SHAKER AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, BIOGRAPHIES AND TESTIMONIES, 1806 1907
American Communal Societies Series Editors: Christian Goodwillie Peter Hoehnle Titles in this Series Writings of Shaker Apostates and Anti-Shakers, 1782 1850 Christian Goodwillie (ed.) Forthcoming Titles The Inspirationists Peter Hoehnle (ed.)
Contents of the Edition Volume 1 General Introduction 1806 1862 Volume 2 Calvin Green, Biographic Memoir of the Life and Experience of Calvin Green (1861) Volume 3 Calvin Green, Biographic Memoir of the Life and Experience of Calvin Green (1861), continued 1864 1907 Index
SHAKER AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, BIOGRAPHIES AND TESTIMONIES, 1806 1907 Edited by Glendyne R. Wergland and Christian Goodwillie Volume 1 1806 1862
First published 2014 by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright Taylor & Francis 2014 Copyright Editorial material Glendyne R. Wergland and Christian Goodwillie 2014 To the best of the Publisher s knowledge every effort has been made to contact relevant copyright holders and to clear any relevant copyright issues. Any omissions that come to their attention will be remedied in future editions. All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. british library cataloguing in publication data Shaker autobiographies, biographies and testimonies, 1806 1907. (American communal societies) 1. Shakers United States History 19th century Sources. I. Series II. Goodwillie, Christian editor of compilation. III. Wergland, Glendyne R. editor of compilation. 289.8 09034-dc23 ISBN-13: 978-1-84893-395-8 (set) Typeset by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited
CONTENTS Acknowledgements General Introduction Editorial Selection and Principles Abbreviations Bibliography xi xiii xxxiii xxxvii xxxix Autobiographies, Biographies and Testimonies Samuel Rollins, Union Village, Ohio, 1806 1 Missionary Sisters letter, Ohio, 1806 9 David Slosson, New Lebanon, New York, 1810 15 Elizur Goodrich, New Lebanon, New York, c. 1812 21 Lucy Wright, New Lebanon, New York, c. 1812 27 Mehetabel Farrington, New Lebanon, New York, c. 1812 29 Abigail Bishop, New Lebanon, New York, c. 1812 33 Lydia Matthewson Sr, New Lebanon, New York, c. 1812 37 Rebecca Slawson (or Slosson), Hancock, Massachusetts, c. 1812 39 Hannah Goodrich Sr, New Lebanon, New York, c. 1812 41 Eunice Bennet, Watervliet and New Lebanon, New York, 1816 47 Hezekiah Goodrich, New Lebanon, New York, 1816 49 Eliphalet Slosson, Hancock, Massachusetts, 1816 53 Jennet Davis, Hancock, Massachusetts, 1816 55 Daniel Goodrich Jr, Hancock, Massachusetts, 1816 57 John Bruce and others, New Lebanon, New York, 1816 59 Manassah Perry, New Lebanon, New York, 1816 63 John Farrington, New Lebanon, New York, 1816 65 Matthew Houston, Union Village, Ohio, 1821 69 Mary Hocknell, Watervliet, New York, 1822 73 Mary Partington, Watervliet, New York, 1822 77 David Slosson, New Lebanon, New York, 1826 81 Desire Sanford, New Lebanon, New York, 1826 91 Anna Hocknell, New Lebanon, New York, 1826 95
viii Shaker Autobiographies, Biographies and Testimonies, 1806 1907: Volume 1 Mary Osgood, Shirley, Massachusetts, 1826 99 Susannah Barret, Shirley, Massachusetts, 1826 103 Elizebeth Woodward, Shirley, Massachusetts, 1826 107 Patience Crouch, Harvard, Massachusetts, 1826 111 David Osborn, Watervliet, New York, 1826 113 Abiathar Babbit, Watervliet, New York, 1826 117 Testimonies Concerning the Character and Ministry of Mother Ann Lee (1827) 119 Introduction 126 John Farrington 130 Eliab Harlow 135 Rachel Spencer 139 Hannah Cogswell 142 Phebe Chase 145 Abigail Cook 147 Richard Treat 149 Anne Mathewson 155 Prudence Hammond 158 Zipporah Cory 161 Zeruah Clark 165 Lucy Wight 169 Daniel Moseley 173 Jethro Turner 178 Amos Stower 181 Elizabeth Johnson 184 Thankful Barce 187 Joseph Main 190 Samuel Johnson Sr 195 Aaron Wood 205 Peter Dodge 207 Danial Goodrich 210 Comstock Betts 214 John Warner 216 Abijah Worster 218 Elijah Wilds 223 Ezekiel Morrill 227 Benjamin Whitcher 229 Job Bishop 232 Nathan Tiffany 240 Eliphalet Comstock 243 Elizabeth Williams, Hancock, Massachusetts, 1827 249 Jemima Blanchard, Harvard, Massachusetts, 1827 253
Contents ix Anna Bishop, New Lebanon, New York, 1827 257 Anna Cogswell Sr, Hancock, Massachusetts, 1827 261 Henry DeWitt, New Lebanon, New York, 1827 265 Benjamin Allis (or Ellis), New Lebanon, New York, 1829 269 John Robinson, Shirley, Massachusetts, 1830 273 Jonathan Clark, Watervliet, New York, by 1830 281 Matthew Houston, Union Village, Ohio, 1833 285 Rebecca Clark, Hancock, Massachusetts, 1835 289 James B. Bishop, New Lebanon, New York, 1835 291 Isaac Newton Youngs, New Lebanon, New York, 1837 295 Matthew Houston, Union Village, Ohio, 1837 301 Sophia M. Lowd, Canterbury, 1838 305 David Spinning, Union Village, Ohio, 1841 309 Harriet Bullard, New Lebanon, New York, 1841 347 Emily Smith, New Lebanon, New York, 1841 351 Fanny Pearson, Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, 1841 355 Charlotte Tann, Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, 1841 359 Grove Wright, Hancock, Massachusetts, 1843 363 Daniel Sizer, Canaan, New York, 1843 367 Laura Thayer, North Union, Ohio, 1843 375 Chester Risley, North Union, Ohio, 1843 377 Julia Ann Avery, Enfield, Connecticut, 1843 383 Lovicy Davis, Enfield, Connecticut, 1843 387 Hannah Quance, Enfield, Connecticut, 1843 391 Olive Damon, Enfield, Connecticut, 1843 395 Thomas Stebbins, Enfield, Connecticut, 1843 399 Sophia Wood, Enfield, Connecticut, 1843 403 Eunice Bathrick, Harvard, Massachusetts, 1843 411 Mary Hazard, New Lebanon, New York, 1843 421 Hanson Chase, Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1844 425 Nehemiah White, Watervliet, New York, 1845 429 Seth Youngs Wells, New Lebanon, New York, 1846 433 Isaac Newton Youngs, New Lebanon, New York, 1848 439 Elizabeth Wood, Enfield, Connecticut, 1851 447 Thankful E. Goodrich, New Lebanon, New York, 1844 53 453 Betsy Crosman, New Lebanon, New York, c. 1855 461 Emeline L. Kimball, Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1856 469 Lois Barker, Enfield, New Hampshire, 1859 477 John Lyon, Enfield, New Hampshire, 1862 481 Lydia Lyon, Enfield, New Hampshire, 1862 491 Editorial Notes 503
