Les adeptes de Jakob Lorber, ou Jacob Lorber, trouveront ici de quoi compléter la biographie de leur « prophète» sur le sujet du Dr Zimpel, un des premiers éditeurs de Lorber en 1852. Le 12 mars 1856 Ch. F. Zimpel prêchait à Wakefied devant les adeptes de John Wroé dont il avait fait connaissance vers 1850-1851. Le Dr Zimpel rendit visite vers 1870 au petit groupe de Lorberianer à Trieste, qui s’activait à recopier les écrits de Lorber et Mayerhofer, et dont faisait partie à cette époque Christoph Friedrich Landbeck, futur éditeur à Bietigheim de ces mêmes écrits (Neu theosophicher Verlag, puis nommé Neu-Salems Verlag en 1907, aujourd’hui Lorber Verlag).

Le Dr Zimpel voulu inviter C. F. Landbeck à l’accompagner en Palestine, où Zimpel, je rappelle, cherchait à faire construire un chemin de fer de Jaffa à Jérusalem, dans l’optique du retour des juifs en Palestine selon d’enseignement de la Christian Israelite Church de Wroe. Landbeck déclina l’invitation.

Mais il est impossible que Landbeck et les premiers lorberianer de Trieste aient ignoré l’implication de Zimpel dans le groupe de Wroé, Jakob lorber (1800-1864) lui-même ne l’ignorait probablement pas puisque en 1851 Zimpel était déjà adepte de Wroé et avait publié en 1855 « Commandement de la Loi et du Témoignage pour les 12 tribus de la maison d’Israel nommée Israélites Chrétiens ».

Landbeck ne donne jamais d’autres indications sur Zimpel que celle du créateur de la Sparagye. Il existe de bonnes raisons pour lesquelles les manuscrits et documents du groupe détenus par la maison d’édition n’ont jamais été rendus publics. Ce n’est pas par hasard si Karl Rohm fait remarquer que Landbeck, son ami, a su manœuvrer avec sagesse et finesse pour que les lecteurs des écrits de Lorber ne créent pas de sectes.

WROE, JOHN (1782–1863), fanatic, founder of ‘Christian Israelites,’ eldest son of Joseph Roe, was born at Bowling, parish of Bradford, Yorkshire, on 19 Sept. 1782 (baptised on 8 Dec.). His name is latinised Joannes Roes by Samuel Walker and Henry Lees, his followers. His father was a farmer, worsted manufacturer, and collier. As a lad he was neither robust in mind nor in body, and grew up without learning to read. He complains of ill usage; after carrying ‘a window stone to the second floor,’ he was never straight again. He was with his father in business, getting the drudgery and cheated of the profits, till at length (about 1810) he set up for himself in the farming and wool-combing business, marrying, five years later, a daughter of Benjamin Appleby, of Farnley Mills, near Leeds (she died on 16 May 1853, aged 74). Symptoms of mania appeared in the winter of 1816–17, when he harboured for a time the resolve to shoot his brother Joseph, who had overreached him. In the second half of 1819 he was struck down by fever, being at the same time much harassed by debt. On his recovery he took to bible-reading in the fields, and began to see visions, followed by temporary blindness and a condition of trance (the first dated vision is 12 Nov. 1819). They were written down by neighbours (Abraham Holmes being the first scribe), and were considered prophetic. His wife had his head shaved (1 Feb. 1820), but the visions went on. He began to attend meetings of the followers of Joanna Southcott [q. v.], then led by George Turner of Leeds (d September 1821). His angelic ‘guide’ told him to visit the Jews. He walked to Liverpool for that purpose, and on the same errand travelled to London, where he delivered (30 Aug. 1820) a ‘mes- [ 159 ] sage’ to the queen. In September 1822 he first claimed the succession to Turner's leadership; by many members of the Southcottian societies his claim was allowed. On 14 Dec. 1822, leaving his wife and three children, he started on his prophetic peregrinations to the Southcottian societies, the Jews, and ‘all nations.’ His authority for preaching ‘the everlasting gospel of the redemption of soul and body’ was supposed to be attested by acts of healing, as well as by prognostication. His travels, as reported in the fragmentary notices of his followers, are not without interest; in 1823 he visited Gibraltar, Spain, France, Germany, and Italy; in 1827 he made his way to Scotland, in 1828 to Wales. His peculiarities developed as he went on. In March 1823 he discarded the names of the months, using the quaker numbering. He let his beard grow. On 30 Aug. 1823, and again on 29 Feb. 1824, he was publicly baptised in running rivers. On 17 April 1824 he was publicly circumcised at a meeting of believers, and proclaimed the fact next day to a large congregation in a field at Ashton-under-Lyne. His followers adopted the rite. For circumcising Daniel Grimshaw, an infant who died of the operation (September 1824), Henry Lees of Ashton was tried for manslaughter at Lancaster (March 1825), but acquitted. On several occasions Wroe disappeared for days together, subsisting once for fourteen days (September 1824) on hedge fruit and growing corn. He divided his people into twelve tribes; his son Benjamin was to lead one of them, and on Benjamin's death he transferred the name Benjamin to another son. Money was forthcoming in support of Wroe's pretensions. In 1823 his followers employed a room at Charlestown, Ashton, as a ‘sanctuary.’ On 25 Dec. 1825 a well-built and costly ‘sanctuary’ was opened in Church Street, Ashton. On this erection John Stanley spent 9,500l.; a fine organ was subsequently added (the building is now a theatre). The sanctuary had an ‘unclean’ pew, and beneath the pulpit was a ‘cleansing’ room. At each of the cardinal points in the outskirts of the town a square building was erected, marking the four ‘gates’ of the future temple area, of

which the ‘sanctuary’ was to form the centre. One of these (in which Wroe's ‘trial’ was held) is now a public-house, known as ‘The Odd Whim.’

