River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1883-08-02
WITH THE HAPPY ZOARITES
A Sojourn Among Singular OHIO
Community.

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.
The colony was first founded in 1871
by Huber and Ackermann, two Ger
mans, the former native of Wurtem-
burg and the latter hailing from Ba, 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 place OF refuge from the
world, which they termed Sodom and
Gomorrah.
The first two houses which Huber and
Ackermann built in lSl7-quaint, an
tique structures-are still inhabited by
the descendants of the pioneers. They
are built of logs and mortar and contain
but one large room, sparseiy 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 ecessary
| to cover the roofs of their houses with
| shingles or slate, this peculiarly OF the
| numerous tile-covered houses Is very
| striking to strangers the ancient look
| ing structures are ell covered with that
article; While tile 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 one common
| end--that is, for the good of the COM
munity, 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
1 treasury; the necessarles OF life, inGlu-
| ding rood, provisions and garments, are
| furnished BY the illage 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 I'm.
| less he becomes a member by profess
| ing their faith. Any one wishing to do
so is allowed to enter on probation; If In
the course of one year, his character has
been found to be pure aId good and I'M
impeachable. he can joint lower class
OF Zoarites. and later on, should he fee
so disposed, he may become a member
of the first class, giving him all the priv
iliges of voting for officers.
The village contains about 800 inhabi
tants, which number has been the same
since 1917, and never increases or de
| m ny
| men, tempted by its gayety, frequently
leave the town for the city and neve
return; but great proportio ! live an(
die there, and the little cemetery mark
the graves of many of the first families
who have never left the town after thel
entrance
Some of the descendants Of the origi
nal founders are still residents there: il
fact, all but three were born and bret
there, but they all descend from native
of Wurtemburg, Bavaria and Baden
Simon Beuter, the gardener of the tow
one of the living three who. ernigratet
to the village came here in 1910. III
has charge of the most beautiful garden
imaginable. He raises not only vegets
bles and flowers OF northern origin, bu
makes speciality of growing tropica
plants of the rarest sorts, including
complete variety of the cactus, al
grades of the night-blooming cereus
magnolias, lemon and orange trees
bearing on the average 800 lemons an
oranges upon every tree. He is com
| plete master of his art, and has the bot
anical names of all the flowers at hi
J tongues end. In speaking to Heral
reporter lie said:
eve are just as happy and contentet
as the wealthiest people in the world
we want Tor nothing; there is no jealous
among our members, and they Away
| abide by the decision of the COMMITTEES
Our houses are not alike; some have
poorer appearance than others, but the
are all satisfied and perform their Ii
Dor according to their ability, and whe
/, Sunday comes We have one day of rest
what is your re isious belief? aske
; the reporter.
1--WE believe in the Old and New Te
taments, attend services on Sunda
} morning and evening, have no master
among us, but generally one ofthe olde
J members is chosen to read a chapte
| from the Bible, make a few comment
perhaps, and that is all. We have n
ceremony of any kind, and our place {
worship is not termed a church, but
; congregation house. Its interior
!, 4
lIgious holiday but Christmas. and o
that day our services are not any differ
ent from those on Sunday"
'How are your marriage ceremonie
| performed"
ain the simplest way possible. w
| recognize no minister, no ceremon y
the contracting parties procure maj
rage license, according to the laws {
the state of Ohio, call upon the squire
who is member of our community, an
ae IN short notice ties the knot as simpl
| as possible"
''Do you observe the rules about uni
tprmly costuming Your members"
Years ago our rules used to be of til
sirictest nature, bnt they are moiite
| somewhat now. Our members were a
dressed alike, in cloths of the PLANES
and simplest cut, but in looking arount
You will observe that we are dresses
simply but not exactly uniform. Tn
women, you see, are attired in plail
calico, with straw bats, all of our owl
make. We not only make the hats, bu
| erepare and dry the straw. braid anC
finish them. We manufacture our owl
wool, garments, wooden bats, and every
thing you can see about here; we run
tannery, prepare our own leather, AM
make our own boots. Every famil,
raises its own produce. If they are il
| need of money for some reason or othe
they make application for it. All the bal
| ance goes into the treasury. and 1t /
used for the purpose of improving road
| WAYS, building houses, and making othe
| improvements. Our children are ed
| ncated in two good schools, where the,
| are taught both the English and German
| languages. Our proceedings IN eouncl
| and our services in church are carried
| on in German, and we always manage L
| take our children in the German Ian
| guage. Besides our enterprises, of which
| I have already told YOU, we run a flour
| ing mill, and ship large quantity O
| the product, as well as wheat. We have
two wooden and two grist mills. W.
| raise and ship large numbers of cattl,
| which nets us quite a handsome return
1 Every person in the eommu nifty knows
| his place. They are all assigned to theil
duties, and never show any disposition
| TO be dissatisfied"
"Do your people advocate temperance
or prohibition"
1--WE are not temperance fanatics, bu
| are very temperate in drinking liquor
| We grow and make our wine, raise oul
| own hops and brew the purest of beer
| which we never drink to excess. o.
| Sunday, you'll notice, our bar is closee
| up, despite the fact that we wouldn't be
| breaking the laws of Ohio if we kept il
open, and reap harvest of money by
| accommodating the great many strangers
| YOU see here to-day. But IN order e
| show you that we are not fanatics, lei
rue attract your attention to the brisk
| trade in lemonade and gingerbread now
| Going on in the picnic grounds. There