CHAPTER VII.THE UNIVERSAL FRIEND.
Sir Thomas Browne says that “all heresies, how gross soever, have found a welcome with the people.” Certainly they have with the people, and specially they have with the Rhode Island people. The eighty-two pestilent heresies so sadly deplored by the Puritan divines found a home in Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations. It was not strange, therefore, that from the heart of Narragansett should spring one of the most remarkable and successful religious woman-fanatics the world has ever known. Jemima Wilkinson was born in the town of Cumberland, R. I., in 1758. Though her father was a poor farmer, she came of no mean stock. She was a descendant of English kings—of King Edward I.—and later of Lieutenant Wilkinson, of Cromwell’s army, and she was a second cousinof Governor Stephen Hopkins and Commodore Hopkins.
When she was eight years old her mother died, leaving her to the care of older sisters, whom she soon completely dominated. She was handsome, fond of ease and dress, vain, and eager for attention. She was romantic and impressionable, and when a new sect of religious zealots, called Separatists, appeared in her neighborhood—a sect who rejected church organization and insisted upon direct guidance from heaven—she became one of the most regular attendants at their meetings.
She soon betook herself to solitude and study of the Bible, and seemed in deep reflection, and at last kept wholly to her room, and then went to bed. She was at that time but eighteen years old, and it scarcely seems possible that she deliberately planned out her system of life-long deception which proved so successful; but soon she began to see visions, which she described to her sisters and visitors, and interpreted to them.
Finally she fell in a deep trance, which lasted thirty-six hours, during which she scarcely breathed. About the middle ofthe second day, when surrounded by anxious watchers (who proved valuable witnesses in her later career), she rose up majestically, called for clothing, dressed herself, and walked about fully restored and calm, though pale. But she announced that Jemima Wilkinson had died, and that her body was now inhabited by a spirit whose mission was to deliver the oracles of God to mankind, and who was to be known henceforth by the name of the Universal Friend. It ought to be noted here that this girl of eighteen not only maintained these absurd claims of resurrection of the body and reincarnation, at that time, in the face of the expostulation and arguments of her relatives and friends, but also with unshaken firmness, and before all hearers, till the day of her death at the age of sixty-one.
On the first Sunday after her trance, the Universal Friend preached in the open air near her home to a large and excited gathering of people; and she electrified her audience by her eloquence, her brilliant imagination, her extraordinary familiarity with the Scriptures, and her facility and force of application and quotation from them. Hersuccess in obtaining converts was most marked from the first, as was her success in obtaining temporal comforts and benefits from these converts. In this she resembled the English religious adventuress, Johanna Southcote. For six years she lived at the house of Judge William Potter, in South Kingstown, R. I. This handsome house was known as the Abbey. He enlarged it by building a splendid suite of rooms for his beloved spiritual leader, on whom he lavished his large fortune.
Her success as a miracle-worker was not so great. She announced that on a certain date she would walk upon the water, but when, in the face of a large multitude, she reached the water’s edge, she denounced the lack of faith of her followers, and refused to gratify their curiosity by trying the experiment. Nor did she succeed in her attempt to raise from the dead one Mistress Susanna Potter, the daughter of Judge Potter, who died during Jemima’s residence at the Abbey. She managed, however, to satisfy fully her followers by foretelling events, interpreting dreams, and penetrating secrets, which sheworded by ingeniously mystic and easily applicable terms.
Her meetings and her converts were not confined to Rhode Island. In southern Massachusetts and Connecticut many joined her band. In New Milford, Conn., her converts erected a meeting-house. In 1782 she started out upon a new mission. With a small band of her disciples she went to Philadelphia, where she was cordially received and entertained by the Quakers. In Worcester, Pa., her reception was enthusiastic. Scarce a diary of those times but contains some allusion to her or her career. In the journal of Jacob Hiltzeheimer, of Philadelphia, I read:—
Aug. 15, 1783. Returning from church, I observed people crowded about the Free Quakers meeting-house, and was told they were waiting to see the wonderful Jemima Wilkinson who had preached. I remained till she came out to get in her chair. She had on a white hat but no cap, and a white linen garment that covered her to her feet.Aug. 20, 1783. Went to the new Quaker meeting-house on Arch Street to hear JemimaWilkinson preach. She looks more like a man than a woman.May 22, 1788. I rode out to Cunninghams Centre House to hear the famous Jemima Wilkinson preach, and in the room where formerly a billiard table stood I saw and heard her. She spoke much in the New England dialect. She appeared to be about twenty-five years of age, her hair was dressed like that of a man, and she wore a black gown after the fashion of church ministers.
