The Shakers

Along with the Cole Story published yesterday was this article written by Ida Fisher from her father's (Henry Cole) dictation. The Coles had lived previously in the Cleveland area and were somewhat familiar with this interesting sect. Here is:

The Shaker Story

Father used to tell us so many interesting things about the Shakers as he knew them in his boyhood that I asked him to write about them. This is the story of that peculiar people – Ida C. Fisher

There was a settlement of Shakers living on a 1600 acre tract joining our farm on the north.

There were three small villages separated by about a mile.

There buildings were kept in perfect order, painted in sober colors, and were comfortable and roomy.

There was a large building for the male members, another for the women and children, but they all ate together.

The men wore their hair long, to their collars, long outer coats coming to the knees usually a rusty brown in color, and wide brimmed hats.

The women wore gowns of a similar texture, without the hoops that were then so fashionable in the world outside.

They wore shaker bonnets shaped like the top of a prairie schooner, with a short cape behind.

They were vowed to celibacy, very religious and lived up to their religion to the extent that they would suffer any injustice, rather than engage in controversy with their neighbors.

They were immune to the military duty and abhorred war for any reason, shunned law suits and always turned the other cheek.

The ones I knew were an offshoot from a colony in West Union, Ohio, they of another colony in New York, State, and they of a parent colony in England.

The founders of this queer sect must have been possessed of considerable wealth, as they had millions invested in various colonies.

When I first knew them they were up to date farmers, having blooded stock, and improved farming implements.

They had two dams enclosing water from two creeks, conserving it for power for their factories and mills. Note: These ponds were the “Cole boys” swimming holes.

They had sawmills, grist mills, tanneries, textile mills and wooden ware factories.

All goods produced by them were made upon honor; and Shaker pails, Shaker cloth, Shaker leather and all goods offered by them brought from a third to half more than common factory goods.

They were very religious and sought to live by the Golden Rule. “Do unto others as they would do unto you”

Whether they believed in Christ I do not know, but they held Sunday sacred.

They had a central church building that was plain, and painted the cleanest white inside and out.

They were very clean as to person and morals and would have prospered had outside people been of like mind.

Of course as they did not marry, their only gain in numbers came from outside, and their converts were not like themselves they got mostly those who did not get on in the world – misfits, paupers, and the off scouring's of the country.

The presiding officers, if they may be called were an elder for the men and eldress for the women.

Their office was merely advisory, having no power with a kick in it, much like the League of Nations proposed by some prominent Republicans, to block President Wilson’s League of Nations to prevent future wars and it worked out the same way, as the subsequent history of the Shakers proved.

Their religious exercises consisted to talking by some members who had the gift of speech and marching.

Their buildings were so constructed that the center was a large open space with seats around the wall.

The Shakers formed in the central place and marched with their hands before them moving up and down, while singing a wordless tune – lo de lo de lo.

In spite of the monotony of the tune the music was very lively and entertaining and I used to enjoy it hugely on the Sundays when the public was admitted

Their manner of speech was like that of other people, except that they said as Artemus Ward spelled it, yay and nay for yes and no.

When I first learned to know the Shakers I must have been five or six. They were at the height of their prosperity, with the finest livestock, the most fertile farms, vast orchards and industries.

But they never resented any wrongs to themselves, and were imposed upon by marauding outsiders, their converts were unfit and their young people became tired of the restraints of their religion, and began to go out into the world with which their religion had unfitted them to cope.

Many of the women especially went to the bad.

Several came to our house for refuge after running away, my folks did the best they could for them, finding them homes and work but they generally did not turn out well, although some became respectable men and women and prospered in the world.

There affairs went from bad to worse, and about the time we moved to Iowa (1865) they were on the verge of collapse, but it took them a long time to die out.

Two or three years ago a boyhood friend visited there and came to Iowa (Note: Dr. Frizzell, I think, - Ida). He told me that all that was left of Shaker Village was the old dam which was still being used to make a swimming hole.

Their land had been taken in by the City of Cleveland which has grown since I left from twenty five thousand to over a million.

The Shaker Village is now Shaker Heights, a fashionable residential section.