| In 1753 Governor Dinwiddie
of Virginia, in response to instructions from England on French incursion
into the upper Ohio Valley, chose Major George Washington for a critical
mission. Washington's orders were clear: Warn French troops against
proceeding further with their military occupation of this region.
Washington, Christopher Gist, his guide, and others traveled to the French Fort LeBoeuf (at present
Waterford, Pa). The French commander's rebuff, with a demand the British
stay out of New France, was quickly handed to
Washington As Washington returned to the
Forks of the Ohio (now Pittsburgh), he and Gist were joined by a "French
Indian"
near the Delaware Indian village he called Murdering-Town (Harmony environs)
and offered to show them a
shortcut. After a few miles, the Indian suddenly turned and shot at
Washington. Poor aim prevented the course of history from being
changed. A half-century later, Native Americans were long gone from the
area when German immigrants arrived to build the town they called Harmonie.
I am a prophet and am called to be one.
- Johann Georg Rapp, Wurtemmburg, June 1791
|
|
|
|
|
| By 1800, Johann Georg Rapp, the
German weaver and vinetender turned prophet, had assembled a large following.
Some were willing to follow him to America to seek freedom not available in
Europe. "Father" Rapp and his followers had broken away from the
Lutheran Church because they were no longer spiritually satisfied with the
established church and insisted upon separation of church and state. Conflict
with religious and government leaders inevitably arose. |
 |
|
In 1803 Rapp, his son and two of his
followers left Wurttemburg to search for a new home. In 1804, with some of
his followers already arriving in America, Rapp and his associates purchased
close to 4,000 acres of land in western Pennsylvania from Dettmar Basse for $10,000. Basse, who planned to establish a medieval barony,
had founded the town of Zelienople, naming it for his daughter, Zelie. Rapp and
his followers promptly built nine log cabins to house 46 families during that
first hard winter in their new town of Harmonie.
On February 15, 1805, the first legally
valid articles of the communal Harmony Society were signed by the group, which soon
grew to about 800 members. Under the spiritual leadership of Father Rapp, the
business and architectural skill of his adopted son, Frederick Reichert Rapp,
and hard work by all, Harmonie became a highly profitable venture and an
example of communal living. |
|
|
It is reasonable to suppose that he who
cannot learn to share with his brother in this life will not easily do so in
the world to come. - Johann Georg Rapp
| These words sum up the basic philosophy
Rapp espoused. His followers pledged to combine worldly goods and live as
one family - a spiritual entity separated by an invisible wall from the
world. Joined in a communal bond with God, they were awaiting the return
of Christ which they believed would occur in their lifetime.
In 1807, during a religious revival,
members of the Harmonie Society, as this communal group became known,
adopted celibacy in the belief that it would keep them more spiritually
pure. Married members were encouraged to live together as brother and
sister. The adoption of celibacy was actually a giant step toward the
Society's ultimate extinction.
|
A society can only be happy whilst every
species of luxury is excluded entirely . . . - Johann Georg Rapp
| These words may be the seeds of Rapp's
desire to find a new home for the Society. In 1814 the Harmonists agreed to sell
"the town of Harmonie with all its improvements, and about 9,000
acres of land adjoining - on which there are three villages" to
Abraham Ziegler, a Mennonite from Lehigh County, Pa., for $100,000.
The Harmonists moved to
southwestern Indiana, to found New Harmonie on the Wabash
River. Ten years later they returned to western Pennsylvania to found
their third and final home, Economie (near Ambridge). There the Society
flourished in its golden years (1825-1868), then declined until its
dissolution by a few remaining members in 1905, just 100 years from its
birth.
|
|
|
|
