Public Universal Friend

The Public Universal Friend (Jemima Wilkinson).

The Public Universal Friend (born November 29, 1752 , in Cumberland , Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations as Jemima Wilkinson , † July 1, 1819 in Jerusalem , New York ) was an American Christian preacher. After a serious illness in 1776 told the preacher that Jemima soul died and her body had been revived as sexless beings, changed its name to the general friend of mankind ( english the Public Universal Friend ), shunned completely the old name "Jemima Wilkinson "and gender-specific clothing and pronouns, and preached in the northeast of the United States . The friend believed (like other Quakers ) in free will and total reconciliation and not in predestination , opposed slavery and encouraged sexual abstinence .

Followers formed the Society of Universal Friends ( English Society of Universal Friends ). In the 1790s, the General Friends acquired land in what is now western New York , where they planted the Jerusalem Congregation near what is now Penn Yan . The closest supporters were four dozen women who remained unmarried and took on leading secular and spiritual roles in the community. After the death of the preacher and other members, the society ceased to exist in the 1860s. Some authors have portrayed the person as a woman and a pioneer or cheat, while others have viewed the preacher as a transgender or non-binary person.

Family background and childhood

Jemima Wilkinson was born the eighth child of Amy (or Amey) Whipple and Jeremiah Wilkinson, making it the fourth generation of the family to live in America. Her great-grandfather Lawrence Wilkinson immigrated from England around 1650 and was active in the colonial government; her father Jeremiah was a first cousin of Stephen Hopkins , longtime governor of the colony. Jeremiah attended the traditional service with the Religious Society of Friends (the Quakers) at the Smithfield Meeting House. Biographer David Hudson claims that Amy was also a member of society, while biographer Herbert Wisbey finds no evidence, but Moses Brown cites that "Jemima was born as such" because of Jeremiah's membership. Amy died shortly after giving birth to a twelfth child in 1764, when Wilkinson was twelve or thirteen years old.

Wilkinson was strong, athletic, and a gifted rider from an early age. Not only could she read and write, but she could also quote long Bible passages and prominent Quaker texts from memory. She had black hair and black eyes. Little is otherwise known with certainty about their youth.

In the mid-1770s, Wilkinson began attending the services of the New Light Baptists, who had formed during the Great Revival and emphasized individual enlightenment. Wilkinson ceased attending meetings of the Religious Society of Friends and for this reason it was disciplined in February 1776 and rejected (in August) by the Smithfield Congregation. Wilkinson's sister Patience was released at the same time for having an illegitimate child; her brothers Stephen and Jeptha had been fired from the pacifist society in May 1776 for registering for the American militia.

In connection with this family upheaval and that of the American Revolutionary War , dissatisfied with the New Light Baptists and shunned by the Quakers, Wilkinson was under great stress.

Illness and "rebirth"

Epidemic diseases spread to Rhode Island in 1776, and in October Wilkinson became seriously ill, most likely typhoid ; she was in bed with a high fever. Her family brought a doctor from Attleboro, ten kilometers away. The fever subsided after several days. After recovering, she said she had died, Jemima Wilkinson's soul had risen to heaven and been resurrected with a new spirit her body that God had entrusted with the preaching of his word: the general friend of mankind ( English Public Universal Friend ) what the friend described in the words of Isaiah 62: 2 as "a new name [...] determined by the mouth of the Lord". The name referred to the term the Society of Friends used for members who traveled from congregation to congregation preaching: "Public Friends." (In the 18th and 19th centuries, some writers said Wilkinson was dead for a short or even long period of time, while others claimed she faked the whole disease. Reports from the doctor and other witnesses say the disease was real, but nobody realized the person was dead.)

The friend refused to reply to the name "Jemima Wilkinson", quoting Luke 23: 3 ("You say it") when visitors asked if it was the name of the person they were talking to and ignored or chastised them who insisted on using it.

