Ann Lee - Religious Figure - Biography.com Religious Figure British religious leader Ann Lee, also known as "Mother Ann," had a vision of the second coming of Christ, which led her to found an American society of Shakers. IN THESE GROUPS Famous People Born in 1736 Synopsis Ann Lee was born on February 29, 1736, in Manchester, England. She joined the religious sect “The Shaking Quakers” in 1758. Around 1770, she revealed her vision of the second coming of Christ. Consequently, she was dubbed “Mother Ann” and became the sect’s leader. In 1774, she founded the first U.S. settlement of Quakers, in Watervliet, New York—where she remained until her death on September 8, 1784. Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us ! Citation Information Who are the Shakers? (with pictures) Who are the Shakers?

Images By: Xxknightwolf, George Eastman House, Elenathewise, n/a Last Modified Date: 29 November 2016 Copyright Protected: These 10 facts about space will blow your mind The Shakers are a small religious sect that was founded in Manchester, England, in 1747. Their name came from the derogatory term, "Shaking Quakers," which they were initially called because of their tendency to shake their bodies spastically while praying. The Shakers' first leader, Ann Lee, was known as Mother Ann, and claimed to have visions of God. She was imprisoned in England for her controversial religious views; upon her release, she led a small group of eight fellow Shakers to the United States. This group settled in a small town in upstate New York. They believed in celibacy, and attempted to raise new generations of children by adopting orphans into their community. The Shaker movement soon grew, with new communes appearing throughout New England, as well as in Kentucky and Ohio. The Shaker communities were known for their devout Christianity, their plain clothes, and their work ethic.

Many people in the community became adept at building furniture, which is highly valued today for its excellent craftsmanship. As excellent farmers, they were also responsible for many agricultural inventions, such as the clothespin and the circular saw. They were also well-known for their collection of medicinal herbs. Ad Today, there is only one remaining community of Shakers, located on Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester, Maine. The community has only a handful of members, and they are no longer permitted to adopt children as a religious group. They lead a quiet life, full of work and prayer. There is a Shaker Museum on the premises which is open to visitors, and visitors can also sit in on Sunday services. On the first Sunday of August, the Shakers celebrate Mother Ann Day, in honor of the group's founder. Some believe that once the group's membership has dwindled to only five members, there will be a revival. Ad Denha Post 8 @mitchell14- I heard about the Oneida community when I was reading about Charles Guiteau, the man who assassinated President Garfield.

Apparently Guiteau, who is well known as being mentally ill, went there after he had trouble in college, and then left- supposedly because he did not get along with the others. Some sources even say that he couldn't get anyone to sleep with him, even in a community where polyamory was one of the main parts of their lifestyle. Guiteau went on to have a strong belief in God, though, to the point where he claimed he killed Garfield because the Lord told him to. It makes me wonder if he wouldn't have done better in a more subdued environment, like the Shakers. mitchell14 Post 7 When we think of utopian societies -- those who think that their ideas could bring about an ideal world -- Shakers have become the most famous. And they do fit the mold, being a communal environment, strictly religious, and very committed. However, there were many other similar groups that also started in the 18th and 19th centuries, and several others in New England. One that I find really amusing is the Oneida Community in Oneida, New York- they were almost the opposite of the Shakers.

While the Shakers practice celibacy, the Oneida community practiced something called Complex Marriage, in which everyone was basically married to one another, and could engage in sexual relations with anyone else of the opposite sex. Sometimes I wonder if this would have worked better now than then; as it was they only lasted as a community from 1848 to 1881, and there were a few smaller groups around the country with similar practices. StarJo Post 6 I admire the Shakers for their devotion to their beliefs. It sounds like the world is trying to snuff them out, yet they still continue in their traditions. Though my lifestyle is totally different from theirs, I can very much respect commitment to the point of self-denial. They have it in their head what they believe that God expects of them, and they will not waver and join the masses. Sadly, they do seemed destined to die out. I can’t believe that they are not allowed to adopt children! Legally, maybe it’s because no one or two specific people would act as the parents. geekish Post 5 @snickerish - Yes!

They have kept the tradition of Shaker boxes alive (you can even find them for sale on the internet, but I don't know how authentic they are). Just as mentioned previously the Shakers are amazing craftsmen and craftswomen, so there was a push to make sure their box craftmanship wasn't lost. I remember when I was young (we also visited Shakertown in Kentucky), the thing to have were Shaker brooms as they were solid and beautiful. I also never looked at candles' the same way after I saw the reenactment of hand dipping candles. Neat stuff for a kid to see, and it made me appreciate all the stuff we had growing up even more. Speechie Post 4 Ann Lee | American religious leader | Britannica.com American religious leader Alternative Titles: Mother Ann, Mother Ann Ann Lee John F. Kennedy Ann Lee, byname Mother Ann (born Feb. 29, 1736, Manchester , Eng.—died Sept. 8, 1784, Watervliet , N.Y., U.S.), religious leader who brought the Shaker sect from England to the American Colonies.

Lee was the unlettered daughter of a blacksmith who was probably named Lees. In her youth she went to work in a textile mill. At the age of 22 she joined a sect known as the Shaking Quakers, or Shakers, because of the shaking and dancing that characterized their worship. She married in 1762, a union that tradition holds was unhappy and may have influenced her later doctrinal insistence on celibacy . In 1770, during a period of religious persecution by the English authorities, Lee was imprisoned and while in jail became convinced of the truth of certain religious ideas perceived in a vision. She came to believe that sexual lust impeded Christ’s work and that only through celibacy could men and women further his kingdom on Earth. Four years later, commanded as the result of another vision, Lee persuaded her husband, brother, and six other followers to immigrate to America . There, her followers founded a settlement in the woods of Niskeyuna (now Watervliet), near Albany (in present-day New York state). Beginning with an influx of converts from nearby settlements, the Shaker movement grew and began to spread throughout New England to embrace thousands.

Mother Ann, as she came to be known, was believed to have ushered in the millennium, for the Shakers asserted that as Christ had embodied the masculine half of God’s dual nature, so she embodied the female half. In 1780 Mother Ann was imprisoned for treason because of her pacifist doctrines and her refusal to sign an oath of allegiance . She was soon released and in 1781–83 toured New England. According to witnesses, she performed a number of miracles, including healing the sick by touch. After her death in 1784, her followers organized the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, which was also known as the Millennial Church and, most commonly, as the Shakers, and which by 1826 had grown to encompass 18 Shaker villages in 8 states. The Shakers gradually disappeared as an active religious sect. Learn More in these related articles: History Of The Shaker Movement This page is part of the Warren County Ohio GenWeb project You are our [an error occurred while processing this directive] visitor since 15 March 2005 -- thanks for stopping by!

