My gospel relations are dearer to me Than all the flesh kindred that ever I see: So good and so pretty, so cleaver they feel; To see them & love them increases my zeal, O how pretty they look! How pretty they look! How cleaver they feel! (.. .) Of all the relation that ever I see My old fleshly kindred are furthest from me, So bad and so ugly, so hateful they feel To see them and hate them increases my zeal. O how ugly they look! How ugly they look! How nasty they feel!-From the Shaker song Gospel Relation (Andrews 1940: 20) introduction As demonstrated by the above lyrics, the Shakers (known officially as the "United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing") were not favorably disposed toward the bonds of marriage, family, and kinship. Started as a Quaker splinter group under the charismatic leadership of Ann Lee in Manchester, they emigrated to the United States, gathered further adherents there, and became a communal sect in 1787. Within the next sixty years, they grew to more than 4,000 members in sixteen villages in New England and the Midwest. 1 True to their view of God as androgynous, and their founder as the female equivalent of Jesus Christ, women had a comparatively strong position in 395