History
Frame served as select YM Clerk for four years in the early 1880s. The schedule that was used during Smith's clerkship was continued. During Frame's clerkship, ten travelling minutes were read and forwarded to the YM; all but one were brought by Friends in Frame's latter two years.
An important event during Frame's clerkship was an effort to relieve tensions among Iowa Friends. Hickory Grove's select QM had mentioned problems with lack of unity for a few years. In 1882, the select YM appointed a committee of 14 very prominent Ohio Friends to visit Hickory Grove QM to try to find a way to bring Iowa Friends together. The makeup of the committee is almost a "who's who" of leading Ohio Friends of the time:
John W. Smith, convenor and then-clerk of the Meeting for Sufferings;
Thomas Y. French, soon to be appointed clerk of the select YM;
Barclay Stratton, soon to be appointed men's Ohio YM Clerk;
John Brantingham, who was considered to be the most gifted men's minister in Ohio YM at the time;
Elwood Dean, a leading minister;
Jacob Holloway, treasurer of the men's YM;
Sina Hall, the long-serving Clerk of the Women's Ohio YM;
Ann Branson, the leading women's minister in Ohio YM;
Rachel Stratton;
Hannah H. Stratton, leading minister and wife of Barclay Stratton;
Elizabeth Dean, leading Elder from Chesterfield and wife of Elwood Dean;
Esther Fowler, a minister who was the daughter of Isaac Huestis;
Asenath Bailey, a remarkably gifted minister; and
Hannah Tatum, treasurer of the women's Ohio YM. The committee visited Iowa in 1883 and determined that the problem was mostly limited to the meeting at Hickory Grove. It reported that "there is serious cause for the lack of unity" but did not state the nature of the cause. A new committee was appointed, which reported in 1884 that it visited individually with all select members at Hickory Grove but could not resolve the problems. The committee was asked to continue its work and report back in 1886. |
