THE BEGINNINGS OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
CHURCH
IN OHIO*
by OPHIA D. SMITH
The doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg
were introduced in
America near the close of the
eighteenth century, twelve years after
Swedenborg's death. In 1784 James Glen,
a Scottish Newchurchman,
came to Philadelphia to deliver the
first Swedenborgian lectures
ever heard in this country. This was
three years before Robert
Hindmarsh, in London, organized the
first New Jerusalem society
in the world. The first American to
receive the Doctrines from
James Glen was Francis Bailey, owner
and publisher of the Phila-
delphia Freeman's Journal, a
powerful journal of the Revolutionary
period. In the summer of 1784, after
Glen had left for his sugar
plantation in South America, Francis
Bailey bought the English
translations of a number of
Swedenborg's religious works. Hetty
Barclay, a friend and member of the
Bailey household, read the
books and accepted their teachings at
once. Thus Francis Bailey
became America's first Newchurchman and
Hetty Barclay, America's
first Newchurchwoman. Bailey printed
the first American editions
of Swedenborg's theological works.1
From Francis Bailey and
Hetty Barclay the Doctrines spread into
Ohio.
In 1797 a blind and crippled Irish
scholar came to Steubenville
imbued with the New Jerusalem doctrines
which he had received
from Francis Bailey in 1795. Francis'
wife Eleanor, a highly in-
telligent woman, had given the young
Irishman books to read and
had explained to him the difficult
passages.
The young Irish scholar was William
Grant. Physical handicaps
from childhood had sharpened an eager
mind and strengthened a
remarkable memory. A devoted aunt had
read to him since he was
blinded by smallpox at the age of five.
This unusual lady, in reading
the Bible, always puzzled over the
words she read, believing that
there must be some inner significance
that she could not discern.
* This is the first in a series of
articles on the Swedenborgians in Ohio.
1 See Ophia D. Smith, "The Life of
Francis Bailey," New Church Messenger,
July 29, August 11, 1951.
235
236
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
As William grew to manhood in County
Donegal in the province
of Ulster, he compared ancient and
modern history, civil and
ecclesiastical, with Divine Revelation.
False opinions, he concluded,
had pervaded both church and state.
These opinions and the evils
that they had brought into being would
build up a force that
would explode some day in a welter of
war, famine, and misery
indescribable. Anarchy and infidelity
would compel men to forsake
their prejudices and force them humbly
to unite in preparation for
a general reformation wherein the good
in all denominations could
be conjoined. These conclusions Grant
declared to rulers of state and
church in his native Ireland. The
French Revolution seemed to
corroborate what he said. Dreading the
effect of that revolution,
he persuaded his parents to emigrate
with the family to America.
This was in 1793, when William was
twenty years old.
When Grant came to Steubenville in
1797, he made no secret
of his beliefs and opinions. He was
attacked at once by the clergy
and the laity who were outraged by
these strange ideas. To the
orthodox of the Old Church,2 the
denial of hell fire, predestination,
foreordination, and salvation by faith
alone was odious. That the
words of the Bible had an inner meaning
was heresy.
About 1800 a humble "gatherer and
sower of appleseeds" ap-
peared in Ohio on Licking Creek,
carrying Swedenborgian books
and tracts in the pack on his back.
This was John Chapman,
familiarly known as Johnny Appleseed.
He planted a nursery not
far from Steubenville, and quite
probably knew William Grant.3
Johnny Appleseed was no illiterate
crackpot. He was thoroughly
conversant with the Bible and whatever
Swedenborgian writings
he could procure. He could present
points of New Church doctrine
with skill and cogency. His primary
business in life was to spread
the doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg.
The planting of appleseeds
and the selling of apple trees provided
a living for him and it was
2 The term, "Old Church," is
used to designate all churches other than the New
Jerusalem Church, which is commonly called the New
Church.
3 For Johnny Appleseed's activities as a nurseryman, see Ophia D. Smith,
"The
Story of Johnny Appleseed," in Johnny
Appleseed: A Voice in the Wilderness
(Paterson, N.J., 1947) by Robert Price,
Ophia D. Smith, Florence Murdoch, and
John W. Stockwell; see also, Ophia D. Smith,
"Johnny Appleseed and Swedenborg's
Four Rules of Life," New Church
Messenger, March 14, 1945.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 237
his way of being useful to society. The
little word "use" is one of
the most important words in the
Swedenborgian vocabulary.
On January 14, 1817, the Manchester
(England) Society for
Printing, Publishing and Circulating the
Writings of Emanuel
Swedenborg published a report of "a
very extraordinary missionary
of the New Jerusalem" in "the
western country" of America, de-
scribing him as one "almost
independent of corporeal wants and
sufferings."4
He goes barefooted, can sleep anywhere,
in house or out of house, and
lives upon the coarsest and most scanty
fare. He has actually thawed the
ice with his bare feet.
He procures what books he can of the New
Church; travels into the
remote settlements, and lends them
wherever he can find readers, and
sometimes divides a book into two or
three parts for more extensive dis-
tribution and usefulness. This man for
years past has been in the employ-
ment of bringing into cultivation, in numberless
places in the wilderness,
small patches (two or three acres) of
ground, and then sowing apple
seeds and rearing nurseries.
These become valuable as the settlements
approximate, and the profits
of the whole are intended for the
purpose of enabling him to print all the
writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, and
distribute them through the western
settlements of the United States.
A report of Johnny Appleseed's work was
sent to the Fifth
General Convention of the Receivers of
the New Jerusalem, which
was held in Philadelphia in June 1822.
It was printed in the
Journal of Proceedings as follows:
Besides the society established at
Steubenville . . . and Lebanon and
the very numerous church of Cincinnati .
. . one very extraordinary
missionary continues to exert, for the
spread of divine truth, his modest
and humble efforts, which would put the
most zealous members to blush.
. . He is now employed in traversing the
district between Detroit and
the closer settlements of Ohio. What
shall be the reward of such an in-
4 The
official Swedenborgian records concerning Johnny Appleseed are in the
New Church library at Oak and Winslow
streets, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Other records and reports and
periodicals cited in this article may be found in the
library mentioned above, in the library
of the Urbana Junior College, and in the
New Church Academy library at Bryn
Athyn, Pennsylvania.
238 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
dividual, where, as we are told in holy
writ, "they that turn many to
righteousness shall shine as the
stars forever."
In 1820 or 1821 Johnny Appleseed
proposed to the New
Jerusalem Society of Philadelphia to
deed to them a quarter section
of land near Wooster, Ohio, in exchange
for New Church publi-
cations. With this proposal Johnny
reported that there was an in-
crease of receivers all around Wooster,
and that the Doctrines
were spreading as far as Detroit.5
What was this religion that impelled an
Irish scholar boldly
to proclaim and defend it in Ohio? What
were the truths that
actuated a simple-hearted nurseryman
zealously to propagate them
for nearly half a century in the
Western Country? Who was
Emanuel Swedenborg, whose writings
inspired men to make in-
credible sacrifices for their
circulation?
Emanuel Swedenborg was a natural
scientist and engineer, a
Swedish noble, a distinguished writer,
and one of the profound
philosophers of all time. In 1743, when
he was fifty-five years
old, he solemnly affirmed that the Lord
appeared to him and com-
missioned him to write the Heavenly
Doctrines of the New
Jerusalem. He said that the Lord could
not come again into the
world in person, and must therefore
deliver His message to mankind
through "a man capable of
receiving the doctrine of the new
Church in his understanding and also by
publishing it by the press."
