Ringing in the New Year One Hundred Eleven Years Ago

The start of the new year, 1913, would have been a solemn one for the Shakers of Pleasant Hill. In that week they buried two members of the community; their numbers were quickly dwindling.

The sad occasion of Sister Jane Sutton's passing on December 29th (see the obituary) turned tragic with the passing of another beloved Shaker, John Pilkington, the next day. With two deaths so close together, the next and final day of 1912 was marked by their double funeral.

1912 - 1914 microfilm reel

As grim an occasion as that would have been, we should also consider that they had both been blessed with close to eight decades of life. More than that, they willingly and gratefully chose life as Shakers and died of natural causes having lived their utopian existence on Earth.  

Obituaries often contain clues that need to be followed-up and when I read that the Harrodsburg Herald, the paper that had covered the funeral, had also done an "extended sketch" on the life of Jane and that John Pilkington was "also mentioned" in the article, which reportedly appeared in the Herald two weeks earlier, I knew I had to track it down.

Over the course of two months, inquiries were made and a microfilm reel slowly made its way to me from the University of Kentucky, which I learned was the sole repository of the reel from 1912. While none of my nearby libraries maintain a microfilm reader any longer, I knew one still existed in my county's historical society research room. At last I was able to see for myself the "extended sketch." 

While I was hoping the article would reveal all sorts of Runyon / Sutton connections it does not. Rather, the article is more accurately described as an "extended sketch" on the life of John Pilkington that also mentions Jane Sutton. Still, it is genealogy gold and thrilling to find a description of a family member in print, beyond the details of occupation and when and where they were born or died. Jane -- the daughter of my first cousin five times removed -- was described as "loved by everyone" and a "natural leader" who "commands respect and a following."

Here is the complete article:

Three Shakers

Oldest in Village Are Very Ill and Facing the End.

Three of the oldest citizens of Shakertown are dangerously, ill, and for them life's shadows are growing long and purple, and it may be that soon the shadows will be blotted out altogether by the dark of eternity. The three who are facing the shadows are Sister Jane Sutton, Sister Sarah Nagel and Brother John Pilkington. Sister Jane is known and loved by every one. She has been one of the commanding figures of Shakertown for years, and is a natural leader who would command respect and a following no matter in what walk of life she had been placed.  There are many, even outside the Shaker village, who will grieve that her firm hand is beginning to tremble with the weakness of age. Sister Sarah Nagel is now ninety-seven. She joined the colony over sixty-eight years ago and her life has been a silent, simple benediction, just as even and peaceful as it is now that with resignation she is waiting for the end.

Brother John Pilkington is one of the most picturesque and interesting members of the shaker colony. He was formerly a thorough man of the world, highly educated for his day and at one time was the friend and private secretary of George D. Prentice. About the time of the Civil War ended he came to Shakertown, broken in health from the reckless life he had lived. In three years he was a different man, well poised, vigorous, clear of mind, and he went back to the world he had loved. But a year later the quiet village saw him again and took him once more to her peaceful bosom. He vowed never to leave the Shaker village again, and he never has. Later on his mother joined the colony and afterward died there. Brother John is well along in the seventies, now, and in spite of his secluded life he has always kept abreast of the times. He was a printer by trade, has been a great reader and a philosopher in his way, and even today his wit is keener than that of the average person. The history of Brother John's life there among the hills lying along Kentucky river, is touching in the extreme. From childhood he has always desired to be a great musician, yet his only audiences have been the quaint brother and sisters of the little colony. In the top drawer of the old bureau in his small bare room mare all the treasures that he brought from the outside world with him. They are his violin, his mother’s picture, and a faded daguerreotype that is never opened in the sunlight. It is the dearest of all his treasures for it is the likeness of the girl he loved many many years ago. "She was the sweetest girl I ever knew," Brother John would say when showing the picture, and his lips would quiver as he added, "She died." The violin is the second love of the aged Shaker, and despite his stiffened fingers he has never ceased to make his fiddle sing. Not the new songs - oh no! - but the sweet old melodies that will live in always in the human heart. "Annie Laurie," "Robin Adair," "Auld Land Syne" and "Ah, I Have Sighed to Rest Me!" Brother Pilkington will soon know the long long rest beside his comrades who are sleeping in the quiet God's Acre on the hill overlooking the peaceful village. At one time there were many to keep step beside him, but time and change and death have narrowed the little band to a mere handful, and soon there will not be one left to watch the sunset behind the green Kentucky hills along the river.

