made by a trustee, without the general knowledge of the society.
Moreover they have suffered severely from fires and by a flood. Once
seven of their buildings were burned down in a night. In this way a fund
they had at interest was expended in repairs. But the society seems now
to be prosperous; its buildings are in excellent order, and the brick
dwelling of the Church Family, built in 1857, is well arranged and a
fine structure. They have a steam laundry and a fine dairy. In their
shops they carry on blacksmithing, carpentry, tailoring, and
dress-making.
They make a regular annual business statement to the presiding ministry.
At intervals they send out one or two brethren to preach to the outer
world upon Shakerism.
There are four Shaker societies in Ohio: Union Village, near Lebanon;
North Union, near Cleveland; Watervliet, near Dayton; and Whitewater,
near Harrison.
_Union Village_.
The society at Union Village lies four miles from Lebanon, in Warren
County, Ohio. It is the oldest Shaker settlement in the West; the three
"witnesses" sent out from Mount Lebanon in 1805 were here received by a
prosperous farmer named Malchas Worley, who became a "Believer," and
whose influence greatly helped to spread the Shaker doctrines among his
neighbors. His small dwelling still stands near the large house of one
of the families, and is kept in neat repair; it lies in the heart of the
society's present estate.
The ministry of Union Village, while subordinate to that at Mount
Lebanon, rules or has a general oversight of the western societies in
Ohio and Kentucky; and in former times there has been a good deal of
printing done there, a number of Shaker publications having been written
and published at Union Village.
The society at Union Village consists of four families, containing at
this time two hundred and fifteen persons, of whom ninety-five are males
and one hundred and twenty females. Of the whole number, forty-eight are
children and youth under twenty-one, and of these twenty are boys and
twenty-eight girls. Between 1827 and 1830 it had six hundred members,
and at that time there were six families. It had, however, about that
time received sudden and considerable accessions from the dissolution of
the Shaker Society in Indiana, which left that state on account of the
unhealthfulness of the country, and whose members were divided among the
Ohio societies. In the last ten years I was told there had been neither
gain nor loss of numbers, taking the average of the year; for here, as
elsewhere, there is usually a swelling of the ranks in the fall, from
what are called "winter Shakers."
The society at Union Village was "gathered" between 1805 and 1810. The
oldest building dates from 1807, and others, of brick and still in
excellent preservation, bear the dates of 1810 and 1811. All the
buildings are in good order; and this society is among the most
prosperous in the order. Its families own a magnificent estate of four
thousand five hundred acres lying in the famous Miami bottom, a soil
much of which is so fertile that after sixty years of cropping it will
still yield from sixty to seventy bushels of corn to the acre, and
without manuring. They have also some outlying farms. They have no debt,
and one of the families has a fund at interest.
They let much of their land to tenants, having not less than forty thus
settled and working the soil on shares. Besides this, the different
families employ about thirty hired laborers. Their industries are
broom-making, raising garden seeds and medicinal herbs, and preparing
medicinal extracts. They also make a syrup of sarsaparilla, and one or
two other patent medicines: they have a saw and a grist mill; the women
make small fancy articles and baskets. But their most profitable
business is the growth of fine stock--thoroughbred Durham cattle
chiefly. They have, of course, shops in which they make and mend what
they need for themselves--tailor's, shoemaker's, blacksmith's,
wagon-maker's, etc. Formerly they manufactured more than at
present--having made at one time, for the general market, steel,
leather, hollow-ware, pipes, and woolen yarn. Prosperity has lessened
their enterprise. Three of the families have very complete laundries.
They eat meat, but no pork; and only a very few of the aged members use
tobacco. They have an excellent school, of which one of the ministry, an
intelligent and kindly man, is the teacher. They have a small
library--"not so many books as we would like;" and one of the sisters
told me that she got books from a circulating library at Lebanon, and as
a special indulgence was allowed to read novels sometimes, which, she
remarked, she found useful to set her to sleep. They have two
cabinet-organs, and believe in cultivating music.