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The process of selecting, transcribing and annotating the texts in this volume has been a labour of love for the transcribers. We are grateful for all of the help we have received along the way from numerous knowledgeable friends and colleagues. We would like to thank the following institutions for their time and support of this project: the Berkshire Athenaeum (Ann-Marie Harris, Kathleen Reilly), Canterbury Shaker Village (Renee Fox), Hancock Shaker Village (Lesley Herzberg, Magda Gabor-Hotchkiss), the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the New York State Library, the Ohio State Historical Society, the Shaker Museum Mount Lebanon, New York ( Jerry Grant), the Western Reserve Historical Society (Ann Sindelar, Paul Heyde) and the Winterthur Library (E. Richard McKinstry, Jeanne Solensky). The staff at Pickering & Chatto have also been superb. We wish to particularly thank Editor Stephina Clarke for her professionalism, attention to detail, patience, and most of all her good humour. Six individuals have been particularly helpful in preparing this set. Margaret Gower s transcription of Calvin Green s Biographic Memoir forms the foundation of our presentation of this text. We thank Molly for her Herculean effort in transcribing Green s original manuscript. Carol Medlicott as always was unfailingly generous in sharing information from her own research. Stephen J. Paterwic s indispensable Historical Dictionary of the Shakers (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008) never left either of our desks as we prepared headnotes and annotations for this set. Antiquarian bookseller and Shaker researcher David Newell shared the fruits of his thirty-five years of research on the Shaker missions to Savoy and Cheshire, Massachusetts, and Wilmington, Vermont. Mary Ann Haagen generously shared her transcriptions and her knowledge of the New Hampshire Shakers. And Roben Campbell, the expert on Harvard Shakers, kindly provided a Harvard testimony. Thank you to all of you for your friendship and assistance. Finally, we wish to thank the Shakers at Sabbathday Lake, Maine, for carrying forth the life and teachings established by Mother Ann Lee in the 1780s. xi
xii Shaker Autobiographies, Biographies and Testimonies, 1806 1907: Volume 1 There is much of value to be learned from studying the Shakers lives as recorded in their own words. We hope that this collection of autobiographies, biographies and testimonies will serve to further their rich spiritual legacy.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION: THE SHAKERS The Shakers originated in Manchester, England, in 1747. They believed in divine revelation, celibacy and confession of sin. Their worship was remarkable for their physical inspiration dancing, shaking and speaking in tongues. The Shakers held noisy services and interrupted other churches worship to proselytize. After the Manchester authorities judged the Shakers a public nuisance, they decided to leave England. In 1774, a small group sailed to New York, arriving on 6 August. They were led by Mother Ann Lee, a short, chestnut-haired, middleaged illiterate woman who had worked since childhood, most recently as a cutter of hatter s fur and a hospital cook. She had strong convictions, a forceful personality and was a natural leader with extraordinary spiritual gifts. 1 On their arrival, the immigrants split up to find work and lodging. By 1776 the Shakers had consolidated at Niskayuna, New York (later called Watervliet). Their first step in building their utopia was to pool their resources to live together communally. They cleared land, drained swamps and began to farm. Their house was so small and crowded that fifteen people slept on the floor in one room. The living was hard, but the Shakers were industrious and felt that their labours were blessed. 2 At Watervliet, their religion went largely unnoticed at first. During those early years, they attracted only one new follower. Rather than proselytizing, Ann Lee waited for the right moment to begin preaching to the public. 3 During those years, the American Revolution was harrowing the ground for planting a new religion. By the late 1770s, most families were worn down by conscription, battlefield casualties and deaths from smallpox epidemics that afflicted crowded army encampments. High taxes and inflation added economic devastation for farming families whose men and boys went to war. 4 The absence of farm workers resulted in food shortages. And it is in this context that many people were looking for change. In times of social stress, when old religion provides little comfort, some turn to a new religion. Divine providence sent the Shakers two blessings. The first was the 1779 New Light revival in the Berkshire Hills along the New York Massachusetts border. The Presbyterian and Baptist congregations of Canaan (New Lebanon), xiii
xiv Shaker Autobiographies, Biographies and Testimonies, 1806 1907: Volume 1 New York, and West Stockbridge, Richmond, and Hancock, Massachusetts, were drawn into the throes of religious ecstasy. Four women, exceedingly gifted in prayer, led meetings that included amazing spiritual phenomena, visions and speaking in tongues. One observer recalled that souls stood bare in their sins before the eye of God. Many were convinced of their sinfulness and cried for mercy. Good church members, deacons and Elders, as well as reprobates, felt their religion had failed. But visions of angels were seen; and to some, the heavens seemed opened. 5 A Presbyterian minister s wife said, The signs and operations, and the prophetic spirit [of ] these meetings, clearly intimated that Christ was about to appear the second time. 6 Near the end of the revival, one of the evangelists preached on Romans 8:8 ( Those who are in the flesh cannot please God ), which promoted the belief that salvation would require celibacy. 7 The revival died down over the winter when bitter weather kept people indoors. Their meetings dwindled, but their desire for change did not. By chance Tallmadge Bishop of New Lebanon, who had been at the revival, came upon the Shaker settlement at Niskeyuna, New York, in April of 1780. He brought news of Mother Ann Lee and her teachings back to his community. Shortly thereafter, Providence smiled on the Shakers again. Their next blessing was a meteorological phenomenon, the dark day of 19 May 1780. A thunderstorm was followed by darkness so Extraordinary dark, one American recalled, a person could not see [a] hand when held up nor even a white sheet of paper. Candles had to be lit at noon because the sky was as black as midnight. Because Revelation 6:12 had prophesied darkness as a sign of the end of the world, churchgoers were terrified of the coming day of judgement. The darkness showed God s anger at a sinful people. And ministers preached on the approaching end of the world. 