The friend claimed to be genderless, neither male nor female, and asked not to be referred to with gender-specific pronouns. Followers respected these wishes, avoided such pronouns even in private diaries and only referred to "the Public Universal Friend", "the Friend" or "PUF"

The preacher dressed in ways that were neither male nor female, but which were often viewed as male. He wore long, loose robes, mostly black, but sometimes purple or white, and wore a white or purple kerchief. He left his curly hair bare inside and wore castor hats outside . Reports of the pastor's "female-male tone" varied; some listeners described it as "clear and harmonious", others described it as "eerie and sepulchral". Ezra Stiles described the person as "decent and graceful and serious".

Sermons and the Society of General Friends

Seal of the General Friend

Accompanied by Brother Stephen and sisters Deborah, Elizabeth, Marcy, and Patience, the friend began preaching in Rhode Island, Connecticut , Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania . The pastor did not bring a Bible to meetings that were initially outdoors or in borrowed meeting houses, but he was able to quote and preach long passages of scriptures from memory. The sermons drew many followers who formed a congregation, the Society of General Friends; so the friend was the first native American to form a religious community. Most of the followers were ex-Quakers, although the Society of Friends disciplined members when attending meetings with the friend. The so-called "Free Quakers" ( English "Free Quakers" ) derived from the Society of Friends for their participation in the American War of Independence had been separated (with the sympathy and the Global Friends), showed the "Universal Friends" against particularly sympathetic.

By the mid-1780s at the latest, the mass press reported extensively on the sermons. Most of the articles, however, focused more on the ambiguous gender of the preacher than on his theology, which was largely similar to that of the (Orthodox) Quakers. One person who heard the friend in 1788 said: “Judging from widespread reports, I expected to hear something unusual in the teaching, which I did not; in fact I have only heard what is customary among preachers. "

The friend preached that the light of God dwelled in every person, regardless of gender, he said he believed in free will and alliance , he rejected the doctrine of predestination , called for the abolition of slavery and convinced adherents who kept people in slavery to it free . Members of the General Friends' religious society included free and released blacks . The friend preached humility and hospitality to all; religious gatherings were open to the public and he hosted visitors to his home, including those who came out of curiosity and Indians with whom he generally had a warm relationship. The preacher had few personal possessions, given mostly by devotees, such as silverware monogrammed "UF" ( Universal Friend ) and a side saddle, and never owned real estate (on his own behalf).

The friend preached sexual abstinence and disapproved of marriage, although (unlike the Shakers ) he did not see celibacy as an absolute duty. 14% of followers (about whom there is solid information) never married, which is well above the national average at the time. The evangelist was also of the view that women should primarily "God rather than men obey" (referring to Acts. 5:29), and the engagiertesten followers were four dozen unmarried women as the Faithful Sisterhood (dt. "Spreader Sisterhood ”or“ Faithful Sisterhood ”) and took on spiritual and secular leadership roles in the community that were often reserved for men at that time.

Around 1785 the friend met Sarah and Abraham Richards. After their unhappy marriage was ended by Abraham's death in 1786, Sarah and her young daughter moved in with the "Universal Friend"; Sarah similarly adopted androgynous mannerisms, hairstyle and clothing, and was called Sarah Friend. The preacher entrusted Richards with keeping the property of the General Friend and Society on their behalf. Richards was instrumental in the design and construction of the house she and the preacher would later live in in the Jerusalem congregation, and when Richards died in 1793, she left her child in the care of her friend.

Settlements and litigation

In the mid-1780s, the General Friends began establishing a village in what is now western New York. At the end of 1788, the first settlers established a settlement in the Genesee River region. By March 1790, the settlement (named The Friend's Settlement ) was so far complete that the other General Friends joined it. However, there were problems. In 1791, James Parker successfully applied to the Governor of New York for a legal claim to the land that the General Friends had settled. Most of the buildings and other improvements made by the General Friends were east of the original preemption line, and thus in New York; When the line was surveyed again in 1792, however, there were at least 25 houses and courtyards west of the line and thus outside the area granted by New York. The friends were forced to buy back the land they inhabited from the Pulteney Association. Because it was between the two survey lines, the settlement was later mostly called The Gore (Eng. The Gehre ).