He declared that he was introduced into
the spiritual world and
that his mind was opened to receive the
divine message from the
Lord.6
For more than a quarter of a century
Swedenborg bestowed
the same prodigious labor on his
theological works that he had
lavished upon his scientific and
philosophical works that ranked
5 Undated letter, Daniel Thuun to
Margaret Bailey (daughter of Francis Bailey),
Philadelphia, 1820 or 1821. John H.
James Manuscripts, Urbana, Ohio.
In 1824 there was "a small society
of zealous receivers" in Wooster; they had
"a very promising young man" to
lecture to them. There were several societies
in Ohio at this time, and many scattered
receivers. Report of Reverend Thomas
Newport, junior, of Paintville to the
Eighth General Convention of the Receivers
of the Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.
See Appendix to Journal of Proceedings, 1826.
6 R.
L. Tafel, Documents Concerning Swedenborg, No. 246, Emanuel Swedenborg
to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt,
1771. See leaflet, Swedenborg: Seer and
Servant (n.p., n.d.).
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 239
him with the great thinkers of the
ages. He wrote his voluminous
works in Latin in order that scholars
of all nations could read and
understand his vast new religious
concept. He sought to give prac-
tical meaning to religion, to define
human relationship to God and
the natural world. His whole system of
theology, a thing of exquisite
order, presents a new view of God and
the Scriptures. Swedenborg
expected the Christian thinking of the
world to be revolutionized by
his printed religious works. He
presumed that they would be placed
in the great libraries of all
countries, where they would be studied
by scholars who in turn would
indoctrinate their students with
the new truths. Swedenborg set the
precedent by publishing his
theological works at his own expense
and giving them to scholars
and institutions of learning. The
intelligentsia were to disseminate
the True Christian Religion. In
Lancashire, England, the early
Swedenborgians were called "Top o'
the Brow folks."
Here was a man whose imagination had
produced plans for
the airship, the submarine, the steam
engine, and the machine gun
by 1714. King Charles XII of Sweden
made him assessor-
extraordinary on the Swedish board of
mines; Queen Ulrica, after
the death of the king, gave him a
patent of nobility. He served
his government brilliantly as engineer,
expert mineralogist, and
member of the House of Nobles. From his
profound scientific
studies he now turned to chart the
mysterious realm of the spirit.
To Swedenborg the mystery of the
universe was a mathematical
problem to be solved by patient and
logical reasoning. He thought
of God as a Being of law and order, yet
he did not deny the
miracles, believing that God is a Being
of Free Will. In his
Principia, Swedenborg established a mechanical and geometrical
theory of the origin of all things. In
his work on paleontology he
was the predecessor of the Scandinavian
geologists. He arrived
at the nebular hypothesis theory of the
formation of the planets
and the sun long before Kant and
Laplace. He worked out a
molecular magnetic theory that
foreshadowed some of the chief
features of modern hypotheses. His
vortex-particles hypothesis an-
ticipated, in a measure, the modern
idea of the structure of the
atom. Important, also, was Swedenborg's
hypothesis of the two
240
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
entities, actives and finites, which
are combined in all elementary
structures.
Indefatigably, Swedenborg searched for
the true relation of the
finite to the infinite, of the soul to
the body. For years he applied
himself to the study of anatomy,
endeavoring to find the human
soul. In his physiological studies he
anticipated many of our
modern views in relation to the brain.
One hundred and fifty years
before any other scientist advanced
such a theory, he showed that
the motion of the brain is synchronous
with the respiration and
not with the heartbeat and the
circulation of the blood. He declared
that the cerebral cortex and the nerve
cells form the seat of the
activity of the soul. His conclusions
relating to the physiological
functions of the spinal cord and of the
ductless glands are
amazingly modern. A distinguished
professor of the history of
medicine, Dr. Max Neuberger of the
University of Vienna, has
said, "Wherever we penetrate into
the mine of Swedenborg's
physiology we strike a vein of metal so
rich that the united strenous
efforts of several savants will be
needed to raise the whole of it."
In middle age Emanuel Swedenborg the scientist
was ready to
turn from his investigations of earth
and sky and the human body
to explore the spiritual world. He was
willing to sacrifice his
great reputation as a scientist to
execute a mission that would expose
him to ridicule and scorn. He produced
more than forty volumes
of theological studies. Swedenborg
taught that the "New Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of
heaven," would supersede the
Old Church and all its evils. This
shining New Jerusalem was to
embrace all mankind in a universal New
Church. He had no
thought of founding another religious
sect. He was perhaps the
only great religious teacher who never
preached. He believed that
a good book is a good missionary.
Swedenborg taught that Jesus Christ is
God, that God Himself
came into the world to show man the way
to overcome evil and
temptation and how to attain the
dignity appropriate to a creature
made in His own image. He declared that
God is One Person,
embodying in Himself the Trinity which
corresponds to the trinity
of soul, body, and activity in man.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 241
According to Swedenborg, the Bible is
the inspired Word which
unites man with God and opens heaven to
him.7 The literal Word
is colored and limited by man's finite
understanding, but within
that man-bound Word is a hidden
spiritual meaning, the very
thought of God Himself. The relation of
the literal to the spiritual
sense of the Word is like the relation
of the soul to the body.
The key to the hidden meaning of the
Word is what James
Glen called the "Extraordinary
Science of Celestial and Terrestrial
Correspondences." This science was
understood by Ancient Man,
but as he fell away from God, he began
to lose his knowledge
of it. Finally, the science was
completely forgotten. The lost secret
was eventually revealed by the Lord to
Emanuel Swedenborg by per-
mitting him to have "open
intercourse with Spirits and Angels."
Swedenborg said that the hidden meaning
was revealed to him as
he read the Word, and that these
revelations were corroborated by
what he was permitted to see in the
spiritual world.
To Swedenborg the laws of revelation
were as precise as the
laws of nature. To his mind the natural
and spiritual worlds are
related to each other according to the
divine law of creative
symbolism, held together in a fixed
relation to each other and to
God, the Central Source. Everything in
the natural world is a
symbol of a corresponding thing in the
spiritual world from which
it springs. Swedenborg called this the
science of correspondences,
and that science is the foundation of
the Doctrines. One Sweden-
borgian scholar said that he who grasps
the idea of correspondence
in its amazing sweep will not only find
a new Revelation in his
Bible, but will behold Nature as a
sublime poem. All things
existing, he said, will become letters
and words of heavenly import.8
Ralph Waldo Emerson could not accept
Swedenborg's theology,
but he recognized the fact that
Swedenborg was the first to put
into scientific form the principles of
correspondence which had
7 The books of Ruth, I and II
Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, and Solomon's Song are not
included in the Word. The four gospels
and Revelation are the only books of the
New Testament that Swedenborg considered
the Divine Word. He admired the other
writings of the New Testament and
recommended that they be read.
8 "The Key to the Spiritual Sense
of the Word," The Evangelist, March 1874.
242
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
been dimly glimpsed by Plato and only a
few other great philoso-
phers. He believed that the truths of
Swedenborg's system qualified
"the views and creeds of all
churches, and men out of the church."
The vast theological concept of
Swedenborg cannot be defined
in a few brief paragraphs. As Phillips
Brooks said, "It is impossible
to say a little on so great a
theme." Even the doubter stands in
awe of the mighty intellect and the
unquestionable integrity of the
man. Swedenborg expressed the heart of
his doctrines when he
wrote, "All religion relates to
life and the life of religion is doing
that which is good." "Mere
believing is not faith; but to will and to
do that which is believed is true
faith."9
Not long after coming to Steubenville,
William Grant became
acquainted with David Powell, who in
1798 received the New
Jerusalem doctrines from his
brother-in-law, Thomas Newport.
