Ohio History Journal

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.

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.

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."