Warren County Local History by Dallas Bogan History Of The Shaker Movement Contributor: Dallas Bogan on 6 September 2004 Source: original article by Dallas Bogan Return to Index to see a list of other articles by Dallas Bogan The writer has described in other articles the happenings of The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing , or the Shakers , as they are customarily called, but at this time I shall put another twist on the subject. Beginnings of the Shaker religion were started in a Quaker revival in England in 1747. From this revival came a religious denomination known as the Mellennial Church, or the Alethians. It was a minor religious group led by James and Jane Wardley, until Ann Lee headed up the movement. Ann Lee, born in 1736, was an illiterate cotton mill worker, and afterward a cook in Manchester, England, her birthplace. At the age of 22 she became acquainted with the Quakers, officially known as the Society of Friends. This religious denomination displayed fits of trembling in its early period of formation, and it is assumed that Lee acquired this practice from the Friends.

Ann Lee was married in 1762 to a blacksmith. Eight years later she attested to having a revelation that was endowed by the powers of the Almighty. In accordance to her views of self-restraint, she separated herself from her husband two years later. Aside from the peculiar physical mannerisms that she practiced, her doctrine included alleged visions and the pretense of working miracles. For these religious abnormalities she was imprisoned several times. She was much beloved by her people who resigned themselves to her influence and called her Mother Ann. Because of continual persecutions Mother Ann and eight followers came to America in 1774. Just two years later they formed the first Shaker community at Watervliet, N.Y. Ann Lee died in 1784 during the Revolutionary War after many imprisonments, her crusade being simply that the right to bear firearms was ungodly. Joseph Meacham and Lucy Wright afterward led the Society. They established a Shaker community at New Lebanon, N.Y., and by 1826 there were 18 such communities. The movement reached its highest strength in the 1840's with about 6,000 members in eight states.

Shakers from the New Lebanon fellowship sent several thousand dollars to Union Village to help the community get started. All monetary payment was reimbursed to the parent Society within ten years. Shaker theology regards God as both male and female, with Christ representing the incarnation of the male object, while the female was portrayed as Ann Lee. Her physical being had been proclaimed as the second incarnation of Jesus Christ, this belief having fulfilled the philosophy of this denomination for His second coming. Have you ever heard of the Millerites? This was an extremist religious sect that had mobilized in Cincinnati between 1846 and 1848. Their belief was that they could set a date and time for the reappearance of Christ. Several dates were set for this impending prophecy, but all attempts failed. One event was recorded that an ex-mayor of Lebanon, who had given himself to the Millerite faith, traveled to Cincinnati to acclaim the highest reward of them all. He took his ascension robe highly expecting to experience translation to heaven in a given instant. Certainly the event never occurred, but the man was most steadfast in his belief. The Millerites faith was shaken because of their many failures.

While still in this state of mind, they were visited by some Shaker community representatives. The Shakers therefore revealed their affiliation with God and persuaded the Millerites that Christ's second coming had already occurred in the person of Ann Lee. Many Millerites accepted this explanation and, as a result, an increase of two hundred people was added to the Shaker community, the largest single addition the Shakers of Ohio ever encountered. The Shaker sect and its beliefs were peculiar in many ways. One such doctrine was that of an Adamic order of birth and a spiritual order of humanity. The former allows marriage and the latter rejects it. Shaker practices relied upon birth and rearing of children, but because of the religious element, community engagement in these practices was not approved; celibacy, or non-marriage, was their chief doctrine. The Society was dependent entirely upon its increase from the outside, thus the Adamic order. As the husband and wife joined the Shakers , they could not practice as so, the rules stating that the couple were to live unrelated lives. Although social customs were approved at Union Village , persons of the opposite sex lived in separate quarters on separate sides of a large hallway in the residence building.

Upon joining the Shaker community, all property of the newcomers was automatically transferred to the Society. Personal withdrawals were unrestricted, but, according to the rules, all lands were to be withheld. Due to this practice, the Shakers prospered extensively. Many lawsuits were brought against the Society concerning land ownership, but to no avail, as all land the Ohio Supreme Court in favor of the Shakers upheld matters. Dancing was the most curious of all Shaker customs. The Telescope, published September 1, 1909, describes a Shaker dance in detail. It reads: "The dancing custom of the Shakers is one of the most interesting. A number of singers, probably a dozen or so, both sexes, would take their position in the middle of the room, half of them facing the other half, and begin a kind of song or chant. "While doing so they would step back and forth in a fashion resembling a double shuffle. If the spirit seemed to move the watchers, they would rise and, two abreast, would begin marching round the singers in the center.

"Soon the march would turn into a dancing step, the faces would be uplifted, and the hands outstretched, palms upward, with a gesticulation as if the worshipers were grasping for blessing falling down from heaven. "This would be continued indefinitely, sometimes the marchers and dancers falling from sheer exhaustion." The sect was ruled in a communistic order, their leaders being quite respected businessmen. Aside from the automatic transferal of lands from new members, they purchased large tracts from the common fund, and appropriate buildings were erected. All monetary capital was in the hands of an overseer who deposited it into a general treasury. Union Village encompassed several groups of buildings. They were so named as directional buildings, such as the South, the East, the North, the West and the Center, each containing several family groups. The assemblage of buildings known as the North Village was the home of the gathering order. It was here that the young people, who openly advocated the Shaker religious traits, lived until their credentials were properly approved. Both sexes engaged in a confession of sins in the presence of witnesses. They did not believe in a physical resurrection; their belief was in salvation through living the Christ life; their doctrine of repentance was most unclear.

FOOTNOTES: [a place to add additional information that you might want to submit] NOTICE: All documents and electronic images placed on the Warren County OHGenWeb site remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. These documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the submitter, or their legal representative, and contact the listed Warren County OHGenWeb coordinator with proof of this consent. This page created 6 September 2004 and last updated 28 September, 2008 © 2004 Arne H Trelvik All rights reserved Who are the Shakers? Who are the Shakers? 6 Answers 0 Of the hundreds of early experiments in communal living in colonial America, the Shakers were the most successful and enduring. The Shakers started in England as a dissident Protestant sect known as “Shaking Quakers” for the wild form of dancing they practiced during intense prayer sessions. Under persecution from the English, eight of the faithful fled to America in 1774 led by Mother Ann Lee.

Lee and her band of followers settled in New England but quickly spread, establishing Shaker communities from Maine to Florida and as far west as Ohio and Indiana. Surprisingly, Shakers are celibate, so they can only perpetuate and thrive by recruiting new adult members and by taking in orphans, a practice that was eventually made illegal in the 1960s. Children were not raised as Quakers but were allowed to choose when they turned 21. Those who chose to leave were first given money, tools, and a trade. That trade was usually furniture making. “Hands to work, hearts to God” was Ann Lee’s motto. ... life123.com Is this page helpful to you? Your anonymous feedback will help us improve. Related Videos 0 The Shakers are a small religious sect that was founded in Manchester, England, in 1747. Their name came from the derogatory term, "Shaking Quakers," which they were initially called because of their tendency to shake their bodies spastically while praying. The Shakers' first leader, Ann Lee, was known as Mother Ann, and claimed to have visions of God.