Together Grant and Powell proclaimed
the Doctrines and formed
a circle of readers. In 1809 they
formed a society of four members
and commenced lecturing in public. This
was the second regularly
organized society in the United States,
the Baltimore society having
been formed in 1792. By 1817 the
Steubenville society had twenty
members and about ten readers in the
town and vicinity. With
David Powell as leader they worshiped
on Sunday mornings with
a congregation numbering from twenty to
fifty persons. The form
of worship was Presbyterian. David
Powell was ordained as a
priest and teaching minister with power
to administer the sacraments
of the church on May 20, 1817, in
Philadelphia. At this early date
the Steubenville society possessed a
complete set of Swedenborg's
theological writings, besides a number
of collateral works.10
Progress was slow in Steubenville, but
David Powell was con-
fident that the Divine Providence,
through printing presses,
missionary organizations, and zealous
"professors of the heavenly
9 Doctrine of the Lord 1; Last Judgment 36.
The above is a Swedenborgian form of
citation. The Doctrine of the Lord was
published first in Latin in Amsterdam in
1763; the first edition in the English
language was published in London, 1784.
The Latin edition of the Last Judgment
was published in London in 1758, the
first edition in English, in London in 1810.
10 William Grant to Robert Campbell of
Abingdon, Virginia, Steubenville, Ohio,
December 25, 1819, in New Jerusalem
Missionary, September 1823; New Jerusalem
Church Repository, July 1817; Newchurchman Extra, 1848, 124.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 243
doctrines," would prepare the minds
of men for the New Dispen-
sation.11 In 1823 Powell
reported twenty members, though near
twenty had moved away from
Steubenville. He praised the Lord
for removing and settling Newchurchmen
in every direction,
thereby forming little centers for the
spread of the Doctrines.
There was still "an almost
immovable prejudice" against what the
Old Church ministers called "the
visions of Swedenborg."12 On
June 20, 1823, David Powell died,
leaving the little society without
a leader. William Grant then made the official reports to
the
General Convention.13 Steubenville
paid little attention to the little
group that met on alternate Sundays at
the Widow Powell's house,
with her son David conducting the
services.
After William Grant, David Powell,
senior, and Johnny Apple-
seed, came Thomas Newport to herald the
new doctrines in Ohio.
Newport, a Quaker, had received the
Doctrines indirectly from
Hetty Barclay of Bedford, Pennsylvania.14 In
1790 he read Sweden-
borg's Heaven and Hell, which
Hetty had sent to her brother on
the banks of the Monongahela.15
In a letter to W. C. Howells, dated
January 19, 1840, Newport
said that he "read and received, on
sight, the first doctrine of the
Heavenly Jerusalem that 'the Lord is
the God of heaven.'" Newport
preached the "heavenly
doctrines" in the Turtle Creek settlement
near Lebanon as early as 1804. He
removed to that neighborhood
about 1805. In January 1812 he organized
the Turtle Creek New
Jerusalem Society.16 In the
same year he established a library for
11 David Powell to the New Jerusalem
Record, July 1820, Steubenville, April 20,
1820.
12 Journal, Sixth
General Convention, 1823.
13 New Jerusalem Magazine (London), February 1827.
14 Hetty Barclay left the home of
Francis Bailey to make her home with her
brother in Bedford, Pennsylvania. There
by her intelligent conversation and zealous
circulation of Swedenborg's works and
collateral publications she soon formed a
circle of readers for the systematic
study of Swedenborg. A strong society was or-
ganized there. Many of the members of
the New Jerusalem Church in the West
received their first knowledge of the
Doctrines directly or indirectly from Hetty
Barclay. One of the buildings of the
Urbana Junior College at Urbana, Ohio, is
named for her.
15 New Jerusalem Church Repository, July 1817.
16 The Precursor, June 1842.
244 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
the county, consisting of the writings
of Swedenborg and collateral
works.17
The Turtle Creek society had only four
members in 1812--
Thomas Newport and Henry Hormell, and
their wives. Robert
Sweeney joined the next year. By 1816
the membership had in-
creased to twenty or twenty-one adults.
The Turtle Creek group,
in 1816, affiliated with the society of
about twenty members "then
existing at and about the Knobs near
the falls of Ohio."18 Besides
twenty members, the Turtle Creek
society had about twenty-five
readers and friends of the Doctrines in
the neighborhood.
A few of the settlers around Lebanon
professed to be Deists,
some Universalists, some Halcyonists,
and many were Shakers.
According to Newport, the Halcyonists
derived some principles
of theology from Swedenborg and united
or engrafted the "false
doctrines of annihilation &c
thereon." But honest readers of
Swedenborg refused to be led astray by
"such preposterous
doctrines."
From his extensive correspondence
Newport was able to report
to the first General Convention in 1817
that there were about
thirty receivers in Steubenville and
vicinity, about forty-five in
Cincinnati, and about twenty-six
isolated receivers in different
parts of the West.19
In the summer of 1818 Thomas Newport
organized the Western
Association of the New Jerusalem
Church. It held its first annual
meeting "in a handsome grove"
on Newport's farm, between two
and three hundred attending. The Lord's
Supper was administered
to only nine persons, but the
"sphere of love was ecstatic" among
the people.20
In the meantime the Turtle Creek
society had asked the Baltimore
17 Newport had brought to Ohio
all the works he could procure in Pennsylvania,
and sent back to Philadelphia at various
times for more. William Schlatter, a
wealthy Philadelphia merchant, sent
Newport a number of books as presents.
Schlatter paid for the printing of
thousands of Swedenborgian works for gratuitous
distribution. Journal, Tenth
General Convention, 1828.
18 Precursor, loc. cit.
19 New Jerusalem Church Repository, July 1817; New Jerusalem Messenger,
October 31, 1866.
20 Letter from Thomas Newport, Lebanon,
September 29, 1818, in New Jerusalem
Church Repository, October 1818.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 245
and Philadelphia societies to invest
David Powell of Steubenville
with power to ordain Thomas Newport to
the ministry. They
agreed, with the understanding that no
minister could ordain
priests or ministers without the
signatures of two of the respective
ministers of the three New Jerusalem
churches in Baltimore,
Philadelphia, and New York. The Rev.
John Hargrove of Balti-
more would consent on no other terms,
"lest our ordination should
run wild through the western
wilderness, and ultimately discredit
us and give us an incurable pain."21
In August 1818 David Powell joined
Newport in a missionary
tour. It was on this trip that Newport
was ordained by Powell.
The two preachers traveled till the end
of September, preaching
to comparatively large audiences at
eighteen different places. They
preached to Methodists, Baptists,
Presbyterians, New Lights, Deists,
and Halcyonists. In a Cincinnati
schoolhouse they preached to
"about one hundred hearers."
In Hamilton they lodged with Dr.
Samuel Woods, who was "becoming
enamored with the heavenly
doctrines." Five preachers of
various denominations lodged with
Dr. Woods that night. From Hamilton,
Newport and Powell went
to Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Powell went
on to Wilmington, a few
miles away, where he preached to
"anxious hearers," among them
Halcyonists who were "approaching
the heavenly doctrines" and
"tired of following the eccentric
Sergeant." Upon their return to
Turtle Creek, David Powell preached in
Lebanon. Four Methodist
preachers turned out to hear him, and
"nearly all the respectable
gentlemen of the town and perhaps sixty
ladies." "Such a sphere of
the New Church, I scarcely ever
felt," wrote Newport. David Powell
was "uncommonly illuminated"
that afternoon.22
In a letter to Robert Murdoch of
Urbana, Ohio, dated August
18, 1819, Newport wrote that
Swedenborg's doctrine concerning
the divinity of Christ was creating
much discussion, especially be-
tween the New Lights and the
Methodists, the Methodists being on
the defensive. He urged Murdoch to
attend the second annual
21 Newchurchman Extra, 1848, 128 et
seq.