While living at Park Bridge, near Ashton, a charge of criminal intercourse with Martha Whitley, his apprentice, a child of twelve, was brought against Wroe on 18 Dec. 1827, but not sustained. During his absence at Bristol, in October 1830, charges of minor misconduct were laid against him by Mary Quance, Sarah Pile, and Ann Hall, all of whom had been in his service. An investigation was held (24 and 25 Oct.) at Ashton by a committee of his friends. The proceedings, which were unruly, ended in an acquittal, after two of the ‘jury’ had been removed and replaced by others; one of these two was James Elimalet Smith [q. v.] ‘A very considerable part’ of his following, including Henry Lees, now left him, and ‘cut off their beards.’ Wroe left for Huddersfield, but made two attempts (February and April 1831) to return to Ashton, causing serious riots. Other immoralities were laid to his charge, but cannot be said to have been proved. He was frequently accused by those who left his fold of sharp practice, which they called swindling.

From this date the ‘Israelites,’ or ‘Christian Israelites,’ as they called themselves, Wroeites, as their opponents designated them, formed a sect apart from the main followers of Joanna Southcott. His adherents at Ashton-under-Lyne, among whom were many respectable shopkeepers, were popularly known as ‘Joannas’ for forty years later; their long beards, and their habit of wearing their tall broad-brimmed felt hats, as they served their customers, rendered them conspicuous; their shops were closed from Friday at six to Saturday at six. George Frederick Muntz [q. v.], when visiting Manchester, was saluted as a ‘Joanna’ on account of his beard. The women followers had many peculiarities of dress, and the dietetic regulations of the community were strictly conformed to Hebrew usage. Half-members, being uncircumcised and not wearing the beard, were recognised as ‘brethren’ on ‘signing to obey the two first books of the Laws.’ Obedience was enforced by a system of penances.

Driven from Ashton in 1831, Wroe continued to travel in search of disciples, his headquarters being at Wrenthorpe, near Wakefield, where he had a printing press from 1834, perhaps earlier. In 1842 his house was broken into by burglars. On the false evidence of Wroe and his family, three innocent persons were transported; they were released five years later on the discovery of the real culprits. In the autumn of 1843 he visited Australia and New Zealand, and again in 1850, returning in June 1851. His followers were known in Australia as ‘beardies.’ He had many followers in America, which he visited four times. After rambling as before in many parts of England, he again visited Australia, return- [ 160 ] ing to England in 1854. In 1856 he directed his followers to wear a gold ring. The rings supplied by Wroe were paid for as gold, but turned out to be base metal. His Melbourne followers found money for building him a splendid mansion, Melbourne House, near Wakefield, dedicated with great ceremony in presence of delegates from all parts of the world, at sunrise, on Whit-Sunday, 1857. He was again in Australia in 1859. On a final voyage (1862) to Australia, he dislocated his shoulder. He died suddenly on 5 Feb. 1863 at Collingwood, Melbourne. He had prophesied 1863 as the beginning of the millennium; his followers expected his resurrection. No portrait of him exists, pictorial art being rejected as a breach of the decalogue. J. E. Smith refers to his ‘savage look and hump back;’ Chadwick mentions his ‘very prominent nose;’ others note his haggard visage, shaggy hair, and broad-brimmed beaver.

Wroe's ‘divine communications,’ as recorded by his scribes and published by the ‘trustees of the people called Israelites,’ may be found in 1. ‘An Abridgment of John Wroe's Life and Travels,’ 4th edit. Gravesend, 1851, 8vo (the incomplete first edit. Wakefield, 1834, 8vo, has

title ‘Divine Communications’); vol. ii. 4th edit. Gravesend, 1851; vol. iii. 1st edit. Gravesend, 1855, 8vo; there is also the first volume of a fuller collection, ‘The Life and Journal of John Wroe,’ Gravesend, 1859, 8vo; a second volume, Gravesend, 1861, 8vo, is merely a fifth edition of ‘Abridgment,’ vol. ii. 2. ‘The Word of God to guide Israel … containing the Afternoon Service,’ Wakefield, 1834, 8vo (finished 20 April). 3. ‘The Laws and Commandments of God,’ Wakefield, 1835, 8vo. 4. ‘Twelve Songs for Divine Worship,’ Wakefield [1834], 8vo (chiefly from the Song of Solomon); included in ‘Song of Moses and the Lamb,’ Gravesend, 1853, 12mo (several earlier editions of this hymn-book, which appears to be of mixed authorship). 5. ‘The Faith of Israel,’ Wakefield, 1843, 12mo. 6. ‘The Laws of God,’ Wakefield, 1843, 12mo. Two sets of reports of Wroe's sermons are in 7. ‘A Guide to the People surnamed Israelites,’ Boston, Massachusetts, 1847, 12mo, and 8. ‘A Guide to the People surnamed Israelites,’ Gravesend, 1852, 8vo. See also ‘An Abridgment of John Wroe's Revelations,’ 3rd edit. Boston, Massachusetts, 1849, 8vo; ‘Extracts of Letters,’ Wakefield [1841], 12mo (from Australian believers), and ‘Extracts of Letters … of the Israelite Preachers,’ 1822–9, 12mo (eight pamphlets).