Furthermore, the land was in the Phelps and Gorham Purchase , which was sold to financier Robert Morris and then to The Pulteney Association due to late payment . Every change of ownership drove up prices, as did the influx of new settlers drawn by the improvements in the General Friends Society in the area. The religious community lacked a solid legal right to sufficient property for all members, and some left the region. Others, including James Parker and William Potter, wanted to profit by taking possession of the land themselves. To address the first of these problems, members of the society had secured several alternative locations. Abraham Dayton acquired a large piece of land in Canada from Governor John Graves Simcoe , although Sarah Richards persuaded his friend not to move that far away. In addition, Thomas Hathaway and Benedict Robinson had bought a piece of land in 1789 on a stream they called Brook Kedron, which flowed into Crooked Lake (Keuka Lake). The new church that the Universal Friends began there was called Jerusalem (near what is now Penn Yan ).

The second dispute, however, had reached a climax in the autumn of 1799. Judge William Potter, Ontario County magistrate James Parker, and several disaffected former supporters of the friend cited several attempts to arrest the friend for blasphemy. (Some authors claim that these attempts were motivated by disputes over land ownership and power.) A police officer attempted to grab the friend while riding in the gore with Rachel Malin, but the friend, an experienced rider, escaped. The officer and an assistant later tried to arrest the preacher at home in Jerusalem, but the women of the house drove the men away and tore their clothes. A third attempt was carefully planned by a group of 30 men who surrounded the house after midnight, broke the door with an ax, and tried to lead the preacher away in an ox cart. A doctor who came with the group stated that the friend was in poor health to be moved, and they made an agreement that the friend would appear in an Ontario county court in June 1800, but not before Magistrate Parker. When the friend appeared before the court, the court ruled that no criminal act had been committed and requested the preacher to preach to those present.

Death and legends

The friend's health had been in poor health since the turn of the century, and in 1816 the preacher began suffering from painful dropsy (edema) but continued to receive visitors and preach. After one last regular appearance in November 1818, the friend preached at Sister Patience Wilkinson Potter's funeral in April 1819.

The preacher died on July 1, 1819 in Jerusalem , New York ; the death register of the congregation reports: "25 minutes after 2 o'clock the friend passed from here." According to the friend's wishes, there was only a regular meeting of the society and no funeral service afterwards. The corpse was placed in a coffin with an oval glass window and, four days after death, buried in a thick stone vault in the cellar of the friend's house; a few years later the body was removed and, at the request of the preacher, buried in an unmarked grave. Obituaries appeared in many newspapers in the eastern United States. Close followers remained loyal, but they too died over time, and because the society did not attract new members, it disappeared in the 1860s.

The friend's house and temporary burial chamber are located in the Jerusalem parish and are on the National Register of Historic Places . The Penn Yan Yates County Genealogical and Historical Society museums display the friend's portrait, Bible, carriage, hat and saddle, and documents of the society. Until the 1900s, residents of Little Rest (now Kingston), Rhode Island , called a Solidago species "Jemima weed," as the weed appearance in the city coincided with the preacher's first visit in the 1770s.

The friend and follower were pioneers of the region between the Seneca and Keuka Lakes. The company built a flour mill in Dresden, the first mill in western New York, which is now provided with a historical marker.

A multitude of legends circulated about the preacher. Some authors claimed that the preacher despotic commanded followers or banished some for years, forced married followers to divorce, or took their personal or real property, or even tried (and failed) to raise the dead or on the water to go; there is no contemporary evidence for these stories, and people who knew the friend, including some who were never followers, said the rumors were false. Another story began in 1787 at a meeting of Universal Friends and guests in Pennsylvania at which Abigail Dayton and Sarah Wilson disagreed. Afterward, Wilson said Dayton tried to strangle her in her sleep - and accidentally strangled her roommate Anna Steyers. Steyers denied anything had happened and others in attendance attributed Wilson's fears to a nightmare, but the Philadelphia newspapers printed an embellished version of the charge (with critics claiming the attack must have had a friend's approval) and the story turned finally into one in which the friend himself (who was in Rhode Island at the time) is said to have strangled Wilson. One widespread accusation that aroused much hostility was that the preacher claimed to be Jesus Christ; the Freund and the Gesellschaft der Allgemeine Freunde repeatedly denied this charge.