She was imprisoned in England for her controversial religious views; upon her release, she led a small group of eight fellow Shakers to the United States. The first group of Shakers settled in a small town in upstate New York. The devoutly religious group believed in celibacy, and attempted to raise new generations of Shaker children by adopting orphans into their community. The Shaker movement soon grew, with new communes appearing throughout New England, as well as in Kentucky and Ohio. The Shaker communities were known for their devout Christianity, their plain clothes, and their work ethic. Many people in the Shaker community ... more wisegeek.com Write a comment... 0 The Shakers are a small Protestant religious denomination founded in Manchester, England in the mid-1700’s as a dissident group of the Society of Friends (Quakers). Derisively called “Shaking Quakers” because their meetings included both singing and dancing, they were joined by a young woman, Ann Lees [later shortened to “Lee”] (b. 1736 – d.

1784), who was, according to those who knew her, at times “filled with visions and revelations of God.” The “light and power of God” revealed in Ann caused her fellow believers to acknowledge her as the “first spiritual Mother in Christ” and to give her the title of “Mother” Ann. However, the Shakers’ manner of worship stirred up “rage and enmity” and the Shakers decided for their own safety to leave England. The first group of Shakers, five men and three women led by Mother Ann Lee, arrived in America from England in August 1774. Within a few years, they had settled at Watervliet, New York, a tiny hamlet near Albany. After the American ... more shakerworkshops.com The Shakers of New England & How to Visit Them Origins The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing or The Millennial Church, more readily known as the Shakers, was a movement begun in 1747 in England as an offshoot of Quakerism.

Ann Lee (1736-1784), a mill worker and cook from Manchester, England, had a vision (about 1770) that she was the manifestation of the Second Coming. Mother Ann, proclaimed that she had received the mother element of the spirit of Jesus Christ. After being imprisoned for her unorthodox beliefs, Mother Ann and eight followers left England, immigrated to the American colony of New York in 1775 and established a small religious community in Watervliet, New York, near Albany. Nicknamed Shakers because of the trembling that came upon them during worship from their religious zeal, believed that God has both a male and female nature. The male was embodied in Jesus, the female in Mother Ann. Though Mother Ann died within a decade in 1784 at age 48, her followers founded other Shaker communities based on the principles of communal possessions, celibacy, pacifism, open confession of sins, and equality of the sexes. Shakerism took hold. Being a Shaker In eighteen Shaker communities over 6,000 devotees put their hands to work and their hearts to God.

Four of the six surviving Shaker communities are in New England, at Hancock and Harvard, Massachusetts; Sabbathday Lake, Maine; and Canterbury, New Hampshire. Shakers believed in a closed community, separate from the world, where men and women lived without mutual physical contact, but worked, prayed and dined in common. Without procreation a sect depends mightily upon proselytization, and the Shakers didn't proselytize much, so the communities had no way to grow except by attracting people to their good example. The purity and goodness of their lives and their ideals brought adherents in sufficient numbers until the 20th century, when the temptations of modern life led to the slow twilight of the sect. Visit Shaker Communities To relive a bit of Shaker history, visit Hancock Shaker Village , in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts; Canterbury Shaker Village near Concord NH ; and the Shaker village at Sabbathday Lake ME. Skaker communities were organized into families of 30 to 90 people. Work was a holy, consecrated act, a belief reflected in the high quality of workmanship and design in Shaker furniture and crafts: In effect, every product was a prayer.

Though converts devoted themselves and all their possessions to the community, they were free to leave at any time. Celibacy and the onslaught of the 20th century's complex lifestyle put an end to Shakerism after more than two centuries. There are only a handful of the faithful left now, living at the Shaker village at Sabbathday Lake ME. Shaker designs are still admired and copied, because these good people treated even daily tasks as an art and an offering to the divine. One cannot help but admire a body of beliefs and a lifestyle based on kindliness, mutual support and hard work. And yet, as exhibits at Hancock Shaker Village demonstrate, a life of willful denial can lead to privation for some—especially the several children who came to live in Shaker communities with their parents. A life too simple and basic can be as unfulfilling as a life too rich and elaborate.

Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Lee, Ann - Wikisource, the free online library Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Lee, Ann From Wikisource 562365 Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography — Lee, Ann LEE, Ann, religious teacher, b. in Manchester, England, 29 Feb., 1736; d. in Watervliet, N. Y., 8 Sept., 1784. She was the daughter of a blacksmith, and, after working in a cotton-factory and as cook in an infirmary, while yet a young girl married Abraham Stanley, also a blacksmith, by whom she had four children, all of whom died in infancy. When she was about twenty-two years old Ann came under the influence of James Wardley, who was at that time the chief exponent of the Camisards, or French Prophets, who had fled to England from France on account of persecution and found willing followers, especially among the Quakers.

Ann joined the new sect that was founded in 1747, and called from their physical contortions “Shaking Quakers.” She was naturally of an excitable temperament, and her experience in the performance of these peculiar religious exercises was most singular and painful. At times her flesh wasted away under the discipline, and she became so weak that she had to be fed like a child, while on other occasions she would enjoy “intervals of releasement,” in which she asserted that her strength had been miraculously renewed and her soul filled with heavenly visions and divine revelations. By 1770 she had grown greatly in favor among her people, and being persecuted and imprisoned in that year by the secular authorities, she was acknowledged on her release to be their spiritual mother in Christ. She now also claimed to be the incarnation of infinite wisdom, and the “second appearing of Christ,” as really and fully as Jesus of Nazareth was the incarnation of infinite power or Christ's first appearing, and therefore did not hesitate to call herself “Ann the Word.” She now began to declare the wrath of the Almighty against marriage, and for this she was again imprisoned, this time on a charge of misdemeanor.

On her release she returned to the attack on what she termed “the root of human depravity,” which so enraged her fellow-townsmen that she was shut up for several weeks in a mad-house. Thus harassed and persecuted on English soil, she declared that she had “a special revelation” to migrate to this country, and with several of her society, that had similar revelations she arrived in New York in May, 1774. In the spring of 1776 she went to Albany and established at Watervliet, eight miles from that city, a congregation that she called “The Church of Christ's Second Appearing,” and, after formally dissolving her marriage relation, became its recognized head. The new sect soon aroused the hostility of the authorities, Ann being accused by some of witchcraft and by others of secret correspondence with the British, probably because she was opposed to war. She was arrested on a charge of high treason and imprisoned in Albany during the summer of 1776, but was subsequently removed to the jail at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where she remained until pardoned by Gov. George Clinton in 1777.

It was not, however, until 1780 that the society increased materially in numbers. At the beginning of that year an unusually extensive revival occurred at New Lebanon, N. Y., in which Mother Lee took an active part. She succeeded in securing many converts and in establishing a branch society at that place. In 1781 she set out, in company with her elders, on an extended preaching tour through the New England states, where she founded societies at Harvard, Mass., and other places. She did not live long after her return to Watervliet, but died a natural death in spite of her claim that when she left this world she would “ascend in the twinkling of an eye to heaven.” Notwithstanding her fanatical excesses, it must be admitted that Ann was a remarkable woman. She was entirely without education, but founded a sect and inspired perfect faith in her divine mission, although it was sought to invalidate her claims by plausible charges that her life was shamefully impure.