Aug. 15, 1783. Returning from church, I observed people crowded about the Free Quakers meeting-house, and was told they were waiting to see the wonderful Jemima Wilkinson who had preached. I remained till she came out to get in her chair. She had on a white hat but no cap, and a white linen garment that covered her to her feet.
Aug. 20, 1783. Went to the new Quaker meeting-house on Arch Street to hear JemimaWilkinson preach. She looks more like a man than a woman.
May 22, 1788. I rode out to Cunninghams Centre House to hear the famous Jemima Wilkinson preach, and in the room where formerly a billiard table stood I saw and heard her. She spoke much in the New England dialect. She appeared to be about twenty-five years of age, her hair was dressed like that of a man, and she wore a black gown after the fashion of church ministers.
The manuscript diary of the Reverend John Pitman, of Providence, R. I., says: “Saw that poor deluded creature Jemima Wilkerson and a number of her dull followers standing staring at the cross-roads.”
In the days of reaction after the excitement of the Revolution, many aspirations for a better social state prompted settlements in outlying portions of the Central States. Communities were founded, Utopias were planned, and soon the united body of people known as the Friend’s followers decided to seek in the depths of the wilderness a new home. It was a bold undertaking, but the band had a bold commander, and above all, they were absolute in their confidence in her.In no way was that confidence shown so remarkably as in the fact that the settlement was made for her but without her. The three delegates sent to find a place suitable for their purpose reported in favor of the region at the foot of Seneca Lake in the State of New York. In 1788 the settlement was made on the west shore of the lake by twenty-five persons, on the primitive highway of the region, about a mile south of Dresden, and it was named Jerusalem.
For over two years a band of determined believers labored in this wilderness to prepare a home for their leader, who was comfortably carrying on her triumphant and flattering progress in the large cities. Surrounded by Indians, and menaced by wild beasts, they cleared the forests, and planted wheat, and lived on scant food. During the first year one family for six weeks had only boiled nettles and bohea tea for nourishment. When the cornfields yielded the second summer, a small grist-mill was built with incredible labor. When the well-fed and not at all over-worked Friend arrived, she found an orderly, industrious community of two hundred and sixty persons, who had built forher a home and a meeting-house, and she at once settled down in comparative comfort in the midst of her flock.
The house which was occupied by the Friend was a log-house of humble pretensions; to this two or three houses were added, then upper stories were placed over all, and framed in. It stood in a fine garden, and by its side was a long building used as a workshop for the women of the settlement, where spinning, weaving, and sewing were constantly carried on. Near by stood the sugar grove, a most lucrative possession of the society. From this home the Friend and her steadfast followers would ride in imposing cavalcade, two by two, to meeting at the early settlement. With their handsome, broad-brimmed hats, substantial clothes, and excellent horses, they made a most notable and impressive appearance. Her second house was more pretentious and comparatively luxurious; in it she lived till the time of her death.
Jemima Wilkinson’s followers were of no poor or ordinary stock. Many brought to her community considerable wealth. Into the wilderness went with her from Kingstown,R. I., Judge William Potter and his daughters; a family of wealthy Hazards; Captain James Parker (brother of Sir Peter Parker); four Reynolds sisters from a family of dignity; Elizabeth Luther and seven children; members of the Card, Hunt, Sherman, and Briggs families. From New Milford, Conn., emigrated a number of Stones and Botsfords, and from New Bedford many members of the influential Hathaway and Lawrence families. From Stonington and New London went a large number of Barneses and Browns and Davises; from Philadelphia the entire family of Malins and the Supplees; from Worcester, Pa., came a most important recruit, Daniel Wagener, with his sister, and Jonathan Davis, and other well-to-do and influential persons.