8 Ann Lee was an astute judge of human nature, and the darkness was the sign she had anticipated. She used the opportunity to begin preaching to the public. 9 And her message attracted the New Lights. The road to the Shakers home was instantly crouded with prospective converts who were soon convinced that Ann Lee was the second embodiment of Christ. 10 From 1780 into 1781, despite being accused of spying for England and being jailed, Ann Lee recruited enough converts to keep the farm going at Niskayuna, and then set out to evangelize New England. From 1781 to 1783, she and a few followers travelled the region to find converts. 11 But New England had a long history of persecuting heretics, and Ann Lee s visions and revelations gave her that reputation. By 1782, it was common knowledge that she was a witch. 12 During their tour of New England, several Shakers including Ann Lee were stripped and beaten for their heresy. Mobs attacked the group at several locations. 13 But in the process, the Shakers established new enclaves of believers.
General Introduction xv The Shakers recruited close to a thousand converts before Ann Lee died in 1784. 14 Many early Believers joined in family groups with parents, children, siblings, in-laws and cousins. More than twenty of the Wells-Youngs family and nearly thirty of the Goodrich family made the commitment. 15 Living together as brothers and sisters, they worked to make their communal society successful. They built new communities by pooling land and labour for mutual support. In 1787, the Shaker Ministry began to gather Believers from widely scattered locations into their own villages, which were pieced together through donations and purchases of adjoining farms. Celibacy could be better enforced in a collected group, and living under the same roof promoted union and conformity. Thus the Shakers established a new level of order, not to mention prosperity, for Believers. Their first new buildings were meetinghouses, which showed the society s ideals and commitment to equality with separate but identical entrances for men and women. These novel buildings also had wide-open meeting rooms on the first floor, free of pews or posts, to accommodate their ecstatic physical worship. After the meetinghouses were finished, they built new dwellings for the faithful, with separate stairways and equal amenities for women and men. Many still stand as examples of fine Shaker craftsmanship. By 1788, the society s new leader Joseph Meacham had a revelation that their society should practice equality of the sexes, or a Perfect Equality for both the man & woman in Every Lot of Church Relation & in all Rights & Privileges in the Church. 16 Accordingly, he recruited Lucy Wright to be his partner in leading the church. 17 Together they institutionalized the gender-balanced administration of the society. Meacham and Wright structured the church government to be led by a Ministry consisting of two Elders and two Eldresses. Under the Ministry, a team of two Elders and two Eldresses working in partnership ran each village, which included as many as six hundred adults and children. 18 Larger communities were subdivided into two or more orders. At the top was the Church Family (or First Order) for members who had signed the covenant and turned over their property. Lower orders, variously called Gathering, Novitiate or Young Believer s orders, were for those who had not yet made those commitments or were less advanced in the faith. Equality of the sexes was a radical concept in the eighteenth century, when only a handful of women preached to the public and none led churches. But after Meacham died in 1796, Wright became the de facto head of the Shaker Ministry (though she did have a male counterpart), the first female leader since Ann Lee. However, she had to fend off objections to petticoat government, and about a quarter of the society s young men left. 19 Moreover, though Shakers promoted gender parity, that concept was not honoured equally in all Shaker villages. All adopted the gender-balanced government, but the Ministry was unable
xvi Shaker Autobiographies, Biographies and Testimonies, 1806 1907: Volume 1 to impose the ideal of equality on distant members determined to act otherwise. Nevertheless, the society tried to balance the benefits for men and women so neither sex was oppressed. Shakers held all property in common. Their villages were intended to be selfsupporting, so everyone worked. Men and women alike laboured six days a week from before dawn until 8 p.m. Their workdays ended with evening meetings for supervised socializing, singing or worship. 20 The schedule was designed to keep them busy every waking minute because it was believed idle hands make the devil s work. Needless to say, some worked harder than others. One Shaker song derided the sluggard who hated to get out of bed in the morning. His peers rose at four while he slept a little more. And his piety was slack, too. When others into meeting swarm, He keeps his nest so good and warm, That sometimes when sisters come To make the beds and sweep the room, Who do they find wrap d up so snug? Ah! Who is it but Mr. Slug. 21 Lazy converts, however, were unlikely to remain Shakers. The society had rules against misbehaviour; Elders and Eldresses reprimanded believers who crossed the line. 22 But most Believers were diligent and their hard work paid off. Outsiders described Shaker villages as conspicuously prosperous, serene and clean. 23 Visitors also complimented Shakers progressive agriculture. One said, The cultivation of this large farm is beyond any thing in this quarter. Their houses have a very neat appearance, being all painted very commodious, and in perfect order. Their horn cattle, their sheep, & their swine are the finest & fattest in the whole country. Their fences, gates, yards, and walled enclosures are as neat as their houses. Moreover, he added, Their [eight acre garden is] filled with every kind of vegetable, and what they did not use themselves, they sent to market or sold to their less industrious neighbors. He added, They pursue their business with a grave & serious air, without the least trace of anxiety, or mark of discontent. All were busy, their hands to work and their hearts to God. The visitor concluded, By their fruits shall ye know them. 24 Shakers were justifiably proud of their accomplishments, not only in temporal things, but also in helping newcomers change their ways. Brother Jethro Turner, an early convert, wrote that Ann Lee s spirit turned many souls from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. It has caused the dishonest to become honest and upright. It has caused the thief to restore his stolen property, and pursue an honest calling It has caused the idle
