Revolutionary America was fertile ground for religious upheaval, as self-proclaimed visionaries and prophets established new religious sects. Among these figures was Jemima Wilkinson. Born in 1752 and raised in a Quaker household in Cumberland, Rhode Island, Wilkinson began her ministry in 1776 when, in the midst of an illness, she announced her own death and reincarnation as the Public Universal Friend, a heaven-sent prophet who was neither female nor male. This book tells the story of Wilkinson and her church, the Society of Universal Friends. Wilkinson's message was simple: humankind stood ... More

Revolutionary America was fertile ground for religious upheaval, as self-proclaimed visionaries and prophets established new religious sects. Among these figures was Jemima Wilkinson. Born in 1752 and raised in a Quaker household in Cumberland, Rhode Island, Wilkinson began her ministry in 1776 when, in the midst of an illness, she announced her own death and reincarnation as the Public Universal Friend, a heaven-sent prophet who was neither female nor male. This book tells the story of Wilkinson and her church, the Society of Universal Friends. Wilkinson's message was simple: humankind stood on the brink of the Apocalypse, but salvation was available to all who accepted God's grace and the authority of his prophet: the Public Universal Friend. She preached widely in southern New England and Pennsylvania, attracted hundreds of devoted followers, formed them into a religious sect, and, by the late 1780s they had established a religious community near present-day Penn Yan, New York. Disputes from within and without dogged the sect, and many disciples drifted away or turned against the Friend. After Wilkinson's “second” and final death in 1819, the Society rapidly fell into decline and, by the mid-nineteenth century, ceased to exist. The prophet's ministry spanned the American Revolution and shaped the nation's religious landscape during the unquiet interlude between the first and second Great Awakenings. This book offers important insights about changes to religious life, gender, and society during this formative period, and is a comprehensive history of an important and too little known figure in the spiritual landscape of early America.