The Communistic Societies of the United States by Charles Nordhoff
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Charles Nordhoff >> The Communistic Societies of the United States
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The society owns two thousand acres of land, which includes several
outlying farms. They employ nine or ten hired laborers; and their main
business is to make apple-sauce, of which they sell from five to six
tons every year. One family makes brooms; and they all preserve fruit,
make jellies and pickles, dry sweet corn, and in the spring make
maple-sugar. The women make fancy articles for sale. Farming is also a
considerable business with them, and they have good orchards.
Most of the members grew up in the society, and the greater number of
them are, I believe, past middle age. Like all the Shakers, they are
long-lived--one sister, a colored woman, is eighty, and another
eighty-eight--and their mortality rate is low. Most of the members are
Americans, but they have a few Nova-Scotians. Most of them eat meat, and
drink tea, but no coffee; and they are especially fond of oatmeal. One
old member both smokes and snuffs, but none others use tobacco in any
shape. They are fond of flowers, but do not cultivate any; have "plenty"
of books and newspapers, but no regular library; like music, but have no
musical instrument; and they are fond of the Bible. Among their meetings
is one for singing.
Their buildings are not so large as those of a Shaker settlement usually
are, but they are in excellent order, and include an infirmary, a house
for aged and feeble members, a nice school-room, and a laundry. They
have the reputation in the neighborhood of being wealthy; and had the
enterprise once to build a large cotton factory, on the shore of a pond
which they then owned. This building they have sold. It ran them into
debt; and this they did not like. They were poor at first; have never
had any defalcation; have no debt now; and make no regular business
statement, trusting to the ministry to keep a proper oversight of their
accounts.
In the school at Shirley physiology was taught, and with remarkable
success as it seemed to me, with the help of charts; the children seemed
uncommonly intelligent and bright. The school is open three months in
the summer and three in the winter--two hours in the forenoon and two in
the afternoon; and the teacher, a young girl, was also the care-taker of
the girls. Singing-school is held, for the children, in the evening.
The societies at Hancock and Tyringham lie near the New York State line,
among the Berkshire hills. They are small, and have no noticeable
features.
There are three Shaker societies in New York: at Mount Lebanon,
Watervliet, and Groveland.
_Mount Lebanon_.
The Mount Lebanon Society lies in Columbia County, two miles from New
Lebanon. It is the parent society among the Shakers, and its ministry
has a general oversight over all the societies. It is also the most
numerous.
The Mount Lebanon Society was founded in 1787. In 1823 it numbered
between five hundred and six hundred persons; at this time it has three
hundred and eighty-three, including forty-seven children and youth under
fifteen. This society is divided into seven families; and its membership
has one hundred and thirty-six males and two hundred and forty-seven
females, including children and youth.
It owns about three thousand acres of land within the State of New York,
besides some farms in other states; and several of its farms in its own
neighborhood are in charge of tenants. The different families employ a
considerable number of hired laborers. They raise and put up garden
seeds, make brooms, dry medicinal herbs and make extracts, dry sweet
corn, and make chairs and mops. The women in all the families also make
mats, fans, dusters, and other fancy articles for sale; and one of the
families keep some sheep.
In a previous chapter I have given so many details concerning the Mount
Lebanon Society that I need here say nothing further about it, except
that it is in a highly prosperous condition.
_Watervliet_.
The society at Watervliet lies seven miles northwest from Albany, and
upon the ground where Ann Lee and her followers first settled when they
came to America. Her body lies in the grave-yard at Watervliet. No
monument is built over it.
The society there has now four families, containing two hundred and
thirty-five persons, of whom sixty are children and youth under
twenty-one. Of the adult members, seventy-five are men and one hundred
women. In 1823 it had over two hundred members; between 1837 and 1850 it
had three hundred and fifty.
It has in its home estate twenty-five hundred acres of land, and owns
besides about two thousand acres in the same state, and thirty thousand
acres in Kentucky. Its chief industry is farming, and the families keep
a large number of sheep and cattle. They shear wool enough to supply all
their own needs in cloth and flannel, but have these woven by an outside
mill; they raise large crops of broom-corn and sweet corn: the first
they make into brooms, and the other they put up dry in barrels for
sale; they put up fruits and vegetables in tin cans, and also sell
garden seeds. They have given up their tan-yard, which was once a source
of income. Finally, they make in their own shops, for the use of the
society, shoes, carpets, clothing, furniture, and almost all the
articles of household use they require.