General Introduction xvii to become industrious, the prodigal to be prudent the liar to speak the truth, the proud to be humble the glutton and the drunkard to become temperate, the lewd to become chaste. Turner also pointed out, The tree is known by its fruit. 25 Unfortunately, the fruit began to drop by the wayside later in the nineteenth century. After sending missionaries west in 1805, the Shakers built more villages in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. 26 By the mid-nineteenth century, the Shaker population had grown to more than four thousand. As long as the society attracted new members, the system was self-renewing. Unfortunately, Ann Lee s spiritual descendants did not proselytize as effectively or as relentlessly as she had done. Consequently, the population of Shakers fell after 1830, as the Shakers lost the majority of their young men. 27 However, more Shaker-raised girls remained Shakers. Elder Seth Youngs Wells attributed that gender difference to girls better manners and morals, 28 but that was not the whole story. Shaker society offered a woman good food, lodging, lifetime support with medical care and a path to salvation. She also had opportunities for leadership as an eldress or deaconess positions unavailable to women in the world outside Shakerism. Deaconesses and eldresses oversaw women s temporal and spiritual labour, so a Shaker sister never had to work for a man. With those benefits, Shakerism was a good alternative for women who chose celibacy over marriage. 29 As their autobiographies and testimonies show, many women found loving families among the Shakers. Thus the society had more sisters than brethren. Byy the end of the nineteenth century, sisters began taking over positions formerly held by brethren, feminizing the society. 30 As older Shakers died off in the twentieth century, and were not replaced with new converts, the few remaining at each village were consolidated at Canterbury, New Hampshire and Sabbathday Lake, Maine. The Sabbathday Lake community today houses a handful of Believers. Mother Ann Lee s Christ-spirit lives on in her Church, more than 200 years after her death. The Shakers, Individual Experience and the Printed Word The first publication by the Shakers, A Concise Statement, 31 issued in 1790, consists of two very different parts. The first is a dense theological explanation of the Shakers belief in their fourth and final dispensation as the last way of salvation open to mankind. Significantly, no mention is made of the vessel for that dispensation Mother Ann Lee. The second half of the Concise Statement is a vitriolic letter James Whittaker wrote to his parents. Whittaker s letter is the earliest printed statement we have of the personal feelings of one Believer. Shakerism, from the beginning, was not about the individual, but rather about the sublimation of individual will to the will of God as expressed through his visible
xviii Shaker Autobiographies, Biographies and Testimonies, 1806 1907: Volume 1 lead, the Shaker Ministry. This conflict, between the collective union forming the body of the Church, and the lives and experiences of individual members, is at the heart of Shakerism. As the previous set in this series, Writings of Shaker Apostates and Anti-Shakers, 1782 1850, amply demonstrated, the Shakers ceded control of their public image to their enemies almost from the beginning. Perhaps heeding Matthew 5:39 s injunction to turn to them the other cheek, Believers allowed the works of the Rathbuns, lesser apostates and anti-shaker newspaper writers and pamphleteers to perpetuate base calumnies against Mother Ann, the Elders and the body of American converts. It was not until the Shaker mission to the Kentucky Revival that convert Richard McNemar, a veteran of the print wars that accompanied the fracture of the Presbyterian Synod of Kentucky, seized the zeitgeist and wrote The Kentucky Revival. This work not only crystallized the history of the revival through the experience of one of its prime movers and most radical partisans, but also framed it as a precursor to the advent of Shakerism in Ohio and Kentucky. Shaker leadership had always been wary along the lines of 2 Corinthians 3:6: Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. McNemar s work perhaps showed that publishing their theology and history to the world might not kill the spirit. In 1808 at Lebanon, Ohio, the Shakers published The Testimony of Christ s Second Appearing, a work authored primarily by Benjamin Seth Youngs. In the preface he complained that Many have undertaken to write and publish concerning the principles and practice of a people, who, in derision, are called SHAKERS, and either through ignorance or prejudice have misrepresented both. He further charged that The greatest part that hath been published abroad in the world [was by] writers either unacquainted with the people, or actuated by a spirit of prejudice nor hath any thing, hitherto, been published that meets our approbation stating facts in an imperfect light [and also] adding the most groundless falsities. 32 Most significantly, the Testimony contained a twenty-page chapter entitled Evidences Accompanying the Second Appearing of Christ. Here Youngs acknowledged that any reasonable person would demand evidence of the second coming of Christ. Youngs averred that although innumerable facts of a like extraordinary appearance might have been collected from the living witnesses of the present work of God, yet to the candid and honest friend of truth, the following particulars may be sufficient to shew that the same Spirit which wrought by Christ Jesus and his apostles, was made manifest for the confirmation of the truth in this latter day.
