~• MMvB, original author, November 2022

The Battle Axes of the Lord

"In 1837, Theophilus Ransom Gates (continued) to develop and publicize his religious philosophy, (originally undertaken roughly a decade earlier when he published a series called The Reformer and later The Christian. He now published and sold the broadside "Battle-Axe and Weapons of War". It opens with a quotation from the Book of Jeremiah (51:20): "Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war; for thee will I break in pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms." He wrote "The truths of the Battle Axe are from the Lord and those that have opposed them will have to bear their own shame." (In anticipation of a second coming of their Lord Jesus Christ, one of the central practices of the sect was ignoring the sanctity of marriage. ~• adapted from wikipedia

Wikipedia points out one major distinction between polygamists and those of this 'Free Love' sect: Gate's preached polyamory rather than polygamy:"Polyamory is the practice of, or desire for, romantic relationships with more than one partner at the same time, with the informed consent of all partners involved." People who identify as polyamorous believe in open relationships". Simply put, among other bizarre tenets, Gates did not value the institution of marriage, thought it should be ignored, and anticipated its demise. Some of the adherents even professed that their multiple 'unions' were not undertaken with any motive of producing progeny for the 'Day of Reckoning' was at hand.
Among his believers, not so oddly, the men involved were generally married and not young and the women much younger and single.

Most treatments of the Battle-Axers isolate them to the "Love Valley". Indeed those were a goodly number, the largest because the leaders were living there. But more of the movement were in other places. A cursory study of period documents indicated a more widespread appeal. Consider this, from the Carlisle Weekly Herald (1841). It lists two individuals convicted in central Pennsylvania, a good distance from Coventry Township.

The Battle Axes of the Free Love Valley

Introduction

" Theophilus R. Gates and the Battle-Axe sect he founded .. made its home in (the) Coventry township(s), copies (of Gates' writings) found their way onto a number of other folks' (genealogical) sites, often without proper credit being given. In the years since then, (the author cited here) ha(s) done a bit more research into this rather unusual group and, in the interest of setting some of the records straight (..) While there have been many articles written about the Battle-Axes over the years, quite a few of them are woefully short on documentation." original article follows below."
the url for the unidentified author is here: http://midatlanticroots.com/drupal/chester-county/battle-axes-free-love-valley''

"Between 1837 and 1857, a group (under the influence of the teachings of) Theophilus Ransom Gates (and his partner Hannah Williamson) took hold of a few farm families in and around the Shenkel Valley in North Coventry township, Chester County, PA. The sect "never had more than 37 members" and they followed the teachings presented in Gates’s pamphlet", The Battle-Axe. (curator note: 37 members is an underestimation of the influence and practices of those caught up in the frenzy). It was not 100s but it was far more than 37. Consider, for one, the account in court of Mary Gates and David Stubblebine. In this one group, there are five persons, three of which are not counted elsewhere. We can extrapolate that there were many other participants who would be hard to document. One newspaper article contends that there were 30-40 families involved.

challenge to genealogists

Though children were not desired, they were conceived..
So, it becomes a daunting task to determine pedigrees if the concept of discreet marital couples was not a closely followed practice in this community. Naming patterns for children of unconventional unions, born from mid 1840s to mid 1850s, lost standardization. One such example seems to be evident in the birth of Jesse Elliott and his siblings/half-siblings. (see his profile and its attached discussion. There is little way to be certain of strict genetic lines. Care has been taken to be accurate in this project but there is little way to be certain in all cases.

As yet, the original author of this project has not encountered any researcher, living or otherwise, who has made these observations. Consider the case of first name unknown Varley/Knauer . He/she is the child of a fifty-two-year-old Jacob Knauer, married w/children, and a circa sixteen-year-old maiden whose last name was Varley. We are not even sure that the couple were 'Battle-Axe' members. Yet it seems to be the case. The paternity suit (Varley v. Knauer) was held in the same court room over the same three days as other Battle-Axe defendants and decided in the young plaintiff's favor. Knauer and family subsequently left the state.

