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John Humphrey Noyes Utopian Socialist 1811-1836

John Humphrey Noyes is most famous for founding the Oneida Community.

Noyes was a creative thinker at a young age. As a young adult studying at Dartmouth College he started to challenge his religion. In his opinion, it was strange that Christianity required him to suffer. He felt that it demanded perfection to get into heaven. He dreamed of a more positive community where everyone was allowed to be happy and practice free love rather than be held down by the constraints of their religion. In 1848 he and his followers formed a community, after his legal wife was arrested for adultery. This is the beginning of the Oneida Community. Hundreds of people in America had the same viewpoints as Noyes and decided to live with him in the Oneida Community. It was a self sufficient community based primarily on beliefs that God wanted his people to be happy. In important practice in the community was free love. Oneida Came to an end in 1879 when Noyes was accused of statutory rape. He fled to Canada where he advised his followers to lead a life that followed traditional rules of marriage.

References: __Myron Kinsley__-Noyes' closest ally in the Oneida Community. He warned Noyes of his bounty and advised him to flee. Kinsley was a very close follower of Noyes. Noyes suggested that another of his followers marry Kinsley, after the Oneida Community was disbanded. __Charlotte Miller Leonard__-Oneida Community resident, and mother of John Humphrey Noyes II. Her son's father was John H. Noyes, and she was happy about this in the beginning of his life, but she started to change her mind, as noted in her diary. She remained a member of the society, but sometimes questioned its practices.

Works Cited "Children Â« Tontine 255 Blog." //Tontine 255 Blog//. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2011. . "John Humphrey Noyes and the Oneida Perfectionists." //American Studies @ The University of Virginia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2011. .

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