liams, a convert to this modified
Quakerism, then living in Grafton,
a town joining Enfield on the east,
went to New-Lebanon, N. Y., and
induced two of the preachers of
the Shaker Society there, named
Cooley and Chauncey, to return
with him. We have the fact from
a record made at the time, that on
the 6th of September, 1782, these
two men came to Joseph Flint’s,
Canaan, south road, and there
preached; but gaining no adher-
ents in that town, they went into
the adjoining one, Enfield, and
there succeeded in making con-
verts of some of the staid and
respectable farmers, and mechan-
ics and their families — among
whom were James Jewett, Ezek-
iel Stevens, Asa Pattee, Benjamin
Merrill and Zadock Wright, living
on Jones Hill, and the hill after-
wards called after them, Shaker
Ilill, on the northerly side of
Mascomy Lake. They remained
on these liills, gaining some new be-
lievers, about ten years, till about
1792—when, effecting an exchange
of land, they removed to the more
fertile spot they have ever since
occupied, with large additions, on
the southerly side of the same lake.
For the first ten years, they were
not by their garb distinguished from
the “World’s People,” as they

their views, and are willing to allow all
classes the privilege to worship God agreeably
to their own consciences. This is their view
of the facts relative to the Shakers and the
world's people, as they stood eighty years ago
in Enfield, and to-day.

It is gratifying to have the Shakers allow
that the world is progressing, and is not as
intolerant, as years ago, if they do not claim
any improvement in themselves. We are led
to believe, however, that they, like all civil-
ized people, have changed for the better, and
have more liberal views than they had eighty
years ago.

termed outsiders. Six years after
their advent, they are called in the
town records of 1788, “ Shaking
Quakers,” and the selectmen are
instructed to petition the legisla-
ture, stating “ their conduct, ’’and
the situation of the town, and
asking for a remedy. At the start,
like other new sects, the Shakers
were exceedingly wild, enthusias-
tic and extravagent in their beliefs
and religious exercises. But after
a time, they gradually settled down
into the sober, temperate, and
rational people they now are and
long have been. They have always
been remarkable for honesty and
industry. Like the same sect else-
where, they hold their property in
common, take on themselves vows
of perpetual chastity, rejecting
even the institution of marriage,
and make dancing a part of their
religious exercises. William Wil-
liams is said to be the person who
introduced the two preachers. He
was an honest, but eccentric man,
who, after living many years in
society, left it, and continued to
reside near it with his son William,
a man of wit and worth, deputy
sheriff, land-surveyor, town clerk.
The old gent died at an advanced
age, many years ago.

Notices of Early Settlers. Most
of the early settlers of Enfield
came from Connecticut, Haverhill
and Chibano, a point near Salem,
Mass., and Hampstead, Plaistow
and South Hampton, N. II.

Johnson. Jesse Johnson, Esq.,
was from Hampstead. Pie made
his first purchase in Enfield in
1778, and in the next six years be-
came the owner of nearly a quar-
ter of the township under its two
charters. He passed much of his
time in Enfield, superintending