caption death_date death_place children birth_place religion image_size birth_date spouse residence image article_title name occupation
johann 1847 georg rapp -lrb- george rapp -rrb- 1757 -- 7 august 1847 economy , pennsylvania , united states johannes rapp -lrb- 1786 -- 1849 -rrb- rapp -lrb- 1783 -- 1812 -rrb- and rosine iptingen , germany christian 175px 1 november 1757 christine benzinger economy , beaver county pennsylvania johann georg rapp 1757 - 1847.jpg george rapp
 johann georg rapp religious colonizer
george rapp

johann georg rapp -lrb- november 1 , 1757 in iptingen , germany -- august 7 , 1847 in economy , pennsylvania -rrb- was the founder of the religious sect called harmonists , harmonites , rappites , or the harmony society .
born in iptingen , duchy of württemberg , germany , rapp became inspired by the philosophies of jakob böhme , philipp jakob spener , and emanuel swedenborg , among others .
in the 1780s , george rapp began preaching and soon started to gather a group of his own followers .
his group officially split with the lutheran church in 1785 and was promptly banned from meeting .
the persecution that rapp and his followers experienced caused them to leave germany and come to the united states in 1803 .
rapp was a pietist , and a number of his beliefs were shared by the anabaptists , as well as groups such as the shakers .
rapp 's religious beliefs and philosophy were the cement that held his community together both in germany and in america -- a christian community and commune , which in america organized as the harmony society .
the harmony society built three american towns , became rich , famous , and survived for 100 years -- roughly from 1805 until 1905 .