Essay on Shaker History -- Shaker Historic Trail -- National Register of Historic Places Canterbury Shaker Village in Canterbury, New Hampshire, displays the natural beauty of the countryside where the Shakers settled their communities, far from the corrupting elements of the major cities Courtesy of Canterbury Shaker Village In his book, The American Soul, Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders, Jacob Needleman states, "we need to appreciate the important role that innovative religious communities played in the formation of our country--remembering that, for many of the Founding Fathers, America itself was envisioned as a new land, a new community defined not only politically but also spiritually." While the definition of "spirituality" took many forms, from enlightenment principles to freedom of worship, many European groups envisioned America as a place to plant the seeds for utopian communities, both religious and secular. One such group was the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, commonly known as the Shakers, who arrived in America from England in 1774. Founded in 1747, in Manchester, England, from a group of dissenting Quakers, only a handful of Shakers came to North America in 1774.

Once in America, the Shakers won many converts, and their faith spread to include roughly 6,000 members just before the Civil War. The Shakers were but one of many sects that found fertile soil in the North American continent to practice their beliefs and expand. Today, except for one active community in Sabbathday, Maine, the great Shaker villages are diminished, but the Shakers left an enduring impact on the religion and culture of the United States. Historical Background: The origins of the Shakers, like many other religious sects that splintered off mainstream Protestantism, are found in the 17th century. The Protestant Revolution, which began in Europe in 1517, along with the discoveries of new technologies and trade routes, altered the political, spiritual, and economic life of Europe and the world. The discoveries of the Americas, the uses of the vernacular tongues in writing, and the ancient earth-centered universe disproved by Tycho Brahe and other astronomers, along with the opening of new trade routes and newer technologies for warfare altered the earlier medieval conception of the universe.

With new scientific and religious interpretations opening up (the publishing of the Bible in various vernacular languages helped speed the process), the creation of new Christian Churches outside the Catholic Church and the mainstream Protestant denominations (the Lutheran Church, the Calvinists and Church of England) continued in the 17th and 18th centuries. Already in Elizabethan England the Puritans were becoming separate from the Church of England. Following came the Baptist Church, the Quakers, the French Camisards, the Community of True Inspiration, the first Unitarian tract, various Anabaptist and millenarian groups, the Methodists and others. Often the congregations that created these new churches believed that the mainstream Protestant Churches were becoming too legalistic in interpretation of the Bible. Two of these newer sects, the French Camisards and the Quakers, lead the way to the Shakers. The beliefs and early histories of these two religious groups will be briefly explored, as both groups contributed to the formation of Shaker beliefs.

Apple picking in 1918; unlike some other rural religious groups, the Shakers embraced technology and labor saving devices Courtesy of Canterbury Shaker Village Archives French Camisards and Quakers: The French Camisards, whose religious beliefs inspired both the Quakers and Shakers, originated in southern France during the 17th century. Influenced by the French Calvinists, the Camisards, whose name originated from the Provence word camiso, or chemise (shirt), rebelled against the royal persecution of their faith by the French authorities. The Camisards held some of their leaders to be Prophets, whom they claimed heard the word of God. They battled the armies of the French King Louis XIV from 1702 to 1706. Losing the battle, some Camisard survivors fled to England, where they continued to practice their beliefs. It was when these exiles preached in England that some Quakers fell under their influence. The Shakers Compendium of the Origin, History, Principles, Rules and Regulations, Government, and Doctrines of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, written by F.W.

Evans, and originally published in 1859, mentions the Camisards favorably, stating "In the beginning of the eighteenth century, Spiritualism broke out on the continent of Europe, and was followed by most remarkable religious revivals; out of which arose the 'French prophets'." It was a merging of both Quaker and French Camisard beliefs that created the Shakers. The Quakers were founded in England in 1652 by George Fox. Stressing the "Inner Light of Christ," the early Quakers taught that direct knowledge of Christ was possible to the individual without a Church, priest or book as the final word of revelation. While no official creed holds the Quakers, or Society of Friends, together, the belief that God exists in all people caused many Quakers to be sensitive to injustice and degradation. They have a long history of pacifism, and this belief was found also among their spiritual descendants, the Shakers. During the 1740s, the Quakers changed their process of worship where their violent tremblings and quakings, from which they derived their name, predominated.

One group in Manchester, England, retained this form of worship, and it was during the 1740s that the "Shaking Quakers," or Shakers, came under the influence of some exiled French Camisards. This group split off from mainstream Quakerism in 1747, and developed along their own lines, forming into a society with Jane and James Wardley as their leaders. Ann Lee, the founder and later leader of the American Shakers, and her parents were members of this society. Gravestone of the founder of the American Shakers, Mother Ann Lee Courtesy of Shaker Heritage Society, Albany, New York Mother Ann Lee and the Early Shakers: Ann Lee, who became the charismatic leader of the Shakers, was born the daughter of a blacksmith in the English city of Manchester in 1736. Growing up illiterate, Shaker tradition has it that Ann worked in a cotton factory, marrying a blacksmith named Abraham Standerin (also referred to as Stanley and Standley) in 1762. The couple had four children, all of whom died in childhood.

At age 22, Ann joined the Shakers and after being a member for about 12 years, she experienced what Evans named "a special manifestation of Divine light." After this experience the small society of believers acknowledged her as "Mother in Christ" and Mother Ann became the leader of the Shakers. In 1774, according to Evans, "Mother Ann received a revelation, directing her to repair to America; also that the second Christian Church would be established in America." With her husband and seven members of the society Ann Lee set sail for America on May 10, 1774. By late 1776 she and some followers were located in an area northwest of Albany, New York, by which point her husband had left her to marry another woman. In 1780, the first two American converts joined the small community, but Ann Lee and the Shakers came under suspicion of not aiding the American Revolution against the British. Ann Lee was placed in jail until George Clinton, governor of New York, released her, provided she did not work against the patriot cause. While her English followers opposed the war between the Colonies and Great Britain, they did not aid the British.

Ann returned to Niskeyuna, north of Albany, New York, in 1783. This location was already becoming the headquarters of the American Shakers. Ann gathered more followers with her teachings until her death in 1784. Historians interested in the history of women's rights have recently reevaluated the life of Ann Lee. The Mount Lebanon Shaker Society, in New Lebanon, became the spiritual Shaker center after the death of Mother Ann Lee Courtesy of Mount Lebanon Shaker Village Shaker Beliefs: The Shakers in America lived a communal life based on common ownership of property and goods, celibate purity, and confession of sins. The Shakers did not believe in procreation and therefore had to adopt children or allow converts into their community. The adopted children were given a choice at age 21 whether to remain with the Shaker community or go their way into the world. The Shakers eventually created 19 official communities in the Northeast, Ohio, and Kentucky. From these communities came agricultural advances and quality manufactured goods. In addition, the Shakers had advanced notions of equality between the sexes and the races.

