the Friends meeting house at the corner of Fourth and West Streets. Mrs. Latimer, formally Ann Richardson, married Henry Latimer in the meeting house, even though he was a Presbyterian. Mrs. Latimer’s grand parents, William and Elisabeth Shipley, founded the meeting house, and many of her Richardson family members still attended. Every Sunday, they probably socialized and caught up on family news with Mrs. Latimer. Family tensions arose when some of the Richardsons broke away from the meeting to join an orthodox form of Quakerism. This was a meeting house that emphasized equality. While Mrs. Latimer was not a preacher, many of her female contemporaries were.
Originally built in 1738, the meeting was rebuilt in 1817. It served as a school as well as a meeting for many years, because Quakers believe in the importance of education. The graveyard surrounding the meeting had a few simple tomb stones, but there were also nearly 700 unmarked graves, belonging to the victims of the yellow fever epidemics.
See Also
First Presbyterian Church
African Union Methodist Church
Asbury Methodist Church