General Introduction xix What follows are the testimonies of twelve individual Believers, men and women: Noah Wheaten, Sarah Kibbee, Hannah Cogswell, Phebe Spencer, Richard Treat, John Farrington, Jennet Davis, Mary Southwick, Jerusha Bigelow, Enoch Pease, Susannah Cook and Mary Turner. Their narratives offer the reader personal experience with, and thereby evidence of, the miraculous circumstances attending Mother Ann Lee s ministry. Each testimony is presented in the style of a legal affidavit, with a date, location and the (printed) signatures of witnesses attesting to its veracity. 33 With the publication of these testimonies the Shakers granted the reading public access into their private faith-world, and individual Believers staked their personal reputations in asserting the truth of their convictions. This initial effort, carried out for the purposes of publishing the first 1808 edition of the Testimony of Christ s Second Appearing, blossomed into two much larger projects. Early Shaker Testimonies Between 1810 and 1812, Seth Youngs Wells and Rufus Bishop began collecting testimonies to capture the memories of the aging Believers who had known Mother Ann in person. These testimonies, like those published in the 1808 Testimony of Christ s Second Appearing, are the words of witnesses who had met Mother Ann and travelled around New England with her from 1780 to 1784. They recalled how she looked, the beauty of her singing and her suffering under the abuse of violent mobs. Most relate her teachings and many tell of her paranormal abilities, including the power of God in her touch. Testimonies are useful in several ways. In addition to providing first-hand accounts of Ann Lee, William Lee and James Whittaker, testimonies also include details about their early followers, in their own words. Though they might be dismissed as hagiography, these writings are nonetheless useful in ways apart from their contribution to the collective view of Mother Ann Lee. Some are fine examples of Shaker preachers rhetoric; others show the reasons why individuals joined the society. Taken collectively, they provide the history of the Shakers in America from their emigration to America in 1774 until Ann Lee s death in 1784 a decade in which there were few other written records useful for teasing out the group s activities. Testimonies exist in two forms: manuscript originals and published books. Published testimonies are the best-known, particularly Testimonies of the Life, Character, Revelations and Doctrines of our Ever Blessed Mother Ann Lee, comp. Rufus Bishop and Seth Youngs Wells (Hancock, MA: J. Talcott and J. Deming, Junrs, 1816). This book is a collection of extracts from manuscript testimonies, arranged by topic. The extracts are woven into a chronological narrative of Mother Ann s ministry and the expansion of Shakerism throughout the northeastern United States. Consequently, the editors maintained a tight focus on
xx Shaker Autobiographies, Biographies and Testimonies, 1806 1907: Volume 1 Mother Ann, evidently not realizing that posterity might be interested in her first followers, too. However, this book was not made available to the public. It was printed by the Shakers themselves at the Hancock, Massachusetts Shaker community. Shaker Elders held copies in each village, and although the book was available to members, it was not printed in large enough quantities to circulate abroad. At present around thirty copies are believed to exist in public and private collections. The rationale for collecting and editing the 1816 Testimonies seems to have been simply to preserve the life and teachings of Mother Ann Lee for the benefit of Believers. In 1827, the Shakers published a second volume, Testimonies Concerning the Character and Ministry of Mother Ann Lee, with thirty-one testimonies. These accounts were edited by the compilers, but because they are presented more or less in their entirety, they include biographical information about the testifiers and are useful in providing context for the events described. The motive for publication had changed since the 1816 Testimonies. The late 1810s and 1820s were difficult decades for the Shakers. The public relations and legal nightmares caused by apostates Eunice Chapman and Mary Dyer kept the Shakers embroiled in controversy for much of the period. Chapman and Dyer s prolific publishing efforts drew on apostate and anti-shaker writings dating from the 1780s, offering negative accounts of Mother Ann Lee and the first Believers from contemporary witnesses. Despite the Shakers lack of response in the 1780s, this time around they decided not to take the abuse. In his Biographic Memoir (included in Volumes 2 and 3 of this collection), Calvin Green recalled the genesis of what became the 1827 Testimonies: The aged Brethren & sisters instigated by the many false reports afloat in the world, scandalizing the character of our Blessed Mother, & first Gospel parents: felt it to be their duty to write their respective Testimonies of the Godly & unblemished character of those holy Messangers of Heaven that which their own eyes had seen and their own ears had personaly heard, they testified. (Volume 2, p. 83) In May 1827, Seth Youngs Wells explained how testimonies were collected from Believers venerable for their age, long experience, & respectable standing in the Society; persons whose honesty & integrity have been faithfully proved, and in whose veracity the reader may safely place entire confidence. He added, A part of these testimonies have been written by the persons whose signatures they bear; but as a number of the witnesses, either from age and infirmity or want of practice in writing, were unable to draft their own testimonies, they communicated the substance to some of their brethren or sisters who were able to write it for them; & the manuscripts have either been examined by them, or carefully read to them, & where ever any thing occurred that was not stated exactly according to the sense and understanding of the witness who gave it, it was altered or amended agreeable to his or her feelings; so that nothing should be published or put on record but what should