The Shakers had prosperous communities and grew to be respected by people who had scorned them for their unorthodox religious practices. The Shakers, like the Quakers, were pacifists in outlook, citing the example of Jesus Christ. The Shakers believed in opportunities for intellectual and artistic development within the Society. Good sanitation, simplicity in dress, speech, and manner were encouraged, as was living in rural colonies away from the corrupting influences of the cities. Like other Utopian societies founded in the18th and19th centuries, the Shakers believed it was possible to form a more perfect society upon earth. The Shaker belief in the equality of the sexes is symbolized by the special place their founder, Ann Lee, holds in the community. Spiritually, Shaker theology, which held that God created all things in a "dual" order, stated that the female element of Christ, manifested in Ann Lee, heralded the second Christian Church, as Christ heralded the first Christian Church.

Evans states that Ann Lee became a spiritual woman, who could reveal and manifest "the Mother Spirit in Christ and in Deity," as Jesus, "being a male, could only reveal and manifest the Father in Christ and God." According to Christian Becksvroort, in The Shaker Legacy Perspectives on an Enduring Furniture Style, "The belief that God is both mother and father is the theological basis for the Shaker belief in the basic equality of the sexes and has important implications for Shaker organizational structure, which required male and female representatives in key roles." The Shaker communities referred to those who lived outside as people from "the World." They allowed contact with outsiders, and many outsiders, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, observed their religious practices. Shaker communities were agriculturally based, and consisted of several Shaker "families." The celibate Shaker "family" was not a family of blood relations; rather all referred to themselves as brothers and sisters of the Shaker community. The sexes lived, and mostly worked, apart, living in communal homes that could house up to 100 people. The community meeting-house became the center of Shaker worship services on Sunday where the sexes sat in separate rows.

The spontaneous dancing that was part of Shaker worship until the early 1800s became replaced by choreographed dancing. Around the 1840s spontaneous dancing returned, but by the end of the 19th century dancing ceased, and worship services were taken up with the singing of hymns, testimonials, a short homily, and silence. Watervliet Shaker village, in Albany, New York c1870 Courtesy of Shaker Heritage Society 19th Century to the Present: Following the death of Mother Ann Lee, new leaders took over as head of the Shaker religion. William Lee, the brother of Ann Lee, was one such leader. William Lee, who was born in England in 1740 and died in 1784, was remembered for, according to Evans, his undaunted stance during the Shakers time of persecution in the United States as well as his love for music and gift of song. During this same time period, John Hocknell converted from the Methodist Church in England and became an inspirational member of the growing Shaker community.

He was remembered, according to Evans, for his gift of healing as well as his "temporal assistance" in aiding the society--especially in the crossing of the Atlantic. English-born James Whittacker (1751-1787), was the leader following William Lee, and was remembered for his strong faith in God. Joseph Mecham (1742-1796), born in Connecticut, and Lucy Wright (1760-1821), born in Massachusetts, were the first American-born leaders of the Shakers. Meacham transformed Shakerism by setting down rules for architecture, communal sharing of goods, behavior and worship, thus placing individual discipline as a cornerstone for spiritual salvation both individually and within the wider Shaker community. Under Mecham's leadership two societies in New Lebanon, New York ( Mount Lebanon Shaker Society ), and Albany, New York ( Watervliet Shaker Historic District ), were added. Under Wright's leadership, immediately following Mecham, several societies in Ohio and Kentucky were established along with great accessions to the Eastern societies. Shaker communities were eventually founded in States from Maine to Kentucky.

One of the most thriving of the Shaker communities was Pleasant Hill , in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, which had over 500 inhabitants and included over 260 buildings in the 19th century. From their inception, Shaker communities were known for their manufactured goods. The Shakers embraced new labor-saving technologies, and invented metal pen nibs, the flat broom, a prototype washing machine called a wash mill, the circular saw (invented by a woman, Tabitha Babbit), waterproof and wrinkle-free cloth, a metal chimney cap that blocked rain, and improved on the plow. The Shakers have survived into current times, photo of Eldress Bertha Lindsay Courtesy of Canterbury Shaker Village The Shakers came under a spiritual revival called the Era of Manifestations, which lasted from the late 1830s to about 1850. According to Shaker tradition, heavenly spirits came to earth, bringing visions, often giving them to young Shaker women, who danced, whirled, spoke in tongues, and interpreted these visions through their drawings and dancing.

While the Era of Manifestations strengthened the spiritual roots and bonds of the Shakers, several of the leaders of this movement later left the Shakers. As pacifiists,the Shakers did not believe that it was acceptable to kill or harm others, even in time of war. As a result the Civil War brought with it a strange time for the Shaker communities in America. Both Union and Confederate soldiers found their way to the Shaker communities. Shakers tended to sympathize with the Union but they did feed and care for both Union and Confederate soldiers. President Lincoln exempted Shaker males from military service, and they became some of the first conscientious objectors in American history. The end of the Civil War brought large changes to the Shaker communities. One of the most important changes was the post- war economy. The Shakers had a hard time competing in the industrialized economy that followed the Civil War. With prosperity falling, converts were hard to come by. By the early 20th century the once numerous Shaker communities were failing and closing. Today, in the 21st century, the Shaker community that still exists--the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community --denies that Shakerism was a failed utopian experiment.

Their message, surviving over two centuries in America, reads in part as follows: " Shakerism is not, as many would claim, an anachronism; nor can it be dismissed as the final sad flowering of nineteenth century liberal utopian fervor. Shakerism has a message for this present age--a message as valid today as when it was first expressed. It teaches above all else that God is Love and that our most solemn duty is to show forth that God who is love in the World." Information for this essay was found in several sources, among them the biographical account of Ann Lee written by Stephen J. Stein, edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (general editors) and found in American National Biography Volume 13 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).In passing, one book which explores the larger theme of spirituality in America, Jacob Needleman's The American Soul Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders, (New York: Putnam, 2002) deserves mention. F. W.

Evans original 1859 work, Shakers Compendium of the origin, History, principles, Rules and Regulations, Government, and Doctrines of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing with Biographies of Ann Lee, William Lee, Jas. Whittaker, J. Hocknell, J. meacham, and Lucy Wright was found online at Much of the information found here was taken from the National Park Service's pamphlet The Shaker Historic Trail. Information on the current beliefs of the Shakers was found at their Sabbethday Lake Shaker Community website at Christian's Becksvoort's The Shaker Legacy Perspectives on an Enduring Furniture Style (Newtown, Ct: The Taunton Press, 2000) gave a good account of Shaker innovations, while the reforms of Joseph Meachum, a successor of Ann lee, were found in Julie Nicoletta's The Architecture of the Shakers (Woodstock, Vermont: Norfleet Press, 1995). Shakers | Article about Shakers by The Free Dictionary Shakers | Article about Shakers by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Idioms , Wikipedia .