The founders of this society were mostly Presbyterians. Their successors
have been Methodists, Baptists, Quakers, and I found, to my surprise,
several Catholics, one of whom was originally a Spanish priest. Almost
all are Americans, but there are a few Germans and English.
They do not care to take children unless they are accompanied by their
parents; and refuse to take any under nine years, unless they come as
part of a family. Not more than ten per cent of the children they train
up remain with them; but they said it was not uncommon to see them
return after spending some years in the world, and in such cases they
often made good Shakers. During the war a number of their young men went
off to become soldiers. Several of those who survived returned, and are
now among them.
They have no provision for baths.
In 1835 they suffered from the defalcation of a trustee, to the amount
of between forty and fifty thousand dollars.
I looked over a list of deaths during the last thirty years, and was
surprised to find how many members had lived to ninety and past, and how
large a proportion died at over seventy.
"Are you all Spiritualists," I asked, and was answered, "Of course;" but
presently one added, "We are all Spiritualists, in a general sense; but
there are some _real_ Spiritualists here;" and I judge that here as
in some of the other societies Spiritualism is not much thought of. I saw
the "Sacred Roll and Book" on a table, but was told it was not much read
nowadays, but that they read the Bible a good deal.
I found that for the last three years they have had here what they call
a Lyceum: a kind of debating club which meets once a week, for the
discussion of set questions, reading, and the criticism of essays
written by the members. The last question discussed was, "Whether it is
best for the Shaker societies to work on cash or credit."
This Lyceum has produced another meeting in the Church Family, in which,
once a week, all the members--male and female, young and old--are
gathered to overhaul the accounts of the week, and to discuss all the
industrial occupations of the family, agricultural and mechanical, as
well as housekeeping and every thing relating to their practical life.
These weekly meetings are found to give the younger members a greater
interest in the society, and they were established because it was
thought necessary to make efforts to keep the youth whom they bring up.
"We will never change the fundamental principles and practices of
Shakerism," said one of the older and official members, an uncommonly
intelligent Shaker, to me. "Celibacy and the confession of sins are
vital; but in all else we ought to be changeable, and may modify our
practices; and we feel that we must do something to make home more
pleasant for our young people--they want more music and more books, and
shall have them; they are greatly interested in these weekly business
meetings; and I am in favor of giving them just as much and as broad an
education as they desire."
The business meeting lasts an hour, and the "Elder Brother in the
Ministry" presides. I saw some evidences that this meeting aroused
thought. Any member may bring up a subject for discussion; and I heard
some of the sisters say that one matter which had occupied their
thoughts was the too great monotony of their own lives--they desired
greater variety, and thought women might do some other things besides
cooking. One thought it would be an improvement to abolish the caps, and
let the hair have its natural growth and appearance--but I am afraid she
might be called a radical.
The founders of Union Village were evidently men who did their work
thoroughly; the dwellings and houses they built early in the century,
all of brick, have a satisfactory solidity, and are not without the
homely charm which good work and plain outlines give to any building.
Two of these old houses in the Church Family are now used as the boys'
and the girls' houses, and are uncommonly good specimens of early
Western architecture. The whole village is a pattern of neatness, with
flagged walks and pleasant grassy court-yards and shade-trees; but I
noticed here and there a slackness in repairs which seemed to show the
want of a deacon's sharp eyes.
_North Union._
The North Union Shaker Society lies eight miles northeast from
Cleveland. It was founded in 1822, in what was then a thickly timbered
wilderness, and the people lived for some years in log cabins. The
society was most numerous about 1840, when it contained two hundred
members. It is now divided into three families, having one hundred and
two persons, of whom seventeen are children and youth under twenty-one.
Of these last, six are boys and eleven girls. Of the adult members,
forty-four are women and forty-one men. Their numbers have of late
increased, but there was a gradual diminution for fifteen years before
that.
