Issachar Bates: A Shaker's Journey

449 Pages·2013·3.758 MB·English

by  Carol Medlicott

Issachar Bates

Issachar Bates
a shaker’s journey
carol medlicott
university press of new england
Hanover and London
University Press of New England
www.upne.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Medlicott, Carol.
Issachar Bates: a Shaker’s journey / Carol Medlicott.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-1-61168-419-3 (cloth: alk. paper)—
isbn 978-1-61168-434-6 (pbk.: alk. paper)—
isbn 978-1-61168-408-7 (ebook)
1. Bates, Issachar, 1758–1837. 2. Composers—United
States—Biography. 3. Shakers—Biography. I. Title.
ml410.b2662m43 2013
780.92—dc23
[b] 2012051384
5 4 3 2 1
contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: “Now here’s my faith I’ll speak it plain” xiii
1 “ Signs and Wonders”: Early Life, Spiritual Preparation,
and the Coming of the Shakers 1
2 “ Take the bloody track of war”:
A Fifer in the American Revolution 17
3 “ I’m journeying with those who I love in the flesh”:
Issachar Bates as Husband and Provider 36
4 “ A testimony as hot as flames”:
Shaker Conversion and Early Travels 61
5 “ Like God’s Hunters”: Seeking Kindred in the West 82
6 “ Thorns and thistles did abound”:
The Growth of the Shaker West 104
7 “ What trials yet before us lay”: Tribulation on the Wabash 130
8 “ And with much animation we lived at Busro”:
An Elder in Indiana 154
9 “ Remnant of the tribe of Issachar”:
The Bates Kinship Network in the Shaker East 177
10 “ The Cockatrice still wants a place in Zion’s lovely regions”:
Transformations in the Shaker West 202
11 “ Tribulation Worketh Patience”: A Bitter Close in the West 228
12 “ So I’ll relinquish all demands”: Journey’s End at New Lebanon 257
Epilogue: “Elder Issachar seems to be continually at hand” 284
Appendixes
Appendix 1: A Bates Family Tree 308
Appendix 2: Songs and Poems by Issachar Bates 312
Appendix 3: Songs by Issachar Bates’s Children 343
Note on Sources 349
Notes 353
Bibliography 405
Index 415
Preface
The preparation of this work has taken me on a long and circuitous journey,
similar in some ways to Issachar Bates’s own. I entered the world of Shaker
scholarship at middle age, after an abrupt career change took me into aca-
demia. During graduate school in the Department of Geography, University
of California at Los Angeles, I focused on issues of historical geography in the
Early American Republic, but with no expectation of ever pursuing Shaker
research. As a midwestern native, I had been vaguely aware of the Shaker pres-
ence in Kentucky, and I had developed a casual interest in Shaker music. It
was that musical interest that brought about my first encounter with Issachar
Bates. During a post-doctoral fellowship at Dartmouth College, I joined the
Enfield Shaker Singers in nearby Enfield, New Hampshire, where one of New
Hampshire’s two Shaker villages had been located. I first saw Issachar Bates’s
name on the sheet music of several of his songs that the group’s director, Mary
Ann Haagen, had researched for the group to perform. One of these songs,
“Ode to Contentment,” spoke to me in a special way:
Come contentment lovely guest
Reign unrival’d in my breast
Thou alone wilt do.
Thou alone canst fill my soul
Ev’ry passion canst control
When the stormy billows roll,
Thou canst bear me thru’.
At that time, I was in a professional and personal limbo, searching for an
academic job, adjusting to a major residential move, unsure of whether my
career change had been wise. It was autumn of 2004, and the country was
experiencing a turbulent election season. Discontent seemed to be all around
me, and I immediately wanted to know more about the man who had written
those words. Later I would learn that that “Ode to Contentment” reflected
a time of painful transition in Issachar Bates’s life and his effort to become
reconciled to new challenges and new demands. I felt a bond. And I began to
realize that Issachar’s story deserved to be shared. The long journey leading to
the completion of this work then began.
Upon learning that I would be moving to the region that constituted the
{ vii
“Shaker West” in the nineteenth century, I decided to try to develop some re-
search interests in the somewhat less studied communities of Ohio, Indiana,
and Kentucky. Because of my training as a historical geographer, I was inter-
ested in how the Shakers initiated territorial expansion beyond the eastern
seaboard states, how they maintained some degree of cultural unity across
great distances, and how they adjusted to environmental differences in the
various regions where they settled. Initially, biography was very far from my
thoughts. But I soon realized that Issachar Bates’s great mobility made his life
an ideal window into a very geographical story, namely, the story of the Shak-
