Who are the Shakers?
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. A
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 became
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 Revolution,
