This volume (around 80 pages) contains the constitution and meeting minutes of the Liberty and Chillisquaque Temperance Society of Columbia County (and, later, parts of Montour County), Pennsylvania.
The first 5 pages consist of the society's constitution, comprised of 12 articles about the society's mission, officers, and administrative matters. The following 15 pages list the "names of teetotalers," primarily women. The bulk of the volume (around 55 pages) has meeting minutes dated December 1842-December 1851. The Liberty and Chillisquaque Temperance Society met at churches, schoolhouses, and other locations in several towns, including Chillisquaque, Lewisburg, and Danville. The minutes, recorded irregularly, reflect the group's monthly activities, such as listening to addresses by pastors or other speakers. The group often distributed an abstinence pledge, and the minutes record the number of people who signed the pledge. Many entries contain the names of newly elected or re-elected officers, and later minutes pertain to other administrative issues, such as the society's division into two branches. Secretaries of the Liberty and Chillisquaque Temperance Society included Thomas Vansant, James F. Murray, James McMahan, Thomas Strawbridge, and Joshua D. Wilson. The volume's final 5 pages (including its back endpaper) contain notes in pencil about the temperance society's organization and about an election for church elders and deacons (dated 1866).
