The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1883-08-02
WITH THE HAPPY ZOARITES

WITH F THE HAPPY i zOA RITES
A sojourn Among singular Ohio
Community.
About eighty miles from Cleveland
and six miles south of Mineral Point
the terminus Of the Valley road at the
Wheeling junction of the Wheeling, ana
Lake Erie railroad, says the Cleveland
Herald, there is quaint little old village
known as Zoar, inhabited by strange,
frugal and industrious people, the hap
piest, perhaps, in the world. They
know no care, nothing worries or
troubles them. A large number Of them
never saw the outside of their beautiful
home, veritable paradise, and trouble
themselves little, if any, about turmoil
and strifes Of the wicked world: J..
Tho colony was first founded in 1871
by Huber and Ackermann; two Ger
mans, the former native Of Wurtem-
burg and the latter hailing from BAY aria.
Shortly afterward, in the same year.
they and few followers from the same
country formed community and named
it Zoar, because they looked upon their
home as q place of refuge from the
world, which they termed Sodom and
Gomorrah.
The first two houses which Huber and
Ackermann: built. in 18l7-quaint, an.
tiGue, structures-are still inhabited by
the descendants Of the pioneers. Ihey
are built of logs and mortar and contain
but one large room, sparsely furnished;
the windows are small, each containing
nine panes of glass about SIX inches
square; the roofs are covered with tiles.
as are those of all the houses erected up
to about 1858, when the art Of tile AJAX
ing died out in Zoar, making it necessary
to cover the roofs of their houses with
shingles or slate, this popularity OF the
numerous tile-covered houses Is very
striking to a stranger; the ancient look
ing structures are all covered with that
article, while the more modern ones,
at least good many OF them, are sur
mounted by cupolas of very neat pat
tern. The houses are not similar in
architecture, but are nearly all pretty
and commodious.
The inhabitants who have no desire to
amass wealth, work for enc common
end-that is; for the good Of the com
t11unity; which owns and controls the
entire village, including thousands of
acres of the richest land in the Buckeye
state. The money goes into one common
treasury; the necessaries of life, inclu-
ding iood, provisions and garments, are
furnished by the village officials, con-
sisting of three trustees and commit
tee of five, who are annually elected by
ballot. No person is permitted to per-
manently side in the community un-
less he becomes member by profess
ing their faith. Any one wishing to do
so is allowed to enier on probation; If in
the course of one year, his character has
been found to be pure land good and un-
Improbable, he can join the lower class
of Zoarites. and later on, should he feel
so disposed, he may become member
of the first class, giving him all the priv
iliges of voting for officers:
The village contains about 300 inhabi-
| tants, which number has been the same
since 1917, and never increases or de-
| cfeases to any noticeable extent. Young
men, tempted by its gayety, frequently
leave the town for the city and never
! return; but q great proportio . live and
| die there, and the little cemetery marks
the graves of many of the first families,
who have never left the town after their
entrance =.
Some of the descendants of the origi-
nal founders are still residents there: in
| fact, all but three were born and bred
there, but they all descend from natives
of Wurtemburg, Bavaria and Baden
Simon Beuter, the gardener of the town
one of the living three who emigrated
| to the village came here in 1910. He
has charge Of the most beautiful garden
| Imaginable. He raises not only vegete-
bles and flowers OF northern origin, but
makes speciality of growing tropical
plants of the rarest sorts, including a
complete variety of the cactus, all
grades of the night-blooming cereus.
! magnolias. lemon and orange trees,
bearing on the average 800 lemons and
oranges upon every tree. He is com
plete master of his art, and has the bot
anical names of all the flowers at his
tongues end. In speaking to Herald
reporter he said:
eve are just ass happy and contented
as the wealthiest people in the world;
we want for nothing; there is no jealousy
among our members, and they always
abide by the decision of the committee
Our houses are not alike; some have &
poorer appearance than others, but they
are all satisfied, and perform their la
Dor according to their ability, and wher
Sunday comes we have one day of rest.
"What is your rel gious belief" asked
the. reporter.
ave believe in the Old and New Tes
taments, attend services on Sunday
morning and evening, have no masters
among us, but generally one ofthe older
members is chosen to read chapter
from the Bible. make few comments
perhaps. and that is all. We have NO
ceremony Of any kind, and our place OF
worship is not termed church, but q
congregation house. Its interior is
plain and simple. We recognize no re-
llgious holiday but Christmas, and Oh
that day our services are not any differ
ent from those OH Sunday"
GLOW are your marriage ceremonies
performed"
Gin the simplest way possible. We
recognize NO minister. no ceremony
the contracting parties procure a mar
the state of Ohio, call upon the squire
who is member of our community. and
ne IN short notice ties the knot as simply
as possible"
"Do you observe the rules about uni,
formly costuming your memhers?"
Years ago our rules used to be of the
s!rictest nature, bnt they are modife d
somewhat now. Our members were all
dressed alike, in cloths Of the plainesi
and simplest cut, but in looking around
you will observe that we are dressed
simply but not exactly uniform. The
women, you see, are attired in plain
Calico with straw hats, all of our own
make. We not only make the hats, but
prepare and dry the straw. braid and
finish them. We manufacture our own
wool, garments, wooden hats, and every
thing you can see about here; we run Il
tannery, prepare our own leather, and
make our own boots. Every family
raises its own produce. If they are in
need of money for some reason or othei
they make application for it. All the bal
ance goes into the treasury, and it il
used for the purpose of improving road
ways, building houses, and making Other
improvements. Our children are ed
ucated in two good schools, where they
| are taught both the English and Germar
languages. Our proceedings in council
and our services in church are carried
on in German, and we always manage to
take our children in the German Ian
guage. Besides our enterprises, of which
have already told you, we run -four
ing mill, and ship. large quantity OF
che product, as we'll as wheat. We have
two wooden and two grist mills. We
raise and ship large numbers of cattle
which nets US quite a handsome return
Every person in the community knows
| his place. They are all ASSIGNED to their