Interpretations

Although the boyfriend insisted on being neither man nor woman, writers have often portrayed him as a woman - and a pioneer or a cheater. These authors include the historians Michael Bronski, Susan Juster, and Catherine Brekus. Bronski writes that by the standards of the time and in the language of the time, he was neither transgender nor transvestite. Juster says the "audience has put [Wilkinson] into a relatively new category: the spiritual transvestite," but followers believe Wilkinson's clothing is congruent with the (sexless or divine-masculine) spirit that animated the body.

Juster and others claim that the General Friend may have embodied, for himself or for followers, Paul's statement in Galatians 3:28 that there is “neither male nor female” in Christ. Catherine Wessinger, Brekus, and others claim Wilkinson showed that gender should not always be viewed as binary or innate, although Brekus and Juster argue that she nonetheless affirmed the notion of masculinity as superior by "dressing like a man" and "repeatedly insisted that she was not a woman." Scott Larson (who disapproves of narratives that see the boyfriend as a woman) writes that the boyfriend could be understood as a chapter in transgender history "before 'transgender" ".

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} The General Friend completely avoided the name “Jemima Wilkinson” and preferred to give supporters all real estate in safekeeping than to see this name on titles (Wisbey, p. 54). Even if a lawyer insisted that his will identify him as the person who was "known and known by the name of Jemima Wilkinson before 1777, but since then has been the Public Universal Friend ," the friend refused to sign that maiden name: he ticked a cross that witnesses authenticated (Wisbey, p. 167; Moyer, p. 194). This led some authors to mistakenly suspect that he could not read or write (Wisbey, p. 167). In fact, he was not only literate, but also an avid reader (Wisbey, p. 5; Moyer, p. 14).

literature

• Hudson, David. History of Jemima Wilkinson: A Preacheress of the Eighteenth Century. 1821.
• Moyer, Paul B. The Public Universal Friend: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2015.
• Wisbey, Herbert A. Pioneer Prophetess: Jemima Wilkinson, the Publick Universal Friend. Cornell University Press, 1965 (2009).
• Claus Bernet :  Wilkinson, Jemima. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 20, Bautz, Nordhausen 2002, ISBN 3-88309-091-3 , Sp. 1545–1553.