There must have been some strange fascination about the man, for (apart from his remarkable code of discipline) his utterances are but fatuous insipidities with a biblical twang, having neither the pathetic earnestness of Joanna Southcott nor the crude originality of her other improver, John Ward (1781–1837) [q. v.] The appended notes, claiming ‘fulfilments’ of Wroe's prophecies, are childish. Any speciality attaching to Wroe's doctrine arises from the presence of a mysticism akin to that of Guillaume Postel (1505–1581), which demands a feminine Messiah to complete the requisites of salvation. The references to topics of sex are frequent, but not impure; it is said, but the statement may be received with caution, that there is a secret manual of the sect, ‘the private revelation given to John Wroe’ (FIELDEN), offensively indecent in its language; its subject is understood to be one which is common to all treatises of moral theology. The mode of administering the penance by stripes, as related by Fielden, is grossly indelicate; but there is not a tittle of evidence of immoral teaching. His community still exists in diminished number.

[Wroe's publications, above; E. Butterworth's Hist. of Ashton-under-Lyne, 1842, p. 69; Davis's The Wroeites' Faith, 1850; Fielden's Exposition of the Fallacies of Christian Israelites [1861?]; Letter to ‘Leeds Times’ on the Character of J. Wroe, 1858; Notes and Queries, 18 June 1864, p. 493; Smith's The Coming Man, 1873, i. 168; Baring-Gould's Yorkshire Oddities, 1874, i. 23; Glover and Andrews's Hist. of Ashton-under-Lyne, 1884, p. 306 (engraving of the sanctuary); W. Anderson Smith's Shepherd Smith, 1892, p. 44; Chadwick's Reminiscences of Stalybridge, in ‘Stalybridge Herald,’ 1897, Nos. xiii–xvi; extract from Bradford parish register, per Mr. A. B. Sewell; information from the Rev. W. Begley.]

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Seven Angels To The Seven Churches Revelation 1:20

The Seven Messengers To The Seven Churches

Of Israel At The Latter Day

A Brief Historical Time Line

Joanna Southcott, 1792-1814, began receiving communications from the Spirit in 1792, in Devonshire, England.  She would prophesy until her death in 1814.  She attracted a following estimated at 150,000 including bishops of the Church of England, nobility, and men of wealth and influence.  She would fill 65 volumes of oral recordings concerning the "true explanation of the Bible", the Second Coming and the teaching of the redemption of the body, without death (Revelation 21:1-7).  Her prophesies and influence have passed onto the following six churches.

Richard Brothers, 1790-1792, is considered the second of the lineage because that he fulfilled the prophecy out of Revelation 2: 9-10, for the Second Angel to the Church at Smyrna.  Known for his impoverished situation at the outset of his visions in 1790 and later would be imprisoned for 10 years, 1794-1804 for his declaration that the Royal Family would have to step down at the coming of the King of Heaven and earth.  Brothers would become a recognized and popular influence on the "British Israel" movement, which gained notable acceptance after his death in later Victorian England. Part of his message taught that the scattered and lost 10 families of Israel had journeyed northward, and through migrations had settled in northwestern Europe and particularly the United Kingdom.  There they would remain until the Latter Day when at the Lord's second appearance they would gather together again as one family, from out of which the elect would be taken.

George Turner 1814-1821, Turner was an early follower of Joanna from his home in Leeds, and he would secure the following of the largest numbers in the north of England after Joanna's death.  Turner would write 10 volumes concerning the coming of Christ in the name of Shiloh (Genesis 49:10) (Joshua 18:1), which name was first given through Brothers and also Joanna.  Turner was first to prophesy that the church's order would be patterned after the First Church at Jerusalem, an apostolic order.

William Shaw 1821-22, little is known of the life or work of Shaw, but he was recognized as a prophet that gathered some of the splinters from Joanna's following.  His writings would remain in manuscript form until into the early 20th century when they would be printed at San Diego, California, and given their respective place as the Message of the Fourth in the Lineage of Seven.  Shaw's communications are the only writings that are yet unfound to the 200 year library at Mary's City of David.  They are indeed a rare find.

John Wroe 1822-1863, Wroe would begin his ministry to Israel in December of 1822 from Bradford, England, and would travel extensively for forty years throughout the world.  He would found the Society of Christian Israelites  (Christian Israelite Church) would visit Australia 3 times and tour America 5 times.  His society would adopt many of the Levitical teachings of the Sabbath day, clean and unclean meats, and circumcision to become a full or

covenant member.  John Wroe would be the first major influence since Joanna to the progress of the teaching, and his numerous volumes are filled with deep and truthful insights to all areas of scriptural mysteries.  His divine communications along with Joanna's oral communications would continue to be recognized in the remaining two churches unto this day.

James Jezreel 1873-1885, author of "Extracts From the Flying Roll", and founder of the New and Latter House of Israel, James was a follower of the Christian Israelite faith in England, and later broke away from them.

To form his own organization at Gillingham/Chatham, England.  James would make one world tour visiting both Australia and America in 1882.  He sent numbers of ministers into America, which was highly looked towards for new membership, and at its zenith, the membership in America surpassed that in England.  The extracts from the Flying Roll would become a major text in the progress into the Seventh Church.

Mary and Benjamin Purnell, 1895-1953, Mary and Benjamin would become followers of James Jezreel in the late 1880s from their home in Richmond, Indiana.  They would be enjoined to the Michael Mills Commune in Detroit, Michigan around 1891-2, and were commissioned as traveling preachers, canvassing literature of the New and Latter House of Israel until March of 1895.