About a third of the present members were brought up in the society; of
the remainder, the most were by religious connection Adventists,
Methodists, and Baptists. They have among them persons who were weavers,
whalemen, and sailors, but most of them were farmers. The greater number
are Americans, but they have some Swiss, Germans, and English. They do
not like to take in children unless their parents come with them. The
health of the society has been very good. Many of their people have
lived to past eighty; one sister died at ninety-eight. In the last fifty
years they have buried just one hundred persons.
They eat but little meat; use tea and coffee, but moderately, and "bear
against tobacco," but permit its use in certain cases. But they allow no
one to both smoke and chew the weed. They have a school, and like to
sing, but do not allow musical instruments.
Less than a quarter of the young people whom they bring up remain with
them.
They own 1355 acres of land in one body, and have no outlying farms.
They have a saw-mill, and make brooms, broom-handles, and stocking
yarn. But their chief sources of income arise from supplying milk and
vegetables to Cleveland, as well as fire-wood, and some lumber, and they
keep fine stock. They used to make wooden ware. Their dairy brought them
in $2300 last year. They employ nine hired men.
The buildings of this society are not in as neat order as those of
Groveland or others eastward. I missed the thorough covering of paint,
and the neatness of shops. They have no steam laundry, and make no
provision for baths. But they have the usual number of "shops," among
them an infirmary, or in Shaker language a "nurse-shop." They have a
small library, and take two daily newspapers, the New York _World_
and _Sun_. They read the Bible "when they have a gift for it," but
depend much upon their own revelations from the spirit-land.
They owe no debts, and have a fund at interest. They make a detailed
annual report to the presiding ministry. They have never suffered
serious loss from mismanagement and defaulting agents or trustees.
_Watervliet and Whitewater_.
The two societies of Watervliet and Whitewater, in Ohio, I did not
visit. They are small, and subordinate to that of Union Village.
The society at Watervliet has two families, containing fifty-five
members, of whom nineteen are males and thirty-six females; and seven
are under twenty-one. They own thirteen hundred acres of land, much of
which they let to tenants. They have a wool-factory, which is their
only manufactory.
This society was founded a year after that at Union Village; it had in
1825 one hundred members; and is now prosperous, pecuniarily, having no
debt, and money at interest. One of its families once suffered a slight
loss from a defalcation.
The society at Whitewater has three families, and one hundred members,
of whom fifteen are under twenty-one. There are forty males and sixty
females. It was founded in 1827, and many among its members came from
the society which broke up in Indiana. It had at one time one hundred
and fifty members.
It owns fifteen hundred acres of land, and has no debt, but a fund at
interest in each family. The families put up garden seeds, make brooms,
raise stock, and farm.
There are two societies in Kentucky, one at South Union, in Logan
County, on the line of the Nashville Railroad, and one at Pleasant Hill,
in Mercer County, seven miles from Harrodsburg. They are both
prosperous.
_South Union._
The society at South Union was founded nearly on the scene of the wild
"Kentucky revival" in the year 1807, the gathering taking place in 1809.
Some of the log cabins then built by the early members are still
standing, and the first meetinghouse, built in 1810, bears that date on
its front. I judge that the early members were poor, from the fact that
they lived for some time in cabins. Some who came into the society at an
early date were slaveholders; and as the Shakers have always
consistently opposed slavery, these set their slaves free, but induced
them to the number of forty to join them. For many years there was a
colored family, with a colored elder, living upon the same terms as the
whites. From time to time some of these fell away and left the society;
but I was told that a number became and remained "good Shakers," and
died in the faith; and when the colored family became too small, the
remnant of members was taken in among the whites. There are at present
several colored members.
There were originally three families, but now four, one of which,
however, is small. The society numbers two hundred and thirty persons,
of whom one hundred are males and One hundred and thirty females, and
forty of these are under twenty-one--twenty-five girls and fifteen boys.