Web links

Commons : Jemima Wilkinson  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wisbey, p. 3; Moyer, p. 13.
2. ↑ Also written in Jemimah , cf. Moyer, pp. 101 and 106–108, and Wisbey, p. 93. (In older German texts even Gemeima and Gamaima were written.)
3. ^ Wisbey, p. 3; Moyer, p. 13; Hudson, pp. 11-12.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Wisbey, pp. 2-4.
5. ^ New York Folklore Quarterly (1955), Volume 11, p. 22
6. ↑ Hudson, p. 9.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Wisbey, pp. 2-4; Moyer, pp. 13-14.
8. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 2-4 and 53; Lamphier & Welch, p. 331.
9. ↑ ^{a b} Wisbey, p. 5; Moyer, pp. 13-14; Lamphier & Welch, p. 331.
10. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 24-26; Hudson, p. 106.
11. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 7-8; Hudson, pp. 15-16.
12. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 7-8; and Lend a Hand (1893), Volume 10, § Jemima Wilkinson , p. 127.
13. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 7-8; Moyer, pp. 15 and 40.
14. ^ Wisbey, p. 9; Moyer, p. 18.
15. ↑ ^{a b c} Wisbey, pp. 7-14; Moyer, p. 18.
16. ↑ ^{a b} Wisbey, pp. 10-12; Moyer, pp. 12 and 18.
17. ↑ ^{a b}
    • Bronski, Michael. A Queer History of the United States (2011, Beacon Press), p. 50
    • Douglas L. Winiarski, Darkness Falls on the Land of Light (2017), p. 430.
    • James L. Roark, Michael P. Johnson, Patricia Cline Cohen, The American Promise, Combined Volume: A History of the United States (2012) p. 307.
    For the translation of the name, see:
    • Abroad: weekly for countries and Ethnology , No 203 (22. Jul. 1833) p. 812, translates the name as "the general friend of mankind" and "general friend".
    • Gerda Lerner, Women and History: The emergence of feminist consciousness (1993), p. 129: "When she was healthy again, she changed her name to" Public Universal Friend "[...]"
18. ↑ Hudson, p. 207; Wisbey, p. 34.
19. ↑ Wisbey, p. 34; Moyer, p. 19
20. ↑ Moyer, p. 12; Winiarski, p. 430; and Susan Juster, Lisa MacFarlane, A Mighty Baptism: Race, Gender, and the Creation of American Protestantism (1996), pp. 27-28.
21. ↑ Hudson, p. 118.
22. ↑ Catherine A. Brękus, Strangers and Pilgrims: Female Preaching in America, 1740-1845 (2000), p. 85
23. ↑ Juster & MacFarlane, A Mighty Baptism , pp. 27-28; Brekus, p. 85; see also Jemima Wilkinson and her "Friend's Society" , in Friends' Intelligencer and Journal , Volume 51 (1894), pp. 436-437; and The Nation , No. 572 (Jun. 15, 1876), p. 385.
24. ↑ Brekus, p. 87; Hudson, p. 106; and Susan Juster, "Neither male nor female," in Possible Pasts: Becoming Colonial in Early America , pp. 362-363.
25. ↑ Juster & MacFarlane, A Mighty Baptism , pp. 27-28; Roark et al., P. 307.
26. ↑ Wisbey, p. 25; Brekus, p. 87.
27. ↑ Moyer, p. 92; Brekus, p. 87.
28. ↑ Moyer, p. 95; Brekus, p. 87.
29. ^ Wisbey, p. 54; Moyer, pp. 90-93.
30. ↑ Juster, "Neither male nor female" , pp. 362-363.
31. ↑ Moyer, p. 95; Juster, "Neither male nor female," pp. 362-363.
32. ↑ Wisbey, p. 28; and The New-England Galaxy (1961), Vol. 3, p. 5.
33. ^ Wisbey, p. 15; Moyer, p. 26.
34. ^ Wisbey, p. 16; Hudson, pp. 27 and 44.
35. ↑ Rappleye, p. 187.
36. ↑ Peg A. Lamphier, Rosanne Welch, Women in American History (2017), S. 331st
37. ↑ June Melby Benowitz, Encyclopedia of American Women and Religion , Task 2 (2017), p. 638.
38. ↑ Moyer, pp. 33-37; Wisbey, p. 35.
39. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 84-85.
40. ↑ ^{a b} Bronski, p. 51: "the popular press and pamphlet culture covered Wilkinson's sermons in detail and placed particular emphasis on their sexually ambiguous persona." Juster, "Neither male nor female" , p. 363: "There is remarkably little said (either positive or negative) about theology in [period] accounts; no one seemed bothered by [heresy]. Rather, critics wrote to expose [Wilkinson's body, gender, or clothing] ".
41. ↑ ^{a b} Wisbey, pp. 34-35; Moyer, pp. 57-60.
42. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 28-29.
43. ↑
    • Joyce Appleby, Eileen Chang, Neva Goodwin, Encyclopedia of Women in American History (2015), 201.
