RICHARD J. CHEROK
No Harmony in Kendal: The Rise And
Fall of an Owenite Community, 1825-
1829
In a widely publicized discourse in the
Hall of Representatives at the United
States Capitol, Robert Owen announced to
an 1825 audience, which included
the nation's president, president-elect,
and congress, that the implementation
of his new social system would bring
about a virtual state of millennium
within the nation and, ultimately, the
world. By establishing his plans at
New Harmony, Indiana, he told his
listeners, he was commencing "a new
empire of peace and good will to
man," that "will lead to that state of virtue,
intelligence, enjoyment, and
happiness,...which has been foretold by the
sages of past times," as the
destined "lot of the human race!"1 With the de-
velopment of his "societies of
union, co-operation, and common property,"
Owen explained, "the individual or
old system of society, would break up, and
soon terminate," and people would
hasten to join his communities "because it
is scarcely to be supposed that anyone
would continue to live under the mis-
erable, anxious, individual system of
opposition and counteraction, when they
could with ease form themselves into, or
become members of, one of these
associations of union, intelligence, and
kind feelings."2
Owen's ideas about social improvement,
though drawn from a number of
sources and experiences, became lifelong
convictions as a result of his man-
agement of the New Lanark textile mills
in Scotland. The foundational belief
of his views, "that the character
of man is, without a single exception, always
formed for him,"3 congealed
in his thought as he saw how the inhabitants of
the rural mill town of New Lanark were
caught in circumstances beyond their
control. With a desire to improve the
lives of his workers, Owen experi-
mented with factory and social reforms,
and, in 1813, published his thoughts
about these reforms in A New View of
Society. The implicit suggestions of
Owen's publication was that society
could be perfected by instituting the edu-
Richard J. Cherok is Assistant Professor
of Church History at Cincinnati Bible College and
Seminary. He would like to thank
Professor Robert P. Swierenga for his assistance in guiding
him to complete the article.
1. Oakley C. Johnson, ed., Robert
Owen in the United States (New York, 1970), 51.
2. Ibid., 52.
3. Robert Owen, A New View of
Society: or, Essays on the Principle of the Formation of the
Human Character, and the Application
of the Principle to Practice (Glencoe,
Illinois, 1817), 91.
No Harmony in Kendal 27 |
|
cational programs and communitarian groups that he enacted at New Lanark. Throughout his life, Owen pointed to New Lanark as evidence of his social system's success.4 In 1825, after years of failed attempts to introduce his reforms in England, Owen purchased the New Harmony settlement of George and Frederick Rapp, leaders of the German Rappite Community, as the location for his social ex- periment. His arrival at New Harmony, proceeded by a series of speeches and announcements regarding his new undertaking, received a greeting by 800 ad- herents who hoped to join him in his utopian project. A ground swell of support for Owen's ideas gave rise to seven additional Owenite communities by the end of 1826, and four others in the 1840s.5 Among the earlier group
4. Arthur E. Bestor, Jr., Backwoods Utopias: The Sectarian and Owenite Phases of Communitarian Socialism in America: 1663-1829 (Philadelphia, 1950), 62-63. 5. Robert Owen's teachings were the basis for all of the Owenite societies, but he was per- |
28 OHIO
HISTORY
of communities was the Kendal Community
of Kendal (now Massillon),
Ohio.
Like each of the other Owenite
communities, the Kendal Community was
launched with the lofty dream of
creating a new and improved society. Also
like the others, these visions of
grandeur came crashing to the ground as in-
ternal difficulties and financial
struggles brought the short-lived Kendal exper-
iment to an end. The events that
transpired at Kendal reflect the hardships
faced by all of the Owenite communities.
An examination of the develop-
ment and demise of the Kendal Community
will provide an insight into the
operations and difficulties of
nineteenth-century utopian Owenism.
Following Owen's declaration of his
intent to reform society through his
work at New Harmony, several like-minded
proponents of his social ideas
traveled the country trying to inform
the public of the merits of Owen's plan.