Shakers, popular name for members of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, also called the Millennial Church. Members of the movement, who received their name from the trembling produced by religious emotion, were also known as Alethians. The movement originated in a Quaker revival in England in 1747, and was led by James and Jane Wardley. However, the sect, then known as the Shaking Quakers, grew strong only after the appearance of Ann Lee Lee, Ann, 1736–84, English religious visionary, founder of the Shakers in America. Born in Manchester, she worked there in the cotton factories and then became a cook. In 1762 she was married to Abraham Stanley, a blacksmith. In 1758 she had joined the "Shaking Quakers. ..... Click the link for more information. . Imprisoned for her zeal, she believed herself the recipient of the mother element of the spirit of Christ. Following a vision, she and eight followers emigrated (1774) to New York state and in 1776 founded a colony at Watervliet, near Albany.

Mother Ann, as she was known, gained a number of converts, who after her death (1784) began the formation of Shaker communities. By 1826 there were 18 Shaker communities in eight states, as far west as Indiana. After 1860, Shakerism began to decline; by 2000 it was almost nonexistent, with a tiny community in New Gloucester, Maine, constituting the only active Shaker village in the country. One of the fundamental doctrines of the society was belief in the dual nature of the Deity. The male principle was incarnated in Jesus; the female principle, in Mother Ann. Other tenets were celibacy, open confession of sins, communal ownership of possessions in the advanced groups, separation from the world, pacifism, equality of the sexes, and consecrated work. Singing, dancing, and marching characterized phases of Shaker worship. The community was organized into groups, called families, of between 30 and 90 individuals. The believers donated their services and possessions but were always free to leave. Shaker furniture and handcrafts are noted for their fine design and crafting. Bibliography See E. D.

Andrews and F. Andrews, Shaker Furniture (1937, repr. 1964) and The People Called Shakers (2d ed. 1963); J. G. Shea, American Shakers and Their Furniture (1970); H. C. Desroche, The American Shakers (tr. 1971); P. J. Brewer, Shaker Communities, Shaker Lives (1986); S. J. Stein, The Shaker Experience in America (1992); S. Skees, God among the Shakers (1998). Shakers/United Society of Believers (religion, spiritualism, and occult) During the eighteenth century many Christian communities, sects, cults, and denominations were formed, each with its own expressive way of interpreting the Gospel. In Manchester, England, a group led by James Wardley broke off from a Quaker community (see Quakers/Religious Society of Friends) because they wanted to practice a form of religious expression foreign to Quaker tradition.

They believed in the ideals of simplicity and gender equality beloved by Quakers, but their services were often interrupted as members experienced ecstatic dance and trembling when filled with the Holy Spirit. Because of this habit, they became known as "Shaking Quakers." Understandably for the time, they were soon the objects of persecution and harassment. One of the founders of the group was a young woman known as Ann Lee. During a long imprisonment she experienced a vision in which it was revealed to her that she was the Second Coming of Christ, the female component of "God the Father/Mother." Upon her release, "Mother Lee," as she came to be called, became the leader of the movement. With a theology so radically different from mainstream Protestantism, the group, now called Shakers, were forced to immigrate to the United States, home of many diverse sects and cults. They arrived in New York City in May of 1774, gained some converts, and started a commune in Watervliet, New York. Their timing couldn't have been worse.

Persecution intensified, first because the Shakers were different, second because the bumptious Revolutionary War spirit so prevalent in America at this time was often directed at anyone who had recently come over from England, and third because the Shakers were pacifists. They might have simply disappeared into history, forgotten like so many other small Christian cults, were it not for a religious revival called the New Light Stir that swept across New England beginning about the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Other independent but like-minded sects united with the Shakers, impressed by the preaching of Mother Lee, who traveled and taught extensively in the western portions of Massachusetts and surrounding states. She died in 1784 having accomplished what she had set out to do. The Shaker religion was now firmly entrenched. It wasn't just due to Mother Lee, however. "Father John" Meachim recognized early on the attraction many people had for Shaker furniture, music, dancing, and books, all of which demonstrated simple design and flawless craftsmanship. These industries began to finance the organization and served as marketing tools. And it was good that they did, because the only way the Shaker religion was going to grow was by making converts.

They couldn't "grow their own" like other religions because they practiced absolute celibacy. According to Mother Lee, sex was a gift given only for reproduction. It constituted the original sin in the Garden of Eden. The only way to grow spiritually was to return to the uncorrupted state of Adam and Eve before they started fooling around with something God had intended only as a reproductive duty. Needless to say, no babies have ever been born into the Shaker religion. That tends to keep the numbers down. By the 1880s Shakers had peaked in terms of numbers. They became sort of a tourist attraction that "worldly people" could observe. Their furniture and music were certainly in great demand. Ironically, there may have been more complicated musical arrangements of the Shaker tune "Simple Gifts" than of any other song. No less a luminary than Leonard Bernstein tried his hand. But probably Aaron Copland's ballet music, Appalachian Spring, takes the prize for the most musically complex and embellished setting of a tune written to celebrate simplicity. On the other hand, thanks to Martha Graham's choreography, at least people dance to it. Mother Lee would have appreciated that. But all good things come to an end.

Industrialization caught the fancy of the American public, and mass-produced chairs soon replaced the handcrafted Shaker furniture so sought after today by antique dealers. During the twentieth century the Shakers retreated into small communities, cutting way down on their contact with outsiders. In 1965 the group decided to accept no new members. Only two small communities, one in New Hampshire and the other in Maine, now remain. A few new members were received into the Maine community at Sabbath Lake during the 1990s, but some original members refused to recognize them. So, very soon, the Shakers will have no remaining presence save for their historical legacy and museum displays. Shakers Shakers facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Shakers COPYRIGHT 1996 The Gale Group, Inc. Shakers ETHNONYM: Believers The Shakers (the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing) are a religious sect that began as an off-shoot of Protestantism in England in the mid-1700s.

Escaping persecution, the Shaker's founder, Mother Ann Lee, and eight followers immigrated to the United States in 1774 and settled in Watervliet, New York , north of Albany. Although not free from persecution in the New World either, Mother Lee was able to attract loyal followers who spread the gospel in New England , the Midwest, and the South. At its height in the mid-1800s, Shakerism numbered over five thousand "brothers and sisters" living in some eighteen communities, or "societies," in Maine , New Hampshire , Vermont , Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania , Ohio , Indiana , Kentucky , Georgia , and Florida . Since that time Shakerism has steadily declined, and today there are only twelve Shakers left, residing at the two communities in Canterbury , New Hampshire, and Sabbathday Lake, Maine.

