USA > Rhode Island > Kent County > East Greenwich > History of the town of East Greenwich and adjacent territory, from 1677 to 1877 > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23
CHAPTER VI.
-
JEMIMA WILKINSON.
AMONG the number of persons who have claimed for themselves supernatural powers, and by the zeal of fanati- cism, or the craftiness of deceit, have imposed alike upon the credulity of the superstitious, or the simplicity of the ignorant of every age and country, few have ever done a larger business on smaller capital than Jemima Wilkinson, who is the only individual of her class whose absurd frauds and fancies have ever germinated and flourished on the sterile, spiritual soil of Rhode Island, or borne fruit within its limited territory.
Jemima was born about 1751, in the Town of Cumber- land, in this State, and was the eighth of twelve children. This might be called a numerous family even for those days, in which "the head of a household " meant something more than an empty name. Her mother died when she was eight years old, and Jemima grew up a neglected, indolent, willful girl. The popular impression, that she was a mem- ber of the Society of Friends is erroneous. Neither herself nor family, with the exception of her mother, were ever members of that Society. Her father possessed and culti- vated a farm, which with economy afforded a moderate support for his family. Jemima became an adept at shirk- ing her share of household duties, and early showed some- thing of that craftiness, deceit, and love of authority, which characterized her in after life.
Her education was very limited, but she possessed more than ordinary personal beauty, and the attractions of a fine form were enhanced by the lustre of bright eyes, dark hair, and clear complexion. She was sprightly in manner, and 1 fond of dress, amusement and pleasure. She attracted
129
JEMIMA WILKINSON.
many admirers by her sharp wit and ripening beauty. Her time was spent either in idleness at home, or in visiting, or other amusements until the year 1774, when her mind seemed to be turned to religious subjects. She became serious and thoughtful, passing much of her time in read- ing the Bible. She remained at home, took less pride in dress, and no longer essayed to emulate the rival beauties of the neighborhood. She continued in retirement until 1776, when she pretended illness and confining herself alto- gether to bed, excited the solicitude of her family, so that nightly watchers were procured. These she entertained with accounts of strange visitations and visions ; pretending to point out white figures and celestial forms at her bedside.
One night she told her attendants that a great change in her condition was soon to take place, and that she was about to be called to act some great part in this wicked world for the benefit of mankind. She soon after lay for several days motionless and apparently lifeless, except for a respiration so soft and silent as to be almost impercep- tible. Suddenly she awakened, and in a tone of authority demanded her clothes, declaring that she had passed the gates of death and was now risen from the dead. Her ap- parel was then procured, and she immediately arose, dressed herself and went around in perfect health.
When she was congratulated by her neighbors upon her re- covery, she denied that it was Jemima to whom they were speaking, and with affected solemnity informed them that the body of Jemima Wilkinson had been dead ; that her soul was then in heaven, and that the tabernacle which Je- mima had left behind, was now animated by the power and spirit of Jesus Christ. She told them she had been se- lected to reign a thousand years, and would never die but would be taken up into heaven bodily at the end of that period. Her friends and relatives were not less astonished at her arrogant assumption than they were vexed at her ob- stinacy, but were intimidated by the intensity of her keen eye, the firmness of her voice and the immobility of her countenance. On the next Sabbath she attended the usual public meeting in the neighborhood, and at the intermission began to address the people in the open air.
She soon collected a crowd, to whom she spoke with fluency and without embarrassment. In persuasive lan- guage, enforced by very graceful gestures, she talked of the depravity of sin and the beauty of holiness, and aston-
9
130
HISTORY OF EAST GREENWICH.
ished all who heard her by her knowlege of the Scriptures and by familiarity with religious subjects. Her fine eyes and expressive countenance were lighted up with fervor, and her masculine hearers hardly knew which to admire most, the doctrine preached or the fair preacher.
A retentive memory enabled her to repeat much that she had read, and a year previous had been spent with her Bible and other religious books. She did not immediately offer herself to her hearers as their saviour, but never after- wards acknowledged the relationship of brothers and sisters, and addressed her father as Jeremiah. Her fame soon spread, and many persons called at her father's house to converse upon religious subjects. After a few months she began to make periodical journeys, visiting Newport, Provi- dence, Seaconet, East Greenwich, North and South Kings- town, and also some places in Connecticut and Massachu- setts.
