THE UNIVERSAL FRIEND.
Sir Thomas Browne says that “all heresies, how gross soever, have
found a welcome with the people.” Certainly they have with the people,
and specially they have with the Rhode Island people. The eighty-two
pestilent heresies so sadly deplored by the Puritan divines found
a home in Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations. It was not
strange, therefore, that from the heart of Narragansett should spring
one of the most remarkable and successful religious woman-fanatics
the world has ever known. Jemima Wilkinson was born in the town of
Cumberland, R. I., in 1758. Though her father was a poor farmer, she
came of no mean stock. She was a descendant of English kings--of King
Edward I.--and later of Lieutenant Wilkinson, of Cromwell’s army, and
she was a second cousin of Governor Stephen Hopkins and Commodore
Hopkins.
When she was eight years old her mother died, leaving her to the care
of older sisters, whom she soon completely dominated. She was handsome,
fond of ease and dress, vain, and eager for attention. She was romantic
and impressionable, and when a new sect of religious zealots, called
Separatists, appeared in her neighborhood--a sect who rejected church
organization and insisted upon direct guidance from heaven--she became
one of the most regular attendants at their meetings.
She soon betook herself to solitude and study of the Bible, and
seemed in deep reflection, and at last kept wholly to her room, and
then went to bed. She was at that time but eighteen years old, and it
scarcely seems possible that she deliberately planned out her system
of life-long deception which proved so successful; but soon she began
to see visions, which she described to her sisters and visitors, and
interpreted to them.
Finally she fell in a deep trance, which lasted thirty-six hours,
during which she scarcely breathed. About the middle of the second
day, when surrounded by anxious watchers (who proved valuable witnesses
in her later career), she rose up majestically, called for clothing,
dressed herself, and walked about fully restored and calm, though pale.
But she announced that Jemima Wilkinson had died, and that her body was
now inhabited by a spirit whose mission was to deliver the oracles of
God to mankind, and who was to be known henceforth by the name of the
Universal Friend. It ought to be noted here that this girl of eighteen
not only maintained these absurd claims of resurrection of the body
and reincarnation, at that time, in the face of the expostulation
and arguments of her relatives and friends, but also with unshaken
firmness, and before all hearers, till the day of her death at the age
of sixty-one.
On the first Sunday after her trance, the Universal Friend preached in
the open air near her home to a large and excited gathering of people;
and she electrified her audience by her eloquence, her brilliant
imagination, her extraordinary familiarity with the Scriptures, and
her facility and force of application and quotation from them. Her
success in obtaining converts was most marked from the first, as was
her success in obtaining temporal comforts and benefits from these
converts. In this she resembled the English religious adventuress,
Johanna Southcote. For six years she lived at the house of Judge
William Potter, in South Kingstown, R. I. This handsome house was known
as the Abbey. He enlarged it by building a splendid suite of rooms for
his beloved spiritual leader, on whom he lavished his large fortune.
Her success as a miracle-worker was not so great. She announced that on
a certain date she would walk upon the water, but when, in the face of
a large multitude, she reached the water’s edge, she denounced the lack
of faith of her followers, and refused to gratify their curiosity by
trying the experiment. Nor did she succeed in her attempt to raise from
the dead one Mistress Susanna Potter, the daughter of Judge Potter, who
died during Jemima’s residence at the Abbey. She managed, however, to
satisfy fully her followers by foretelling events, interpreting dreams,
and penetrating secrets, which she worded by ingeniously mystic and
easily applicable terms.
Her meetings and her converts were not confined to Rhode Island. In
southern Massachusetts and Connecticut many joined her band. In New
Milford, Conn., her converts erected a meeting-house. In 1782 she
started out upon a new mission. With a small band of her disciples she
went to Philadelphia, where she was cordially received and entertained
by the Quakers. In Worcester, Pa., her reception was enthusiastic.
Scarce a diary of those times but contains some allusion to her or her
career. In the journal of Jacob Hiltzeheimer, of Philadelphia, I read:--
Aug. 15, 1783. Returning from church, I observed people crowded about
the Free Quakers meeting-house, and was told they were waiting to see
the wonderful Jemima Wilkinson who had preached. I remained till she
came out to get in her chair. She had on a white hat but no cap, and a
white linen garment that covered her to her feet.
Aug. 20, 1783. Went to the new Quaker meeting-house on Arch Street to
hear Jemima Wilkinson preach. She looks more like a man than a woman.
May 22, 1788. I rode out to Cunninghams Centre House to hear the
famous Jemima Wilkinson preach, and in the room where formerly a
billiard table stood I saw and heard her. She spoke much in the New
England dialect. She appeared to be about twenty-five years of age,
her hair was dressed like that of a man, and she wore a black gown
after the fashion of church ministers.
