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{ 257 chapter 12 “So I’ll relinquish all demands” journey’s end at new lebanon So I’ll relinquish all demands For any good I’ve ever done; I’ll throw my soul into thy hands, And trust thy mercy, that alone. —“Nightly Prayer,” Issachar Bates Issachar Bates took up residence at the New Lebanon, New York, Shaker community in June 1835. It was relatively unfamiliar, but not entirely unknown, territory for him. For more than a generation, New Lebanon had been the center of the Shaker world, the largest concentration of Shakers anywhere . Issachar had confessed his sins there in 1801. More recently, he had traveled there in 1830 along with Solomon King, where they were honored as two venerable representatives of the distant West. Now he arrived to stay, a storied figure from Shakerism’s western flank, known to most easterners only by reputation or from his many poems and hymns. Issachar Bates’s desperateand unsatisfied desiretoremaininOhio,coupled with the stress over the West’s many difficulties and recent quarrels with his closest Ohio comrades, had left him a shattered man. Upon arriving at New Lebanon, the seventy-seven-year-old Issachar was probably as depressed and anguished as he had been in his life. But he was not finished yet. Drawing on his gregarious nature and his many personal resources and talents, he displayed remarkable resilience during his final interlude at New Lebanon. Issachar found comfort in his favorite activities—singing, preaching, poetry , gardening. He corresponded with western friends and tried to rectify the troubles he had left behind in Ohio, at the same time embracing his new situation. Issachar finally completed his life’s journey having cultivated a place in yet another Shaker family, where he was loved, honored, and long remembered. DWe went on to Cleveland. There we staid more than two days, and the Elders from North Union visited us one day. And on Saturday we went on board the steam boat, William Penn, and arrived at Buffalo in thirty hours; then stepped into a Canal boat and went on to Schenectady. Then hired a carriage and went to Watervliet, where we were kindly received and well 258 } issachar bates treated. Here we staid and visited more than a week. We visited every family, and I took all the comfort I had any room to receive; for there was comfort enough to have comforted a regiment of men . . . But what effect could all this have on a Job, when he was curdled like cheese, & his gall poured out upon the ground. Now will you think that I am exposing myself again. Well let it be so, I am writing my experience.1 Issachar fretted for much of the eastward journey. When the group reached Cleveland, they were expected to ride over to North Union, some twenty miles from the canal. But pleading illness, the elders and eldresses remained at a hotel while young Harvey Eades ventured to North Union by himself. Possibly Issachar was in such a funk that he felt unable to conduct himself cheerfully during a visit there. Dismayed to learn that the main group was not coming, the North Union elders went to visit them briefly at their lodging.2 When the group embarked on Lake Erie, Issachar rallied somewhat, walking about the boat with Benjamin and busying himself seeing to the security of the group’s luggage.3 Having enjoyed his 1830 voyage on Lake Erie, it is likely Issachar was exhilarated to be on the Great Lakes once again. Issachar Bates Senr, of Watervliet Ohio, having come by steam-boats & canals & land carriage from South Union in 22 days, from Louisville in 21 days, and from Cincinnati in 19 days. Issachar, Mercy, and Hopewell­expect to reside at N. Lebanon.4 The group stayed at Watervliet for more than a week, where they were cordially welcomed. The visit would have included Sabbath worship, as well as weeknight meetings for singing and socializing. Issachar’s note that he made the rounds to each family confirms that was reunited with his kin at Water­ vliet—his brothers Theodore and Caleb, sisters Dolly and Olive, son Issachar , and a multitude of nieces, nephews, and in-laws. He probably also spent time with Seth Youngs Wells, with whom he had corresponded throughout his thirty years in the West and probably his closest friend among the eastern Shakers. Likely the stay at Watervliet allowed Issachar to decompress from the anxieties that had attended his departure from...

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