 

 

Witnessed by the entire assembly, Mary and Benjamin received the  "grafting" of the Spirit, which made them the coveted and long awaited and expected Seventh Messenger.  Their rejection from the Detroit assembly turned out of doors not many weeks after the event of the graft.  For 7 years they would remain on the road preaching the Israelite faith and writing the covenant message for the Seventh Church, entitled, the Star of Bethlehem, the Living Roll of Life.  They found a brief home at Fostoria, Ohio in 1902 and then came to Benton Harbor, Michigan to start the Seventh Church, the Israelite House of David, in 1903.  By 1916 they had gathered 1000 members at home with a worldwide following, and a branch community at Sydney, Australia.  Benjamin Purnell would pass away in December, 1927 upon the completion of an infamous court trial that found him guilty of operating a fraudulent enterprise in the guise of religion.  The opinion of the trial court was immediately appealed to

the Michigan State Supreme Court, and in 1929 much of the lower court decree was overturned.  In the aftermath of the death of Benjamin Purnell, and in the years of his long-term illness preceding, there was a schism in the membership over direction and the Israelite future.  One half would side with Mary Purnell, cofounder, and co-author of the Covenant Message, and one half would oppose her in favor of the board director, H.T. Dewhirst.  After three years of bitter wrangling for control of the destiny of the community, Mary decided to dissolve the Israelite House of David and start anew with those that would remain faithful in fellowship with her.  By the Spring of 1930 an out of court settlement was reached in which Mary and her 217 faithful would depart from their homes, walking two blocks east and starting all over.  New membership would come in and the Israelite House of David as reorganized by Mary Purnell was born in a tent on March 14, 1930, now commonly called and for brevity, Mary's City of David.  A spartan and lean beginning that soon took shape as a new community from the ground up.  Under Mary Purnell's inspiring leadership and within 7 years most of the present day City of David was built in the times of worldwide depression.  Mary's new colony flourished and attracted more followers of the Israelite faith.  Mary's direction was that of a more orthodox and lower profile than the Israelite House of David was heading and would become under the direction of H.T. Dewhirst.  She would remain at the forefront of the movement and would continue to give forth both oral and written communications for the following worldwide.  Mary Purnell's death in 1953 would begin the long spiral downward in terms of membership, community influence and visibility to the world.  In 1991, under the direction of the new Secretary of the Trustees, R. James Taylor, Mary's City of David initiated a full scale program of restorations to its properties, and in August of 1997 the community opened its doors to the public with a museum and tours program featuring a number of historic sites within the City of David, and a museum filled with the history of the story of Seven Churches and the Lineage of the Israelite faith.  For the purposes of a new source of revenue, an opportunity to again educate the public as to the faith and history of the Israelite community, and the desire for a new and fresh exposure to the world that was lost in the last 35 years.

Learn More With the Following Links:

www.joannasouthcott.com

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Information on John Wroe

Southcott: taking the lid off an article by Frank Smith source unknown

The Southcottians survived —despite an over-zealous and well publicised attempt to walk on water and the grim repercussions of a fatal circumcision. Besides, they still had, they claimed, Joanna Southcott’s mysterious box. FRANK SMYTH investigates

MELBOURNE HOUSE is a large building of Yorkshire millstone grit, standing aloof in its own grounds on the lip of the motorway between Wakefield and Bradford. Its boundary walls bear the hallmarks of early Victorian squirearchy; neat notices, carved into the grey stone like epitaphs. warn: ‘No hawkers’, ‘No vagrants’ and, much more alarmingly, ‘Beware man-traps’.

But the house was built by no ordinary country gentleman. John Wroe was the most bizarre of all Joanna Southcott’s eccentric followers - part buffoon, part ‘terrible patriarch’, to quote a contemporary newspaper - but he had more personal charisma than even Southcott herself. Today Melbourne House is still known locally as ‘Prophet Wroe’ s Mansion’.

Wroe saw his duties, outlined to him by an angelic guide, as an obligation to ‘preach to the Jews’. In the first eight years of his ‘ministry’ he traveled first to Liverpool and then to London, where he delivered a message to Queen Charlotte, and then went on to Gibraltar, Spain. France, Germany. Italy, Scotland and Wales. His energy was prodigious, for he traveled mostly on foot, interspersing his foreign trips with bouts of fiery evangelicalism at home.

His peculiarities grew more noticeable as time passed First he ordered the Southcottians to discard the names of months, numbering them instead. Then he began to grow his beard, demanding that all his male disciples do likewise. He made two - -.

publicised attempts to walk on water - first, F in August 1823, on the river Aire near

Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds. and secondly, in February of the following rear, on the Lyne. near Ashton. When his attempts failed hilariously, he hastily announced that he had been undergoing a ‘public baptism’.

Certainly Wroe had the courage of his strange convictions: on 17 April 1823 he was publicly circumcised at a meeting of believers, and was strong enough to proclaim - and show evidence of - the fact at a packed open-air meeting at Ashton-under-Lyne the following day. But the incident had tragic repercussions. One of his disciples. Henry Lees of Ashton. circumcised an infant named Daniel Grimshaw, who bled to death as a result. During the outcry that followed Wroe deemed it politic to disappear for a fortnight.