It seemed to be her purpose to establish a new religion, and to become the head and founder of a sect which should avoid the beaten track of other denominations, and reject all the usual forms of church government. Dissenters and backsliders from other societies became her disciples, a few weak men, a still greater number of silly women and chil- dren. She managed, however, occasionally to entrap per- sons of intelligence and wealth. Three or four meeting- houses were built for her use. One of them was in this town, and was standing fifty years ago, on the Frenchtown road, just south of the residence of Joseph Fry, and oppo- site the farm of John Pitcher. It was a plain structure of modest dimensions, and was always called the "Jemima meeting-house."
After her pretended resurrection, Jemima always called herself the "Universal Friend," which she said was "a new name which the mouth of the Lord had named." Her proselytes and followers were never numerous, but what was wanting in numbers was made up in devotion.
Many of the accounts given of Jemima reflect rather severely upon her moral character, and though these as- persions may be unjust, it is evident that she was reck- less and defiant, never giving up a selfish project, and en- tirely unscrupulous respecting the means employed to effect her purposes. While the British forces occupied Newport during the Revolution she remained there for a time, and preached to the officers, who were pleased as well as amused.
131
JEMIMA WILKINSON.
One of them, a major, pretended to be greatly enamored, and his devotions appear to have been acceptable to the fair preacher, who was ready to sacrifice her religion upon the altar of love; while the son of Mars professed himself willing to abandon the service of his sovereign, and enlist under the banner of a mistress in whose service there was more ease and less danger. But like fickle man the world over, he proved only a "gay deceiver." The fleet sailed away and with it her soldier-lover. Jemima waited and watched in vain for his return, and a few months after went into retirement, from whence she emerged to promulgate an edict prohibiting matrimony among her followers as un- lawful and an "abomination unto the Lord." Her own disappointment had evidently engendered a resentment which she was unable to conceal.
Judge William Potter, of South Kingstown, was one of her most enthusiastic and devoted adherents in this State. He possessed a fine estate about a mile north of Kingston Hill, and built a large addition to his mansion for the ac- commodation of Jemima and her followers, who made it their headquarters for nearly six years. Here was the scene of some of her pretended miracles. A daughter of the judge having died, she attempted to restore her to life. A great concourse of people assembled to witness the mira- cle, but the impious prayers of Jemima availed nothing, and she attributed her failure to the want of faith among the spec- tators. Penelope, the wife of Judge Potter, did not share in her husband's infatuation, and the artful insinuations of Jemima that they were the chosen lambs of God were too transparent to convince her of their perfect innocence. Judge Potter was one of the agents for the removal of Jemima and her followers to the State of New York, where he afterwards followed her, having become greatly embar- rased in his affairs, in consequence of his devotion to this crafty adventuress.
One of her proselytes in this neighborhood was George Spencer, a member of the Society of Friends, who owned a farm in Frenchtown, opposite the residence of the late Nicholas Fry. In consequence of his faith, and to distin- guish him from others of the same name, he was always called "Jemima George." There was another Spencer in that day whose faith was wanting, and he used to say that he would as " soon worship a Wooden God, as a Woman God."
The dwelling-house about one mile and a half west of the
132
HISTORY OF EAST GREENWICH.
village, now the residence of William L. Holden, was one of her usual stopping-places, and she sometimes held meet- ings there. According to Spencer Hall, who delighted to talk about Jemima, this place was the scene of the fulfill- ment of one of her remarkable prophecies. She was ad- dressing a large number of people, who were assembled there, when she stopped abruptly, and declared that there was one within the hearing of her voice who would never see the light of another day. The announcement created great alarm and amazement among the audience. One said, " is it I ?" another, "is it I?" and a third, "is it I?" but she resumed and finished her discourse. The young women of the family who were going to accompany Jemima and her retinue the next day on her journey, were up very late that night, and passing the door of the room occupied by a colored man who lived in the family, heard groans, as if some one was ill, and on entering his room found him dying. This wonderful premonition increased her fame greatly in some quarters., Sceptics said " poison."
