The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-11-25
THE SHAKERS OF OHIO.

Of all communistic societies, the
Shakers have perhaps been the most
successful. As a writerin the Amer
ican Cyclopedia says "They are the
only people on this continent, if not
in the world, who have maintained
successfully for nearly a century a
system of living, one of the funda-
mental principles of which is COM
munity of property" Originating in
New York, their most prosperous
settlements have been in southwestern
Ohio. These till recently numbered
three communities: Watervliet, in
the suburbs of Dayton, of about 600
acres dissolved in October, 1900, the
members removing to Union Village,
and the land is soon to be sold as city
lots. Union Village is about three
miles west of Lebanon, the largest
and most prosperous community the
Shakers have ever had. This in its
best days consisted of eleven villages
or families, though now greatly re-
duced in numbers, and possesses
about 4, 500 acres of as fertile land as
the state contains. on which are COM
modious and substantial buildings,
although they have repeatedly been
the victims of incendiaries. Whitewa-
ter Village is on the dry fork of White
water River, about twenty miles from
Cincinnati. This community has
1,Ioo acres of level rich land, though
perhaps not as fertile as Union Village.
1t formerly consisted of three families,
but the "South" family has been
broken up, leaving the North Viii
lage" and the Center Village" in
habited.
Union Village was organized in
1905, Whitewater about 1922. Among
the founders and early members were
many men of energy and high intelli-
gence among others Ezra Sherman,
a son of Ezra Sherman of Connecticut,
a man of great force of character.
The most prosperous period of the So
ciety was in the early thirties, when
it numbered several hundred people
and was thriving industrial center.
This was time of great religious ex-
citement, which was added to by
celestial wonders. The great display
of shooting stars, in the fall of SO,
led many to believe that the earth was
nearing its end, and many people join
ed the society as converts to the new
faith.
Many of these fell away and the
society was becoming weaker when
the Millerite excitement of '43'44
brought in fresh accession of mem
bers. A blazing comet spread its
fiery tail across the western sky, and
to the ignorant the end of all thing
seemed at hand. From that time to
the present the decline of the society
has been slow but steady. Still, for
many years they remained quite an
industrial community. A correspon-
dent of an Ohio paper who visited the
community in 1857 wrote: 1T is
fine specimen of scientific agriculture
and horticulture. Peculiar religious
tenets aside, the society gives ample
evidence of true knowledge in farm
ing and gardening. Their communi-
ty consists of three families, in all 200
persons, including the children placed
in their care. Their chef business is
the raising of fine stock, seeds and
brooms. They have about so acres
appropriated to garden seeds, yield
ing a profit of So. 900 per year. x x
Extreme cleanliness is everywhere
manifest"
They still carried on their indus
tries, to some extent, in the late six
ties and retained considerable mem
bership. They conducted regular re-
ligious services in special building
and shaker Meeting" was one of
the show places of the country around
for ''worldings' to attend. Today
they muster scarcely 80 souls, half
dozen men, one of them ga years old,
and some twenty odd women. Their
temporal affairs are at present ably
managed by Farm Deacon Chas.
Sturr, but additions to their numbers
are very rare. Whether this decline
will result in the ultimate dissolution
of the society would be hard to pre-
dict. If SO all good citizens will re-
gret to see this community of honest
simple-living and peace-loving people
disappear from the earth. - Walter
Morris of Butter Cownty, Ohio, fn
Countsy Gentleman.