But despite the Grimshaw incident - Lees was tried and acquitted of manslaughter the following March - Ashton-under-Lyne and nearby Manchester proved for a while to be a goldmine for Prophet’ Wroe. An elaborate Sanctuary’ was furnished for him at Charles-town, in Ashton. by his followers, and on Christmas Day I82~ a more elaborate one, with a fine organ, was opened at a cost of £9500. It was designed to resemble a theatre - indeed for years after Wroe’s death it the Hippodrome music hall, and recently was re-opened as the Tameside Theatre - and had an ‘unclean’ pew where women accused of ‘unchastitv’ sat during services. After the service they were taken to a ‘cleansing room’ beneath the pulpit. were they were stripped naked, then whipped by the prophet with a birch rod. At each cardinal point on the outskirts of the town a square building was erected, marking the four gates of a temple, planned along the lines of the temple at Jerusalem, of which the sanctuary was to form the center. One of these, in which Wroe’s ‘trial’ was held, is now a public house appropriately named The Odd Whim.

Wroe’s trial came about as a result of his sexual tendencies, although the charge of ‘swindler" was also leveled at him. In 1827 a 12-year-old girl. Martha Whitley. accused him of having had intercourse with her. At first Wroe denied the charge, but when three years later three more young girls accused him of sexual interference during the ‘cleansing’ ceremonies, he was called to answer. According to the Dictionary of national biographv of 1917, although Wroe was obsessed by sex ‘there is not a tittle of immoral teaching’.

However, after the trial - an unruly proceeding by all account – ‘a very considerable number of (the Southcottians) left him and shaved off their beards’. including Henry Lees, the over-enthusiastic circumciser. Wroe was never welcome in Ashton again, although for 40 years afterwards many of his followers were found in the town. They included several shopkeepers, who wore long straggling beards and tall felt hats, closed their shops for 24 hours from 6p.m. on Fridays, and were known as ‘Joannas’.

The charge of ‘swindling’ was almost certainly true. In 1856, Wroe ordered his followers to wear gold rings; but although they paid for gold, they were issued with rings made of brass. And in 1842 when his printing shoo at Wrenthorpe, Wakefield, was broken into by burglars. Wroe's perjury convicted three innocent people, a fact that came to light only when the real culprits were caught five years later.

But the setback at Ashton did not disturb the prophet. His ‘breakaway’ group of Southcottians became known as ‘Christian Israelites’, and to their practices of beards and circumcision Wroe added adherence to a strict kosher diet.

‘Beardies’ down under

In Australia. where Joanna Southcott’s influence had already been vicariously felt. Wroe became hugely popular after his first extended visit in 1843 - his followers there were known as ‘beardies’. His Melbourne congregation collected the £10,000 with which he built Melbourne House, ‘dedicating’ it at sunrise on Whit Sunday 1857. Since the Second World War it has been an old people’s home.

Wroe’s final prophecy had the same germ of truth as that of Joanna Southcott; in the 1840’s he had forecast that the Millennium would begin in 1863 - but on 5 February of that year he died suddenly after breaking his collar bone, at Collingwood, Melbourne, and was buried there.

No portrait exists of Wroe, for unlike Southcott he thought such things sinful. Possibly his appearance had something to do with the omission, for he was described as having a ‘savage, haggard look’, with a hump back and very prominent nose’ - to which was added long shaggy hair and beard and a big misshapen hat.

‘There must have been some strange fascination about the man.’ wrote a late - Victorian commentator, ‘for his utterances are but fatuous insipidities with a Biblical twang, having neither the pathetic earnest - of Joanna Southcott nor the crude originality of her other improver, John Ward.’

After Wroe’s death the Southcottians pursued their beliefs quietly for about two years.

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MR WROE'S VIRGINS

Our ancestor John Stanley was involved in a little known and curious episode in the history of Ashton-under-Lyne. The following story was not passed down verbally; indeed, it seems to have been kept secret. It was only rediscovered through researching our family history.

Johanna Southcott a Devonshire prophetess was born at Ottery St Mary in 1750. Most of her prophecies were kept in a sealed box to be opened at some future unspecified date. Her followers were called Southcottians and there were numerous societies which met throughout England, especially in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and even as far afield as America and Australia. They believed in 'Millenarianism' that is the 'Second Coming'. Johanna prophesied in 1814 that later that year she would bear the next 'Shiloh' or 'Messiah'. When she died later in the year of dropsy, George Turner emerged as their 'Shiloh'.

Meanwhile John Wroe was born in the Bowling district of Bradford, Yorkshire in 1782, the son of a worsted manufacturer, and reputedly treated as little less than a slave by his father. He was fairly small and wiry with dark straggly hair, a slight hunchback and exceptionally piercing eyes. In his early life, during periods of illness, he would enter into trance like states and developed the ability to prophesy. During one of these

periods he was prompted to join the Society at Bradford. Here he soon came to fame and eventually persuaded them that he was the true 'Shiloh'.

When visiting Ashton-under-Lyne for the first time in 1822 he found an already thriving society and several wealthy sponsors. They had meeting rooms in the Charlestown area of Ashton and included the Lees Family of Park Bridge (iron roller manufacturers), Samuel Swire a coalmine owner and our John Stanley, a wealthy iron and cotton master and later proprietor of Moston Colliery. John Stanley was the uncle of our great, great grandfather Robert Stanley born in 1828. From these families came the main elders of the Society. John Stanley and Henry Lees were already partners with premises on Oldham Road and the Society began to meet in rooms above these premises.

In a well-publicised event John Wroe was baptised in the River Medlock at Park Bridge. Later that day he was publicly circumcised in the rooms on Oldham Road and declared that from this date all male members of the Society were to be circumcised. The next day in a field next to these premises, Wroe prophesied that a light should break forth from this spot on which he stood, which would enlighten the town. A year later Ashton Gas Works was built on the site, not quite the spiritual enlightenment that Wroe had envisaged.

