Quakers,
Shakers, and Rogerenes
Congregationalism
was challenged by several dissenting sects as early as the late
seventeenth century. Discussion of these challenges can be found
in Henry Jones, “On the Rise, Growth, and Comparative Relations
of Other Evangelical Denominations in Connecticut Relative to
Congregationalism,” in Contributions to the Ecclesiastical
History of Connecticut, edited by Leonard Bacon (New Haven:
Congregational Church in Connecticut General Association, 1861).
Among these early sects, the Quakers have been insufficiently
studied in their Connecticut context. Nelson R. Burr, a master
of the field of religious history, did publish a very useful piece,
“The Quakers in Connecticut: A Neglected Phase of History,” Bulletin
of the Friends Historical Association 31 (Spring, 1942)1:11-26.
But Quakers were very little in evidence in Connecticut, and perhaps
there is not much more to be said about them. They reached their
nineteenth-century height in 1820 with seven Meetings; by 1880,
writes Burr, “Quakerism had virtually ceased to exist [in Connecticut].
(p. 24)
Another
Quaker-like sect is similarly understudied. A bit on the Shakers
is in Jessie Miriam Brainard, “Mother Ann’s Children in Connecticut
The Enfield Shakers,” Connecticut Quarterly 3(1897)4. The
Enfield community was established in 1792 and was still thriving
on 2,700 acres when this article was written. The piece is accompanied
by many photographs taken about 1897. More about the Enfield Shakers
is in Emily Williams, “Spirituality As Experienced in Song,” Connecticut
Magazine 9(1905)4, an illustrated and detailed description
of their religious music and dancing.
Much
more print has been given to the Rogerenes, also known as the Rogerene
Baptists and the Rogerene Quakers, a sect formed in southeast Connecticut
about 1675. This was a strict fundamentalist sect, believing in
a literal reading of the Bible, non-violence, no sabbath, adult
baptism, and separation of church and state. There is one large
volume by John Rogers Bolles, The Rogerenes: Some Hitherto Unpublished
Annals belonging to the Colonial History of Connecticut (Boston:
Stanhope Press, 1904). Part I is Bolles’ “A Vindication”; Part II
is “History of the Rogerenes,” by Anna B. Williams. The volume includes
a bibliography, which was brought up to date in 1943 by Ellen S.
Brinton, “A Checklist of Books By & About the Rogerenes,” of
which there is a typescript at the Connecticut State Library. Brinton,
Curator of the Jane Addams Peace Collection at the Friends Historical
Museum at Swarthmore, also published
“The
Rogerenes.” The New England Quarterly 16(March, 1943)1.
Authoritative and short. Includes a photograph of the Rogerene
Meeting House in Quaker-town, Ledyard.
“The
Rogerene—Quakers.” The Friend 113(7th month, 1939).
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