ers’ great territorial expansion of the early nineteenth century. I also found
precedent for my work in several recent biographical projects undertaken by
other historical geographers. Indeed, geographers are recognizing the value of
“bio-geography,” an approach that uses personal narratives about inhabiting
and negotiating particular places as tools to reconstruct and better under-
stand the landscapes of the past.
This work has benefitted from the insightful comments provided by Steve
Miller, Glendyne Wergland, and Steve Paterwic, with whom I shared drafts
of particular chapters. I am also grateful to the acquisitions editor at UPNE,
Richard Pult, for his patient support and encouragement. I received valuable
critiques, commentary, and suggestions from two anonymous reviewers,
which brought immeasurable improvement to the work. I alone am respon-
sible for any errors, inaccuracies, and analytical lapses.
From the beginning of my modest research efforts in the Shaker field, I have
encountered a convivial atmosphere and a delightful and diverse collection
of people bound together by their common enthusiasm for “things Shaker,”
past and present. I now feel blessed to be able to count many of these witty
and creative people among my closest friends, and I have been the fortunate
beneficiary of their generous assistance, encouragement, and guidance. My
most earnest gratitude goes to my good friend Christian Goodwillie. I have
come to depend on his endless assistance, insights, and support, as well as his
bountiful humor. Also indispensable has been the unwavering support and
assistance of Glendyne Wergland, Steve Paterwic, and Steve Miller, all fine
scholars who have gone to no end of trouble to guide me to sources, impart
their insights, listen to my problems, suggest solutions, and correct my mis-
understandings. My friend Mary Ann Haagen has been a patient and tireless
mentor, particularly in the area of Shaker music. Because music was such a
critical part of Issachar Bates’s life, my research has taken me into hundreds of
music manuscripts, requiring me to become fluent in Shaker music notation.
viii } preface
It was Mary Ann who introduced me to joys and challenges of transcribing
Shaker music from the original letteral notation.
I have repeatedly drawn on the support of the professional staff at various
Shaker sites, as well as institutions that house Shaker primary sources. I am
particularly grateful to Jerry Grant of the Shaker Museum and Library at Old
Chatham, Larrie Curry at the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Tommy Hines
and John Campbell at the Shaker Museum at South Union, Jeanne Solensky
and Richard McKinstry of the Winterthur Library, Randy Ericson of Hamil-
ton College, Lesley Herzberg of Hancock Shaker Village, Roben Campbell of
the Fruitlands Museum, and Lenny Brooks of the Shaker Library at Sabbath-
day Lake. The many close friends that I have made in the “Shaker world” have
also generously shared their experiences and insights, especially Dorothy
Jones, Martha Boice, Mary Allen, Liz Baker, Bill Mooney, Stephen Stein, Rob
Emlen, and the members of the annual “seminar” sponsored by Hancock
Shaker Village.
My research has brought me into contact with other delightful people who
have assisted me in myriad ways. The Bates Association, an organization that
promotes genealogical research on the Bates family name in American history,
has been very generous in helping to locate information on Issachar Bates’s
descendants. I am particularly grateful to Sandy Bates, one of the group’s offi-
cers. I also benefitted from the kind and generous assistance of Thomas Posey,
Jr., a descendant of eighteenth-century General Thomas Posey and of his wife
Mary Posey. Mr. Posey shared with me the insights he has gathered from his
research on Mary Posey, who became acquainted with Issachar Bates in 1808.
Finally I want to express gratitude to Rev. John Pastor and Officer Robert
Hall, owners of a historic home in Petersham, Massachusetts, who allowed
me to see the spot where a pivotal event in Issachar Bates’s life occurred. This
was a precious opportunity that I will never forget.
Though I have not actively involved my mentors and advisors from the
UCLA Department of Geography in the preparation of this work, their wis-
dom and guidance were a valuable resource, especially that of Michael Curry
and John Agnew. I am grateful to my colleagues at Northern Kentucky Uni-
versity for encouraging and showing interest in my work, as well as for assist-
ing me with occasional research puzzles.
Three friends deserve special mention. Over several years, my friend Mary
Lou has helped me develop greater insights into Issachar Bates. Lois Madden
and Dennis Delaney and their passionate interest in the world of the early
Shaker West have sustained me, and the many lively discussions we share
preface { ix