In establishing a new system of religion, Jemima bor- rowed its forms of worship from the Friends. Her capri- cious mind could establish many rules, and if any one com- plained of her tyranny he was answered that "it was the will of the Universal Friend," and from this law there was no appeal. The following description of Jemima has been given by one who knew her well :
" She was taller than middle stature, fine form, fair com- plexion, with florid cheeks, dark and very brilliant eyes, and beautiful white teeth. Her hair, dark auburn, or black, was combed from the seam on the top of her head, and fell on her shoulders in three full ringlets. In her pub- lic addresses she would rise up and stand perfectly still for a minute or more, then proceed with a slow and dis- tinct enunciation. She spoke with great ease, and with increasing fluency ; her voice clear and harmonious, and manner persuasive and emphatic; her dress rich in ma- terial, but plain in make, and in a style entirely her own ; a broad-brimmed white beaver hat with a low crown, and the sides, when she rode, turned down and tied under the chin; a full, light drab cloak or mantle, with a unique underdress, and cravat around her neck, with square ends that fell to her waist in front. On horseback her ap- pearance was imposing. On her religious peregrinations Judge Potter usually rode beside Jemima, and then her fol-
133
JEMIMA WILKINSON.
lowers, two by two, on horseback, constituted a solemn and impressive procession."
After having preached in Rhode Island, with occasional visits to adjoining states, for seven or eight years, Jemima, with a few followers, made a journey to Pennsylvania, and being favorably received by the honest but credulous Germans of Worcester, about twenty miles from Philadel- phia, she made the latter place her headquarters for two or three years.
After one of her visits to Rhode Island, a robbery of the general treasurer of the State of the sum of two thousand dollars was ingeniously effected, and as one of Jemima's satelites had been staying in the family, suspicion pointed at Jemima. She was pursued to Pennsylvania and her trunks being seized and searched, there was found the sum of eight hundred dollars, a part of the stolen money.
It was just after this that Jemima set on foot the project to remove herself and adherents to the new and fertile lands in the State of New York, where she had concluded the purchase of a large tract in Ontario County, near Crooked Lake. This retreat called the " New Jerusalem," the "land of promise flowing with milk and honey," where the faithful could enjoy themselves without molestation by the scoffs, the sneers and ridicule of the "servants of the devil," as she termed the people of the world who had no faith in her mission. She removed there in the month of April, 1779, with her trusty cabinet, council, followers and baggage. Here she continued to reside until her death in 1819, at the age of sixty-eight years, and managed the affairs of her community with such shrewdness and skill that considerable property was accumulated.
We have referred to her tyranny and the devotion of her followers. Both qualities were strikingly exemplified in her rules and penalties, and in the manner of their recep- tion by the faithful. A member of her society for attempt- ing to gratify what she regarded as impertinent curiosity, was sentenced to wear for three weeks, a small bell, sus- pended from his neck by a rope. One of her punishments for noisy and garrulous women was to order a " silent fast." A weak sister, who had been accustomed all her life to talk and laugh with impunity was constantly in the habit of breaking her fast, until Jemima finally ordered her mouth to be sealed up with wafers and linen rags. She was able to endure this but for a short time, and abruptly burst the
134
HISTORY OF EAST GREENWICH.
bands of her slavery with a loud laugh, declaring that Jemima must be a fool to think of stopping any woman from laughing and talking for three consecutive days.
Her immediate followers were in the habit of assuming Scriptural titles. One was called the "Prophet Elijah," and Sarah Richards-who was her prime minister-was called the " Prophet Daniel." They both did a good busi- ness for a time, in dreams and visions, in cooperation with Jemima, but the " Prophet Elijah " tried to set up for him- self, and was in the habit of receiving loving messages for some of the weak sisters, which Jemima thought he was too fond of delivering privately. She therefore degraded him from his dignity as a prophet, and thrust him out of the society. One of the sisters was called "John, the be- loved," and another "Enoch of old." Her followers not only avoided calling her by name, but shunned the use of the possessive pronoun, indicating sex, and spoke of "the Friend's house," the " Friend's carriage," whenever they in- dicated her property.
About thirty families removed with Jemima to the new settlement near Crooked and Seneca Lakes. These were increased by the final addition of twenty more, although she had expected three or four hundred, whose zeal proba- bly abated with the absence of their beloved prophetess.