    • Charles Rappleye, The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade, and the American Revolution (2006), 187.
    • Mrs. Walter A Henricks, The Universal Friend (Jemima Wilkinson) , in Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine (1943), p. 120.
44. ↑ ^{a b} Wisbey, pp. 46 and 207; Moyer, pp. 35-37.
45. ↑ Moyer, p. 49.
46. ^ Wisbey, p. 131.
47. ^ Edward T. James, Janet Wilson James, Paul S. Boyer, Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary (1971), p. 610. The Journal of American History (1915), p. 253.
48. ↑ Wisbey, p. 64; Betcher, p. 77.
49. ↑ Moyer, pp. 33–35 and 68.
50. ↑ Moyer, pp. 33-36.
51. ↑ Sharon V. Betcher, "The Second Descent of the Spirit of Life from God": the Assumption of Jemima Wilkinson ( [1] ), in Gender and Apocalyptic Desire , Brenda E. Brasher and Lee Quinby (eds.), 2014, Pp. 77 and 87.
52. ↑ Moyer, pp. 148 157-161.
53. ↑ ^{a b} Wisbey, pp. 63-64; Juster, "Neither male nor female," pp. 362-363.
54. ^ Wisbey, p. 121; Hudson, p. 80.
55. ^ Wisbey, p. 123.
56. ^ Wisbey, p. 191; Moyer, pp. 149 and 180.
57. ↑ ^{a b} Wisbey, p. 96.
58. ↑ ^{a b c} Wisbey, pp. 114–116.
59. ↑ ^{a b c d} Wisbey, pp. 113-116; Moyer, p. 126.
60. ^ Wisbey, p. 109.
61. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 114-116, 140.
62. ^ Wisbey, p. 120.
63. ↑ ^{a b} Moyer, pp. 167-179. See also Wisbey, p. 140.
64. ↑ ^{a b c} Wisbey, pp. 151–152.
65. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 151-152; Moyer, pp. 167-179.
66. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 151-152; Moyer, pp. 167-176, 239
67. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 151-152; Moyer, pp. 167-176, 239; and "Jemima Wilkinson and her" Friend's Society " , in Friends' Intelligencer and Journal , Vol. 51 (1894), p. 437.
68. ↑ ^{a b c} Wisbey, pp. 161-164; Moyer, pp. 189-190.
69. ^ Wisbey, p. 163; Moyer, p. 243.
70. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 161-164.
71. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 164-165; Moyer, pp. 191-192.
72. ^ Wisbey, p. 171.
73. ^ Wisbey, pp. 164-165.
74. ^ Wisbey, pp. 46, 171; Moyer, pp. 3, 193, 197.
75. ^ ^{A b} John H. Martin, Saints, Sinners and Reformers: The Burned-Over District Re-Visited , in Crooked Lake Review (2005)
76. ^ Wisbey, p. 183.
77. ↑ Oliver House Museum (Dec. 6, 2012, called Dec. 18, 2012) and Yates County Genealogical & Historical Society Sesquicentennial Celebration 1860-2010
78. ^ Wisbey, p. 47; Christian M McBurney, Kingston: a forgotten history (1975), p. 32.
79. ^ Philip Kittredge Taylor, "Little Rest," in The New England Magazine , Vol. 28, No. 2 (April 1903), p. 139; Ebenezer Clapp, The Clapp Memorial: Record of the Clapp family in America (1876), 372.
80. ^ WH McIntosh, History of Ontario Co., New York (1878), p. 15th
81. ↑ Wisbey, pp. 48-49, 64, 127, 181-182; Moyer, pp. 3, 179, 203; Moyer (p. 203) suggests that the story of a follower exiled to Nova Scotia may be a distortion of a follower (British loyalist) escape to Nova Scotia during the War of Independence.
82. ↑ ^{a b} Wisbey, pp. 89-90; Moyer, pp. 105-109.
83. ↑ Wisbey, p. 20; Moyer, pp. 20-24.
84. ↑ Moyer, pp. 8, 93–94, and 155.
85. ^ Bronski, p . 53 .
86. ↑ ^{a b} Juster, "Neither male nor female" , p. 373.
87. ^ ^{A b} Scott Larson, "Indescribable Being": Theological Performances of Genderlessness in the Society of the Publick Universal Friend, 1776-1819 , Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal (University of Pennsylvania Press), Volume 12, No. 3, Case 2014, pp. 576–600.
88. ^ Charles Campbell, 1 Corinthians: Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible (2018): "[...] followers no longer used gendered pronouns to describe their Friend. The Public Universal Friend (PUF), like the women in Corinth, modeled 'her' life on Paul's promise: 'there is no longer male and female.' "
89. ↑ Catherine Wessinger, The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism (2016), p. 173; Brekus, p. 90; Betcher, p. 77.
90. ↑ Brekus, p. 90; Moyer, p. 207.
91. ^ Rachel Hope Cleves, Beyond the Binaries in Early America: Special Issue Introduction , Early American Studies 12.3 (2014), pp. 459–468; and The Routledge History of Queer America , Don Romesburg (2018), esp. § "Revolution's End".