Wroe felt that Ashton was particularly well-favoured (with sponsors!) and it was here that he intended to build his New Jerusalem. He wanted to build a Sanctuary for his followers on land owned by John Stanley on Church Street, then still a fashionable area of town where people walked in their 'Sunday Best' to attend services at the Parish Church. A sumptuous mini 'Solomon's Temple' in design, the only form of light entered the building via two large domes in the roof. It was opened on Christmas Day 1825. The entire cost of £9,500 was met by John Stanley. By way of comparison Ashton Town Hall built some fifteen years later, cost £4,000. Four gatehouses were built at the four corners of the town, which he planned to link with city walls, but this madcap scheme was never finished due to Wroe's subsequent disgrace. Quite how the inhabitants of the town would have thought had the plans been finally implemented!!

Wroe prescribed all aspects of the religion. They were to observe Mosaic Law for a period of forty years followed by forty years of Christian observance. The 'Second Coming' would follow the end of these two periods. There would be strict Sabbath observance, all men were to be circumcised, and only 'Kosher' produce was to be eaten. They opened several shops for this purpose, also well known for honest trading and fair weights and measures. The signs above the doors said 'Israelite Shops', but the locals called them 'Johanna' shops, not having made the distinction between the followers of Johanna Southcott and John Wroe. Every item of clothing

and jewellery had to follow an exact pattern, men were not allowed to shave or cut their hair and he intended that his followers should keep apart from the rest of the population. This was not a poor religion; everything was of the most opulent, so that when they paraded through town in their white linen robes followed by their band of musicians they really did stand out against the grime of a cotton mill town.

Wroe then persuaded his followers to build him a house; a magnificent, Doric, pillar fronted mansion, which once stood facing the river Tame next to Portland Basin Heritage Museum. He then announced that he had had a message from God that they should provide him with Seven Virgins from amongst their number to cherish him and accompany him on his missionary tours. It was after one of these tours in 1830 that rumours circulated that at least two of the said virgins were pregnant, one of them reputedly the daughter of Hannah Lees. This now seems like a distorted myth and one of Hannah Lees' daughters did, in fact, give birth to an illegitimate daughter in 1824. A sham trial took place at one of gatehouses (now the Odd Whim Pub on Mossley Road) where, after six days' deliberations, he was merely admonished for 'lax principles'. Riots followed in the town and Wroe escaped first to Bradford, where he was trampled underfoot, and then to Wakefield. After this his followers in Ashton declined, from approximately five hundred in their heyday, to one

hundred and fifty at the time of the religious census in 1851. John Stanley appeared to remain faithful to the end and our great, great grandfather Robert Stanley was married in the Sanctuary in 1847.

Wroe then persuaded the Society to lend him £2,000 to publish Johanna Southcott's prophecies. He used the money to build 'Melbourne Hall', his new mansion at Wrenthorpe in Wakefield, which eventually, after much wrangling, passed to his sons and not to the Society. Things became progressively more and more difficult in England for Wroe and he finally ended his days in Australia, dying there in 1863.

There are still six Christian Israelite Churches in New South Wales, one in Poland and one in Indiana USA.

Now with the benefit of hindsight it seems extraordinary how supposedly canny northern businessmen, at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution, could have been so readily parted from their money. Some members in other northern towns were reputed to have ended their days in the workhouse. Women also seem to have exerted an extraordinary influence on Wroe and he over them. One possible explanation being that religion was one of the few outlets available to independant, educated women of the time. From the one sole caricature that survives (graven images were banned), he must have been extremely charismatic with an ability to mesmerize.

Constance Descartes : On mentionne que Wroé pratiquait le mesmérisme ; je rappelle que le « Dr Zimpel » lui-même, sans être de fait docteur, se mêlait de médecine alternative. Les théories de Zimpel étaient imprégnées de mesmérisme, et la publication qu’il a fait paraitre en 1852 de « La Lune, avec des explications au sujet du somnambulisme et un appendice sur le fluide magnétique » de Jakob Lorber probablement comme explication son intérêt pour la dernière partie de cet ouvrage.

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Ci-dessous ce que sont devenu une partie des adeptes de Wroé (ils sont répartis entre le Canada, les USA et l’Australie).

This Issue's SamsonThis page will feature one man per issue. In some cases, as in this issue, the page will feature a group of men. I envision several pictures and possibly an interview. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. This issue features the House of David of Benton Harbor, Michigan.

I've done something a little different with this picture. To accomodate those with slow internet connections, I've included a clickable map. Here's how it works. Click on any person in the picture to see a closeup of that person. To see the entire picture (170K) click on any other part of the picture.

The House of David was a community founded by a religious sect in 1903 at Benton Harbor, Michigan, and once had about 1000 members. The leader was Benjamin Purnell. Celibacy was one of the requirements and the members believed that ultimately they would go to Palestine where the Kingdom of God was to be established.

In 1620 in England, Joanna Southcott announced that she was the 1st of Seven Messengers to be sent by God to save the world. When the Seventh Messenger arrived, all who believed in him would be granted everlasting life (cf, Revelation 10:7). In 20 years, she collected

100,000 followers. She attempted to create the Second Messenger by immaculate conception, went into a trance, but instead of giving birth, she died. Subsequent messengers were Richard Brothers, George Turner, William Shaw, John Wroe, and James Zerell.

