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ShakersBy JAiMES M. GUTHRIEIn 1874 there were 58 Shaker communities with 2,415 members but now there are only two. And of these two lone in New York and one in New Hampshire) only 33 members remained alive in 1961, and all were women excepting forone old man.werelastedIndiana has a sesquicenten-nial marker for them, put up in Sullivan County in 1966. It reads:SHAKERTOWNFirst settlement, 1808-1812, of a religious society of celibates known as Shakers.The four hundred members of this communal group occupied 1,300 acres west ofCarlisle.Shakers had their beginning in England in the 1740s and came out of the Quakers when James and Jane Wardley made known their deep beliefs and convictions. They branched off from the Quakers, and a young woman named Ann Lee, daughter of a blacksmith, became head of their sect. Ann led six men and two women to America life wrhich was totally unattrac-about the beginning of the Amer- tive to the majority. Continence ican Revolution, and they set-! and hard work never converted tied near Albany, New York.items as the washing machine, wooden clothes pins, farm machinery, the packaging of seeds,condensing of milk and tongue-and-grooved boards.Their work was generally dull and every member had a duty for every day and the dutiesirotated monthly. Work,all day and religiousmeetings were at night. Women’s dresses were all alike and, their hair had to be covered by j lace caps or bonnets. Men did 1 the heavy work which included farming, operation of mills and I the manufacture of small items.' They built a road from Shaker-town to the Wabash River. They were not mystics or dreamers but like so many far-out groups of their time they tried to live aAnn went from place to place teaching her doctrine, became known as a faith healed and was jailed for her religious beliefs. But she acquired several disciples before her death in 1784.A considerable religious revival in the country resulted in several converts and the first Shaker Society was formed by Ann Lee’s disciples in New Lebanon,New York in 1787. “Mother” Lee came to be regarded as the embodiment of the Shaker pro-many boys and girls.red-blooded AmericanCathy Gilland spent last week with her grandparents, the Charles Gillands. Mr. and Mrs.Jim Thomas of Anderson spent Wednesday afternoon at the Gilland home. Mrs. Harold Reis-man and daughter, Mary Ann, of west of town called Saturday evening and the George Gil-phecy that the second coming of Christ would be in the form ! land’s of Otter Creek were pres-of a woman.ent for the moon walk most of Sunday night at the GillandRepudiated MarriageThese people called them-1 home, selves The United Society of Be- Mrs. Helen Einhause andlievers In Christ’s Second Ap- j daughter, Karen, and Marcia nearing, or The Millennial j Abbott of the Adams Church Church, or The Alethians. They community, were all overnight repudiated marriage as the root;uests Thursday of Mr. and of all evil, became famous for: Mrs. Glen Todd at Rushville. their jitter-bugging, hand clap- Mr. Todd, Mrs. Einhause, Karen ping and a gibberish known as i a°d Marcia Abbott all made a“the gift of tongues” (totally in-1 business trip to Indianapoliscomprehensible to themselves or ! Friday. Miss Abbott was an ov-of the i ernight guest Friday and spentothers). Celibacy, onetenets of their religion, was viewed with as much interest as the Mormon’s multiple marriages. They felt they had power over physical disease: Theyseemingly rejected literature, learning, amusements and the arts. They believed that the promise of the Second Coming was fulfilled in Ann Lee and that Christ’s kingdom on earth began with the establishment of the Shaker Church.During the great religious revivals which hit the “West” about 18(H) the Shakers sent three missionaries from New York to bear witness, and out of their efforts came five Shaker colonies in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Some of Barton Stone’s and Isaac Reed’s follow -Shakerism. in SullivanSaturday at the Einhause home.Mr. and Mrs. Ray Orschell were recent callers at the Frank Kohlman home.Callers last week of Mrs. Velma Lutes and lamily included: Rev. Ross, Pvt. Ronnie Butz, Mrs. Wilbur Dieckman, Alma Dieckman, Danny Peetz and Clifford, Norman Bodenberg and daughter, Sherry, Berdella Rim-stidt, Mr. and Mrs. A1 Kanning, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Fisher, Roy Sarringhause, Anna Mae Brown, Rev. Masters, Irene Meyer, Mr. and Mrs. Bert Moore, and Mrs. Harold Abplan-alp.Mrs. Harry Mcllwaine of Indianapolis,spentThursdaywiththrough Sunday evening Mr. and Mrs. Charles Adams.Mr. and Mrs. A1 Thole and son, Paul, spent Sunday after-ers went over to Their settlementCounty, Indiana began in 1803, they were driven out during the War of 1812 and returned later to Knox County where perhaps a couple of hundred lived in an area known as Scotsville. There were, maybe, as many as a thousand members in their western settlements, but in timethey petered out.Neighbors accused them ofbreaking up families, of attacking and beating children (because the devil was in kids) and of many other things.Each member lived in a certain family and there were usu-ally three families in a colony, each family with a large home.!There was a Church family forfull members, a School family !saIe which wi]] be Saturday.noon visiting the Robert Haunert family at Clarksburg and also called on Mr. and Mrs. DonaldMoorman and family at St.Maurice. Mr. and Mrs. WayneReeder and children of Indianapolis were guests Sunday and Monday at the Thole home Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Gray recently had a chicken supperat Batesville in honor of Mr. Gray’s birthday.Frank Kohlman Jr. spent two days last week with his father, Frank Sr., his sister, Carolyn, and brother, Eddie Kohlman.Sarah Grow and Louise Stra-bor are spending part of this week at Versailles, helping Miss Agnes Cass get ready for herfor school-age children (usually j orphans, or otherwise) anda *third family made up of people who were not yet members or who had been married too recently.ifLast SurvivorHungerford WillContestFiledSHELBYVILLE, Ind. — Vanch Hungerford Winkler is the plain-About 1827 the colony in Knox‘tiff in a suit to contest the willCounty, called Busro, on Busser-tof her mother, Bessie Hunger-on Creek, disbanded and the remaining members (thennumbering about a hundred) wentford who died July 3, and defendants in the suit are the Shelby National Bank, as execu-to Ohio and Kentucky. The last j tor of the will: Merle Winkler, survivor of the Busro group was;and W. S. Major Hospital. Sister Sarah Pennypacker who • Mrs. Winkler is the principaldied at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky i beneficiary in the will of Mrs.in 1916.Members were saidHungerford and was bequeathed to be j two 80 - acre farms in Nobleclean, hard-working, temperate Township in the St. Paul area.people, very successful in farm-jBut the will stipulates that the ing and in the joint accumula-; farms belong to Mrs. Winklertion of property. Those who have studied the Shakers say thevfor the remainder of her natural life, then are to go to Ma-were among the first advocates jor Hospital. A residuary clauseof women’s sufferage (they dif- in the will names Merle Winkle red from most Hoosiers in ac-!ler, Mrs. Hungerford’s son-in-cepting women as equals), cred- law, as the chief heir had not it them with the establishment Mrs. Winkler survived, and he\of orphanages for homeless children, and say the Alethians invented the familiar flat broom, the circular saw (bv a womanwas included as a co-defendant for that reason.Mrs. Hungerford’s will dated last Feb. 12, andwaswit-vet) and thebearingmetal nessed bv James N. Matchettcalled Babbitt. Thev are also and Wilbur R. Pell Jr. said to have improved on such j -u»
Newspaper Details
Greensburg Daily News
Greensburg, Indiana, US
Mon, Jul 28, 1969
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 23 Jun 2020
Other Publications Near Greensburg, Indiana
Greensburg Review
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Greensburg Daily News and Greensburg Daily Review
