Shaker history

Shaker Apostates and Anti-Shakerism

With some 6,000 members over 220 years, there are many more who tried Shaker life and didn't find it to their liking. These are often called 'Winter Shakers', reflecting how hard New England winters were, and that a Shaker community was a temping place to spend the winter, leaving when spring came.

A more extreme case was those who joined a Shaker community only to leave disgruntled after a few years, these were called Apostates.

The most extreme of those, led a many year, in some case, decades long campaign against the Shakers. One of example of this is Mary M Dyer.

More about her can be found in Elizabeth A. De Wolfe's writing, some more about those at:

• Wikipeda entry
• Book review of Shaking The Faith: Women, Family, and Mary Marshall Dyer's Anti-Shaker Campaign, 1815-1867
• Buy Dr DeWolfe's book