By the mid-1800s, under John Wroe, the church had adopted mosaic law; outlawed shaving and haircutting (according to Scripture, "man is the head of the woman") Also added a "cleansing of the blood" ritual: Messengers were responsible for deflowering all the virgins in their flock before they married. Zerell, the Sixth Messenger, collected the sermons of the previous Messengers into a book called the Flying Roll; henceforth, members of the group became known as Flying Rollers.

The group was chased out of Britain in the late 1800s when news of the blood cleansing rite was leaked to the press. The group split in three and moved to Australia, Canada and U.S.A. By 1890, the largest group was in Detroit Michigan under Michael Mills, a.k.a. Prince Mike, the Seventh (and last) Angelic Messenger. Prince Mike's followers tithed 100 percent of their wages to him, but after he announced in 1894 that the wives in the group would become common property and rotated among the men of the group, his wife, prompted by a man named Benjamin Purnell, sued him for divorce. In the course of the proceedings, she named all of Mike's mistresses; a lynch mob was formed and morals charges were levelled based on the blood cleansing rite. Mike was sentenced to prison for five years and Ben Purnell happily took over.

Now, obviously Ben Purnell couldn't be the Eighth Messenger, so he said that Prince Mike was an imposter messenger and that he, Ben Purnell, was the real Seventh Messenger. A schism erupted and Ben left the group with may defectors. Ben moved to the town of Fostoria, Ohio, and renamed the group Israelite House of David. He started taking on the persona of Christ -- he cut his hair and beard like Christ and, more tellingly, said he was Christ's younger brother. In 1903, however, he was hustled out of Fostoria after his daughter died and he haughtily refused to bring her back to life. The group migrated to Benton Harbor, Michigan, where he hooked up with 200 Flying Rollers living there.

During the next 23 years, Ben amassed a 10 million dollar fortune (according to Hidden Treasure: Where To Find It, How to Get It there may still be $1 million to $12 million hidden somewhere in Benton Harbor), owned farms, factories, buildings (each with a biblical name), a town of 900 people, a baseball team and an amusement park. He crowned himself King Benjamin, and his sermons took on an adventist fire and brimstone quality. He quartered his followers in simple buildings. They were not allowed to own anything, no tobacco or alcohol, no meat-eating, wear cheap clothes and long flowing robes, no kissing for PDA, and women and men were married off in mass weddings after Ben performed the blood cleansing rite.

His amusement park was an enormous success. He was selling 200,000 tickets a summer, operated entirely by his grim, bearded followers in their flowing robes. His baseball team was also enormously successful, part-athletic, part-vaudville. They started out on the local circuit, then went semi-pro, then went out on nationwide tours, barnstorming around, taking on anyone. The team, however, was exposed in their practise of hiring professionals and dressing them in wigs and fake beards.

Morals charges were filed against him in 1910, 1914, 1919, and 1922. The Detroit Free Press ran a series of exposés on the cult in 1923 and called for the state attorney general to act. They raided his colony frequently but couldn't find him -- he was assumed to have fled to Canada.

On November 16th, 1926, Bessie Daniels walked into a police station and said Purnell was living in a secret underground chamber in his mansion. They raided it and found him in bed with his harem of soon-to-be-ex-virgins. Trials and lawsuits followed, and he died November 16th, 1927. As of 1992, the group, still based in Benton Harbor, MI, reported 60 members.

The Israelite House of David was reorganized by Mary Purnell after Ben Purnell died in 1927. The House of David was wracked with lawsuits from former members who claimed fraud and abuse. The church was also split when Ben's wife, Mary Purnell suddenly claimed to be the Seventh Messenger (the third one so far) instead of her husband (she apparently amended her claim later: she was, in fact, Co-Seventh Messenger with her husband.) The courts awarded her half the church's property and about half the church followed her. The teaching is identical with that of the House of David.

The House of David operated several baseball teams simultaneously, including one in the East, one in the Midwest and Northwest, and one at home in Michigan. In addition, they also had a junior club that played in the Benton Harbor area. Click on each picture to view a larger version of it. 

Above are several team pictures.

 

 

Here are pictures of John R. Tucker (left), who was a regular player for the House of David for over two decades, and George Anderson (on the right). 

The House of David also had bands. Here are a couple of pictures of the bands.

   

 

And here is a pictures of female band members.

WROE, JOHN (1782-1863), evangelist, was born on 19 September 1782 at Bowling, Yorkshire, England, the son of Joseph Roe, a fairly prosperous farmer and businessman. Wroe suffered early ill health and in his thirties began to experience religious trances. In 1819 he associated with Yorkshire followers of Joanna Southcott, led by George Turner; on Turner's death in 1821 Wroe was generally accepted as successor. He quickly replaced Southcott's teaching with his own creed, Christian Israelitism, proclaiming that he was appointed by God to encourage the gathering of the descendants of the 'lost' tribes and to bring about their redemption before personal death and the millennium. But elucidation of these themes became secondary to the statement of prophecies, which Wroe claimed as divinely inspired and had his disciples transcribe and publish. He imposed strict rules of conduct, such as abstinence from shaving, repudiation of conventional medical care, and adherence to a restricted diet.