General Introduction xxi meet the sense & feelings of the subscribing witness. Great care & pains have been taken in this respect, by those concerned in writing these testimonies as well as by the subscriber in preparing them for the press Many more testimonies have been written and collected which are equally worthy of confidence with those contained in the following pages; but as these are considered amply sufficient for the present publication, it is judged advisable not to enlarge the work; they are therefore omitted: they will however be preserved in the church for any future occasion that may require their publication. 34 We do not know exactly what the criteria were for selection of the published testimonies. Most show the individual s desire to live a life without sin, and the testifier s confidence that Shakerism was the road to salvation. Daniel Moseley s sharp testimony against lust may have been reason enough for its inclusion: Mother Ann had the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ given her to search out all the crooked windings of the serpent, and all the deceit of the devil, which has been so craftily diffused into the nature of man; and she was thereby able to rend that glossy covering which, like a mantle, they have spread over their works of concupiscence. By this means she was enabled to unmask all the base and unclean desires and deceitful wantonness of both male and female, and detect all those alluring charms of lust by which they entice and deceive each other. She exposed the subtle craftiness of that filthy nature in the males, by which they seek to seduce and debauch the females; and all the enticing arts of the females to ensnare and bewitch the males, and draw them into their wanton embraces. Ann Lee said that sex was the cause of Adam s fall, and thus the source of all human corruption, including deceit, hypocrisy, covetousness, dissipation, idleness, envy, contention and strife. Those were, Moseley said, the fruits of the filthy gratifications of the flesh, which bring distress and poverty, shame and disgrace upon families and individuals, and fill the earth with wretchedness and misery. 35 Some testimonies reveal other reasons for choosing a Shaker life. Outsiders believed that poverty was the driving factor, and for some individuals, that may have been true. Lucy Brown s family told her that only those who were poor and had no home or parents joined the Shakers. John Deming brought his family to the Shakers because he was in debt and did not know how to repay his creditors. 36 Zipporah Cory recalled, Though I was a poor girl, and of poor parentage, yet I have never seen any difference made on that account; but I have always fared as well among Believers as the daughters of the rich. She escaped her alcoholic father s drunken rages by joining the Shakers, so she had another reason, as well. 37 The 1827 Testimonies were printed by the commercial firm of Packard and Van Benthuysen in Albany, New York. Copies were readily available to the public, as the Shakers intended they should be. Extant copies of the 1827 Testimonies are bound in a variety of ways, from fine tree-grained full calf, to printed boards, to limp printed paper wraps. This variety indicates an aspect of the commercial
xxii Shaker Autobiographies, Biographies and Testimonies, 1806 1907: Volume 1 book-trade at work, as customers could choose to have books bound in the way they desired and could afford. Public holdings of the 1827 Testimonies approach one hundred copies, and many additional copies are held in private libraries and collections. Thus the Shakers purpose of the volume was fulfilled: it circulated widely offering the testimony of living witnesses to the life and teachings of Mother Ann Lee. Currently, however, the text is not available electronically. Therefore we have selected it for inclusion in this collection. A whole other body of unpublished testimonies tend to have more personal information about their authors. Even a testimony such as Mary Osgood s, which does not mention Ann Lee s extraordinary abilities, shows Mother Ann s charity and unbounded compassion to a poor woman with four little children. 38 Likewise, Susannah Barret, struggling with having to wean her eleven-month-old baby so she can turn him over to childless sisters to raise, reported that Ann Lee recognized the hardship of surrendering a child. Mother Ann ordered that Barret take care of the infant herself, because childless sisters did not know what it was to be an affectionate Mother. 39 Both accounts strike a chord in a mother s heart, but not necessarily in that of the childless male compilers of published testimonies. The unpublished 1829 account of backslider Benjamin Allis (or Ellis), however, until now has existed only in manuscript. Reasons for this do seem to be clear: in addition to being written too late for publication, his testimony was less about Ann Lee or her teachings than it was about his backsliding hardly an example to preserve for posterity. Nevertheless, even the story of a redeemed apostate who returned to lead a backsliders order might be useful to a scholar wanting to understand Shaker views and how they changed over time. 40 Moreover, even though his story and others are more autobiographical than testimonial, they contain fascinating details about Shaker history, individual views of Shakers and Shakerism, and the diversity of members reasons for joining. Allis s narrative is included in Volume 1, pp. 269 71. The Era of Shaker Autobiography and Biography In the same year that the 1827 Testimonies were published, a grieving father and Shaker convert, Proctor Sampson, published the Remains of Joseph A. H. Sampson, who Died at New-Lebanon, 12 mo. 14, 1825, Aged 20 Years. Published by the Request of his Friends, for the Benefit of Youth (Rochester, NY: Printed by E. F. Marshall, For Procter Sampson, of New-Lebanon, 1827). Sampson was an important convert and he energetically helped lead the effort to gather a Shaker community at Sodus Bay, New York (see Calvin Green s description of this in the Biographic Memoir, Volumes 2 and 3 of this collection). Sampson s son Joseph joined the Shakers with his father, wrote poetry, and was a beloved young member at New Lebanon. His early passing was a great blow to the hopes of
