История общины Всеобщего Друзья: от раскола и земельных споров до исчезновения секты в 1840 году

(Ed. note: This is the second and final installment of Tricia Noel’s series about the founding of the Society of Universal Friends and the group’s history in Yates County. The first installment was published Aug. 8.) In the early 1790s, the Society was thriving at City Hill, but the Friend and a core group of followers decided to move further inland, into what is now the town of Jerusalem. A new house, part log and part frame, was built at the foot of a road leading to Sugar Creek, on what is now Lower Friend Road. Across the path from this house, the Society constructed a workshop for weaving cloth. The move to Jerusalem occurred in 1794. This was the same year that the Haudenosaunee signed a treaty in Canandaigua with the federal government — a meeting the Friend, as one who had a good relationship with local Native Americans, attended. However, trouble lurked on the horizon. Like many religious or spiritual organizations with an inner circle, things fell apart due to disputes and jealousy. The decline of the Society of Universal Friends happened slowly, imperceptibly at first. It began when some notable men in the Society, such as James Parker and William Potter (who were some of the first converts) began pulling away from the Friend at the end of the 1790s. Much of this was due to gender roles in the community that were unusual in the 18th century. Although these men had accepted the Friend’s gender identity as being neither male nor female, the fact that some women in the Society were given important leadership roles began to irritate them. Women were also in charge of the Friend’s household, and some also preached. A core group of these women became known as the Faithful Sisterhood, and most lived in or near the Friend’s house. Since the Friend preferred (but did not require) followers to stay single, many were unmarried, such as sisters Rachel and Margaret Malin. Sarah Richards was a young widow. A surprising number of these women had left their husbands to begin anew in the Society. James Parker was particularly aggravated, as he was replaced as both the Friend’s trustee and as a preacher by Sarah Richards. Parker’s replacement was due to his lackluster performance in both roles, but he was deeply offended, and the Friend would pay the price. Tensions existed over land ownership as well. Although the Society owned a great deal of land in trust, much of it was parceled out to followers. Not everyone received land, and some whose land was bound up in legal issues due to surveying mistakes lost their property. Some of the earliest and most devout followers turned on the Friend over these matters. Parker, Judge Potter, Thomas Potter, Benedict Robinson, Daniel Brown, and Thomas Hathaway Jr. were among them. They struggled to come up with proof of fraud or theft, so the group of dissenters charged the Friend with blasphemy. There were several attempts to arrest the Friend, including one where the constable was physically assaulted by the Faithful Sisterhood. Eventually, the Friend voluntarily went to Canandaigua (then the county seat) in June 1800, where the judge declared that blasphemy was not a crime in New York State and the case was dropped. Judge Potter eventually reconciled with the Friend, but most did not. Interestingly, Potter’s wife and daughter never left the Society and publicly sided with the Friend, likely causing an uncomfortable atmosphere at home. A waning following Continuing land disputes, and continued anger from James Parker, over the next several years caused irreparable harm to the community and the Friend’s reputation among some of the original followers. In addition, some of the children of the original followers were less devout, and the enthusiasm for the Friend’s teachings began to wane. Abraham Wagener, the son of two of the earliest Schwenkfelder followers who had joined the Society in Pennsylvania, never belonged to the Society. Methodist preachers, or circuit riders, began coming into present-day Benton in the 1790s and made inroads with residents, becoming the most popular denomination in northern Yates County in the early 19th century. Despite societal troubles, the Friend moved into yet another house, the biggest yet, in 1814. It was designed by a Philadelphia architect and held enough space to house the Friend and select members of the Faithful Sisterhood. A large, three-story frame construction, it featured graceful Federal style fixtures typical of that period. Meetings were held here instead of in a separate meeting house. In fact, the second-floor landing was specially designed so that the Friend could preach from there, and everyone on the first and third floors could hear the sermon. An elegant fanlight was placed just along the landing so sunlight would illuminate the Friend as they spoke. Formerly enslaved Society member Chloe Hightower also lived here and ran this household. The house, with its fanlight, is still standing — the only structure inhabited by the Friend that is still extant. The Public Universal Friend “left time” on July 1, 1819, at the age of 67. They were buried in a vault on the property and later reburied in a place unknown to all but those present, and without a headstone. One enduring piece of folklore regarding the Friend is that the Friend’s burial place remains a mystery to all but a handful of people to this day. The Friend wrote a will in 1815, four years before “leaving time.” The will references the “person once known as Jemima Wilkinson.” Even though Jemima Wilkinson was still the Friend’s legal name, the Friend refused to sign that name on the will. Instead, the county clerk wrote in the legal name, and the Friend made an “x.” Over this, the clerk wrote “his mark,” a clue that the Friend’s unusual-for-the-time gender identity was largely accepted in the community. In the will, the Friend left the bulk of the property in the hands of Margaret and Rachel Malin, to be used to support Society members in need. Unfortunately, the Malins were pressured to give much of the property to their own relatives, and most of it passed out of the Society. The sisters attempted to keep the sect going, but after the Friend’s death the number of followers dwindled, and land disputes continued to mar the community. A sharply critical, negative biography of the Public Universal Friend written in 1821 by David Hudson, James Parker’s lawyer, caused serious damage to the Friend’s memory. By 1840, the sect was defunct. During its time, the Society broke traditional gender roles, forged a new community in unbroken wilderness, challenged ideas on slavery and Native American rights, and was likely the first religion founded after American independence. They foreshadowed the religious and political upheaval that was to come in the Burned Over District, changing the history of Yates County and New York State forever.