The Elliott, Varley , and Knauer questions are all documented and attached to this project.

location

Northwestern Chester County, Pennsylvania, in several of the Coventry Townships. The leaders of the movement first stayed with the Reinharts of East Coventry but moved their base a couple miles to a location shown to the north west of what is now known as North Coventry Twp near the Berks County line. Men of the sect were primarily engaged in physical labor trades such as farming and iron working.

timeline

• from about 1821: Gates published numerous issues of The Reformer and circulated it by subscription sales out of his home on N. 3rd St., Philadelphia
• 1837 "Gates was born in Hartland, Connecticut; early experienced strange, disturbing visions; in Philadelphia 1810-35; criticized existing religions in the monthly Reformer; unhappy home life led him to adopt perfectionism*; influenced by J. H. Noyes*; launched 'Battle-Axe Experiment' 1837, advocating free love based on a principle of holiness leading to union of soul mates. His colony (became established in rural 'Free Love Valley', Chester County (Archived link no longer available)
• 1840 ; May 30th, Ridley, Delaware County; Gates and William try to convince Morton to leave wife; Morton commits suicide on June 6th.
• 1840 Gates and Williamson come to join the Rineharts at their home in East Coventry Twp.
• 1841 Riley and Mussulman convicted in Carlisle
• 1843 "a number of them were arrested; A continent was tried and convicted, the (some) being subsequently discharged. William Stubblebine seems to have died in this faith." (Furthey and Cope)
  • courtroom scene described in detail Public Ledger 24 Feb 1843, Fri · Page 1
• 1846 Gates dies and Hannah Williamson assumes leadership
• (there seems to be a dearth of information about the sect in the decade between 1846 and 1855)
• In 1855, one of the group’s members, the elderlly Hannah Shingle, was murdered in her farmhouse by her own axe. No one was brought to justice. Soon after this, the group fell apart and cult leader Williamson moved away from the township.
• 1857 Interest wanes and 'sacred' rites of the sects cease

Alpha.-Lists Follow:

Adherents and those affected

~• the short-lived "Free Love" religious cult which had a core following in the Chester/Berks County area near the Matatawny and the Schuylkill.

• Barde, Samuel : Samuel Barde (convicted)
• Joseph Elliott and his wife Harriet and (perhaps) Joseph's partner Henryetta => Henryetta
• Gates, Theophilus R.Gates (leader) ; (1787-1846) his ealy death foretold the demise of the cult Theophilus Ransom Gates
• Morton, Aaron Taylor : Aaron Taylor Morton (suicide)
• Noyes, John Humphreys Gates had followed Noyes' work with interest
• Rinehart (severall)
  • George and his shingle wings , Coventry Twp. follower, George Reinhart , brother of William
  • Mary Ann (aka Ann) Rinehart née Boyer and her husband
  • Samuel Rinehart of East Coventry Township died in 1844 leaving Ann a widow. (Ann is the woman who supported Jesse Elliott (age 13) in her home (1860) but Jesse lived with an Elliott family in 1850)
• Shingle, Hannah (read account of her death
• Snyder, Magdalene ('chose' the married man Stubblebine) had siblings in the movement as well: Nathan & Elizabeth. Their parents lived on Unionville Rd.+ Mr. George Snyder (see video)
• Stubblebine (several)
  • William and Mary Ann William husband and wife William Stubblebine ,
  • George Stubblevine
  • David Stubblebine
• Lydia Williamson (convicted) and her sister Hannah Williamson, partner of Theophilus Gates

hypothetical result of a liaison including children out of wedlock (OOW) and close relatives of same (CR)

• Elliott, Jesse : Jesse Elliott of Coventry Township circumstantial evidence suggests as yet unconfirmed parentage (OOW)
• Mary Ann Rinehart (CR) and Mark her son. Ann M. Rinehart
• Catherine Stubblebine (CR) died in meager circumstances, her husband David disappears from records after his court case in the Battle Axe series of trials in West Chester.
• Elizabeth Stubblebine left her home unannounced and disappeared (CR)
• first name unknown Varley/Knauer (OOW) paternity suit followed birth; birth father left state

challenges to building correct pedigrees

Anyone engaged in advocating free love based on a principle of holiness leading to union of soul mates in this his colony in 'Free Love Valley' (or nearby) presents a challenge. Offspring from some of these kinds of unions are difficult to trace. When you see a profile earmarked "Battle Axe Sect", keep in mind that there will certainly be many instances of spurious pedigrees.

Parents and children of communities such as these have seldom, if ever, been forthright about creating any genealogical records of their members, especially the children born out of temporary, non-matrimonial pairing. There is little reliable documentation such as birth certificates or reliable baptismal records. The upshot is that it may be fruitless to even try to trace pedigrees of a few of such 'Free Love Valley' children.

