The United Society of Believers, commonly called Shakers, dates its origin in Harvard to a visit made here in 1781–1783 by Mother Ann Lee. On May 31, 1781, she left Watervliet, New York, then called Niskayuna, accompanied by her brother, William Lee, and several others. The purpose of the journey eastward was to visit certain “believers” resident in various parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts. The party reached Harvard late in June and stopped the first night at the house of Zaccheus Stevens, in Still River, near the Bolton line. The next day they moved on to Isaac Willard’s, who lived in sight of the Square House at the spot now occupied by the Shaker South Family. Mother Ann was evidently endowed with the supernatural gifts ascribed in Knickerbocker’s veritable History of New York to Oloffe the Dreamer: upon entering the little valley in the northeast corner of Harvard and making the acquaintance of its residents, she declared that she at once recognized place and people as having been shown to her in a vision before she determined upon emigration to America. Here she resolved to establish her headquarters. Though the fraternity of the Square House at first firmly resisted her influence, she soon won over the whole neighborhood to her faith in her divine mission, and the house was fitted for her use.

Whether Mother Ann came so far to honor with her ministrations this obscure locality because guided by visions, by information sent to her, or by chance, it very soon became evident that she had entered a fertile field for the culture of novel doctrines. She was not unknown. Coming from England and preaching against the war when the country was in the midst of a desperate struggle for liberty, Ann Lee and the elders were suspected of being British emissaries, and were imprisoned as such for several months at Albany and Poughkeepsie. This imprisonment and her audacious pretensions had given her notorious repute far and wide, and soon people began to flock to Harvard to see and hear “the female Christ.” Some who came to jeer her remained to listen, and ended by yielding their wills to her magnetic influence. A self-divorced wife and the mother of four children (her married name was Stanley), she preached the duty of celibacy with such persuasive eloquence as to tear husbands from wives and wives from husbands. Most of the followers of Shadrach Ireland adopted the new faith, in some respects similar to their own. The neighboring churches were made anxious. Before she had been here two months, August 21, 1781, Reverend Moses Adams of Acton gave the Marlborough Association “an account of the strange conduct and temper of a number of people who were come to Harvard who were called Shakers, and under the guidance of an ‘elect lady.’”

Society was greatly disturbed and sometimes horrified by the behavior of these English strangers and their converts. Their actions were represented by eyewitnesses of them to be grotesque, sometimes indecent, and often indicative of an excessive use of strong drink. Mother Ann, who was unable to read and write, and some of the elders, claimed to possess and exercise the power of speaking in unknown tongues and of healing diseases by the touch; to be endowed with the gift of prophecy; to see celestial visions and receive divine revelations. In the warrant for a town meeting called August 31, 1781, was this article:

“To hear and consider a petition of a number of Inhabitants of Harvard and see if the Town will, agreeable to said petition, consult and determine on some means to Remove the people called Shaking Quakers who are collected together in this town.”

It was voted to “prosecute” them, and a committee was chosen to act in the matter. The prejudice against them was greatly heightened by the same accusations which had plagued them in Niskayuna. They were suspected of enmity to the American cause, and of secreting a store of war materials and arms in the Square House. David Whitney was prominent in stirring opposition to them. Captain Ephraim Davis, when the town’s committee made their official visit to the Square House, escorted them with his militia company, and was accompanied by others from Harvard and adjoining towns, who were curious to see the strangers of whom such marvelous reports were rife. Of course no firearms were found. Elder James Whittaker made a conciliatory speech to the assemblage, and no disorderly or violent act was committed. Asa Houghton, chairman of the Committee of Correspondence and Safety, following the formula of the law, warned the strangers to be gone from the place by a stated day, and the militia then scattered to their homes.

(to be continued)
 

275 Years of a Town:  In June 1732, the town of Harvard incorporated within the colony, after nearly 100 years of settlement in the area and several years of petitions, objections, and re-petitions to the legislature. To celebrate this milestone, the Press is running extracts from Henry S. Nourse’s History of the Town of Harvard Massachusetts 1732–1893.