22 Robert Hindmarsh, Rise and Progress of the New Jerusalem Church (London,
1861), 305.
246
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
meeting of the Western Association to
be held on his Turtle Creek
farm. He expected Judge Gregg of
Highland County to bring good
news of "the progress of the
Principles," and to join the church.23
Newport had learned from his
"numerous correspondence" that
the "heavenly doctrines" were
spreading in many directions, even
to Chile, South America. Isaac Waters
of the Turtle Creek society
had carried them to Illinois. There
were good Swedenborgians in
the Missouri Territory and at
"nearly all the Towns along the
Ohio as far as Natchez." There
were Swedenborgians in Pittsburgh
"and a good No. in different
Towns." The society in "Hugh Espy's
neighborhood near the falls of the
Ohio" was about to unite
with two or three English families a
few miles down the river
and hold monthly meetings.24
As the members of the Turtle Creek
society emigrated westward,
Thomas Newport continued to proclaim
"the truth," undaunted
by declining membership. By 1823 his
son Thomas was preaching
every Sabbath, traveling many weary
miles to answer any call for
preaching. Young Newport "sow[ed]
much seed." When the
Rev. Manning Roche from Philadelphia
preached in Lebanon in
1828, he found a goodly number of
constant readers of the books
in Newport's library. In fact, most of
the people within six or
eight miles of Newport's house had read
some of the writings of
Swedenborg.25
By 1832 Thomas Newport was severely
handicapped by the in-
firmities of age. His son Thomas was in
the college town of
Oxford, preaching regularly at the
house of his father-in-law,
Aaron Biggs. There were only three
members there, but a few
serious people attended, and five or
six were "in the doctrines."
Thomas Newport, junior, and Judge Moses
Gregg were preaching
in several counties.26 In
1840 Thomas Newport, senior, reported
that the Western Association had
ceased, that it had gone "into
a wilderness state" and had been
there for a number of years.27
23 Murdoch
Family Papers. Used by courtesy of Miss Florence Murdoch, Cin-
cinnati, Ohio.
24 Thomas
Newport to Robert Murdoch, November 24, 1819. Murdoch Papers.
25 Journals, Eleventh and Twelfth General conventions, 1829, 1830.
26 Journal, Twelfth
General Convention, 1830.
27 Precursor, June
1840.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 247
The first New Jerusalem society in
Cincinnati was founded by
Adam Hurdus.28 He began to
hold religious services in his own
house on Sunday afternoons in 1808. By
1811 there were enough
receivers of the Doctrines to form a
society, the first of its kind
west of the Allegheny Mountains. In
1818 the First New Jerusalem
Society of Cincinnati was incorporated.
The next year they built
a temple on the north side of Longworth
or Centre Street, between
Race and Elm. This was the first New
Jerusalem temple in "the
western country." It was a plain
frame structure painted white,
containing "large pews, pulpit,
and gallery for the organ and
choir." It seated 350 people.
There were few temples at this time,
but there were organized societies in
Massachusetts, New York,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana,
and South Carolina, with
a membership of near five hundred,
including isolated receivers.
In the summer of 1820 Thomas Worcester,
a young divinity
student at Harvard University, invented
a theory that plagued the
New Church for years. It was known as
"the Boston principle" or
"the conjugial heresy." The
Cincinnati society remained untainted
by it, but they became somewhat
involved in the quarrel over it.
William Schlatter of Philadelphia wrote
to Margaret Bailey of
the Cincinnati society about it:
Some of our Boston young men ... think
themselves in a celestial state
and have perceptions of things
just as the celestial angels have....
I have had a very interesting letter
from the Revd David Powell of
Stubanville on the subject, he thinks
with all the rest of the friends whose
opinions we have had- I should be glad
to hear what your society think
on the subject, perhaps one of the Mr.
Smiths or some other of the
Gentlm. will give me a few lines in
addition to your own views....
one of their perceptions is that Mr.
Thos Worcester must be their spiritual
guide or Preacher, & he had a perception
that the lady he married was his
conjugial partner the first time he ever saw her, they then perceived
they
must be married before he could
be ordained-- & next that he must be
maintained & pursue no other occupation but to preach & visit
them....
and they have gone so far as to perceive
when anything does not suit
them that Em. Swedenborg might have perceived
it so, but it is not so....
28 See Ophia D. Smith, "Adam Hurdus
and the Early Swedenborgians of Cin-
cinnati," Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, LIII (1944), 106-134.
248 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
I hope it will please the Lord in
his infinate mercy to convince them of
their Errors before they go too far.
. . . Mr Higdon asked them if Mr
Hindmarsh or any of our respectable
English friends came to this country
as missionaries If they would not invite
them to preach in their pulpit,
their answer was they would not like any
man to come into their house &
take off their wife's cap or
Handkerchief and from this you see they still
contend as they did at first that
a minister of the New Church is the
Husband of one society or church, even
as small as the one at Boston &
that church his Bride....
Query on this ground, What state must
your church at Cincinnati be in
who have four Husbands & who
would rejoice to have forty-four.29
One of the "Mr. Smiths,"30
probably Marcus Smith, admonished
Thomas Worcester and his group,
pointing out the error of their
ways. Marcus was a profound student of
Swedenborg and fully
competent to argue with any young
fellow from Harvard.
Swedenborgians were highly respected in
Cincinnati as persons,
for they were a superior class of
people. Their doctrines, however,
were not understood. John H. James,31 a
brilliant young man of
Quaker background, went to hear a
visiting Swedenborgian named
Black deliver a lecture in the New
Jerusalem temple on September
29 William Schlatter to Margaret
Bailey, Philadelphia, September 24, 1821.
James Manuscripts.
Margaret Bailey kept up a lively
correspondence with the leaders of the Phila-
delphia society whom she had known
before coming to Cincinnati. She formed
a link in the chain of correspondence
maintained among the societies in Europe
and America.
30 There were ten tall Smith brothers in
Cincinnati, most of them strong pillars
in the New Jerusalem Church. Because
their combined height equaled sixty feet,
they were known as "the sixty-foot
Smiths." Their mother, Hannah Holland Smith,
had brought some of the works of
Swedenborg from Holland to Woodstock,
Vermont. She translated these writings
on sheets of paper which she circulated
among her neighbors even before James
Glen gave the first Swedenborgian lectures
in Philadelphia in 1784. Strictly
speaking, Hannah Holland Smith was probably
America's first active Newchurchwoman.
Since Benjamin Powers, brother of
Hiram Powers the sculptor, was a
prominent member of the Cincinnati society and
came from Woodstock, Vermont, it is
possible that the Powers family learned of
Swedenborg from Hannah Smith's
translations. See Ophia D. Smith, "The 'Sixty-
Foot Smiths,'" New Church
Messenger, May 7, 21, 1949.
31 In 1825 John H. James married Abby
Bailey, youngest child of Francis Bailey.
Through her influence he became a
student of Swedenborg and eventually a receiver
of the Doctrines. He gave the land for
the Urbana University campus, the first
New Church college in the world. John H. James loyally
supported the college
and was a trustee for many years. He was
one of the influential Newchurchmen
of the West.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 249
2, 1821. He found the views of Mr. Black
novel, to say the least.
He recorded his impressions in his
diary:
I was completely astonished.... He
affirmed electricity to be the prime
agent by which God created the Universe,
that the sun is pure light, pure
fuel. Denied the attraction of gravitation, declaiming
that the planets are
held in the orbits by continued
exertions of God- and denied the action
and reaction of matter. He says the
Trinity of God is pure Love and
Wisdom (the Father & Son) and
glorification, in one combined influence.