Three tracts of land, comprising several thousand acres, had been purchased, and were rather thinly settled by these deluded people, who thought that their chances of salvation depended upon their obedience to this deceiver.
The Duke de Laincourt, a peer of France, paid a visit to Jemima, and attended her meeting, which was held in her own house. "This" he says, "was extremely pretty and commodious, though built of the trunks of trees. Her room is exquisitely neat, resembling more the boudoir of a fine lady than the cell of a nun. It contained a looking glass, a clock and an arm chair, a good bed, a warming-pan and a silver saucer. Her garden was kept in good order; her spring-house was full of milk, cheese and butter, meat and game. Six or seven girls of different ages, but all of them young and handsome, waited upon her with surpris- ing emulation to enjoy the peculiar satisfaction of being permitted to approach this celestial (?) being. Her fields and her gardens are ploughed and dug by her friends, who neglect their own business to care for hers; and the 'All Friend' is so condescending as not to refuse their
135
JEMIMA WILKINSON.
services. She knows how to keep her votaries at a respecta- ble distance, and has the art of effectually captivating their affections." After inviting the duke to dine with her, she sat down to an excellent dinner with her female friends, and after they had dined a dinner was served for the guests who had been invited.
Although Jemima possessed considerable tact and shrewd- ness, her miracles were always failures, and a modern Spir- itualist would far excel her in the development of the super- natural. She once circulated extensively the information that she would on a certain day walk on the water. A great crowd of people assembled in Swansea, Massachusetts, to witness this wonderful phenomenon in nature, and waited as patiently as possible for the appearance of Jemima and her retinue. She finally came, and began addressing the people upon the important subject of faith, artfully proving that it would be owing to their sinful doubts if she failed to perform her promise, citing the case of the apostle who walked on the water until the faith of himself and brethren had departed. At the conclusion of her address she ap- proached the margin of the water, but it refused to uphold her weight, when she turned indignantly to the multitude and rated them soundly for their want of faith.
She attempted at different times to perform the miracle of raising the dead. On one of these occasions a favorite apostle had been ill for some days, and his death being an- nounced, Jemima informed the people that she should only suffer him to sleep four days in death, and then raise him again. There was an immense concourse to witness this solemn performance. When they arrived at the place of interment, Jemima commenced the ceremonies by a short discourse upon death and the resurrection, and assured them that as it was in the days of her prototype, so it was even now, and concluded by promising to perform such a miracle in their presence that day as would convince them of her divine mission. A military officer happened to be present in full uniform, and just as Jemima was about to issue the magical command, he stepped forward, and draw- ing his sword, said, " Stop a moment, just allow me to run my sword through the coffin so as to be sure the man is really dead," and suiting the action to the word, raised his arm, when the cover was quickly thrown from the coffin, and its ghostly tenant fled in hot haste, to the astonishment of some, and the great amusement of others. The declar-
136
HISTORY OF EAST GREENWICH.
ation of the soldier had been quite as potent as could have been the prayer of the prophetess.
Jemima continued to preach to her followers until a short time before her death. She grew corpulent, and became affected with dropsy, which occasioned her much pain and distress, and finally caused her death. She would not con- sult a physician, because she knew it would be inconsistent with the character she had assumed. She endured the suf- fering of her disease with surpassing fortitude, and never suffered herself to complain in the presence of visitors. When she knew that death was approaching, she said, " My friends, I must soon depart; this night I leave you," and died before morning. If she could only have been a mar- tyr and killed in some way, for her religion's sake, the de- lusion would have been retained for some time by her fol- lowers, but her natural death, the result of disease, like or- dinary people, destroyed the delusion. The ignorant por- tion of her followers would not believe that she was really dead, and denied the fact stoutly, as an insult to themselves and the deity they had worshiped. They expected to see her body reanimated, but they waited in vain. Death was soon succeeded by decay, and the body became so offensive that they were reluctantly obliged to bury it. Thus ended the career of this arch-imposter; but her followers main- tained a society with its meetings for many years. She left a curious will, which is quite as consistent as many others, devising all her property to Rachel and Margaret Malin, in trust for the benefit of the needy members of the society.
