Abstract
Proctor Sampson (ca.1773-1855) was instrumental in gathering the community at Sodus Bay, New York. He wrote Remains of Joseph A. H. Sampson (Rochester, N.Y.: E.F. Marshall, 1827), the first Shaker biography, as a loving elegy to his son, who died a Shaker at age twenty. This first section of his “Reasons for Uniting with the Shakers” has never been published. It is one of eighteen chapters, the rest devoted to theology, comprising a manuscript now in the collection of the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio, (VII:B-50). Sampson’s colorful narrative sheds much light on the religious ferment in southern Maine during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It is a fascinating read, and we are pleased to present it in printed form for the first time.
Date
January 2018
Volume
12
Number
1
First Page
28
Last Page
47
Journal Title
American Communal Societies Quarterly
ISSN
1939-473X