Two prominent advocates of social
change, Paul Brown and Josiah Warren,
journeyed through northeast Ohio in 1825
extolling the virtues of socialism
and generating interest in the
development of an Owenite community among
residents of Portage and Stark Counties.6
The Ohio Repository of November
1825 reported that efforts were underway
to start an Owenite community that
would locate in Portage County.
"One or two meetings have been held upon
the subject," the article states,
"and...a committee has been appointed to se-
lect a site, and to report a
constitution for the regulation of the government
and community."7
Though they had not, as yet, acquired
property for their enterprise, several
citizens of Stark and Portage Counties
embarked on their communitarian ven-
ture by drafting a constitution on March
17, 1826. This document, consist-
ing of a preamble and twenty articles,
designated the utopian settlement as the
"Friendly Association for Mutual
Interests at Kendal, Ohio," and outlined the
principles which the community hoped to
establish in their efforts to
"embrace a system of greater
liberality and justice."8
sonally involved with only the New
Harmony commune. For additional information about
Owen and his social communities, see
Bestor, Backwoods Utopians; Yaacov Oved, Two
Hundred Years of American Communes (New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1988); John Humphrey
Noyes, Strange Cults and Utopias in
Nineteenth-Century America (New York, 1966); Ralph
Albertson, A Survey of Mutualistic
Communities in America (New York, 1973); Morris Hillquit,
Historic Socialism in the United
States (New York, 1965), 51-73; and
Robert S. Fogarty,
American Utopianism (Itasca, Illinois, 1972). Oved's list, which is far
more comprehensive
than Bestor's, identifies twelve Owenite
communities, while Bestor finds only ten.
6. Robert H. Folger, "Perry
Township," in History of Stark County, With an Outline Sketch of
Ohio, ed. William H. Perrin (Chicago, 1881), 387.
7. Ohio Repository [Canton,
Ohio], 24 November 1825. With residents of both Portage and
Stark Counties among the community's
founding nucleus, the original plan for establishing the
settlement in Portage County was likely
changed to the Village of Kendal, in Stark County, be-
cause of the availability of land.
8. "Constitution of the Friendly
Association for Mutual Interests at Kendal, Ohio," 17 March
1826, Rotch-Wales Collection, Massillon
Public Library, Massillon, Ohio, hereafter cited
No Harmony in Kendal
29
Reflecting Owen's teachings, the
constitution called for "moral, sober and
industrious" members who would
"cheerfully render their best services for the
welfare of the company." In
addition, it provided for the business of the
community to be brought before the
"men and women" of the group, with
twelve trustees to handle matters of
real estate and five commissioners "to
carry into execution the plans of the
company."9
Further Owen influence is found in the
preamble's statements about the
commune's disapproval of society and
their desire to reform it. "In the pre-
sent system of human concerns," the
document states, "we are impelled to
guard ourselves, individually against
the interest of others, hence it is that
strife and contention are
unavoidable." Such a situation, the preamble goes
on to explain, makes it "impossible
to establish the love and good will which
are necessary to the comfort and
happiness of the human race." Therefore, the
author suggests, "it is reasonable
and justifiable to change the whole sys-
tem."10 To reform their
society, Owenites believed they needed only to estab-
lish one successful community. By
developing one functional association as
a model, they were convinced that the
rest of humanity would recognize the
benefits of their system and seek to
copy the model. As a result, the world
would adopt the Owenite ideas and
achieve a new and better social order. 11
In a special appeal to parents, the
preamble emphasizes the advantages of
raising children within the community.
Not only will the "baneful influence
of immoral examples...be most
effectually guarded against," but in the event
that a child's "parents are removed
by death," the members of the community
would "adopt them and amply provide
for their comfort in the place of their
natural parents." Additionally, the
document states, the "aged and infirm will
have a rightful claim to every requisite
care and kindness."12
The Kendal Constitution differed from
most Owenite writings in its fre-
quent references to religion. While
other Owenite communities mimicked
Owen's frequent attacks on religion, the
Kendalites wrote in their preamble
that "The first principle and that
which should never be absent from the mind
is Love to the Great first cause and
Creator of all things." So, "relying on
the smile of Divine Providence and
renouncing all amusement and practices
known to preponderate in evil,"
the Kendalites believed that their "calculated"
program would "lead to all those
virtues and graces which the Gospel en-
Rotch-Wales Collection. The record book
of the Kendal Community, including the constitution,
minutes and final balance sheet, were
printed by Wendall P. Fox in "The Kendal Community,"
Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Publications, 20 (April-July, 1911),
176-219.