In 1827 they were most numerous, having three hundred and forty-nine
persons in all the families; they had at one time but one hundred and
seventy-five, and have risen from that in the last twenty years to their
present number. For some years they have neither increased nor
diminished, except by the coming and going of "winter Shakers," and "we
sift pretty carefully," they told me. [Footnote: The "Millennial Church"
gives their number at four hundred about 1825, but I follow the account
given me at South Union.] Most of the members are Americans, but they
have some Germans and a few English, and they had at one time several
French Catholics.
They own nearly six thousand acres of land, of which three thousand five
hundred acres are in the home farm, the remainder about four miles off.
The South Union Shakers were early famous for fine stock, which they
sold in Missouri and in the Northwestern states and territories. They
still raise fine breeds of cattle, hogs, sheep, and chickens, and this
is a considerable source of income to them. Some of their land they let
to tenants, among whom I found several colored families; they have also
extensive orchards; the remainder they cultivate, raising--besides the
pasturage of their stock--corn, wheat, rye, and oats. They have also a
good grist-mill, from which they ship flour; they own a large brick
hotel at the railroad station, which, I was told, is a summer resort,
there being a sulphur spring near it, also a store, both of which they
rent to "world's people;" and they make brooms, put up garden
seeds--which was formerly an important business with them--and prepare
canned and preserved fruits, which they sell largely in the Southern
States. I saw here on the table those very sweet "preserves" which a
quarter of a century ago were to be found on every farmer's table in New
England, if he had a thrifty wife, and which, after breeding a kind of
epidemic of dyspepsia, have now, I think, entirely disappeared from our
Northern tables. It seems they are still served on "company occasions"
in the South.
They have for their home use a tannery, and shops for tailoring,
shoemaking, carpentering, and blacksmithing; and they employ fifteen
hired people, all Negroes.
Their buildings, which are both brick and frame, are all in excellent
condition; and the large pines and Norway spruces growing near the
dwellings (and "trimmed up"--or robbed of their lower branches, as the
abominable fashion has too long been in this country), show that the
founders provided for their descendants some grateful shade. Near the
Church Family they showed me two fine old oaks, under which Henry Clay
once partook of a public dinner, while at another time James Monroe and
Andrew Jackson stopped for a day at the country tavern which once stood
near by, when the stage road ran near here. "Monroe," said one of the
older members to me, "was a stout, thickset man, plain, and with but
little to say; Jackson, tall and thin, with a hickory visage."
Naturally, this being Kentucky, Clay was held to be the greatest
character of the three.
Here, too, as I am upon antiquities, I saw old men who in their youth
had taken part in the great "revival," and had seen the "jerks," which
were so horrible a feature of that religious excitement, and of which I
have previously quoted some descriptions from McNemar's "Kentucky
Revival." To dance, I was here told, was the cure for the "jerks;" and
men often danced until they dropped to the ground. "It was of no use to
try to resist the jerks," the old men assured me. "Young men sometimes
came determined to make fun of the proceedings, and were seized before
they knew of it." Men were "flung from their horses;" "a young fellow,
famous for drinking, cursing, and violence, was leaning against a tree
looking on, when he was jerked to the ground, slam bang. He swore he
would not dance, and he was jerked about until it was a wonder he was
not killed. At last he had to dance." "Sometimes they would be jerked
about like a cock with his head off, all about the ground." The dancing
I judge to have been an involuntary convulsive movement, which was the
close of the general spasm. Of course, the people believed the whole was
a "manifestation of the power of God." There is no reason to doubt that
McNemar's descriptions are accurate; from what I have heard at South
Union, I imagine that his account is not complete.
The South Union Shakers have no debt, and mean to obey the rule in this
regard; they have a very considerable fund at interest. They eat meat,
but no pork; drink tea and coffee, and some of them use tobacco--even
the younger members. They have as their minister here a somewhat
remarkable man, who studied Latin while driving an ox team as a
youngster, and later in life acquired some knowledge of German, French,
and Swedish while laboring successively as seed-gardener, tailor, and
shoemaker. His mild face and gentle manners pleased me very much; and I
was not surprised to find him a man greatly beloved in other societies
as well as at South Union. Nevertheless his example does not appear to
have been catching, for I was told that they have no library. They read
a number of newspapers, but the average of culture is low.