The most important converts to belief in her doctrines, and pioneers for her, were doubtless Judge Potter and Captain Parker, both men of large wealth and unstinted liberality to their leader. The former had been treasurer of the State of Rhode Island; the latter had been also a magistrate for twenty years in the same State. They were the largest contributors to the fund for the purchaseof the tract of land in New York. These men sacrificed home and friends to come to the New Jerusalem with their adored priestess; but they quickly escaped from her sway, and became in later years her most powerful enemies. They even issued a complaint against her for blasphemy. The officer who tried to serve the warrant upon her was unable to seize the Friend, who was an accomplished rider and well mounted, and, when he went to her house, was roughly treated and driven away. John Lawrence, whose wife was Anna Hathaway, was a near relative of Commodore Lawrence; he was a shipbuilder at New Bedford, and, though he followed Jemima Wilkinson to Seneca Lake, never joined her society. Many of her believers never lived in her settlement, but visited her there; and many bequeathed to her liberally by will, and made valuable gifts to her during their life.
In the main, the influence of this remarkable woman continued unabated with a large number of her followers throughout her life, and even after her death. This power survived against the adverse conditions of frequent litigations, personal asperities, constantinjurious reports, and the dislike of many to the strictness of her faith and austerity of life required by her from her followers. This allegiance could hardly have been founded solely on religious credulity, but must have depended largely in her attractive personal traits, her humanity, and doubtless also to her attractive expositions of her lively imagination. To the last she persisted in calling herself by the sole name of the Universal Friend. Even her will was signed thus: “I, the person once called Jemima Wilkinson, but in and ever since the year 1777 known as and called the Public Universal Friend, hereunto set my name and seal; Public Universal Friend.” But she cannily appended a sub-signature over a cross-mark of the name of her youth.
A remarkable feature of the Universal Friend’s Society, perhaps the most remarkable effect of her teachings, was the large number of excellent women who, as persistent celibates, adhered to her teachings throughout their lives. Some lived in her house, and all were consistent representatives of her doctrines, and many lived to great old age. Nor can I doubt from theaccounts of their lives that they were exceedingly happy in their celibacy and in their unwavering belief in Jemima Wilkinson. Carlyle says, “Man’s gullibility is not his worst blessing.” I may paraphrase his assertion thus—woman’s gullibility is one of her most comforting traits. Her persistent belief, her unswerving devotion, often to wholly unworthy objects, brings its own reward in a lasting, though unreasoning satisfaction.
Jemima’s male adherents were nearly all married. It was her intention that her property, which was considerable, should be held for the benefit of her followers who survived her, but it was gradually transferred and wasted till the last aged members of the band were forced to depend upon the charity of neighbors and the public.
One of the best accounts of the personality of Jemima Wilkinson was given by the Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt, who visited her in 1796. He says:—
We saw Jemima and attended her meeting, which is held in her own house. Jemima stood at the door of her bed chamber on a carpet, with an armchair behind her. She had on a whitemorning gown and a waistcoat such as men wear and a petticoat of the same color. Her black hair was cut short, carefully combed and divided behind into three ringlets; she wore a stock and a white silk cravat, which was tied about her neck with affected negligence. In point of delivery she preached with more ease than any other Quaker I have ever heard, but the subject matter of her discourse was an eternal repetition of the same subjects—death, sin and repentance. She is said to be about forty years of age but did not appear more than thirty. She is of middle stature, well made, of florid countenance, and has fine teeth and beautiful eyes. Her action is studied. She aims at simplicity but is pedantic in her manner. Her hypocrisy may be traced in all her discourse, actions and conduct and even in the very manner which she manages her countenance.