The manuscript diary of the Reverend John Pitman, of Providence, R. I.,
says: “Saw that poor deluded creature Jemima Wilkerson and a number of
her dull followers standing staring at the cross-roads.”
In the days of reaction after the excitement of the Revolution, many
aspirations for a better social state prompted settlements in outlying
portions of the Central States. Communities were founded, Utopias were
planned, and soon the united body of people known as the Friend’s
followers decided to seek in the depths of the wilderness a new home.
It was a bold undertaking, but the band had a bold commander, and above
all, they were absolute in their confidence in her. In no way was
that confidence shown so remarkably as in the fact that the settlement
was made for her but without her. The three delegates sent to find a
place suitable for their purpose reported in favor of the region at the
foot of Seneca Lake in the State of New York. In 1788 the settlement
was made on the west shore of the lake by twenty-five persons, on the
primitive highway of the region, about a mile south of Dresden, and it
was named Jerusalem.
For over two years a band of determined believers labored in this
wilderness to prepare a home for their leader, who was comfortably
carrying on her triumphant and flattering progress in the large cities.
Surrounded by Indians, and menaced by wild beasts, they cleared the
forests, and planted wheat, and lived on scant food. During the first
year one family for six weeks had only boiled nettles and bohea tea for
nourishment. When the cornfields yielded the second summer, a small
grist-mill was built with incredible labor. When the well-fed and not
at all over-worked Friend arrived, she found an orderly, industrious
community of two hundred and sixty persons, who had built for her a
home and a meeting-house, and she at once settled down in comparative
comfort in the midst of her flock.
The house which was occupied by the Friend was a log-house of humble
pretensions; to this two or three houses were added, then upper stories
were placed over all, and framed in. It stood in a fine garden, and
by its side was a long building used as a workshop for the women of
the settlement, where spinning, weaving, and sewing were constantly
carried on. Near by stood the sugar grove, a most lucrative possession
of the society. From this home the Friend and her steadfast followers
would ride in imposing cavalcade, two by two, to meeting at the early
settlement. With their handsome, broad-brimmed hats, substantial
clothes, and excellent horses, they made a most notable and impressive
appearance. Her second house was more pretentious and comparatively
luxurious; in it she lived till the time of her death.
Jemima Wilkinson’s followers were of no poor or ordinary stock. Many
brought to her community considerable wealth. Into the wilderness
went with her from Kingstown, R. I., Judge William Potter and his
daughters; a family of wealthy Hazards; Captain James Parker (brother
of Sir Peter Parker); four Reynolds sisters from a family of dignity;
Elizabeth Luther and seven children; members of the Card, Hunt,
Sherman, and Briggs families. From New Milford, Conn., emigrated a
number of Stones and Botsfords, and from New Bedford many members of
the influential Hathaway and Lawrence families. From Stonington and
New London went a large number of Barneses and Browns and Davises;
from Philadelphia the entire family of Malins and the Supplees; from
Worcester, Pa., came a most important recruit, Daniel Wagener, with
his sister, and Jonathan Davis, and other well-to-do and influential
persons.
The most important converts to belief in her doctrines, and pioneers
for her, were doubtless Judge Potter and Captain Parker, both men of
large wealth and unstinted liberality to their leader. The former had
been treasurer of the State of Rhode Island; the latter had been also
a magistrate for twenty years in the same State. They were the largest
contributors to the fund for the purchase of the tract of land in
New York. These men sacrificed home and friends to come to the New
Jerusalem with their adored priestess; but they quickly escaped from
her sway, and became in later years her most powerful enemies. They
even issued a complaint against her for blasphemy. The officer who
tried to serve the warrant upon her was unable to seize the Friend, who
was an accomplished rider and well mounted, and, when he went to her
house, was roughly treated and driven away. John Lawrence, whose wife
was Anna Hathaway, was a near relative of Commodore Lawrence; he was a
shipbuilder at New Bedford, and, though he followed Jemima Wilkinson
to Seneca Lake, never joined her society. Many of her believers never
lived in her settlement, but visited her there; and many bequeathed to
her liberally by will, and made valuable gifts to her during their life.
In the main, the influence of this remarkable woman continued unabated
with a large number of her followers throughout her life, and even
after her death. This power survived against the adverse conditions of
frequent litigations, personal asperities, constant injurious reports,
and the dislike of many to the strictness of her faith and austerity
of life required by her from her followers. This allegiance could
hardly have been founded solely on religious credulity, but must have
depended largely in her attractive personal traits, her humanity, and
doubtless also to her attractive expositions of her lively imagination.
To the last she persisted in calling herself by the sole name of the
Universal Friend. Even her will was signed thus: “I, the person once
called Jemima Wilkinson, but in and ever since the year 1777 known as
and called the Public Universal Friend, hereunto set my name and seal;
Public Universal Friend.” But she cannily appended a sub-signature over
a cross-mark of the name of her youth.