Although the Shakers have largely disappeared, the Shaker way of life remains part of the American scene, primarily through Shaker museums, restored Shaker communities open to tourists, Shaker manufactures such as chairs and oval boxes which command prices of over $100,000 in the antiquities market, and Shaker songs such as "The Gift to Be Simple." Shaker life is centered on a number of core beliefs and values, including a belief in the second coming of Christ, communal living, celibacy, humility, simplicity, efficiency, hard work, and equality between the sexes. Behaving in accordance with these values is seen as the route to salvation. Although outsiders often attribute the decline of Shakerism to celibacy, the Shakers themselves argued that most people who experimented with Shakerism left the communities Because of difficulty in putting aside self-interest for the Community's interest. Although Shakers lived in their own communities in the form of large farms with multiple buildings and considerable acreage, did not vote, and were pacifists, they did not live totally outside mainstream society.

In fact, Shakers were often the first in their region to use electricity and telephones, often owned cars, trucks, and tractors for community use, and today use televisions, computers, and other modern conveniences. Most important, celibacy required that all new Shakers had to be recruited from the outside world. The Shakers were open to all those interested including American Indians, Jews , and especially orphaned children, although few actually signed the covenant required for a lifelong commitment to Shakerism. Shaker communities were large self-sufficient farms with a variety of cottage industries such as furniture making, metalworking, seed packaging, basketry, broom making, and weaving. The products of these endeavors were both used within the community and sold to outsiders. Some, such as the sale of seeds in packages, a Shaker innovation, were highly successful. In all their work, simplicity and efficiency were the guiding principles. The Shakers invented a number of objects still in use, including the circular saw, brimstone match, flat broom, and the revolving oven. Although equality between the sexes was stressed, the actual day-to-day work of the communities was divided on traditional sexual lines.

Men usually did most of the outside work and heavy manufacturing, and women were responsible for domestic work, cooking, and traditional female work such as cloth making and weaving. As the number of male Shakers decreased over time, female manufactures began to be a major source of income. At its height with some eighteen active societies, over 100,000 acres of land, and thousands of members, the Shakers constituted a multistate corporation. Central authority rested with the two elders and two elderesses at the New Lebanon society, east of Albany in New York, with the head elder or elderess the official head. Elders appointed their successors. Each Shaker society was governed by two elders and two elderesses assisted by deacons, who managed the day-to-day operation of the society, and trustees, who dealt with the outside world and were essentially the financial managers. Within the communities, the Shakers were divided into Families of about one hundred persons each, who lived and worked separately from other families and with strict sexual segregation within the families. Despite the fairly rigid social structure, authoritarian rule was the exception; social cohesion was mostly the result of a shared commitment to Shaker values and beliefs.

All property was owned communally, and new members were required to turn over all personal property to the society upon signing the covenant. This was a major source of the large acreage owned by the Shakers, but also the cause of a number of lawsuits by former members and heirs of deceased members. These suits were nearly always decided in favor of the Shakers. Shaker religious beliefs are essentially fundamental Christianity , although there are some clearly unique beliefs that deviate from the main branches of Christianity and other sects. The Shakers reject the Trinity; instead they believe in a God made up of female and male elements reflected both in the supernatural and the real worlds. The requirement of celibacy is based on the belief that sin arose from Adam and Eve's sexual behavior in the Garden of Eden , although they do not feel that non-Shakers who marry and have sexual relations are sinners. The Shakers were also strong believers in active, direct communication with the deceased, but this practice apparently declined over the years. Perhaps the feature of Shaker life that has drawn the most attention was their religious services. The services tended to be long, drawn-out events performed by the Shakers, but often with many non-Shaker observers.

During the height of Shakerism in the mid-1800s, these services were ecstatic experiences for the participants, involving hand clapping, dancing, singing, stomping, shaking, jumping, shouting, having visions, and speaking in tongues. Some social scientists suggest that these services provided an emotional outlet for the Shakers who otherwise lived an austere life. As Shakerism declined, so too did the fervor of the services. Bibliography COPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. SHAKERS SHAKERS. The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing was a small sect founded by working-class men and women in Manchester, England, in the late 1740s. These "Believers," as they called themselves, were derided as "Shakers" because their bodies shook and trembled in religious devotion. Convinced that the Day of Judgment was nigh, they expressed contempt for earthly authority and respectable churches. Ann Lee, the illiterate woman who would become the sect's revered American leader, was jailed twice for disturbing Anglican services.

In 1774 a small cohort immigrated to New York and eventually clustered in the Hudson Valley, north of Albany, but they had not escaped repression. Shakers were arrested as troublemakers whose pacifism undermined the revolutionary cause. They were whipped, beaten, and accused of witchcraft. As they began to draw American converts, "Mother Ann" Lee's prophecies and teachings set the rules and defined the goals of life within the United Society. After her death in 1784, some believers regarded her as the second incarnation of God. The two American converts who followed Mother Ann as Lead Elder—Joseph Meacham (1787–1796) and Lucy Wright (1796–1821)—developed an institutional structure for less antagonistic relations with society. A village erected in the 1780s on a mountainside overlooking New Lebanon, New York, became the movement's headquarters. Emissaries supervised the "gathering" of new communities in hill country regions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. In the early nineteenth century the movement expanded into Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.

By the mid-1820s about 4,000 believers lived in sixteen communal villages, usually with residential "Great Houses" surrounded by meetinghouses, barns, mills, workshops, and smaller residences for children and probationary members. A hierarchy of elders and eldresses who had completely abandoned the sinful world were in charge. The practical arrangement of life in these communities was more important than any wrangling over theology. The goals were separation from unbelievers, a simple and harmonious life, and equality of men and women. In practice, believers gave up private property and worked for the common benefit in a rotation of tasks. Sexual relations were prohibited and men and women lived in strictly enforced separation. In the early decades believers faced hardship together. But they proved to be skilled at marketing a wide variety of products, such as seeds and herbs, diapers and cloaks, and tools and furniture. Life among the believers reached levels of comfort and security that drew admiration from utopian socialist communities. The most prominent mid-nineteenth century Shaker leader, Elder Frederick Evans, had been a radical New York labor leader before he was converted by a series of nightly visitations by angels.

He spoke for "progressive" Shakers who wished to see their movement more active in reform of society. An opposing faction feared that material success would lure "lukewarm" converts and undermine the pursuit of holy simplicity. In fact, there were too few converts and too many defectors. After peaking at about 6,000 in the 1840s, membership declined steadily to about 855 in 1900, 40 in 1950, and 8 in 2000. Some Shaker villages became tourist sites. Shaker songs, furniture, and recipes became American favorites. Popular nostalgia converted the once-persecuted Shakers into a charming sect. BIBLIOGRAPHY Brewer, Priscilla J. Shaker Communities, Shaker Lives. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1986. Stein, Stephen J. The Shaker Experience in America: A History of the United Society of Believers. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1992. LewisPerry Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology COPYRIGHT 2001 The Gale Group Inc.

