The chronology of Shakers is a list of important events pertaining to the history of the Shakers, a denomination of Christianity. Millenarians who believe that their founder, Ann Lee, experienced the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the Shakers practice celibacy, confession of sin, communalism, ecstatic worship, pacifism, and egalitarianism. This spans the emergence of denomination in the mid-18th century, the emigration of the Shakers to New York on the eve of the American Revolution, subsequent missionary work and the establishment of nineteen major planned communities, and the continued persistence of the faith through decline into the 21st century.
Chronology Emergence in England Precursor movements
George Fox initiates an English dissenter movement that becomes a denomination known as the Quakers.
1706
Elie Marion leads a group of millenarian group of Camisards, also known as the "French Prophets", into London from France. Known for visions and prophetic sermons, their activities and writings influence the religious and political thought for many in England.
1729
The brothers John and Charles Wesley form Holy Club, a student cell group at Christ Church, Oxford, beginning what will become known as Methodism.
Emergence of the Shakers 1736
February 29: Ann Lees (later known as Lee) is born in Manchester, England.
1747
Jane and James Wardley, residents of Manchester, form a house church at the residence of John Townley in Bolton, where the attendees practice ecstatic worship. Reportedly, they are former Quakers who dissent from the quietism - solemn, quietly meditative worship - in that denomination, instead desiring a more expressive form of worship. This and subsequent house churches elsewhere in Manchester, as well as in Meretown and Chester, become known as the "Wardley Society", and soon also become known as "Shaking Quakers" or "Shakers" due to the physical trembling when the congregants are overcome with religious ecstasy.
1758
Ann Lee joins the Wardley Society.
1761
January 5: Lee marries Abraham Standerin.MS 13/3, Manchester Cathedral Archive
1766
John Hocknell, after initially being drawn to Methodism, joins the Wardley Society.Goodwillie 2016, p. 78 Around this time, the Partington family also starts hosting church meetings.Goodwillie 2016, p. 79
John Hocknell brings his daughter, Mary, to live with Ann Lee and her brother William, in the house of their father, John Lees.
1769
A scathing, anti-Shaker report on the Shakers, likely a reprint from an English newspaper, is published by The Virginia Gazette in the Colony of Virginia.Goodwillie 2016, p. 80 In Harvard, Massachusetts, the religious leader Shadrack Ireland, and eight followers of his Perfectionist movement, build "The Square House". Ireland teaches abstinence from sex for those who have not yet achieved perfection.
While in prison for "disturbing the peace", Lee receives a vision and is convicted of the need for universal celibacy among all Christians. The Shakers later believe that she experienced the Second Coming of Christ.
1772 through 1774
By this time, the Shakers have become disruptive, and Ann Lee and others are jailed more than once.
Early missionary work in the United States 1774
May 19: Nine Shakers emigrate from England to the Province of New York, financed by John Hocknell. These are Ann Lee, Abraham Standerin, William Lee, Nancy Lee (a niece of Ann), James Whittaker, John Hocknell, Richard Hocknell (a son of John), James Shepherd, and Mary Partington.Edward D. Andrews, The People Called Shakers (1963), p. 13. August 6: The Shakers land in New York City. Nothing more is known of the Townleys and Wardleys after this point. They are reported to have gone bankrupt and relocated to a poor house in the summer of 1774.Goodwillie 2016, p. 83
1775
John Hocknell leases property from the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, in Albany County, New York. Known as Niskayuna and later on as Watervliet (today the site is located in Colonie, New York), this becomes the first major Shaker settlement in the United States, Watervliet Shaker Village. Hocknell briefly returns to England in order to bring his family to Watervliet, including his second wife, Hannah, and his children Francis and Anna. The family of Mary Partington, including her father, John, also emigrate to the new community. Abraham Standerin renounces the Shakers and his marriage, and marries another woman. On April 19, the Battles of Lexington and Concord begin the American Revolutionary War.
1777
In July, the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations, who inhabit and own much of Upstate New York, including territory near the Shakers at Watervliet, declare war on the United States.
1778
The first new members recorded as joining the Shaker community. Shadrack Ireland dies. His followers await for his resurrection that he predicted, but this resurrection does not occur.
1779
"New Light" congregations of Baptists and Presbyterians in Hancock, Massachusetts and Caanan and New Lebanon, New York, experience revivals which presage the Second Great Awakening. They hold daily meetings that include extraordinary spiritual phenomena, speaking in tongues, and visions.J.E.A. Smith, History of Pittsfield, vol. 1 (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1869), 453. These revivals dissipate by the end of the year.
1780
March: Joseph Meacham and Calvin Harlow, Baptist ministers from Columbia County, New York, and leaders in the recent New Light revival, investigate the Shakers, are convinced of their message, and return with the news to their respective congregations. May 19: The "Dark Day", when much of the Northeast and parts of Canana are shrouded in darkness throughout the day, despite the sky being clear. On or just after this day, Lee opens her gospel to the public. Residents from Albany and Columbia Counties in Upstate New York and Berkshire County, Massachusetts, begin converting to the Shakers. The newfound popularity attracts the attention of the New York state government. Because of the avowed pacifism and British origin of the Shakers at a time when the American colonies are at war for independence from Britain, New York arrests and imprisons Lee and several of her followers on suspicion of espionage. They are released later that year.Stein, The Shaker Experience in America pp. 13–14.
