Charity Rotch (pronounced roach) was the first Clerk of the women's Ohio Yearly Meeting.
Charity was the youngest daughter of Thomas Rodman, a sea captain who died when Charity was less than a year old. She was born in Newport, Rhode Island, and the family home was open to hosting many Friends during the sessions of the yearly meeting (then called Rhode Island YM).
In 1790, she married Thomas Rotch, a rising merchant in Newport. They were married in the yearly meeting house in Newport. In 1791, the Rotches moved to New Bedford, a commercial port that was just recovering from the Revolution. They later moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where Thomas began his lifelong interest in Merino sheep and wool manufacturing. Both Thomas and Charity were recognized as ministers while living in New England.
Charity contracted a disease that swept through Connecticut in 1808. It is unclear what the disease was, but Charity nearly died, and her doctor recommended that she move to the South for a more temperate climate. Hearing about the new Quaker settlements in Ohio, they travelled through the southern portion of the state in 1811.
The Rotches settled in Kendal, Ohio, in 1812. Thomas Rotch laid out the town, naming it for the English woolen town. He operated a store, woolen mill, and brickyard and sold lots to small businessmen such as blacksmiths and masons.
Thomas and Charity were both active in Quaker affairs. Thomas was a witness to the signing of the treaty of St. Mary's, in which Indians signed off all claims to land in Ohio, and he also visited the German Separatists at Zoar, helping get them established in their new homes. Charity served as Clerk of the women's Ohio Yearly Meeting several times, including the opening session in 1813. She signed the women's epistles to Philadelphia YM in 1814, 1818, and 1819. They were part of the Underground Railroad as early as 1820.
Thomas Rotch died while attending Ohio YM in 1823, and Charity died the following year.
Sources: EAQG 4:841; Ohio YM minutes 1824 |