DNA and mRNA testing might be the most reliable method to advance with such tasks. However, the population of these 'communicants' was only estimated to be no more than (some say) forty individual. Admittedly the duration of these polyamorous practices seems to have covered approximately one decade.

surnames worth researching

• RINEHART as in the Joshua Rinehart parcel in East Coventry 93+ acres near the Schuylkill (Map #1) > there is a Louis as well (
  • 1860 Census of East Coventry, Chester County, PA, United States : Ann M Rinehart 59, Mark Rinehart 37, Samuel Bard 77, Jesse Elliot 13 >
    • Samuel and Jesse are assumed to be: Samuel Barde & Jesse Elliott of Coventry Township
    • Ann/Anna Rinehart is prob.:https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/167255923/person/3... Anna née Boyer who married Samuel Reinhart (1795–1844) BIRTH 1795 • Coventry, Chester Co., DEATH 1844. They had a som Mark: Mark Reinhart (1821–1891) BIRTH 01 JAN 1821 • , Montgomery, Pennsylvania, USA DEATH 01 FEB 1891 • Hampden, Highland, Virginia,

Research Resources

Maps

1. https://ancestortracks.com/ChesterCo1883BreausFarmAtlas/EastCoventr... (1883 East Coventry)
2. Parker Ford in East Coventry Twp. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Ford,_Pennsylvania
3. https://www.chesco.org/DocumentCenter/View/41662/1842-Chester-Count... = 1842 Coventry was North and South only
4. https://ancestortracks.com/Chester_resources.html

Articles

1. Futhey and Cope's History of Chester County
2. Charles Coleman Sellers = a book about the Free Love Community; published in 1930; held at the Pottstown Library
3. https://jmtomko.wordpress.com/2009/08/06/weird-history-free-love-va...
4. https://www.dailylocal.com/2013/05/18/chester-county-prison-ledger-... By MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN | mrellahan@dailylocal.com | PUBLISHED: May 18, 2013 at 3:03 p.m. | UPDATED: August 19, 2021 :the Prison Docket ledger book contains unusually specific information about those inmates kept at the Chester County Prison for almost two decades in the middle of the 19th century. Unlike other records that detail a marriage date or deed transfer, this docket includes physical and social descriptions of the people who found themselves at odds with police authorities.The 351-page book manufactured by a Philadelphia bookbinder is divided into ledger listing of an inmates’ names, the date they were incarcerated, bail, their alleged offenses, any sentences they received, their discharge date, and physical descriptions for those actually convicted of a crime.
5. "Anne Broomall Wiegle (1944-2020), a local Chester County researcher, gave the following information about the sect in a message sent to the PACHESTE-L list on Rootsweb a number of years ago: "About 1840-45 there was a strange religious sect called the Battle Axes of the Lord."
6. https://www.ojrsdhistory.com/townships
7. Henry G. Ashmead; Delaware Historical Society (1901) deinfo@dehistory.org (302) 655-7161 research@dehistory.org

Video

youtube short history of the sect

FaceBook

https://www.facebook.com/FreeLoveValley/

Other Urls

• https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/locations/chester-county-penns...
• Chester County Deed Book https://www.chesco.org/DocumentCenter/View/39261/Surnames-U-V
• https://sites.rootsweb.com/~pacheste/chester_twplist_coventry.htm

Researchers

1. gplummer01 (living) on ancestry dot com
2. author: http://midatlanticroots.com/drupal/chester-county/battle-axes-free-... (living status unknown)
3. Anne Broomall Wiegle (deceased), a local Chester County researcher, gave () information" "A wonderfully well-done website on the Stubblebine family pointed me in the direction of a lengthy article about the sect, printed originally in the West Chester Local News in 1987."From Farm Community to Haven for Free Sexual Affairs ; Sunday Local News, West Chester, PA, pp A17-A18, March 29, 1987
4. A local historian, W. Edmund Claussen, did some research on them. If you are interested, look for his books." ~•says Weigle • these include: Stories of the Falls of French Creek Paperback – January 1, 1974, W. Edmund Claussen • The Boyertown of Editor Charles Spatz Hardcover – January 1, 1973; Pioneers along the Manatawny, Spiral-bound – January 1, 1968