General Introduction xxiii many aged Believers who looked to younger converts to carry the faith forward. Of course, many Shakers had died in various waves of disease and other tribulations since the 1780s; what was unique about Joseph Sampson s death was that his father commemorated the event with a published book. Proctor Sampson s heartfelt preface in the volume expressed his deep love for his son, and grief at his passing. The preface is followed by Joseph s poetry. In Proctor Sampson s missionary work at Sodus Bay, New York, he had witnessed the death of another model young Believer, Polly Lawrence. Lawrence, a gifted singer, was sent from New Lebanon and was much beloved by the converts at Sodus Bay. Her short illness and sudden death was a severe blow to that nascent community. However, her resignation and composure in the face of death were a powerful example to her fellow Believers. Sampson appended a Short Account of the Death of Polly Lawrence to the Remains. In effect the volume serves as a dual memorial to these lamented young Shakers. As a published work the Remains is without precedent among the Shakers, though of a type quite common in the non-shaker world. Its publication opened the door to greater recognition of the lives and efforts of individual Believers, particularly as many of the first-generation were passing away. While the Testimonies of 1816 and 1827 contained some autobiographical accounts, the emphasis was usually on an individual s religious experience along the path to Shaker conversion, and recollections of the Mother Ann and the first Elders. From 1827 onwards, Shakers began to write, collect and publish autobiographies and biographies of individual members in a way they had not done previously. Individual Shakers wrote accounts of their lives at the request of others, and sometimes merely of their own volition. Some were intended for publication, while some were modestly kept as personal memorials, or passed on to younger Believers as tokens of affection. When Richard McNemar established his Union Press at Watervliet, Ohio in 1832 he wrote excitedly to his long-time correspondent Seth Youngs Wells about biographical projects he was preparing for print: The only thing now presented here for the press, is a manuscript about the size or not quite so large as that of Elder David, i.e. about enough for three forms. The title of it is The Life and Experience of Issachar Bates, written by himself. For my own part I consider it a well written affair, & worthy of all acceptation. Perhaps I feel some partiality towards it, as I was one among others who requested him to write it. Among my manuscripts I have the character, life & labors of Father David, & Mother Ruth that of F.D. is quite copious & I think in substance, both would be well accepted, & in many respects very useful to Believers & not prejudicial to the world, should it fall into their hands. 41 McNemar never printed these projects, but his friend Issachar Bates s autobiography ranks as a classic in Shaker literature. As Carol Medlicott has shown,
xxiv Shaker Autobiographies, Biographies and Testimonies, 1806 1907: Volume 1 numerous copies of Bates s Sketch of the Life and Experience of Issachar Bates made it the most widely circulated Shaker autobiography in manuscript form. Eighteen copies are known to exist, and those who have read it understand why. 42 Bates s picaresque journey through life included a UFO sighting, a stint as a fifer during the Revolutionary War, marriage, fatherhood, frontier adventuring, struggles with alcohol and, of course, his conversion to Shakerism and long career as an Elder in the western Shaker communities. Elder Henry Clay Blinn of the Canterbury, New Hampshire Shaker community published a heavily edited version of Bates s manuscript in serial form in the Shakers periodical the Manifesto during 1884 5. 43 Brother Theodore Johnson of the Sabbathday Lake, Maine, Shakers published a literal transcription in that community s Shaker Quarterly in 1961 2. 44 David Spinning s Short Sketch, written in 1841, is fairly anomalous for its time. It is more than four times the length of any comparable Shaker autobiographies from that period or before (with the exception of Bates s Sketch ). The spiritual tumult of the Kentucky Revival forms an exciting backdrop to the early part of his narrative. While many western Shaker leaders had also been leaders during the revival, few wrote about their pre-shaker experiences at any length. Thus, Spinning s recollections of Richard McNemar s initial visits to south-western Ohio (reproduced in Volume 1, pp. 309 46), as well as John Thompson s preaching, are valuable records of that period. Additionally, Spinning s introspective tone and honest reflections on his successes and failures as a leader among Believers are refreshing in their candour. Spinning s discussion of his lifelong struggles with health issues, smoking, and his embrace of the Graham diet are also uncommon in Shaker memoirs of this early date. Taken altogether they contribute to a highly readable work that humanizes Spinning for readers, Shaker and non-shaker alike. Calvin Green s Biographic Memoir is the epic of Shaker autobiography. It alone comprises Volume 2 and is continued in Volume 3. The only work of even relatively comparable length written prior to it was Bates s Sketch. The chief difference is that while Bates led a rich and varied life prior to his conversion to Shakerism, Green was literally born into the faith. His mother, Thankful Barce, was caught up in the revival of 1779, and in 1780 embraced Shakerism in the first opening of Mother Ann s testimony. Mother Ann promised Thankful that she would experience none of the pains of childbirth since she had converted. Green later wrote that during childbirth his mother: was under the operations of heavenly power, singing & talking in other toungues when the child was born As the result of this wonderful gift, the Little one was born under operations of shaking power and when he was born immediately opened his eyes and looked round as if he was observing things like a person grown to rationality.