9. Ibid.; Fox, "The Kendal
Community," 178-82.
10. Ibid.
11. Arthur E. Bestor, Jr.,
"Patent-Office Models of the Good Society: Some Relationships
between Social Reform and Westward
Expansion," The American Historical Review, 58
(April, 1953), 505-26.
12. "Constitution"; Fox,
"The Kendal Community," 178-82.
30 OHIO
HISTORY
joins."13 Numerous
Christian members of the community undoubtedly ef-
fected the inclusion of these religious
statements within the society's consti-
tution.14
Though they had met for several months
to make arrangements for the
community, the "Society for Mutual
Interests" held their first official meeting
on May 15, 1826. At this meeting, the
male participants of the society ap-
proved and signed the constitution. On
the following day, they elected com-
missioners, trustees, a clerk and a
treasurer for the association.15 Their pri-
mary purpose for convening on this
occasion, however, was to discuss the
purchase of a tract of land that had
recently been offered for sale to the com-
munity.
On May 2, 1826, Arvine Wales, executor
of the estate of Thomas and
Charity Rotch, offered to sell the
Kendalites "2,103 acres of land and 50 lots
in the Town of Kendal" for $20,000.
One-third of the price was to be paid
upon purchase, with three years to pay
off the interest-free balance.16 In a
"Bond of Social Compact,"
signed at the May 16, 1826, meeting by the heads
of the community's twenty-nine families,
they agreed "to purchase the prop-
erty belonging to the heirs of Thomas
Rotch, deceased, agreeably to the pro-
posals of Arvine Wales, their
attorney." They also consented to "bind" them-
selves "to each other," and
sell their individual properties and belongings,
with the profit being used to pay the
community's debt.17
The finalization of the Rotch property
purchase was made on June 1, 1826,
but the Owenites did not settle on their
new land until after the harvest. 8
Regular association meetings, however,
continued throughout the summer
with new members being admitted at each
gathering. At the August 18,
1826, meeting, Luther Hanchett, Jehiel
Fox and Amasa Bailey were appointed
to a committee "to draft some
by-laws for the future regulation of the
Society." On the following morning,
the three-man committee presented
13. Oved, Two Hundred Years of
American Communes, 124; Fox, "The Kendal Community,"
178-9; "Constitution."
14. In a sampling of twenty-six members
of the Kendal Community, Samuel Underhill
(himself a skeptic and member of the
community, though not included in this list) identified
eight skeptics, one
"doubtful," one Quaker, five Presbyterians, three Universalists, two
Unitarians, three Methodists, two
Baptists, and one Campbellite. See Samuel Underhill, "The
Chronicles, Notes, and Maxims of Dr.
Samuel Underhill," n.d., Stark County Historical Society,
Canton, Ohio. Another participant in the
Kendal experiment, Frederick W. Evans, also refers
to the "Christians" in the
community. See Frederick W. Evans, Autobiography
of a Shaker, and
Revelation of the Apocalypse (Philadelphia, 1972), 15.
15. "Reports of Meetings,"
15-16 May 1826, Rotch-Wales Collection; Fox, "The Kendal
Community," 183-84.
16. Arvine Wales, "Mr. A. Wales
Proposal Made May 2nd 1826 to the Owinites [sic.],"
Rotch-Wales Collection.
17. "Bond of Social Compact,"
16 May 1826, Rotch-Wales Collection; Fox, "The Kendal
Community," 188-89.
18. "Copy of an Agreement with
Friendly Association for Extending the Time of Last
Payment," 1 June 1826, Rotch-Wales
Collection; New Harmony Gazette, 26 July 1826.