They have no baths; have lately bought a piano, and had a brother from
Canterbury to instruct some of the sisters in music. The singing was not
so good as I have heard elsewhere among the Shakers. They have a school
during five months of the year; and they like to take children--"would
rather have bad ones than none." They have brought children from New
Orleans and from Memphis after an epidemic which had left many orphans.
The young people "do tolerably well."
The founders of this society were "New-Light Presbyterians;" since then
they have been reinforced by "Infidels," Spiritualists, Methodists, and
others.
It is certainly to their credit that, living in a slave state, and
having up to the outbreak of the war a great part of their business with
the states farther south, these Shakers were always anti-slavery and
Union people. Formerly they hired Negro laborers from their masters,
which, I suppose, kept the masters quiet; it did not surprise me to hear
that they always had their choice of the slave population near them. A
Negro knew that he would nowhere be treated so kindly as among the
Shakers. During the war they suffered considerable losses. A saw-mill
and grist-mill, with all their contents, were burned, causing a loss of
seventy-five thousand dollars. They fed the troops of both sides, and
told me that they served at least fifty thousand meals to Union and
Confederate soldiers alike. There was guerrilla fighting on their own
grounds, and a soldier was shot near the Church dwelling. "The war cost
us over one hundred thousand dollars," said one of the elders; and
besides this they lost money by bad debts in the Southern States. Since
the war they lost seventy-five thousand dollars in bonds, which,
deposited in a bank, were stolen by one of its officers; but the greater
part of this they hope to recover. Like all the Shakers, they are
long-lived. A man was pointed out to me, now eighty-seven years of age,
who plowed and mowed last summer; two revolutionary soldiers died in the
society aged ninety-three and ninety-four; one member died at
ninety-seven; and they have now people aged eighty-seven, eighty-five,
eighty-two, eighty, and so on.
During "meeting" on Sunday I saw the children, many of them small, and
all clean and neat, and looking happy in their prim way. They came in,
as usual, the boys by one door, the girls by another, each side with its
care-taker; and took part in the marching, kneeling, and other forms of
the Shaker worship. After the war, the South Union elders sought out
twenty orphans in Tennessee, whom they adopted. Last fall, when Memphis
suffered so terribly from yellow fever, they tried to get fifty children
from there, but were unsuccessful. Considering the small number who stay
with them after they are grown up, this charity is surely admirable. And
though the education which children receive among the Shaker people is
limited, the training they get in cleanliness, orderly habits, and
morals is undoubtedly valuable, and better than such orphans would
receive in the majority of cases among the world's people. Nor must it
be forgotten that the Shakers still, with great good sense, teach each
boy and girl a trade, so as to fit them for earning a living.
_Pleasant Hill._
The Pleasant Hill Society lies in Mercer County, seven miles from
Harrodsburg, on the stage road to Nicholasville, and near the Kentucky
River, which here presents some grand and magnificent scenery, deserving
to be better known.
They have a fine estate of rich land, lying in the midst of the famous
blue-grass region of Kentucky. It consists of four thousand two hundred
acres, all in one body. They have five families; but the three Church
families have their property in common. In 1820 they had eight families,
and between 1820 and 1825 they had about four hundred and ninety
members. At present the society numbers two hundred and forty-five
persons, of whom seventy-five are children or youth under twenty-one.
About one third are males and two thirds females.
Pleasant Hill was founded in 1805, and "gathered into society order" in
1809; at which time community of goods was established.
The members are mostly Americans, but they have in one family a good
many Swedes. These are the remnant of a large number whom the society
brought out a number of years ago at its own expense, in the hope that
they would become good Shakers. The experiment was not successful. They
have also two colored members, and some English. They have among them
people who were Baptists, Methodists, Adventists, and Presbyterians. A
considerable number of the people, however, have grown up in the
society, having come in as children of the founders; and one old lady
told me she was born in the society, her parents having entered three
months before she came into the world.