The career of this extraordinary being forms an interest- ing chapter in the " natural history of enthusiasm." She was of that class of fanatical leaders, common to all time and countries, in whom the religious nature developed to an abnormal degree, and stimulated by the influences of ignorance and credulity, is accompanied by a rigorous will, the dictates of which are recommended by the fine arts of persuasion. The founder of a new superstition, like the leader of a revolution, often begins his course of action with a genuine faith in the reality of his mission. But when an unbelieving race refuse to adopt the truths .thus offered, the would-be apostle must stoop to the arts of the politician. A strong, positive nature too often becomes unscrupulous in the leadership of sect or faction. The sys- tem of deceit in which the spiritual chiefs so generally find
137
JEMIMA WILKINSON.
the means of controlling the minds and shaping the desti- nies of their followers, react upon their own natures, ren- dering them far more pitiable than are the helpless victims of their arts. A mind naturally formed for rule which consents to govern by the aid of treachery and deceit, has yielded to a destructive influence which blasts all elements of original good in the character, leaving it a dehumanized thing.
The curious traditions of the Cumberland zealots show us an indigenous product of superstition, as rapid and luxu- riant in its fungus-like growth as though it had been nur- tured in the congenial soil of the tropics, rather than among the sterile hills of New England. The handsome, self-willed girl, began her public life with an address to her neighbors upon religious subjects-no very strange or dar- ing act in Rhode Island, where Quakerism had familiarized the people with the preaching of gifted women. Her am- bition expanded so rapidly that her next step was to claim divine honors, and even had her lot been cast in other countries she could hardly have commanded a deeper devo- tion from the credulity of Hindoo devotees than was accorded her by the sober descendants of the Puritans. The follies of our forefathers find a partial explanation in the strength and exaltation of a character certainly set apart from the ordinary temptations of youth.
Her worst qualities were such as drew about her spirits as daring and as ambitious as herself ; while to more sincere and humble religionists she exhibited quite another phase of her varied character, and attracted their sympathies by such legends as that of her answer to a call of help from a perishing world, and her departure from Paradise to relieve the sin and suffering of earth. This recital, so touching from the lips of the divine being who offered herself as a saviour, was eagerly accepted by the many of that day to whom the idea of an atonement was still cherished with Jewish literalness. A present redeemer, a living dispenser of the blessings of absolution, was realization of their present faith, the crowning fulfillment of their dearest hopes.
But the Cumberland prophetess would perhaps have shown more consummate art had she courted persecution in some colony less liberal than Rhode Island. She would then have counted more converts, though it may still be doubted whether she did not live in an age too late for the
138
HISTORY OF EAST GREENWICH.
full development of her genius. Could the expiring em- bers of religious hatred have been fanned into flame in the closing years of the last century ? The air of Rhode Island has always proved unfavorable to spiritual pretension. This remains a truth in spite of the many sects who found a home here in colonial days. In this garden of the Lord, seed might be freely scattered, and not only by priestly hands. The fathers of the Colony made no election be- tween the wheat and the tares. No spiritual plants were forced into unnatural vigor by the heat of persecution. None were stimulated by the nurture of patronage. In the process of natural selection, all sects were left to their in- evitable course of rise, maturity and decline. To-day we may look back on the undisturbed growth of such forms of belief as took deepest root in our territory.
Brief as is the history of Rhode Island, it is the oldest of records, permitting us to study the free development of religious instinct. Only for the two short centuries that have passed since the signing of our charter, the Magna Charta of religious freedom, has the state left man abso- lutely free to follow the dictates of his conscience. The hardy settlers of Rhode Island were the only really fearless men of their time. The colony that was founded by a banished man quietly received the banished Ann Hutchin- son and her followers, and the spiritual infection of her " heresies " proved strangely harmless in an atmosphere of tolerance. Samuel Gorton, the Professor of the Mysteries of Christ, was the Savenarola of New England, of whom his last disciple living in 1771, at the age of eighty, said, " his master wrote in Heaven, and that none can under- stand his writings but those who live in Heaven while on earth." His tenets, so dreaded by the rulers of a neighbor- ing commonwealth, were here allowed full expression, and Gorton became a valued member of the Colony. There was indeed much of the wisdom of the serpent, as well as the innocence of the dove, in the statesmanship of Roger Williams. A man of the world, who should be unable to comprehend the Christian charity of his motives, would yet admire the worldly wisdom of his acts.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.