No Harmony in Kendal 31
eleven bylaws to the community. These
bylaws governed the operation of
the association's meetings and made
provisions for the acceptance of people
into the community, as well as for their
removal.19
By October 1826 a Western Courier report
announced that the Kendal
Society was "rapidly
increasing," and that the construction of new dwelling
places could not keep up with the growth
in membership. "Everything ap-
pears to be going on prosperously and
harmoniously," the paper states, and
the members of the community are
"even now in possession of that which
the poet has declared to be the sum
total of human happiness, viz., Health,
Peace, and Competence."20
The minutes of the January 1827
community meeting reveal that the re-
ports of happiness and harmony at Kendal
were not entirely accurate. To fur-
ther systematize the activities of the
society, they appointed a "Committee of
Ways and Means" to propose additional
governing regulations. Their initial
suggestion, "that the members of
the community...be prepared for actual
business at sunrise in the
morning," indicates that there may have been a
problem with the work habits of some of
the members. In a second proposal,
the Committee of Ways and Means
recommended that a member of the body
of commissioners be appointed an
"active agent to do and transact all business
for the community." The January meeting
also saw the association's first
withdrawal from membership.21
The minutes of the February and March
meetings of the society disclose ad-
ditional problems at Kendal. On February
10, the minutes note that "some
dissatisfaction with James Freeman"
had developed within the community's
membership. By the March 31 meeting, the
"dissatisfaction" evolved into a
unanimous vote "that J. Fox [the
recently-elected Acting Commissioner]
make a settlement with James Freeman on
condition that said Freeman leave
the community." At a second March
31 meeting, which convened that
evening to resolve the Freeman
situation, Fox informed the gathering "that he
had endeavored to settle with said
Freeman, but without effect." Following
Fox's announcement, the society unanimously
agreed to a motion that
"James Freeman be disowned and
dismissed from the rights and privileges of
further membership" in the
community.22 Within the
following two
months, the Kendalites expelled fourteen
people from the membership of their
society.23
19. "Reports of Meetings,"
18-19 August 1826; Fox, "The Kendal Community," 185-88.
20. Western Courier [Ravenna,
Ohio], 28 October 1826. The New Harmony Gazette
reprinted this article on 13 December
1826.
21. "Reports of Meetings," 1-2
January 1827; Fox, "The Kendal Community," 190-92.
22. "Reports of Meetings," 10
February-31 March 1827; Fox, "The Kendal Community,"
192-93.
23. "Reports of Meetings," 14
April-5 May 1827; Fox, "The Kendal Community," 196.
32 OHIO HISTORY
Leaders of the community expected the
group's membership to participate
in the labor activities of the society.
Members could engage themselves in
the organization's blacksmith shop,
farming work, woolen shop, wagon-mak-
ing shop, or mill. To oversee
individuals in their work activities, the society
appointed superintendents to manage the
community's labor categories.24 A
series of resolutions at the April 19
meeting instituted a ten-hour workday and
a pay scale based on age, sex and family
status. Along with the compensa-
tion from the "joint funds of the
Community," each family was "provided
with a house and firewood by the
Company."25
Throughout the summer and early fall of
1827, the Kendalites pursued their
utopian dreams amid financial hardships
and discussions about the possibility
of selling their property to the
remaining members of the failed Forestville
Commonwealth of Coxsackie, New York.26
The Forestville Commonwealth
began on December 16, 1825, but from the
outset was burdened with debt and
a lack of "good men to steer things
right." The faithful members of the
Coxsackie Community considered
reestablishing their society in Kentucky.
Thinking Kentucky too far south,
however, they chose instead to enter into
negotiations with the Kendal Community
for the purchase of their property.
Lacking the necessary funds to purchase
the Kendal Community, twenty-
seven residents of the Forestville Commonwealth
chose to join the Friendly
Association for Mutual Interests after
they concluded their community's exis-
tence by selling their property on
October 23, 1827.27
The small band of Owenites faced an
arduous journey from New York in
their desire to be a part of the Kendal
Community. Their Lake Erie voyage
from Buffalo to Cleveland, on a stormy
day in late November, nearly resulted
in the toppling of their vessel. After a
brief stay in Cleveland to recover from
their trip, they began a journey to Akron,
partly by canal, partly overland,
that lasted several days. From Akron,
they secured a Conestoga wagon that
carried the group to their
destination. The addition of the group
from
Coxsackie proved to be the most
significant addition ever made to the Kendal
Community.28 The Kendalites
unanimously approved the addition of the
twenty-seven people from New York at the
meeting of December 15, 1827.29
24. "Reports of Meetings," 31
March 1827; Fox, "The Kendal Community," 194.