He asserted all bodies to be composed of
oxygen and Hydrogen modified
by heat, and that Jesus Christ dispersed
his body into vapour by withdrawing
the heat.
He says that we can have ideas of things
existing in the intellectual
world only by means of things in this
world, and therefore, all things in
this world are shadows or images of
things actually existing in the upper
one. He is inconsistent and sophistical,
and a more self sufficient man
I never saw.
The views of Mr. Black would not be
accepted by modern students
of Swedenborg as a correct
interpretation of the teachings of the
great seer and theologian.32
By 1822 the First New Jerusalem Society
of Cincinnati was "the
centre of communication for most of the
other societies in the
west," "the most promising in
the Western country." Their library,
containing nearly all of Swedenborg's
works, was in constant use.
The society functioned smoothly under
three ministers-Adam
Hurdus (ordained minister), Daniel Roe,
and Oliver Lovell. All
served without pay, earning their
livelihood in secular employ-
ments. Hurdus administered the
sacraments of the church, and the
greatest harmony prevailed. The three
ministers studied in-
dependently through the week, and each
chose his topic as he
walked into the pulpit, confident that
the Lord would put the right
message into his mouth. Two or three
times a week the members
32 "Swedenborg did believe
in a prime force of which any force is a manifestation,
but he did not identify that with
electricity. Nor did he deny Gravitation. These
are Black's views of Swedenborg's
teachings. The same is true . . . about all bodies
being composed of oxygen and hydrogen;
and that the Lord dispersed his body by
withdrawing the heat." Letter,
Bjorn Johannson to the author, January 24, 1952.
Bjorn Johannson is pastor of the New
Jerusalem Church in Cincinnati. He is
associate editor of the New Church
Messenger.
250
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
of the society met in some
Swedenborgian home for "familiar con-
versation on the Doctrines." A
Sabbath School was organized in
1822, but the orthodox ministers of the
town opposed it so bitterly
that it had a brief existence.
The New Jerusalem Singing Society was
organized on November
25, 1821, with about twenty members of
both sexes. Its director and
organist was Solomon Franklin Smith,
who became a colorful
figure in the early theater of the West.33
The W'estern Spy (February
23, 1822) spoke of him as "a young
man of distinguished musical
talents and withal an excellent
organist."
In 1821 a feeble effort was made by a
number of Newchurchmen
in Cincinnati to publish the writings
of Emanuel Swedenborg and
some collateral works. Not much was
accomplished, but in the
spring of 1825 the Rev. Nathaniel
Holley established a bi-weekly
periodical entitled The Herald of
Truth which survived but a short
time. A printing society was organized
in 1828, and Hindmarsh's
Compendium of the True Christian
Religion was published.34
In time, the serenity of the First New
Jerusalem Society of Cin-
cinnati was disturbed by the
independent views of Daniel Roe,
the Sixty-foot Smiths, and their
followers. They declared that
ordination was but a Romish custom and
entirely superfluous. These
dissenters, imbued with the democracy
of the West, totally repu-
diated the ceremony of laying on hands
at the ordination of a
minister. They refused to address a
minister as "Reverend." They
believed that baptism was unauthorized
and unnecessary. One of
the Smiths was married by Daniel Roe in
his capacity as justice
of the peace. Adam Hurdus preached a
sermon against marriage by
a magistrate. The Smiths were mightily
offended, and with Daniel
Roe as their minister formed a group
apart.35
In December 1824 Robert Owen, on his
way to New Harmony,
Indiana, stopped to lecture in
Cincinnati. He found the Sweden-
borgians in Cincinnati "a very
superior class of people," many of
33 "Sol" Smith was one of the
Sixty-foot Smiths. At this time, he was pub-
lishing a rabid Jacksonian sheet called
the Independent Press.
34 Journal, Eighth General Convention, 1826; Smith, "Adam
Hurdus," 131.
35 Marguerite Beck Block, The New Church in the New World (New York,
1932), 118.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 251
them
wealthy and highly educated. Among his most ardent ad-
mirers were Daniel Roe and his friends.
They immediately began
to think about founding a local Owenite
colony. In March 1825
they formed an Owenite society, with
Daniel Roe as one of its
leaders.36
This was by no means a Swedenborgian
organization, but New-
churchmen formed the core of the
society. At the time that the
Cincinnati society was formed, Robert
Owen was in Washington,
D.C. When he returned to New Harmony in
April, he was accom-
panied by Daniel Roe and another leader
of the Cincinnati
Owenite society.37 Roe
returned to Cincinnati full of enthusiasm
for the establishment of a community.
By June, Owen's books and pamphlets
were selling briskly in
Cincinnati, and plans were practically
completed for the proposed
community. Luman Watson, a wealthy
Newchurchman, had pub-
lished at his own expense Owen's Essays
on the Formation of Human
Character. On June 29 John Keating, Luman Watson, Coddington
Chesebrough, and David Pruden (all
Newchurchmen except
Keating) signed an advertisement which
appeared in the National
Republican on July 1, announcing the purchase of the "Yellow
Springs property." Any applications
for admission might be ad-
36 They planned to form the adults into
three groups-agricultural, manufacturing,
and commercial-which, "by being
conducted for the mutual benefit of the in-
dividuals, under the most skilful and
scientific superintendence," would enable them
"to introduce into their community
all those modern scientific improvements for
the abridgment of human labor, including every species
of useful machinery, which
will render labor only a healthful and
agreeable exercise."
The community was expected, by means of
its own labor and previously accumu-
lated capital, to furnish every family,
in a short time, "a distinct and beautiful
dwelling house," with "every
comfort and convenience." To these comforts would
be added "every innocent enjoyment
of which human nature is capable." The com-
munity would be so firmly and
permanently arranged that it could not be jeopardized
by "any number of
individuals."
They promised that every member would be
free from want, "from sheriffs,
lawyers, constables and duns; from hard
times; from contempt of self-made superior
classes of our species; from
bankruptcies, unrelieved and unpitied by an unfeeling
government; from inducement to fraud and
crime, and . . . from further sanctioning
the vices and crimes of men, by
indolence and indifference to the use of means for
preventing their multiplication on
earth." Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette,
March 8, 1825.
37 On April 24 Owen announced in New
Harmony that he had come to America
to "introduce an entire new system
of society; to change it from an ignorant, selfish
system to an enlightened social system
which shall gradually unite all interests into
one, and remove all causes for contest
between individuals."
252 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
dressed to the undersigned.
Accommodations being limited, ad-
missions at that time were confined
chiefly to those who could
assist with labor or funds for the
improvement of the property.38
On July 2 the Cincinnati Literary Gazette informed the public
that an association had been formed in
that city to establish an
Owenite community, "though with
some slight variations in the
details of the plan." The
association, having bought about eight
hundred acres of land near the
headwaters of the Little Miami, was
now preparing "to commence
operations immediately, by erecting
suitable buildings for the
accommodation of visitors to this favorite
watering place."39
In a letter to the National
Republican, "Felix" complained that
the members had surrendered every
privilege that distinguished them
from slaves, except the privilege of
voting on labor, which privilege
would be "a poor satisfaction to
three-fourths of the members."
Then, too, the gentlemen of the Yellow
Springs Community seemed
to think that there would be two
distinct classes and each class
38 National Republican (Cincinnati), July 1, 1825; Arthur Eugene Bestor, Jr.,
Backwoods Utopias: The Sectarian and
Owenite Phases of Communitarian Socialism
in America, 1663-1829 (Philadelphia, 1950), 210-211.
39 Niles' Weekly Register (Baltimore, Md.), July 23, 1825, quoting the Literary
Gazette, July 2, 1825.