We saw Jemima and attended her meeting, which is held in her own house. Jemima stood at the door of her bed chamber on a carpet, with an armchair behind her. She had on a whitemorning gown and a waistcoat such as men wear and a petticoat of the same color. Her black hair was cut short, carefully combed and divided behind into three ringlets; she wore a stock and a white silk cravat, which was tied about her neck with affected negligence. In point of delivery she preached with more ease than any other Quaker I have ever heard, but the subject matter of her discourse was an eternal repetition of the same subjects—death, sin and repentance. She is said to be about forty years of age but did not appear more than thirty. She is of middle stature, well made, of florid countenance, and has fine teeth and beautiful eyes. Her action is studied. She aims at simplicity but is pedantic in her manner. Her hypocrisy may be traced in all her discourse, actions and conduct and even in the very manner which she manages her countenance.
He speaks with much asperity of her pretence of condemning earthly enjoyment while her whole manner of living showed much personal luxury and gratification.
This description of her was given by one who saw her:—
She was higher than a middle stature, of fine form, fair complexion with florid cheeks, dark and brilliant eyes, and beautiful white teeth.Her hair dark auburn or black, combed from the seam of the head and fell on her shoulders in three full ringlets. In her public addresses she would rise up and stand perfectly still for a minute or more, than proceed with a slow and distinct enunciation. She spoke with great ease and increased fluency; her voice clear and harmonious, and manner persuasive and emphatic. Her dress rich but plain and in a style entirely her own; a broad brimmed beaver hat with a low crown, and the sides when she rode turned down and tied under her chin; a full light drab cloak or mantle and a unique underdress; and a cravat round the neck with square ends that fell down to the waist forward.
She was higher than a middle stature, of fine form, fair complexion with florid cheeks, dark and brilliant eyes, and beautiful white teeth.Her hair dark auburn or black, combed from the seam of the head and fell on her shoulders in three full ringlets. In her public addresses she would rise up and stand perfectly still for a minute or more, than proceed with a slow and distinct enunciation. She spoke with great ease and increased fluency; her voice clear and harmonious, and manner persuasive and emphatic. Her dress rich but plain and in a style entirely her own; a broad brimmed beaver hat with a low crown, and the sides when she rode turned down and tied under her chin; a full light drab cloak or mantle and a unique underdress; and a cravat round the neck with square ends that fell down to the waist forward.
The square cravat or band gave her a semi-clerical look. The rich glossy smoothness and simplicity of dressing her hair is commented on by nearly all who left accounts of her personal appearance; and was doubtless more marked in her day because the feminine headdress of that time was elaborate to a degree that was even fantastic, and was at the opposite extreme from simple curls.
Many scurrilous and absurd stories are told of her, especially in a biography of her which was written and printed soon afterher death. Many of the anecdotes in this biography are too petty and too improbable to be given any credence. I am convinced that she was a woman of most sober and discreet life; importunate of respect and greedy of absolute power; personally luxurious in her tastes, and of vast ambition, but always of dignified carriage. And through her dignity, sobriety, and reserve she had a lasting hold upon her followers. Perhaps she told her alleged belief, her tale of her mission, until she half believed it herself. One story of her is worthy repetition, and I think of credence.
It tells of her repulse when she endeavored to secure among her followers the Indians of Canandaigua. She spoke to them at Canandaigua and again at Seneca Lake, evidently realizing fully the advantage that might be gained from them through land-grants and personal support. Many of the Oneida Indians had been converted by missionaries to Christianity, and as they held a Sunday service she entered and made a thrilling and impressive address, assuring them she was their Saviour Jesus Christ. They listened to her with marked attention,and one of their number arose and delivered a short and animated speech to his companions in the Oneida tongue. When he ceased speaking, Jemima turned to the interpreter and asked an explanation of the speaker’s words, which was given her. The Indian speaker sat by her side with a sardonic expression on his grim face, and when the interpretation was finished, said significantly and coldly, “You no Jesus Christ—he know all poor Indian say as well as what white man say,” and turned contemptuously from her. It is said that the cunning Indian detective was the great chief Red Jacket, and from what we know of his shrewd and diplomatic character it can readily be believed.