25. "Reports of Meetings," 19
April 1827; Fox, "The Kendal Community," 194-5.
26. New Harmony Gazette, 13
February 1828. The New Harmony Gazette of 5 December
1827 incorrectly reported that the
Coxsackie Community purchased the Kendal Community and
moved to that location.
27. Ibid.; History of Greene County,
New York, with Biographical Sketches of its Prominent
Men (Cornwallville, New York, 1969), 242; Bestor, Backwoods
Utopias, 204-05; Harrison,
Quest for the New Moral World, 167; Noyes, Strange Cults, 77; and Oved, Two
Hundred Years
of American Communes, 123.
28. "Death Recalls Local
History," Massillon Evening Independent, 18 April 1910; Perrin,
Stark County, 387-88.
29. "Reports of Meetings," 15
December 1827; Fox, "The Kendal Community," 202.
No Harmony in Kendal 33 |
|
The leading figure among the Forestville Commonwealth's remnant was Samuel Underhill, a medical doctor. Underhill's thorough commitment to the Owenite system quickly elevated him to a position of leadership within the community. Only one week after the society accepted him into their mem- bership, they appointed him to a committee to amend the group's Bond of Social Compact. By March, the association elected Underhill to serve as one of the community's five commissioners.30 Underhill also engaged in public lectures at which both members and non- members of the community could attend. To these audiences, Underhill often expressed his skeptical views of religion, while offering the Owenite system as the true answer to the problems society confronted. "Our lectures go to elucidate and defend the doctrines of circumstances [the belief that humans are entirely products of their environment]," an unidentified letter writer told the New Harmony Gazette, "and we, like Mr. Owen, invite discussion and allow opposition." At these lectures, the writer went on to say, "truth gains a pretty fair hearing."31 Other residents of Stark County, however, deemed Underhill's diatribes nothing short of heretical. In a February 1, 1828, letter to the Ohio Repository, an individual designated by the initials "C. T." asked if Underhill
30. "Reports of Meetings," 22 December 1827 and 22 March 1828; Fox, "The Kendal Community," 203 and 207. 31. New Harmony Gazette, 13 February 1828. Though this letter's author is not named, its content indicates that it was written by Samuel Underhill. |
34 OHIO HISTORY
"would be willing to enter a
regular debate" about the controversial subjects
of his lectures.32 Underhill
responded by agreeing to "discuss any topic, con-
stituting the subject of...my
Lectures," and requested
that his
"opponent...appear unmasked, and
agree upon the subject and rules of de-
bate."33 Shortly
thereafter, a letter writer identified as "A." complained to
Alexander Campbell, editor of the Christian
Baptist and founder of the
Disciples of Christ, that "an
emissary of infidelity, of considerable talents,
Doctor Underhill," was canvassing
the area with his Owenite teachings, and
converting great numbers to his
doctrine. The letter writer found it even more
grievous that "Doctor Underhill has
challenged, boldly, every one who would
be willing to question his views, and
has publicly called for opposition to his
sentiments." Since Underhill's
challenge had gone unaccepted and the author
believed it necessary to defend
Christianity, he asked Campbell to take up the
gauntlet and debate Underhill on the
merits of Christianity as opposed to the
Owenite philosophy.34
Additional letters objecting to
Underhill's espoused views quickly made
their way into the pages of the Ohio
Repository. In response to his critics,
Underhill composed his own letter to the
Ohio Repository and claimed that
"the tithe fed Priests of Israel
manifest the same animosity to Jesus, as the
Priests of the present day do to
me."35 Though Underhill appeared to have
developed a following as he advocated
his ideas, the records of the Kendal
Community do not indicate that the
society gained new members from his
speeches. In fact, Underhill's
controversial lectures and caustic replies to
anyone who objected to his ideas created
an animosity between himself and
the local citizens that the community
hoped to bring into their fold.