Luman Watson and John Keating had bought
the land from Lewis Whiteman and
Martin Baum, agreeing to pay on June 15,
1825, a down payment of four thousand
dollars, the remaining four thousand to
be paid on or before January 1, 1826.
William Albert Galloway, The History
of Glen Helen (Columbus, 1932), 52.
The Western Star and Lebanon Gazette,
March 25, 1826, carried an advertisement
that throws a little light on the Yellow
Springs Community:
LOST OR STOLEN
A LADY'S red morocco POCKET BOOK
containing various
papers; amongst them is one promissory
note signed by Elisha Taber
for $500, one other signed by John
Briggs for about $300, and one
other signed by David Prudden for about
$300--All dated the---
day of Sept. last, and payable on 1st
Jan. 1826 to the order of
Wright Smith, Truman [Luman] Watson, and
John Keating,
(Trustees of the Yellow Springs
Community).
As these papers can be of no value to
any person, it is hoped
that the finder will return them to the
place of Deposit: if stolen
a reasonable reward is offered for the
apprehension of the thief,
who is suspected to be one Joseph St.
Clair, a down looking fellow
who came as a stranger in great
distress, and who clandestinely
eloped from Union Village on Tuesday
night the 14th instant.
A. M. Bolton, late sec. of Y.S.C.
Union Village, near Lebanon, Mar. 17.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 253
should have its own style of living.
"Felix" noted that all articles
referring to
equality in food, furniture, and clothing had been
excluded from the Yellow Springs
constitution, and that the mode
of building was left to the monied men
of the committee.40
In September, Niles' Register commented
on the two communities,
"bottomed on Mr. Owen's
plan," then "establishing in Ohio."
The editor prophesied that the two
communities would fail, if they
did not preserve "that spirit of
liberty and self respect for one's
own opinion, that so peculiarly belongs
to the American people, and
forms an ark of safety." On the
other hand, if they should succeed,
a great population and increase of
production in the West could
be expected.
By October the Yellow Springs Community
had about one
hundred hands at work, and more would
have been there had
there been houses to accommodate them.
The community expected
to go largely into manufacturing. So
great were their expectations,
they limited the membership to two
thousand. Probably not more
than a hundred families, however,
settled in Yellow Springs.41
It was not long before the community
began to fall apart. Most
of the Cincinnatians went home before
Christmas. Robert Owen
himself stopped in Cincinnati to look
into the matter. He arrived
on Saturday night, December 31,
lectured in the New Jerusalem
Temple on Monday night, and left for
New Harmony on Tuesday,
having failed to restore harmony.42
Owen had expected the Sweden-
borgians, with their intellectuality,
idealism, business acumen, and
wealth, to put the community on a firm
foundation and carry it
to complete success.43
40 National Republican, July 8,
29, 1825.
41 Niles' Register, September 10, October 29, 1825.
42 National Republican, December 23, 1825, January 3, 1826; Block, The New
Church, 119-120; Bestor, Backwoods Utopias, 211.
43 A
few Owenites remained in Yellow Springs, but they had no means to dis-
charge the community debt of four
thousand dollars to Whiteman and Baum.
William Maclure of New Harmony went to
Yellow Springs and offered to pay the
debt, but the brethren could not agree.
Maclure went home in disgust. At least two
Swedenborgians remained-Daniel Roe and
Elisha Tabor, who was one of Urbana's
first Newchurchmen. Roe stayed on for a
time, busily engaged in the manufacture
of paint. Maclure thought Roe was the
"principle [sic] agent in the dissolution
of the Yellow Springs." On January
3, 1827, the property was deeded back to
Whiteman and Baum, who returned $1,575
to Watson and Keating. Bestor, Backwoods
Utopias, 213; Galloway, History of Glen Helen, 53.
254
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
The First New Jerusalem Society of
Cincinnati was still em-
barrassed by the rebellion of Daniel
Roe and his friends against
ecclesiastical order. In 1828 the
society assured the Tenth General
Convention that they did desire order
and that the brethren in
the East had misunderstood their views.
The entire communication
seemed to be an attempt to gloss over
the radical views of Roe
and his followers.
In the meantime, in September 1825, a
group of prominent
members of the New Jerusalem Church
formed the Theosophic
Society for the intensive study of
Swedenborg and the Bible. T. F.
Earle and Milo G. Williams originated
the plan. They, with
Frederick Eckstein, invited Luman
Watson and Oliver Lovell to
meet with them. The five men selected
seven more members by
ballot.44 Though the membership changed
from time to time, the
society was limited to twelve members.
This was the first Theosophic
Society in America; it is not to be
confused with the later theosophy
promulgated by Annie Besant. The
members of the Cincinnati
Theosophic Society exerted a profound
influence on the New
Jerusalem Church in the West. The Rev.
Maskell M. Carll recom-
mended to the Ninth General Convention
that the mode of in-
struction adopted by the Cincinnati
Theosophic Society be approved
and that such a society should be
recommended to other societies
of the church.45
By 1827 the Cincinnati society had
"about one hundred members,"
and as many "constant
hearers" who were not members. Adam
Hurdus preached in the temple on Sunday
mornings and Oliver
Lovell on Sunday evenings. In 1828 the
society requested the
General Convention to confer ordaining
powers upon Adam
Hurdus and to recognize Oliver Lovell
as a licentiate.46
In 1828 Dr. Edwin Atlee began to preach
in the temple on
Sunday mornings. Alexander Kinmont, a
brilliant young Scottish
44 The first twelve members were T. F.
Earle, Milo G. Williams, Frederick
Eckstein, Luman Watson, Oliver Lovell,
Coddington Chesebrough, John W. Silsbee,
Silas Smith, Calvin Washburn, Alexander
Kinmont, John Hunt, and William Conclin.
Records, First New Jerusalem Church,
Cincinnati, Ohio.
45 Journal, Ninth
General Convention, 1827.
46 Journal, Tenth
General Convention, 1828.
The New Jerusalem Ghurch in
Ohio 255
schoolmaster, was so much admired,
however, that a group withdrew
to worship apart with Kinmont. There
was no quarrel, only a
desire on the part of some of the
members to be instructed by
Kinmont. All continued to work for the
good of the society as a
whole.
In August 1828 the Rev. Manning B.
Roche came to Cincinnati
on a missionary tour through the West.
He remained a fortnight,
his eloquence attracting much
attention. Cincinnatians turned out
to hear any preacher of talent,
regardless of his doctrine.
From Cincinnati Roche went to Hamilton,
where he preached
and baptized seven children. From
Hamilton he went to Oxford,
where he preached in the chapel of the
Miami University. The
liberal president of the institution,
Robert Hamilton Bishop, was
kind and hospitable to this bearer of
strange tidings. Roche baptized
five children in Oxford.47 From
Oxford he went by way of
Hamilton to Lebanon and Columbus. In
Columbus he baptized
a child of Josiah M. Espy and preached
twice to "a great concourse
in a large Methodist church." To
his deep regret he had not the
time to "visit Urbana, St.
Clairsville, Wheeling, Steubenville, &c."48
Dr. Atlee continued to preach and
lecture in Cincinnati. His
sermons frequently appeared in a
Universalist paper, the Sentinel
and Star of the West. Its columns were open to Atlee and his op-
ponents alike. "W.A." of
Clark County wrote to the Sentinel,
declaring that Swedenborg was insane.
He went on to say that he
had always thought the Swedenborgians
were
a liberal, good natured, cheerful sort
of folks, not very profound indeed,
but on whom their religion, such as it
is, made no other bad impressions
than excessive vanity, and obstinacy
....
But they have none of the cant, none of
the moroseness, none of the
affected airs of superiority which
distinguish the real true blue orthodox.
