Trustees, Deacons, and Deaconesses: The Temporal Role of the Shaker Sisters, 1820-1890

THE SHAKERS FOUND IT NECESSARY from the beginning of the gathering into communities to establish an order to direct temporal concerns.The Millennial Laws of 1821 describe the "order and office of deacons, and the temporal concerns pertaining unto." 1 The Millennial Laws of 1845 and 1860 also describe the functions of the Deacons and Deaconesses.It is clear from these three documents that the temporal order changed from 1821-1860.The 1821 Laws do not refer to Trustees, while both the 1845 and the 1860 Laws refer to Trustees as well as Deacons and Deaconesses. 2 Combined with the other documentary evidence, it seems evident that this order developed in both complexity and responsibility as the Church matured.The role of the Deaconesses appears to have changed substantially from 1821-1890.We shall argue that the Sisters' order was at first little concerned with financial matters but as the century progressed, the Sisters came to take a more active role.Fragmentary evidence suggests that the Brethren resented the Sisters' new role in church management.This view is an explicit rejection of the interpretation put forward by Andrews that in "The institution of Shakerism... from the first women Karen K. Nickless is Curator of Education at Historic Columbia (South Carolina) Foundation.Pamela J. Nickless is professor of economics at the University of North Carolina,