Disregarding the antagonism directed at
his lectures and the growing sever-
ity of the group's financial woes in
early 1828, Underhill continued to pro-
claim the community a successful
enterprise. Letters to the Gospel Advocate
and Impartial Investigator and New Harmony Gazette praised the society's
ac-
tivities and claimed that the population
of Kendal had grown to nearly 200
people.
To the Gospel Advocate and Impartial Investigator, however,
Underhill revealed the community's
financial problem by adding that they
needed "an additional capital of
say $15,000 to enable them to extend their
business so as to make it profitable to
have an addition of members."36
32. Ohio Repository, 1 February
1828.
33. Ibid., 8 February 1828.
34. Alexander Campbell, "Mr.
A.," Christian Baptist, 5 (7 April 1828), 217. Declaring
Underhill "too obscure to merit any
attention." Campbell said he would rather debate Owen.
This challenge became a reality when the
two men held an eight-day debate in April 1829.
35. Ohio Repository, 29 February
1828, 14 March 1828, and 21 March 1828.
36. Samuel Underhill, "Letter to
the Editor," Gospel Advocate and Impartial Investigator, 6
(1 March 1828): n.p. A typewritten copy
of this letter to the journal's editor is contained in the
Rotch-Wales Collection.
No Harmony in Kendal
35
In a May 4, 1828, letter to Robert Owen,
however, Underhill furnished the
leader of the new social system with a
whitewashed description of the Kendal
Community's state of affairs.
Underhill's correspondence to Owen explained
that the community existed in "a
prosperous state," with an income that ex-
ceeded expenditures "by a very
handsome balance, tho [sic.l at first setting out
it hardly held its own." He further
stated to Owen that a "liberal paper de-
voted to the Social System will
commence" in Kendal by August or
September. After extending an invitation
for Owen to visit, Underhill con-
cluded his letter by stating that the
Kendalites are "inclined to believe that
'Kendal Community' is the best
established of any one on the new
System."37
Underhill's glowing reports about the
vitality of the community were
dimmed by the group's fiscal situation.
An examination of the "Inventory of
Property of the Kendal Community,"
for February 1828, reveals that the
community's debt was a major issue for
concern. The inventory listed the
group's property value at $26,522.25,
with an outstanding debt of
$22,539.37. In addition, the community
owed $5,624.00 to members of the
society, which raised the community's
total amount of indebtedness to
$28,163.37.38
Unaware of the true difficulties
confronting the Kendal Community, Owen
answered Underhill's letter by
expressing his pleasure at the prosperity that
Underhill claimed the Kendalites were
enjoying. Owen also responded to
Underhill's invitation to visit the
community by agreeing to spend "some
days...in your community and the
neighborhood."39 Undoubtedly the com-
munity regarded the distinguished
philosopher's stopover as a landmark event
in the society's existence, though their
minutes fail to mention his stay and
there are few other extant references to
this visit. After his return from
Kendal, however, Owen reported that
"[Kendal] is a good scite [sic.] with fine
localities and with a few practical
leaders in agriculture and manufacture will
do well in a few years." He also
described Underhill as "a zealous supporter
of the social principles to their full
extent but prudent in not urging their
practice prematurely."40
With the latter half of 1828 came a
series of setbacks that proved detrimen-
tal to the community. Since late April the association had
experienced a
37. Samuel Underhill, "Letter to
Robert Owen, May 4, 1828," Robert Owen Collection (Item
126), Co-operative Union Ltd.,
Manchester, England, hereafter cited Robert Owen Collection.
The "liberal paper" Underhill
said would be published at Kendal never became a reality.
38. "Inventory of Property of the
Kendal Community Taken 15th of Feb., 1828," "Schedule
of Debts Owed by the Kendal Community
Feb'y 16th, 1828," and "Schedule of Debts Due
Members of Community," Rotch-Wales
Collection; Fox, "The Kendal Community," 216-19.
39. Robert Owen, "Letter to Samuel
Underhill, June 20, 1828," Robert Owen Collection
(Item 126).
