Shakers

The Shakers, a Protestant religious denomination officially called The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, originated in Manchester, England in 1772 under the leadership of Mother Ann Lee, who moved the nine-person group to New York in 1774. more...

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The oral tradition of the Shakers, gathered at the death of Mother Ann Lee, insists on two dates for the origin of their movement: 1706, the coming of five "French prophets" to London, well recorded in historical sources as camisards from Cévennes in the south of France after a five-year against the king of France, prophesying the end of times to gather English popular Puritans for the final Armageddon. The second one, 1747, is the first contact of Mother Ann Lee with James Wardley, a preacher who maintained in a small group the "possession by the spirit" of the French prophets. This oral tradition has not found written confirmation, but is consistent with the 18th-century history of English Protestantism, the relegation of popular Puritanism to small groups very reluctant to appear in public as did their Elizabethan ancestors.

The Shakers built 19 communal settlements that attracted some 200,000 converts over the next century. Strict believers in celibacy, Shakers maintained their numbers through conversion and adoption of orphans. Turnover was very high; the group reached maximum size of about 6,000 full members in 1850, but now has only four members left.

The Shakers of New England should not be confused with the religion of the Indian Shakers of the Pacific Northwest of North America. Only a few of the original Shaker buildings are still in use today.

Origin of the name

The name "Shakers," originally pejorative, was derived from the term "Shaking Quakers" and was applied as a mocking description of their rituals of trembling, shouting, dancing, shaking, singing, and glossolalia (speaking in strange and unknown languages). In 1774 Ann Lee pulled together nine of her followers from an English sect known as the Wardleys, founded by Jane and James Wardley, which she joined in 1758. They arrived on August 6, 1774 in New York City, and in 1776 the Shakers settled in Niskayuna, New York, where a unique communal life began to develop and thrive. Lee taught her followers that it is possible to attain perfect holiness. Like her predecessors the Wardleys, she taught that the demonstrations of shaking and trembling were caused by sin being purged from the body by the power of the Holy Spirit, purifying the worshipper. Distinctively the followers of Mother Ann came to believe that she embodied all the perfections of God in female form.

(Note: The Shaker community north of Albany was called by Shakers the Niskayuna community. The township they were in was then officially called Watervliet, although they bordered Niskayuna, the adjacent township to the northwest in Schnectady County. The township of Watervliet is now the township of Colonie, (since 1895). And the name Watervliet now limited to only the incorporated City of Watervliet, (1896). This has led to some confusion, but the best method is to use the name the Shakers used for their community, Niskayuna. It is also fairly common to refer to the members there as Niskayuna Shakers.)

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