General Introduction xxv With such an auspicious start in life it is little wonder that Green accomplished much of importance for the Shakers, including missionary work, writing and publishing, and Eldership at the North Family, or Gathering Order at New Lebanon, New York. His Biographic Memoir is one of the richest primary sources for Shakerism in the first half of the nineteenth century. It contains valuable information on life at New Lebanon in the 1790s as the families were being organized; the openings of the gospel at Savoy, Massachusetts, Wilmington, Vermont and Sodus Bay, New York; travel along the new canals and railways; and Shaker publications. Green also provides copious information on the themes and content of his sermons, making the Biographic Memoir a source for studying Shaker theology and religious thought. Besides writing his autobiography, Green was aware of the value of such documents for the encouragement of Believers in general. In his Memoir he writes about being a biographer: In the summer of 1859, at a time I was looking over my writing, I discovered one that contained the outlines of A Biography of Father Joseph Meacham s life & character, which I had written whilst at the North House. As soon as I saw it I was struck with the impression that, I ought now to complete the work & that it would be an important & useful Memorial, so long as the order of Believers which He was the primary Agent in establishing, was maintained on Earth. I set about the business & accomplished the matter. And our Elder Brother Daniel liked it so well that He kindly got it neatly drawn off 45 and then had it read in a family meeting, & it seemed to give great satisfaction to all And they all gave me their hearty thanks for the labor which felt grateful to me Many of the rising generation had before, but little idea of his character & labors, hence it was very interesting to them. I was then requested by numbers to write the Biography of Elder Henry Clough, as I was the only contempory person that could write it. 46 I found that altho He was such a prominent & efficient agent in building up & establishing the order of Believers, his name was not even known by many of the latter class of Believers & rising generation. The Elder Brother Calvin Reed 47 was so anxious to have it done that He offered to draw the work off if I would write the draft And I felt a special feeling so to do, having been personaly acquainted with him thro the whole of his ministration and saw his virtues in such a degree as to cause an exalted view of His Charater. Therefore I set about the work & finished the Draft the forepart of the year 1860. The Elder Brother Calvin then drew it off handsomly in a Book, made some proper divisions, & aded a preface which I tho t would be a good one for the three Biographies viz, Father Joseph s, Mother Lucy s, & Elder Henry s; all to be Recorded in one Book. Elder Henry s was then read in a meeting of each order: And appeared to be edifying & gave much satisfaction. The Ministry & others considered this to be of even more importance than Father s inasmuch as it rescued from nearly oblivion a very worthy & virtuous character for a future example. Green also wrote a biography of Mother Lucy Wright. 48 His own memoir and other writings were mined by later Shaker authors and historians. As Margaret
xxvi Shaker Autobiographies, Biographies and Testimonies, 1806 1907: Volume 1 Gower discovered, Anna White and Leila Taylor relied heavily on Green for their monumental 1904 history Shakerism: Its Meaning and Message. When Alonzo Hollister published a variety of works, some decidedly esoteric, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he gave Green posthumous co-authorship on his three-volume Pearly Gate Bible Lessons. 49 Exactly why is unclear, but it is likely that he drew on Green s manuscripts for content. In 1859 the first edition of the Shakers: Compendium appeared. This valuable summary work was written by Frederick W. Evans, and Calvin Green and Giles Avery served as editors. Unlike any previous Shaker publication, it included brief biographies of Mother Ann Lee, William Lee, James Whittaker, John Hocknell, Joseph Meacham and Lucy Wright. 50 Green s manuscripts surely provided valuable source material for this foray into publishing individual biographies. In the 1860s many Shakers took up their pens to write lengthy autobiographies, Calvin Green was but one. Other notable examples include Rhoda Blake, John Lyon, Richard Pelham, William Leonard, James Wilson and William Offord. Pelham, who had so carefully transcribed David Spinning s Short Sketch of 1841, wrote a highly interesting account of his own life, entitled A Sketch of the Life and Religious Experience of Richard Pelham. Sabbathday Lake, Maine, Shaker Theodore Johnson serialized Pelham s Sketch in the Shaker Quarterly, just as he had Issachar Bates s Sketch. 51 John Lyon and Rhoda Blake s autobiographies have been reproduced in Volumes 1 and 3 of this set, respectively. Those of William Leonard, James Wilson, and William Offord are not. Wilson s autobiography deals quite a bit with his time in the Friendly Association for Mutual Interest (or Valley Forge Community) that began in 1823. Although financially backed by William Maclure, a disciple of Robert Owen and Owen s partner in establishing New Harmony, Indiana, the community dissolved in 1827. Many of the former members joined the Shaker community at New Lebanon, New York. Wilson s narrative complements those of Jane D. Knight and George Wickersham (both included in Volume 3), who were also members at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The 1860s closed with the publication of Frederick William Evans s Autobiography of a Shaker, and Revelation of the Apocalypse in 1869. 52 Unlike many of his peers Evans never shied away from the limelight. On the contrary, he actively expressed his opinions on almost every social, political and cultural issue of the late nineteenth century, publishing countless pamphlets and newspaper articles. His Autobiography is quite a good read, and follows him from his English upbringing, a brief stint at a failed Owenite community in Massilon, Ohio, and finally an incredible spiritual encounter at the North Family of the New Lebanon Shaker village the pivotal moment in Evans s life that led to his Shaker conversion. Evans s Autobiography was reprinted in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1888, and was probably one of the most widely circulated Shaker publications of the period. While Evans s emphasis in his own personal viewpoints sometimes put