40. Robert Owen, "Letter to James
M. Dorsey, July 14, 1828," The Indiana Historical
Society, Indianapolis, Indiana.
36 OHIO HISTORY
steady withdrawal of membership from the
society. People who discovered
that they did not like the communal
life, or found that their utopian ideals did
not materialize as they had hoped,
escaped the community in small numbers.
The September 11 meeting, however, saw a
leap in the number of relin-
quished memberships as five families
requested their release from the group.
At the following two meetings, on October
5 and 6, nine families, including
all of the people who had come to Kendal
from the Forestville
Commonwealth, petitioned for dismissal
from the association.41 The signs
of the community's impending demise,
which the New Yorkers had previ-
ously experienced at the Forestville
Commonwealth, convinced them that the
time had come to abandon their
communitarian efforts at Kendal.
The few who attempted to struggle on
with their utopian dream soon real-
ized that their cause was at an end. At
the meeting of October 11, the remain-
ing Kendalites discussed the possibility
of"leasing part or all of the property
of the Company," but nothing
successful ever resulted from these discus-
sions.42 Shortly after the
new year, on January 3, 1829, the remaining few
members unanimously approved a motion
"to discontinue business as a
Company and...to sell off the personal
property of the Company." On
January 6, 1829, the group held their
final recorded meeting.43
To explain his withdrawal from the
community, Samuel Underhill penned a
letter for the Ohio Repository which
he hoped would answer "the many re-
ports in circulation about the late
occurrences in Kendal Community." "On
my arrival at this place,"
Underhill explained, "I found that the debts were
more than twenty thousand dollars, and
that the society had as yet made noth-
ing. The reason that he and his cohorts
from New York associated with the
Kendalites, he wrote, was because they
were "united under the persuasion that
capital to the amount of ten thousand
dollars would be brought and invested"
in the community. Though the association
was "doing better the past season
than ever before," according to
Underhill, once their financial resources had
expired and their debts came due,
"it was deemed impossible to pay for and
keep the premises." At that point
in time, Underhill and a host of others ac-
cepted an offer from the original
purchasers who agreed "to take the property
and settle the estate."44 After the demise of the
society, the original pur-
chasers came to a satisfactory agreement
with their creditors. By allowing the
property to be resold, neither the
community members nor the creditors lost
an extensive amount of money.45
41. "Reports of Meetings," 11
September-6 October 1828; Fox, "The Kendal Community,"
212-3.
42. "Reports of Meetings," 12
October 1828; Fox, "The Kendal Community," 214.
43. "Reports of Meetings," 3-6
January 1829; Fox, "The Kendal Community, 215-16.
44. Ohio Repository, 7 November
1828.
45. "Letter from William Rotch,
Jr., to Arvine Wales on January 1, 1831," "Letter from
William Roth, Jr., to Arvine Wales on
April 22, 1831," "Letter from Arvine Wales to A. Bailey
No Harmony in Kendal 37
Underhill also blamed the community's
collapse on the summer fever
which struck the vicinity near the end
of the summer of 1828. "Death cut off
some of our best men," he claimed,
"and sickness debilitated many others."46
John Harmon, who also took part in the
Kendal experiment, concurred with
Underhill's assessment. "A
summer-fever attacked us," Harmon wrote, "and
seven heads of families died, among whom
were several of our most valued
and useful members."47 Though
this undoubtedly brought a number of hard-
ships to the community, the death of
seven members can hardly be the cause
for the entire society's collapse.
