Shakers

This article is about the Shakers, a religious denomination. For other uses of the term shakers or shaker, see Shakers (disambiguation).

Ann Lee

Under the leadership of Mother Ann Lee, beginning in 1772, the work ethic and rejection of marriage for which they have ever since been known began to typify the movement. She joined the Wardleys in 1758.

Related Topics:
Ann Lee - 1772 - Work ethic - 1758

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Although a believer in celibacy, she had, at her parents' urging, married Abraham Stanley (Standley, or Standerin), and bore him four children, all of whom died in infancy. She was miserable in marriage, and by 1770 had begun to insist that the institution was not compatible with the Kingdom of God. Like many others in the Quaker tradition, she believed in and taught her followers that it is possible to attain perfect holiness. Like her predecessors the Wardleys, she taught that the demonstrations of shaking and trembling were caused by sin being purged from the body by the power of the Holy Spirit, purifying the worshiper. Distinctively, the followers of Mother Ann came to believe that she embodied all the perfections of God in female form.

Related Topics:
Celibacy - Parent - Children - 1770 - Kingdom of God - Holiness

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She rose to prominence in the movement through her dramatic urging of the Believers to preach more publicly concerning the imminent second coming, and to attack sin more boldly and unconventionally. She was frequently imprisoned for breaking the Sabbath by dancing and shouting, and for blasphemy. While in prison in Manchester for 14 days, she said she had a revelation that "a complete cross against the lusts of generation, added to a full and explicit confession, before witnesses, of all the sins committed under its influence, was the only possible remedy and means of salvation".

Related Topics:
Second coming - Sin - Sabbath - Blasphemy - Revelation - Salvation

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After this, she was chosen by the society as "Mother in spiritual things" and called herself "Ann, the Word" and also "Mother Ann". Another revelation bade her take a select band to America. Mother Ann arrived on August 6, 1774 in New York City, and in 1776 the Shakers settled in the township of Watervliet, near Albany, where a unique community life began to develop and thrive.

Related Topics:
August 6 - 1774 - New York City - 1776 - Watervliet - Albany - Community

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First Shaker society

The village was divided into groups or "families" that were named for points on the compass rose. Each house was divided so that men and women did everything separately. They used different staircases, doors and even sat on opposite sides of the room. The men and women were segregated to prevent them from touching one another during the epileptic-like fits that they fell into during worship. The elders would watch over them through the windows, to make sure no physical contact happened.

Related Topics:
Village - Compass rose - Epileptic-like

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A spiritualistic revival in the neighboring town of New Lebanon sent many penitents to Watervliet, who accepted Mother Ann's teachings and organized in 1787 (before any formal organization in Watervliet) the New Lebanon Society, the first Shaker Society, at New Lebanon (since 1861 called Mt. Lebanon), Columbia county, New York. The Society at Watervliet, organized immediately afterwards, and the New Lebanon Society formed a bishopric. The Watervliet members, as pacifists and non-jurors, had got into trouble during the American War of Independence; in 1780 the Board of Elders were imprisoned, but all except Mother Ann were speedily set free, and she was released in 1781.

Related Topics:
Spiritualistic - New Lebanon - 1787 - 1861 - Pacifists - American War of Independence - 1780 - 1781

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