They can enjoy all the good things of
this life, without murmuring, and
muttering, and making long faces; and
if they have a dash of the ludicrous
now and then, in divine human metaphysico-long
lucubrations, ascending
47 Among the five children
baptized were a grandson and two great-grandchildren
of John Hargrove, the venerable pastor of the Baltimore
society. Journal, Eleventh
General Convention, 1829.
48 Ibid.
256 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
in giddy heights through many heavens,
it is not to be wondered at, con-
sidering the daring heights to which they presume, as
earthly guests,
thinking themselves inspired, with true
"empyreal air."49
In the spring of 1831 Dr. Atlee went
"on a little tour in the
service of the New Jerusalem
Church," having been employed
by the New Jerusalem Missionary Society
to make a trip through
the Great Miami Valley. His first stop
was at "Elland," the home
of Giles Richards near Colerain, where
he lectured "to an orderly
and attentive assembly." The next
day he preached in the courthouse
at Hamilton. From Hamilton he went to
Miamisburg, where he
lectured "in the house of the
society called Christians." There
seemed to be a general spirit of
inquiry among the people of
Miamisburg. In Dayton, Atlee preached
to a large audience in the
"neat and commodious meeting house
of the United Brethren."
He went on to preach in Springfield.
"Brother Cook," the only
Swedenborgian in Springfield, took Dr.
Atlee to Urbana in his
barouche. Atlee returned to Springfield
with his host and preached
again before going on to Columbus on
horseback to visit "Brother
Espy." In Columbus he preached to
about five hundred persons
in the Methodist church. From Columbus
he returned to Cincinnati
by way of Springfield, Lebanon, and
Montgomery, preaching along
the way and finding " a laudable
degree of anxiety in the search
for the true doctrine."50
Dr. Atlee returned to the Quakers in
1832. He still believed that
the New Jerusalem doctrines were
heavenly, but he was convinced
that he would enjoy more peace of mind
and would be more
useful "in the vineyards of the
Lord" as a Quaker.51
After the departure of Dr. Atlee, Adam
Hurdus and Alexander
Kinmont officiated alternately in the
temple. Milo G. Williams
reestablished the Sabbath School with
the determination to "impart
such spiritual instruction as is
adapted to infantile minds."
In the southern part of Ames Township
in Athens County a
49 Sentinel and Star in the West, February 26, March 19, April 9,
May 21, 23, 28,
June 18, 25, July 17, 1831.
50 Edwin Atlee, Report to the Board of Managers of the New Jerusalem
Missionary
Society, Cincinnati, April 16, 1831.
51 Journal, Fourteenth
General Convention, 1832.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 257
unique Swedenborgian community was
established in 1824. General
J. R. Steiger, one of Napoleon
Bonaparte's army officers, brought a
colony of Swiss emigrants to his vast
tract of "hills and hollows on
Little Federal Creek" which he
called Steiger's Rest. In this
wilderness he built comfortable log
cabins for his tenants and a
"baronial home" for himself.
They began to clear the land and
harmony prevailed for a time. While in
Philadelphia arranging
for the transportation of his Swiss
peasants to America, General
Steiger, or Baron de Steiger, had
become acquainted with Daniel
Thuun. Through him the baron and his
family became receivers of
the New Jerusalem doctrines. Determined
to make those doctrines
the religion of his colony, Baron de
Steiger built a substantial
brick church on his land and wrote to
Berne, Switzerland, for a
chaplain. To the Sixth General
Convention of the New Jerusalem
Church (1824), Baron de Steiger wrote
that he would "admit
no other than sober, orderly and well
disposed people," a phrase
that sounds remarkably like Robert
Owen. With the letter the
baron sent a declaration of belief in
the New Jerusalem faith
signed by twenty-one colonists, all
Swiss emigrants but two. These
twenty-one tenants at Steiger's Rest
had "heartily embraced the
new Jerusalem" and others were
"in a good way."52
Finding no chaplain in Switzerland, the
baron invited scholarly
Daniel Thuun to take that post. In the
spring of 1824 Thuun ar-
ranged for the baron's eldest son to go
to Henderson, New York,
to prepare for the ministry under the
Rev. Holland Weeks. It
was the baron's wish that his son
should become a New Church
minister. It is known that Baron de
Steiger's son Rudolph fell in
love with the sister of Edward Raymond
Ames and married her.
If Rudolph was the son designed for the
ministry, the love affair
with the sister of a future Methodist
bishop may have been a
deterrent. There is no trace of the
baron's son in the records of the
General Convention of the New Jerusalem
Church.
It was not long before the Swiss
tenants, "breathing the free
air of the Western Country" and
observing the independence of
52 Intellectual
Repository (London), 1826-27; New
Jerusalem Magazine (London),
February 1827.
258
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
their backwoods neighbors, began, one
by one, to desert Baron
de Steiger and to establish homes of
their own.53
The ruins of the brick church on
"De Steiger's hill" became a
familiar landmark to the succeeding
generations of Athenians. The
natives knew little of the religion of
the baron and his people. A
brief glimpse of the sad end of the
colony is found in a letter
written on August 27, 1827, two months
after the death of Daniel
Thuun. Margaret Bailey, mistress of a
female boarding school in
Cincinnati, wrote to her sister, Mrs.
John H. James, that Caroline
Thuun (daughter of Daniel Thuun) had
just paid the Bailey
family a visit. Caroline had told
Margaret that "old Mr. Stigar's
colony had deserted him and that twelve
months ago he deserted
the place." The baron had left his
young daughter Caroline and a
son with Daniel Thuun and a tenant in a
part of his baronial
dwelling house. Caroline Thuun had
called it "one of the most
dreary places . . . in the world."
It was arranged to leave "Miss
Stigar" in Cincinnati, where she
could attend Miss Bailey's school and
be under her influence. It
was "a melancholy and romantic
account of Miss Stigar" that
Margaret Bailey promised to tell her
sister.54
Only a few of the Swiss colonists
remained in the neighborhood
of Steiger's Rest. One, a Mr. Junod,
was instrumental in presenting
the Doctrines to John R. Hibbard, who
became one of the out-
standing New Church ministers of the
West.55
Isolated receivers were scattered over
Ohio, and there were a
few groups who managed to meet more or
less regularly. William
Hobart, who came from Tioga County, New
York, in 1817, may
have been the first Newchurchman in
Meigs County. In 1826 his
nephew, John McQuigg, came from New
York to live with him.
McQuigg began to study Swedenborg and
soon received the
Doctrines, in which his Grandmother
Hobart had so ardently be-
lieved. With his uncle he labored to
spread "the good news."
53 "H." (John R. Hibbard),
"Reminiscence of a Pioneer," New Jerusalem
Messenger, April 11, 1883; Letter, Holland Weeks to William French
and
others at North Bridgewater,
Massachusetts, dated Henderson, New York, July 15,
1824, in New Jerusalem Messenger, April
6, 1876.
54 James Manuscripts.
55 Carl Theophilus Odhner, Annals of the New Church (Bryn Athyn,
Pa., 1904),
313.
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 259
About 1831 John Sherman and his wife
accepted the Swedenborgian
doctrines. Hobart, McQuigg, and the
Shermans, though living
in distant parts of the county, met
together once a month, when
possible, to read and discuss
Swedenborg's writings. John McQuigg
helped young John Hibbard, "the
boy preacher," through many a
severe trial in his early ministry.56
When John McQuigg came to
Meigs County in 1826, only four
organized societies were re-
porting to the General Convention from
Ohio--Cincinnati, Steuben-
ville, Steiger's Rest, and
Lebanon--though active receivers reported
from Paintville, Wooster, and Young's
Town.