The real problems which brought about
the fall of the Kendal Community,
however, must be attributed to the
financial problems incurred by the society,
and the lack of harmony and cooperation
within the group. "Persons of all
sects were jumbled together,"
Underhill complained in his Ohio Repository
letter, "and as might be expected,
many withdrew, without ever becoming op-
eratives. It is not easy to reverse
habits long established." Even when all of
the debts were taken into consideration,
according to Underhill, "no division
would have occurred, notwithstanding the
diversity of sentiment, habits, and
opinions."48 Frederick
W. Evans, who later became an important leader in
the Shaker Movement, agreed with
Underhill. Though Evans arrived at
Kendal only a few months before the
society's termination, he later wrote in
his autobiography that "some
Christians...were considered the cause of the
breaking up of the community."49
Three of the community's most
influential leaders, Amasa Bailey, Philip
Waggoner and Jehiel Fox, later testified
that the society broke up "because
they could not carry out their
planning." "Some of the association died," they
concurred, but "the rest quarrelled
[sic.] and broke up in confusion in the
spring of 1829."50
At the beginning of 1828, in a letter to
the New Harmony Gazette, a mem-
ber of the Kendal Community predicted
that "within two years Kendal will
have completed her arrangements and have
proved the success of the Social
System beyond all contradictions."51
Before the end of the very year in which
the letter was written, however, the
utopian dreamers at Kendal awakened to
find their social experiment in a state
of failure.
Like all of the other Owenite
communities, including New Harmony,
which was dubbed "No Harmony"
by scoffers, the Friendly Association for
and Co., [n.d.]," and
"Statement of Arvine Wales, [n.d.]," Rotch-Wales Collection.
46. Ohio Repository, 7 November
1828.
47. Noyes, Strange Cults, 79-80.
48. Ohio Repository, 7 November
1828.
49. Evans, Autobiography, 15.
50. "Minutes of Points Upon Which
to Pronounce Testimony to Disposses [sic.] the Answers
to Debts," n.d., Rotch-Wales
Collection.
51. New Harmony Gazette, 13 February 1828.
38 OHIO
HISTORY
Mutual Interests at
Kendal, Ohio, decayed from within. From
the early
struggles with James
Freeman, to the later problems of withdrawn member-
ships and the handling
of finances, the community's overriding difficulty
emerged from the
failure of its people to abandon their personal concerns for
the interests of the
entire society. In essence, a group of individuals could not
be welded together to
form a "Friendly Association" for "Mutual Interests."
RICHARD J. CHEROK
No Harmony in Kendal: The Rise And
Fall of an Owenite Community, 1825-
1829
In a widely publicized discourse in the
Hall of Representatives at the United
States Capitol, Robert Owen announced to
an 1825 audience, which included
the nation's president, president-elect,
and congress, that the implementation
of his new social system would bring
about a virtual state of millennium
within the nation and, ultimately, the
world. By establishing his plans at
New Harmony, Indiana, he told his
listeners, he was commencing "a new
empire of peace and good will to
man," that "will lead to that state of virtue,
intelligence, enjoyment, and
happiness,...which has been foretold by the
sages of past times," as the
destined "lot of the human race!"1 With the de-
velopment of his "societies of
union, co-operation, and common property,"
Owen explained, "the individual or
old system of society, would break up, and
soon terminate," and people would
hasten to join his communities "because it
is scarcely to be supposed that anyone
would continue to live under the mis-
erable, anxious, individual system of
opposition and counteraction, when they
could with ease form themselves into, or
become members of, one of these
associations of union, intelligence, and
kind feelings."2
Owen's ideas about social improvement,
though drawn from a number of
sources and experiences, became lifelong
convictions as a result of his man-
agement of the New Lanark textile mills
in Scotland. The foundational belief
of his views, "that the character
of man is, without a single exception, always
formed for him,"3 congealed
in his thought as he saw how the inhabitants of
the rural mill town of New Lanark were
caught in circumstances beyond their
control. With a desire to improve the
lives of his workers, Owen experi-
mented with factory and social reforms,
and, in 1813, published his thoughts
about these reforms in A New View of
Society. The implicit suggestions of
Owen's publication was that society
could be perfected by instituting the edu-
Richard J. Cherok is Assistant Professor
of Church History at Cincinnati Bible College and
Seminary. He would like to thank
Professor Robert P. Swierenga for his assistance in guiding
him to complete the article.
1. Oakley C. Johnson, ed., Robert
Owen in the United States (New York, 1970), 51.
2. Ibid., 52.
3. Robert Owen, A New View of
Society: or, Essays on the Principle of the Formation of the
Human Character, and the Application
of the Principle to Practice (Glencoe,
Illinois, 1817), 91.