The New Lebanon Shaker Children\u27s Order

The New Lebanon Shaker community developed the Children\u27s Order for the offspring of adult converts primarily because they believed worldly family relationships hindered spiritual travel. Children were isolated from the adults for two main reasons: first, the Shakers were a celibate society and did not recognize marital and affectional relationships within their community; and secondly, the Shakers believed socialization and control of both adults and children into the Shaker way of life would be more successful if the children and adults were separated;This research traces the development of the New Lebanon Children\u27s Order from the founding of the United Society of Believers in America to 1900. The primary focus of the study is how the Children\u27s Order contributed to the gradual demise of the Society after the 1840s. The history of the Shakers, gathering children into the Society, and their daily life, education, and conduct, are discussed;The conclusions of this research suggest that the process in the Society of separating children from adults also separated children from the future of the sect. Children\u27s caretakers and teachers did not seem to be able to instill in the youth a long-lasting regard for the Society\u27s beliefs or a spiritual commitment to its perpetuation, nor were they able to supplant the children\u27s needs for emotionally intimate relationships;In some ways this research revises earlier studies that suggest a more positive emotional environment existed in the Children\u27s Order during the nineteenth century. It is not suggested that children were neglected physically at any point in Shaker history, but when the complex issues of socialization to promote commitment, the value of emotionally intimate relationships and family affectional ties, and the costs and rewards of membership are evaluated, a different picture of the New Lebanon Children\u27s Order during the nineteenth century seems more likely