-published in the Harrodsburg Herald, December 13, 1912

Happy New Year everyone. May 2024 be a year of peace and contentment for you and your loved ones.

We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne.

Hands To Work, Hearts To God

The 1985 Ken Burns production of The Shakers can be viewed online by members who can access PBS Passport (58 minutes). 

Through diaries, archival photographs, music and stunning cinematography, Ken Burns creates a moving portrait of this particularly American movement, and in the process, offers us an unusually moving way to understand the Shakers.

of note -- 

26:00 - The Kentucky Revival 1800

27:00 - In 1805, the same year that Lewis and Clark were exploring the great northwest, the ministry at Mount Lebanon [New York] sent three Believers to Kentucky to gather in the restless...

27:45 - On a bluegrass hill near the Kentucky River in Mercer County, forty-four converts signed the covenant and established a village called Pleasant Hill. The river was their road, connecting the Shakers to markets down the Ohio and the Mississippi.

29:27 - The Western Shakers had a particularly progressive Shaker spirit ...

Everything Old is New Again

A fourth-generation Mormon named David Hall is making plans to develop his idea of a Utopian society in the woods of Vermont - "New Vistas" is the name, or was until recently. He chose the areas surrounding the towns of Royalton, Sharon, Tunbridge, and Stafford because of their proximity to the birthplace of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith.

I listened to WBUR Boston's interview with David Hall and found myself comparing Hall's vision with that of the Shakers'.

In the early years of the nineteenth century our ancestors were creating a community at Pleasant Hill based on faith. For a time, it was heaven on Earth. They believed it would be sustainable.  But, long-term, it was not. Everyone points to the celibacy issue as being their downfall. If it weren't for that, would they have continued to thrive? What percentage of the population is willing to live communally, and give up their material wealth? How does that degree of willingness change along with a changing political climate?

Joseph Smith's 1833 Plat of Zion was Hall's inspiration for the project (and Smith's inspiration for the plat was the Bible prophet Enoch who built the Holy City of Zion). The plat shows a city of 20,000 laid out in a grid pattern.

Plat of the City of Zion, June 1833

Hall was quoted as saying “Each [multi-family] house has house captains, which are a team of one man and one woman. These are a selected married couple, with each providing leadership for and dealing directly with issues related to their gender.” In this respect, his plan is very much like the Shaker's system of "family" houses led by a male and female elder. But would individuals be valued for their unique gifts and assigned jobs that develop those talents? Or would the business entity decide who performs the various functions of the community?

There won't be cars and trucks driving around; everything one needs would be within walking distance. To help maintain wilderness and animal habitat, and stop urban sprawl, each community will be surrounded by thousands of acres of unplanned nature. Hmmm...they want to be isolated, or at least have a buffer between themselves and the world. Livestock will also be kept outside the towns. It sounds like these future Vermonters won't be vegan. Each community will be one square mile, high-density living, and each person will be allotted just 200 square feet of living space.

I wonder what rules David Hall's society will impose on its members. I can guess that the plat's grid system isn't going to work well in the hilly terrain of rural Vermont. Hall has said that so far, he's bought up only wooded property. His artist's renderings of New Vistas show an area that would need to be clear-cut before development. So that buffer would come at a cost to the wilderness.

20,000 people of child-bearing age quickly become a larger group. Unless... we're talking about members of society who are past reproductive age, or are sterile... or celibate. The largest of the Shaker communities never exceeded 700 individuals and even within the communities people spread out in smaller "families."

What do you think about Hall's Vermont utopia? Good idea?