Shakers A spiritual community established in New Lebanon , New York , near the Massachusetts line, formally known as the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing. It had its origin in England in 1747, when Jane and James Wardley became the first leaders of a Lancashire revivalist sect. They were Quaker tailors influenced by the French prophets, an enthusiastic movement that had spread through southern France earlier in the century. Ann Lee, 22-year-old daughter of a Manchester blacksmith, joined this group of "shaking Quakers" in 1758 and through her strange visionary gifts became their leader. She was imprisoned in 1772 for disturbing the Sabbath and preaching a doctrine of celibacy, an idea stemming from her own experience of losing four children at or soon after their birth. In 1774, after visions and inspired revelations, she moved to America with a handful of followers. By 1780 the Shaker colony had grown, attracting many settlers. Men and women lived together in celibacy with common ownership of property.

Between 1781 and 1783 Lee and her elders visited 36 towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut on a missionary campaign, but the Shakers were ridiculed. They had become especially unpopular for their pacifist ideas during the Revolution. Lee died in 1784. The community eventually prospered, especially under Lee's successor, Joseph Meacham, and established an enviable reputation for hard work, excellent furniture making, and community spirit. The most characteristic behavior of the Shakers, from which their popular name derived, was an ecstatic dance. It seems clear that much of the very genuine joy and creativeness of the Shaker community arose from the intense energy of sexual sublimation. Starting in 1837, the Watervliet community near Albany, New York, was visited by Spiritualist-type manifestations of shaking and jerking, and some Shakers were possessed by Indian spirits and spoke in tongues (see Xenoglossis ). Some of them became Spiritualists. The Shaker community grew throughout the nineteenth century. The Shakers were able to gather many converts on the frontier and found other members among the many orphans to whom they provided a home.

They originally had functioned informally as an orphanage in many areas, but the creation of a system of government and church-sponsored orphanages had a significant impact on the movement's development. The eventual decline of Shakerism owed partly to materialistic influences from outside and partly to the inevitable dwindling of a community that outlawed sexual activity. Sources: Andrews, Edward Deming. The People Called Shakers: A Search for the Perfect Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1953. Desroche, Henri. The American Shakers. Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press, 1971. [Evans, Frederick W.]. Autobiography of a Shaker. Mount Lebanon, N.Y., 1869. Evans, Frederick W. Shakers and Shakerism. New York, 1859. Flinn, H. C. Spiritualism Among the Shakers. East Canterbury, N.H., 1899. Garrett, Clarke. Spirit Possession and Popular Religion: From the Camisards to the Shakers. Baltimore , Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987. Holloway, Emory.

"Walt Whitman's Visit to the Shakers; With Whitman's Notebook Containing his Description and Observations of the Shaker Group at Mt. Lebanon." The Colophon 1 (spring 1930). MacLean, John P. Bibliography of Shaker Literature. 1905. Reprint, Burt Franklin, 1971. Taylor, Michael Brooks. "&43'Try the Spirits': Shaker Responses to Supernaturalism." Journal of Religious Studies 7 (fall 1979): 30-38. Cite this article The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright The Columbia University Press Shakers, popular name for members of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, also called the Millennial Church. Members of the movement, who received their name from the trembling produced by religious emotion, were also known as Alethians. The movement originated in a Quaker revival in England in 1747, and was led by James and Jane Wardley. However, the sect, then known as the Shaking Quakers, grew strong only after the appearance of Ann Lee .

Imprisoned for her zeal, she believed herself the recipient of the mother element of the spirit of Christ. Following a vision, she and eight followers emigrated (1774) to New York state and in 1776 founded a colony at Watervliet, near Albany. Mother Ann, as she was known, gained a number of converts, who after her death (1784) began the formation of Shaker communities. By 1826 there were 18 Shaker communities in eight states, as far west as Indiana. After 1860, Shakerism began to decline; by 2000 it was almost nonexistent, with a tiny community in New Gloucester, Maine, constituting the only active Shaker village in the country. One of the fundamental doctrines of the society was belief in the dual nature of the Deity. The male principle was incarnated in Jesus; the female principle, in Mother Ann. Other tenets were celibacy, open confession of sins, communal ownership of possessions in the advanced groups, separation from the world, pacifism, equality of the sexes, and consecrated work. Singing, dancing, and marching characterized phases of Shaker worship.

The community was organized into groups, called families, of between 30 and 90 individuals. The believers donated their services and possessions but were always free to leave. Shaker furniture and handcrafts are noted for their fine design and crafting. See E. D. Andrews and F. Andrews, Shaker Furniture (1937, repr. 1964) and The People Called Shakers (2d ed. 1963); J. G. Shea, American Shakers and Their Furniture (1970); H. C. Desroche, The American Shakers (tr. 1971); P. J. Brewer, Shaker Communities, Shaker Lives (1986); S. J. Stein, The Shaker Experience in America (1992); S. Skees, God among the Shakers (1998). Cite this article The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions © The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions 1997, originally published by Oxford University Press 1997. Shakers. Popular name for the United Society for Believers in Christ's Second Appearing.

The sect was founded by Ann Lee (1736–84). She was converted to the Shaking Quakers (so-called because of their trembling and ritualistic dancing) in 1758. She then, as Mother Ann, received revelations that she was the female counterpart of Christ, and that she was to take the small group that had begun to form around her to the New World to await the millennium (see MILLENNIALISM ). The community was to be strictly celibate and was to hold all things in common. By about 1840, they had reached around 6,000 in number, in twenty communities, but have now virtually disappeared: the ‘Mother Church’ at Mount Lebanon in New York was sold in 1947, and membership was declared closed in 1965. Nevertheless, there is a small continuing community in Maine . Cite this article The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music © The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. Shakers (Shaking Quakers).

Name for members of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, a religious celibate community founded in the USA after 1774 by Ann Lee (1736–84), formerly of Manchester in Eng. They developed their own hymnology, incl. spirituals and dance, and in the 1840s two tunebooks were pubd. giving details of Shaker mus. theory, notation, and tunes. When a Shaker had a religious seizure which resulted in a hymn or dance-tune, a scribe wrote down the tune in a primitive littoral notation. The words of the songs were sometimes in Eng., at others were nonsense, or derived from Indian or Negro speech. Copland quotes the Shaker tune Simple Gifts in his Appalachian Spring . Shakers are now almost extinct, but their mus. has been collected and is studied. Cite this article World Encyclopedia © World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. Shakers (officially United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing) US religious sect.

Originally an offshoot of the English Quakers , the nickname derived from the fervour of their religious ceremonies. In 1774, Ann Lee and eight of her followers emigrated to New York . ‘Mother Ann’ believed she was the female reincarnation of Jesus Christ. After her death (1784), the movement spread, and by c.1850 they numbered c.6000 in more than 18 communes. One of the central beliefs of Shakers is the dual (male and female) nature of the Deity. Other tenets include celibacy, sexual equality, pacifism, and the sanctity of labour. They are noted for their crafts. Cite this article

Question: Which religious sect was founded by Ann Lee in Manchester in 1747?
Answer: The Shakers