Shakers

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

Communalism under Joseph Meacham

In 1781–1783 the Mother with chosen elders visited her followers in New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. She died in Watervliet, NY on September 8, 1784. James Whittaker was head of the Believers for three years. On his death he was succeeded by Joseph Meacham (1742–1796), who had been a Baptist minister in Enfield, CT, and had, second only to Mother Ann, the spiritual gift of revelation. Under his rule and that of Lucy Wright (1760–1821), who shared the headship with him during his lifetime and then for twenty-five years ruled alone, the organization of the Shakers and, particularly, a rigid communalism (religious communism), began. By 1793 property had been made a "consecrated whole" in the different communities, but a "noncommunal order" also had been established, in which sympathizers with the principles of the Believers lived in families. The Shakers never forbade marriage, but refused to recognize it as a Christian institution since the second coming in the person of Mother Ann, and considered it less perfect than the celibate state. Shaker communities in this period were established in 1790 at Hancock, West Pittsfield, MA; in 1791 at Harvard, MA; in 1792 at East Canterbury, NH (or Shaker Village); and in 1793 at Shirley, MA; at Enfield, Connecticut (then also known as Shaker Station); at Enfield, NH (or "Chosen Vale"); at Tyringham, MA, where the Society was afterwards abandoned, its members joining the communities in Hancock and Enfield; at New Gloucester, ME (since 1890: "Sabbathday Lake"); and at Alfred, ME, where, more than anywhere else among the Shakers, spiritualistic healing of the sick was practiced. In Kentucky and Ohio Shakerism entered after the Cane Ridge, KY revival of 1800–1801, and in 1805–1807 Shaker societies were founded at South Union, KY Logan county, and Pleasant Hill, KY, Mercer County, KY.

Related Topics:
1783 - Watervliet, NY - September 8 - 1784 - 1742 - 1796 - Enfield, CT - Lucy Wright - 1760 - 1821 - Communalism - Religious communism - 1793 - Families - Marriage - Christian - Celibate - 1790 - Pittsfield, MA - 1791 - Harvard, MA - 1792 - Canterbury, NH - Shirley, MA - Enfield, Connecticut - Enfield, NH - Tyringham, MA - New Gloucester, ME - 1890 - Alfred, ME - Cane Ridge, KY - Revival - 1800 - 1801 - 1805 - 1807 - Union, KY - Pleasant Hill, KY - Mercer County, KY

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Expansion and Contraction

A prominent part in this revival had been taken by Richard McNemar, a Presbyterian, who had broken with his Church because of his Arminian tendencies and had established the quasi-independent Turtle Creek Church. McNemar was won by Shaker missionaries in 1805, and many of his parishioners joined him to form the Union Village community in Turtlecreek Township, Warren County, Ohio, four miles west of Lebanon. McNemar was a favorite of Lucy Wright, who gave him the spiritual name Eleazer Riotht, which he changed to Eleazer Wright; he wrote The Kentucky Revival (Cincinnati, 1807), probably the earliest defense of Shakerism, and a poem, entitled A Concise Answer to the General Inquiry Who or What are the Shakers (1808).

Related Topics:
Arminian - 1805 - Turtlecreek Township, Warren County, Ohio - Lebanon - 1808

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In 1811 a community settled at Busro on the Wabash in Indiana; but it was soon abandoned and its members went to Ohio and to Kentucky. In Ohio later communities were formed at Watervliet, Hamilton county, and at Whitewater, Dayton county. In New York, the communal property at Sodus Bay was sold in 1828 and the community removed to Groveland, or Sonyea; their land here was sold to the state and the few remaining members went to Watervliet. A short-lived community at Canaan, was merged into the communities in Mount Lebanon (in New Lebanon) and Enfield, Connecticut.

Related Topics:
1811 - Indiana - New York - 1828 - Canaan - New Lebanon - Enfield, Connecticut

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The peak was probably reached between 1830 and 1850 at about 6000 members. The numerical strength of the sect decreased rapidly, probably from 4000 to 1000 from 1887 to 1908, and there has been little effort made to plant new communities. The Mt. Lebanon Society in 1894 established a colony at Narcoossee, Florida; the attempt of the Union Village Society in 1898 to plant a settlement at White Oak, Georgia, was unsuccessful. In 1910 the Union Village Society went into the hands of a receiver.

Related Topics:
1830 - 1850 - 1887 - 1908 - 1894 - Narcoossee, Florida - 1898 - White Oak, Georgia - 1910

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At various times, the Shakers had eighteen major communities in eight states and six smaller communities in Florida and Indiana.

Related Topics:
Florida - Indiana

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