Founder of the American Society of Shakers; born in
Manchester, England, Feb. 29, 1736; was a cook in a public institution when she married a blacksmith named
Stanley.
In 1758 she joined the Shakers in
England.
The society had just been formed by James and
Jane Wardley, Quakers.
About 1770 she began to “prophesy” against the wickedness of marriage as the “root of all human depravity,” and resumed her maiden name of
Lee. She came to
America with some followers in 1774, and in 1776 they established themselves at
Niskayuna, near
Watervliet, where she was the recognized leader of the sect.
Being opposed to war, she was suspected of being a British emissary, and, being charged with high treason, was imprisoned at
Albany and
Poughkeepsie until released by
Governor Clinton in 1777, when she returned to
Watervliet, and there her followers greatly increased.
During a religious revival in New Lebanon (since in
Columbia county, N. Y.) in 1780 many persons were converted to the doctrines of
Ann Lee, and the now flourishing Society of Shakers of New Lebanon was founded.
She and some of her followers made missionary tours into
New England with considerable
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success from 1781 to 1783, and so greatly were her spiritual gifts manifested that she was acknowledged a mother in
Christ —the incarnation of the feminine essence of God.
She was called “
Mother Ann” and “Ann the word.”
She died in
Watervliet, N. Y., Sept. 8, 1784.