They hire about seventy-five laborers.
Most of the members are Americans, and three quarters of them grew up
from childhood in the society. Among the membership are some Germans,
English, Irish, Swedes, Scotch, and two or three French people. Some
among them were originally clergymen, others lawyers, mechanics, and
gardeners; but the greater number are farmers by occupation. Some of
those who came in as adults had been "Infidels," some Adventists, others
Methodists. The society at this time contains more young than old
people.
Most of the people eat meat, and drink tea and coffee. Some use tobacco,
but this is discouraged.
They had formerly a good many colored members; and have still some, as
well as several mulattoes and quadroons.
One colored sister is ninety years of age.
The members here have been long-lived; the register proves this: it
shows deaths at ninety-seven, ninety-four, ninety-three, ninety, and so
on. They are careful to have thorough drainage and ventilation, and pay
attention to sanitary questions. They were formerly subject to bilious
fevers; but since rejecting the use of pork, these fevers have
disappeared.
They take a number of newspapers, and have a library of four hundred
volumes, but the people are not great readers, and are fonder of
religious books and works of popular science than of any other
literature. There is a school; and the children are now to have
instruction in music, as one of the families has bought an organ, and
asked a musical brother from New Hampshire to come down and give
lessons. Instrumental music, however, has been opposed by the older
members, and here as in some of the other societies it has been
introduced only after prolonged discussion.
This society has no debts, and has never suffered from the
unfaithfulness of agents or trustees. It is in a very prosperous
condition. Each family makes a detailed annual report to the presiding
ministry, and a _daily_ diary of events is kept.
They have baths in the dwellings, and well-arranged laundries.
The Watervliet and Mount Lebanon Societies have a number of members
living in the outer world, but holding to Shaker principles, and
maintaining by correspondence a connection with them. Some of these are
inhabitants of cities, and "above the average in wealth and culture," I
was told. The Watervliet Society has also a branch at Philadelphia,
consisting of twelve colored women, who live together in one house under
the leadership of an old woman, who was moved about twenty years ago to
leave this society and go to Philadelphia to preach among her people.
The members find employment as day servants in different families, going
home every night. They mainly support themselves, and have never asked
for help from the society; but this occasionally makes them presents,
and keeps a general oversight over them.
_Groveland_.
The Groveland Society lies near Sonyea, in Livingston County,
thirty-seven miles from Rochester on the Dansville and Mount Morris
branch of the Erie Railway. This society Was founded at Sodus Point in
1826, and removed from there to its present location in 1836. They had
at that time one hundred and fifty members; and were most numerous about
twenty-five years ago, when they had two hundred members. At present
they have two families, with fifty-seven members in all, of whom nine
are children under twenty-one; of these last, six are girls and three
boys. Of the adults, thirty are females and eighteen males.
They own a home farm of two thousand acres, and an outlying farm of two
hundred and eighty acres, mostly good land, and very well placed, a
canal and two railroads running through their home farm. They have a
saw-mill and grist-mill, which are sources of income to them; and they
raise broom-corn, make brooms, and dry apples and sweet corn. The women
make fancy articles for sale. They also keep fine cattle, and sell a
good deal of high-priced stock. Farming and gardening are their chief
employments, as they have a ready sale for all they produce. They employ
eight hired laborers.
The members are mostly Americans, raised in the society; but they have
French Canadians, Dutch, German, Irish, and English among them. The
French Canadians were Catholics, and some of their other members were
Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Methodists. Most of those who came in
as adults were farmers. They are long-lived--living to beyond seventy
in a considerable number of cases.
They eat meat, drink tea and coffee, and some aged members who came in
late in life, with confirmed habits, are allowed to use tobacco. One
sister smokes.
They have a school, and a good miscellaneous library of about four
hundred volumes, in a case in the dwelling-house of the Church Family.
They sing finely, but are opposed to the introduction of musical
instruments. In some of their evening meetings they read aloud, and the
last book thus read was Mr. Seward's "Journey around the World."
They do not adopt as many children as formerly, and experience has
taught them the necessity of knowing something of the parentage of
children, in order to make judicious selections.
"Formerly we had one or two physicians among our members, and then there
was much sickness; now that we have no doctor there is but little
illness, and the health of the society is good."
One of the families is in debt, through an imprudent purchase of land
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.
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