The New Lebanon Shaker Children's Order
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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1996 The ewN Lebanon Shaker Children's Order Judith A. Graham Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the American Studies Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Religion Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Graham, Judith A., "The eN w Lebanon Shaker Children's Order " (1996). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 11372. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/11372 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zed> Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 ii Graduate College Iowa State University This is to certify that the Doctoral dissertation of Judith A. Graham has met the dissertation requirements of Iowa State University Signature was redacted for privacy. Co-Major Professor Signature was redacted for privacy. Co-Major Professor Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Major Department Signature was redacted for privacy. For the GraduateGradu College iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER TWO. GATHERING INTO GOSPEL ORDER 37 CHAPTER THREE. GATHERING CHILDREN INTO THE SHAKER SOCIETY 93 CHAPTER FOUR. THE DAILY LIFE OF SHAKER CHILDREN 128 CHAPTER FIVE. EDUCATION OF SHAKER CHILDREN 161 CHAPTER SIX. CONCLUSION 204 APPENDIX 229 REFERENCES 233 1 CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION Introduction This introductory chapter sets the stage for presenting a study of the New Lebanon Shaker Children's Order. It begins with a brief overview of the foundation of Shakerism — Ann Lee and her beliefs about men, women, perfection, and salvation ~ and the religious culture of eighteenth century America into which they immigrated. Following this historical section are discussions of how the study was approached, the theoretical frameworks that inform the analysis, the objectives that organized the research, the methods and source criteria, the organization of the subsequent chapters, and what contributions this work makes to the larger body of historical family studies. Ann Lee: Creating Shakerism Ann Lee believed she was the female embodiment of God ~ the second Christ incarnate. She preached a millennium, not of the future, not of an expectation of hope for tomorrow, but as a realization of today for all those who could accept the offer of God. The millennium was here, now. Every man, woman, and child had the potential of achieving perfection in this world, the world of the living and the present. The only obstacle standing between mankind and earthly perfection was sin. The path to perfection ~ to being at one with the Holy Spirit ~ lay in confession of all sins and the forsaking of sin therezifter. This was the Shaker way of Ann Lee.' While many volumes and articles have been written on the fiimiture, arts, and order of the Shakers, based on what I know, only one article by Edward Deming Andrews has specifically addressed the Children's Order in the Shaker society.- The Children's Order was an outgrowth of the Shakers' attempts to promote spiritual union and temporal order by dissolving parent-child relationships. Believing that keeping children with their parents in the same Shaker "family" would distract the adults from fully concentrating on '[Rufiis Bishop and Seth Y. Wells], eds., Testimonies of the Life, Character, Revelations and Doctrines of Our Ever Blessed Mother Ann Lee, and the Elders with Her (Hancock, MA: J. Tallcott & Deming, Jrs., 1816). Rufiis Bishop and Seth Youngs Wells are credited with beginning to collect these testimonies in about 1812 and compiling them into a private publication in 1816. The purpose of this volume was twofold; to preserve the details of the past with as much accuracy as possible and to help strengthen the faith and commitment of new members in the Shaker communities who had never known Mother Ann, Father William, and James Whittaker but upon whom the entire Shaker faith hinged. On page vi of Testimonies, Bishop and Wells state that this document is "written to prove, to all faithful Believers, that Christ did verily make his second appearance in Ann Lee: that she was the chosen witness to God to usher in a new dispensation of the gospel... and become the first spiritual Mother of all children of the resurrection ..This rare volume was used solely by the elders and was sometimes called "The secret book of the elders." E. Richard McKinstry, comp., The Edward Deming Andrews Memorial Shaker Collection (New York, NY: Garland Publishing Inc., 1987), p. 12. According to Marini, Testimonies may have been designed as a companion volume to The Testimony of Christ's Second Appearing (the 1810 classic theology) or as a 25th year "commemoration" of Lee's death. A second collection of testimonies, drawn from different sources, appeared in 1827; a revised 1816 edition was republished in 1888 (pp. 49-50). Stein states that "the principle historical value of the sayings in the Testimonies is that they underscore the norms, values, and practices prevailing in Shaker societj' at the time the oral traditions were collected" (pp. 28-29); see also pp. 76-87. For a discussion on the three distinct narratives in Testimonies and their value for understanding the role and imagery of Ann Lee, see Jean M. Humez, "'Ye Are My Epistles': The Construction of Ann Lee Imagery in Early Shaker Sacred Literature," Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 8 (Spring 1992), pp. 83-103. See also Thomas Swain, "The Evolving Expressions of the Religious and Theological Expressions of a Community: A Comparative Study of the Shaker Testimonies Concerning the Sayings of Mother Ann Lee; An Exploration of the Development from Oral Traditions to Written Forms as Preserved in Four Documents, " The Shaker Quarterly 72,1 & 2 (Spring & Summer 1972), pp. 3-31,43-67. ^Edward Deming Andrews and Faith Andrews, "The Shaker Children's Order," Winterthur Portfolio 8 (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1973). This descriptive article is a mildly sympathetic, but adequately objective, narrative about the Children's Order primarily during the 1820s and 1830s. Inadequacies and shortcomings of the Order are not discussed. 3 their spiritiial progress led the Lead Ministry (the central governing body) to form a separate — and separated — order for youth under the age of sixteen. Caretakers instead of parents were entrusted with the children's welfare. The Children's Order itself, as modeled in the larger society, was segregated by gender; boys and girls remained apart from each other in all activities, including school, and apart from the adults. Children were trained and educated by the society because of their potential spiritual and economic contributions to the sect as adult converts. From reviewing many Shaker diaries of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, this research found that most youth came to the society with parent converts or as orphans. While these youth contributed to the labor force and made significant economic offerings, they were incorporated into the Shaker society primarily to perpetuate the ideals and religious tenets of Shakerism into the future. The middle decades of the nineteenth century brought a complexity to the Society that the first and second generation of leaders had not known; this, coupled with the beginning of the numerical decline in membership at mid-century seemed to mark a philosophical or attitudinal shift by the Society about the value of children. After the 1840s, youth seemingly were brought into the Society more to augment a declining membership and for their much needed labor to keep the society fed, clothed, and housed rather than for their spiritual value to the community.