Mysteries of the tyringham shakers unmasked: A new examination of people, facts, and figures

Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Winter 2003 by Paterwic, Stephen

In any event, a large number of children and teenagers "ran away" on the same day. Since Tyringham journal manuscripts for the period do not apparently survive and since Tyringham was always so small and so little visited, these departures have been magnified into an event wherein Shaker myths have been developed. These involve the depiction of a rigid and secretive Shaker ministry brutally suppressing all references to the wild sexual excesses said to have gone on in that shadowy, hidden place. The truth is that a large group of youth, not attached to the Shaker society by parental or religious ties, decided for whatever the reason to seek life outside the community. They were legally free to do so and they did. Their departure actually restored a balance to the society, but the number of Shakers was so small that when the adults aged and died, few remained to continue the work at that place. Adding children to the rolls had helped to mask the decline, but it only delayed the inevitable. Without the addition of so many children, perhaps the Shakers would have been forced to examine their community more critically with better solutions arrived at for its continuance. As events played themselves out, the departures of so many youth in 1858 has become so mythologized that this itself has also helped prevent a clear examination of the facts and how Tyringham fit into the wider and by that time severely stressed structure of Shaker communal society.

It is hoped that this detailed study which has for the first time examined and explained the departures of 1858 will serve as a guide that will encourage others to tackle obstacles that presently obscure a careful examination of Shaker life in other societies. When this is achieved, other issues of Shaker history can be explored and a deeper understanding gained of the forces shaping America's oldest and most successful intentional community.

Average age of females: 13.4

Average age of males, not counting T. Fair, D. Jones or the Babcocks: 14.6

Average age of the whole, not counting T. Fair, D. Jones or the Babcocks: 14.02

None of the above had been in the community for the 1850 census except Samuel Day, who was indentured March 19, 1849.(35)

*Ages derived from using the 1855 census and adding until January, 1858.

1 Tyringham was also called the City of Love, a spiritual name given it in the 1840's.

2 Data from the federal census of 1830.

3 The Shaker society at New Lebanon, NY, for example had 609 members in 1864. The Church Family and the Second Family groups in this society had over one hundred and fifty members each.

4 The Central Ministry of the Shakers, which resided at New Lebanon, NY visited Tyringham on August 13, 1857. This was the first time since before 1830. Reference from A Journal or Register of passing events, continued from former Volumes, kept by Rufus Bishop (1850-1859), New York Public Library. Of course, Tyringham did receive a number of visits a year from the ministry of the Shaker bishopric to which it belonged. This ministry officially resided at Hancock, MA. The Shaker society at Enfield, Connecticut, was also in this bishopric.