A remarkable feature of the Universal Friend’s Society, perhaps
the most remarkable effect of her teachings, was the large number
of excellent women who, as persistent celibates, adhered to her
teachings throughout their lives. Some lived in her house, and all were
consistent representatives of her doctrines, and many lived to great
old age. Nor can I doubt from the accounts of their lives that they
were exceedingly happy in their celibacy and in their unwavering belief
in Jemima Wilkinson. Carlyle says, “Man’s gullibility is not his worst
blessing.” I may paraphrase his assertion thus--woman’s gullibility
is one of her most comforting traits. Her persistent belief, her
unswerving devotion, often to wholly unworthy objects, brings its own
reward in a lasting, though unreasoning satisfaction.
Jemima’s male adherents were nearly all married. It was her intention
that her property, which was considerable, should be held for the
benefit of her followers who survived her, but it was gradually
transferred and wasted till the last aged members of the band were
forced to depend upon the charity of neighbors and the public.
One of the best accounts of the personality of Jemima Wilkinson was
given by the Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt, who visited her in
1796. He says:--
We saw Jemima and attended her meeting, which is held in her own
house. Jemima stood at the door of her bed chamber on a carpet,
with an armchair behind her. She had on a white morning gown and a
waistcoat such as men wear and a petticoat of the same color. Her
black hair was cut short, carefully combed and divided behind into
three ringlets; she wore a stock and a white silk cravat, which was
tied about her neck with affected negligence. In point of delivery
she preached with more ease than any other Quaker I have ever heard,
but the subject matter of her discourse was an eternal repetition of
the same subjects--death, sin and repentance. She is said to be about
forty years of age but did not appear more than thirty. She is of
middle stature, well made, of florid countenance, and has fine teeth
and beautiful eyes. Her action is studied. She aims at simplicity but
is pedantic in her manner. Her hypocrisy may be traced in all her
discourse, actions and conduct and even in the very manner which she
manages her countenance.
He speaks with much asperity of her pretence of condemning earthly
enjoyment while her whole manner of living showed much personal luxury
and gratification.
This description of her was given by one who saw her:--
She was higher than a middle stature, of fine form, fair complexion
with florid cheeks, dark and brilliant eyes, and beautiful white
teeth. Her hair dark auburn or black, combed from the seam of the
head and fell on her shoulders in three full ringlets. In her public
addresses she would rise up and stand perfectly still for a minute or
more, than proceed with a slow and distinct enunciation. She spoke
with great ease and increased fluency; her voice clear and harmonious,
and manner persuasive and emphatic. Her dress rich but plain and in a
style entirely her own; a broad brimmed beaver hat with a low crown,
and the sides when she rode turned down and tied under her chin; a
full light drab cloak or mantle and a unique underdress; and a cravat
round the neck with square ends that fell down to the waist forward.
The square cravat or band gave her a semi-clerical look. The rich
glossy smoothness and simplicity of dressing her hair is commented on
by nearly all who left accounts of her personal appearance; and was
doubtless more marked in her day because the feminine headdress of that
time was elaborate to a degree that was even fantastic, and was at the
opposite extreme from simple curls.
Many scurrilous and absurd stories are told of her, especially in
a biography of her which was written and printed soon after her
death. Many of the anecdotes in this biography are too petty and
too improbable to be given any credence. I am convinced that she
was a woman of most sober and discreet life; importunate of respect
and greedy of absolute power; personally luxurious in her tastes,
and of vast ambition, but always of dignified carriage. And through
her dignity, sobriety, and reserve she had a lasting hold upon her
followers. Perhaps she told her alleged belief, her tale of her
mission, until she half believed it herself. One story of her is worthy
repetition, and I think of credence.
It tells of her repulse when she endeavored to secure among her
followers the Indians of Canandaigua. She spoke to them at Canandaigua
and again at Seneca Lake, evidently realizing fully the advantage that
might be gained from them through land-grants and personal support.
Many of the Oneida Indians had been converted by missionaries to
Christianity, and as they held a Sunday service she entered and made a
thrilling and impressive address, assuring them she was their Saviour
Jesus Christ. They listened to her with marked attention, and one of
their number arose and delivered a short and animated speech to his
companions in the Oneida tongue. When he ceased speaking, Jemima turned
to the interpreter and asked an explanation of the speaker’s words,
which was given her. The Indian speaker sat by her side with a sardonic
expression on his grim face, and when the interpretation was finished,
said significantly and coldly, “You no Jesus Christ--he know all poor
Indian say as well as what white man say,” and turned contemptuously
from her. It is said that the cunning Indian detective was the great
chief Red Jacket, and from what we know of his shrewd and diplomatic
character it can readily be believed.