In Ross County there was at least one
Newchurchman as early as
1816, the editor of a Chillicothe
newspaper. He frequently printed
Swedenborgian circulars and
announcements in his paper, and lent
New Church books from his own library
to anyone who would read
them, usually having more than twenty
books out at one time.57
In the summer of 1831 the Rev. Maskell
M. Carll of Phila-
delphia made a missionary tour of the
West. In Steubenville, "a
pleasant manufacturing town . . . with
a population of from three
to four thousand," he found a few
brethren, and there were several
in the vicinity of Steubenville. The
widow of David Powell and
her sons were the leading spirits of
the group. Carll held a meeting
at the home of Mrs. Powell and made
recommendations for or-
ganization. He advised regular meetings
with a leader, instruction
of children, scientific and religious
books for the library, sub-
scription to a New Church magazine, and
correspondence with other
societies. He baptized seven children
at this meeting. At a public
meeting in town a Scotch Covenanter sat
on the platform near the
Rev. Mr. Carll and was "loud in
his expressions of assent to the
sentiments delivered." A number of
Methodists assisted in the
singing and urged the minister to stay
another night.
Carll arrived in Cincinnati on July 15.
He found the Cincinnati
society the center of the New Jerusalem
Church in the West and
"the focus of the missionary
societies in that region." After a
trip down the Ohio to Indiana and
Kentucky settlements, he re-
turned to Cincinnati where he received
instructions to ascend the
56 New Jerusalem Messenger, May 26, 1855, November 13, 1858.
57 New Jerusalem Church
Repository, July 1817.
260
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
Miami Valley to Dayton and cross over
to Columbus by way of
Springfield and Urbana. From Columbus
he was to go into the
Scioto Valley as far as Chillicothe and
Bainbridge, and return by way
of Zanesville, Wheeling, and
Steubenville to Pittsburgh.
Leaving Cincinnati about the first of
August, Carll stopped
at Colerain on the Great Miami River,
where Giles Richards
operated a cotton mill. The Richards
family were the only Sweden-
borgians in that vicinity. At a meeting
at Richards' house that
evening "a sphere of affection and
earnestness was sensibly ex-
perienced." Ogden Ross, "a
very affectionate and intelligent brother,"
living four miles away, arranged for a
meeting in his neighborhood
the next morning at eleven o'clock.
Though it was in the midst
of harvest, "people came out in
considerable numbers."
Ogden Ross took Carll to Hamilton,
where there were only two
Swedenborgian families-those of Silas
Smith and E. Garrison--
and two or three individual
Newchurchmen. About fifty people
came out to hear Carll preach in the
courthouse.
In Miamisburg he found only three
people who were familiar
with the New Church. It was quite by
accident that the works of
Swedenborg were known in Miamisburg. A
Dayton merchant had
received Swedenborg's Heaven and
Hell and two or three other
books from William Schlatter, who
packed Swedenborgian books
in the merchandise he shipped to the
West and South. The merchant
tossed the books aside and forgot about
them. One day he fell
into conversation with an old gentleman
from Miamisburg who
was a Deist. The religious discussion
that ensued reminded him of
the forgotten books. He begged the old
man to accept them. The
Deist read the books and became a
zealous Newchurchman. By 1828
there were six receivers of the
Doctrines in Miamisburg and as
many more reading Swedenborg regularly,
though a New Church
sermon had never been preached there.
The only books they had
were Heaven and Hell, Conjugial
Love, and the Doctrine of Life,
presumably the books that Schlatter had
sent to the Dayton merchant.
Carll preached in Dayton in the Baptist
and Presbyterian churches.
There were about fifty Swedenborgians
in Dayton then, the heads
of the families being substantial
citizens of the town. They wanted
a regular minister, a young man who
would superintend a school
The New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio 261
for their children. They believed that
the New Church in the West
could now sustain an agricultural
school in which the mechanic arts
and agriculture could be taught in
addition to the usual subjects.
Such a school, they thought, would
prove invaluable in educating
their children "upon the
principles of the new dispensation."
In Springfield Carll preached in the
courthouse to "some of the
most respectable people of the
place." In Urbana the Gwynne
family, the families of John and Robert
Murdoch, Mrs. Barclay,
Elisha Tabor, and Mrs. John H. James
were staunch Sweden-
borgians and friendly to the missionary
cause. Carll preached to a
full house in the Urbana Methodist
church. He went to Columbus,
where there were no Swedenborgians,
except the family of Josiah
M. Espy. In Espy's house he
administered the Lord's Supper and
the sacrament of baptism. He preached
in the Methodist church
to "a highly respectable and
numerous audience."
Time running out, the Rev. Mr. Carll
had to terminate his tour
and return to Philadelphia. He reported
to the board of missions
that the church in Ohio and adjacent
country was eager to employ
a full-time missionary, if one could be
found who would serve
for five or six hundred dollars.58
The New Church was now firmly planted
in the West, but the
democratic spirit of the West was
resisting the ecclesiastical order
of the East. Even their own Western
Association had gone "into a
wilderness state." Each society
was pursuing its own course. The
New Jerusalem Western Missionary
Society had been organized in
1830. The missionary efforts of this
organization led to a call for
the "First General Convention of
the Receivers of the Doctrines of
the New Jerusalem West of the Allegheny
Mountains." The
"Western Convention" held its
first meeting in Cincinnati in 1832,
the first of three regional conventions
in the United States designed
to take care of local business and to
elect delegates to the General
Convention. Such a move had been
suggested by the General Con-
vention as early as 1822. The rise of
the New Jerusalem Church in
Ohio and the increasing importance of
the Western Convention
will be discussed in a subsequent
article.
58 Report of the Board of Managers to the New Jerusalem Western Missionary
Society, Cincinnati, October 2, 1831.
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
CHURCH
IN OHIO*
by OPHIA D. SMITH
The doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg
were introduced in
America near the close of the
eighteenth century, twelve years after
Swedenborg's death. In 1784 James Glen,
a Scottish Newchurchman,
came to Philadelphia to deliver the
first Swedenborgian lectures
ever heard in this country. This was
three years before Robert
Hindmarsh, in London, organized the
first New Jerusalem society
in the world. The first American to
receive the Doctrines from
James Glen was Francis Bailey, owner
and publisher of the Phila-
delphia Freeman's Journal, a
powerful journal of the Revolutionary
period. In the summer of 1784, after
Glen had left for his sugar
plantation in South America, Francis
Bailey bought the English
translations of a number of
Swedenborg's religious works. Hetty
Barclay, a friend and member of the
Bailey household, read the
books and accepted their teachings at
once. Thus Francis Bailey
became America's first Newchurchman and
Hetty Barclay, America's
first Newchurchwoman. Bailey printed
the first American editions
of Swedenborg's theological works.1
From Francis Bailey and
Hetty Barclay the Doctrines spread into
Ohio.
In 1797 a blind and crippled Irish
scholar came to Steubenville
imbued with the New Jerusalem doctrines
which he had received
from Francis Bailey in 1795. Francis'
wife Eleanor, a highly in-
telligent woman, had given the young
Irishman books to read and
had explained to him the difficult
passages.
The young Irish scholar was William
Grant. Physical handicaps
from childhood had sharpened an eager
mind and strengthened a
remarkable memory. A devoted aunt had
read to him since he was
blinded by smallpox at the age of five.
This unusual lady, in reading
the Bible, always puzzled over the
words she read, believing that
there must be some inner significance
that she could not discern.
* This is the first in a series of
articles on the Swedenborgians in Ohio.
1 See Ophia D. Smith, "The Life of
Francis Bailey," New Church Messenger,
July 29, August 11, 1951.
235