1781 through 1783
Ann and William Lee and James Whittaker, along with some of their followers, travel on an extended missionary tour of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Upstate New York, gathering converts and establishing a network of followers throughout the Northeastern United States. In several localities, mobs attack them, and the Shakers are whipped, beaten, and assaulted.There's a map of the tour in Stein, Shaker Experience in America, pp. 20–21. The center of operations for the missionary work is the late Ireland's "Square House" in Harvard, Massachusetts, where the Shakers attract a devoted following.
1783
September 3: Effective end of the American Revolutionary War when the Treaty of Paris is signed.
1784
After returning to Watervliet, William Lee dies on July 21, and Ann Lee dies on September 8. Their deaths are attributed to the after-effects of the hardships and assaults they endured during their missionary tour. James Whittaker takes over leadership of the society. James Shepherd and John Partington renounce the Shakers.
Re-organization and institutionalization 1787
James Whittaker dies, and Joseph Meacham becomes the first American-born leader of the Shakers.Andrews, People Called Shakers, chapter 3. Meacham introduces the concept of communalism and begins "gathering into order" the scattered Shaker Believers, bringing them together into collectivized villages which are sub-divided into smaller communities called "families".Andrews, People Called Shakers, p. 290. The village organized by Meacham at New Lebanon becomes the headquarters. John Hocknell is appointed First Elder of Watervliet Church Family.
1788
Joseph Meacham brings Lucy Wright, from nearby Pittsfield, Massachusetts, into the New Lebanon Ministry to serve with him as a co-leader. Together they establish an administrative structure that promotes equality of the sexes.
1790
Shakers living at Hancock, Massachusetts, and Enfield, Connecticut are formally organized into villages.
1792
Canterbury, New Hampshire and Tyringham, Massachusetts, Shaker villages are formally organized.
1793
Formal organization of the Alfred, Maine, Enfield, New Hampshire, and Harvard and Shirley, Massachusetts Shaker communes.
1794
Sabbathday Lake, Maine, Shaker village is formally organized, the next-to-last, and last 18th century, major community to be formed in the Northeast. There are now twelve Shaker communities in the United States, all in the Northeast.
1796
Joseph Meacham dies. Lucy Wright continues as the sole primary leader for the Shakers.
1787
October 18: Hannah Hocknell dies.
1798
Theodore Bates, of Watervliet Shaker Village, invents the broom vice, used create broom brushes that are flat rather than rounded.
1799
February 27: John Hocknell dies.
Community growth and Western expansion 1800
The Second Great Awakening crosses the Appalachian Mountains when the Revival of 1800 begins in Logan County, Kentucky, at the Red River Meeting House.
1801
Revivalism spreads to Cane Ridge, Kentucky, where the first camp meeting is held.
1805
Wright sends John Meacham, Benjamin Youngs, and Issachar Bates to proselytize in Ohio and Kentucky, having heard of the revivals in those states. The mission is a success, and Union Village is organized in Ohio.
1806
Shaker converts are organized into the villages of Watervliet, Ohio, and Pleasant Hill, Kentucky.
1807
Shaker villages organized at South Union, Kentucky, and Busro, Indiana. The latter village becomes known as West Union.Andrews, People Called Shakers, p. 290-91. James Shepherd returns to Watervliet and is placed in the order established for members who have left the faith but then returned.Goodwillie 2016, p. 102
1808
A village is established at Gorham, Maine.
1810
A Shaker community is attempted at New Canaan, Connecticut.
1811
Conflicts between the United States and Tecumseh's Confederacy result in multiple raids from both the United States and the Confederacy on West Union Shaker Village. Prime Lane, a black man who joined Watervliet Shaker village with his two daughters in 1802 and later, in 1810, renounced the faith, sues for custody of his daughters, arguing that they are his slaves. The New York State Court of Appeals rules that the daughters, Phebe and Betty, are free to choose whether to stay with the Shakers or with Lane. They choose to remain at Watervliet. Prime and Hannah Lane then attempt to remove Betty by force, but fail to do so. December 16: The first of the New Madrid earthquakes and its aftershock inflicts minimal damage to West Union.
1812
January 23: The second of the New Madrid earthquakes. February 7: The third of the New Madrid earthquakes. While the earthquakes themselves only slightly damage West Union, they induce flooding of the Wabash River on which the community is situated. The resulting wet floodplains and swamps ground breed malaria and other insect-born diseases. The first written collection of Shaker hymns, Millennial Praises, is published. The attempt to form a commune at New Canaan is abandoned. Enfield remains the only Shaker community in Connecticut. June 18: the War of 1812 breaks out between the United States and the United Kingdom and their respective allies. September 1812: the Shaker community at West Union, Indiana, in order to escape the turmoil of the war, is temporarily disbanded and its membership takes shelter in the Ohio and Kentucky villages. A branch of the New Lebanon Shaker Village, consisting of two families, is established in Canaan, New York.
1814