Inspired to carry his message throughout the world, Wroe conducted an extensive missionary programme. The creed first came to Australia with Charles Robertson. An impressive figure (J. Hood, Australia and the East, London, 1843, p. 240) he soon built up a following so enthusiastic that authority considered taking coercive action. In 1841 Extracts of Letters from Australian believers was published. The master himself came to Australia in 1843, receiving his first 'divine communication' there in September. This sojourn lasted until February 1844; he returned in September 1850 and on several later occasions. The first trip covered only Sydney and near-by districts, but later he visited Tasmania and Victoria. Other 'beardies' preached from place to place, especially on the goldfields. These followers included John Cartwright, Thomas Frost, Robert Robertson, and Joseph Donnolan, who in April 1851 sailed with Charles Robertson on an ill-fated mission to China. Permanent groups formed at Sydney, Hobart, Adelaide, Penrith, Geelong, and above all at Melbourne, where the Wroeites developed from the congregation established in Fitzroy by Rev. John Allen. Australian references are scattered throughout Wroe's prophecies, and his faith-healing claimed dramatic miracles in Sydney and Hobart. Although some local followers refused to accept the full discipline, Australia seems to have provided his best audience. In 1966 the Melbourne congregation was the most vigorous of the few which survived, exclusively in Australia and America.

Emotional extremism, with strong sexual undertones, characterized Wroe's preaching. It explained both its appeal, and the ill odour in which critics held it. The Wroeites by Allan Stewart (Melbourne, nd) attested the power exercised by the creed and alleged that its rites incorporated sexual play. John Davis, The Wroeites' Faith (Sydney, 1850), attacked its theology. Both pamphleteers had British counterparts.

Wroe married Mary Appleby in 1815. Despite various scandals involving him the two remained associated until her death on 16 May 1853. Wroe died in Melbourne on 5 February 1863.

Select Bibliography

(J. Wroe), A Guide to the People Surnamed Israelites (Boston, Mass, 1847); Private Communications Given to J. Wroe From the Beginning of 1843 to the End of 1852, vols 1-3 (Gravesend, 1853); (T. Wroe), An Abridgement of J.W.'s Life and Travels, also Revelations on the Scriptures (Boston, Mass, 1849); (J. Wroe), The Life and Journal of John Wroe: With Divine Communications Revealed to Him ... (Gravesend, 1859). More on the resources

Author: Michael Roe

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Posted by stew - Wed, Jun 5, 2002

Gazette & Courier - Monday, October 9, 1871 A remarkable religious imposter. The Melbourne (Australia) Argus contains the following account of a pretended Messiah, who has gathered followers in that region: "We have long had among us a small r

A remarkable religious imposter. The Melbourne (Australia) Argus contains the following account of a pretended Messiah, who has gathered followers in that region:

"We have long had among us a small religious community known as http://members.aol.com/victoroly/JohnWroe.htm "Christian Israelites ", founded by one John Wroe, who pretended to be prophetic and possessed of pseudo-divine powers, which latter were somewhat less credited when, in 1863, he paid the debt of all flesh, and disappointed those who believed in his immortality. The doctrines he taught were in effect that the second advent, when God's promises to Israel would be fulfilled, was at hand. About the time John Wroe was dying, one Fisher, a farmer and charcoal burner at http://www.arts.mona...list/nunawading.html Nunawading , laid claim to be regarded as his successor, and offered proof of his having been divinely chosen and spiritually influenced. He went so far as to bring witnesses to testify that by his command a hot wind had changed into a cool one, but the moribund prophet declined to receive them, and Fisher was refused even an audience. He then returned to Nunawading, where he was surrounded by a few believers in him as divinely inspired. Shortly after Wroe's death, one of his followers named Bignell, who had also set up to be Wroe's successor, but whom that confraternity failed to recognize, went over to Fisher and became a prophet under him. Matters went on thus for some years till squabbles arose. Bignell laid claim to powers incompatible with Fisher's supremacy, and upon the latter failing to cure one of Wilson's children, which persisted in dying, the father began to doubt whether his patron was really Christ. Then scandals began to go abroad. Fisher was declared to be living in concubinage with his wife's sisters, with having children by each in turns, and with justifying such conduct by declaring himself "David, King of Israel', and entitled to similar privileges in respect to concubines. The final coup came when, avowedly to expose Fisher, Wilson summoned him to the Oakleigh Police Court for obtaining money under false pretenses. The case caused considerable excitement and the court was crowded to hear the revelations that were expected to be made. Then the old story of imposture and incredulity, as told above, came out in all its sickening details...At all events, the case was dismissed and the exposure was complete, not withstanding which the http://www.geocities...Olympus/5774/chF.htm "Church of the Firstborn" and the community of "Christian Israelites" continue to prosper, while the Protestant Christians among us are continually besought to send more missionaries to the heathen in foreign lands."-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.historyofcircumcision.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37:

The Wroeites, William Chidley and theBritish Medical Association

E.P. Thompson has warned us not to condescend to the poor deluded followers of Joanna Southcott, [1] but it is hard to have much sympathy with the most deluded of them all, the self-appointed prophet John Wroe, founder of the Christian Israelites. Southcott offered a fiery brand of millennial preaching and visions of the Last Judgement, and she attracted a large following in the south-west of England in the 1790s and up until her death in 1814. Hers was one of several millenarian movements which attracted the poor and dispossessed of the Industrial Revolution, and their inspiration was the blood and thunder of Old Testament, and thus the rites and practices of the Jews. They readily identified themselves with the children of Israel, oppressed by the ungodly, but sustained by divine promises of eventual victory and bloody revenge against their modernising enemies, certainly involving a great deal of smiting. John Wroe (1782-1863) was one of Southcott’s followers, and after her death he set himself

up as a prophet in whom the Judaizing tendencies already apparent were greatly intensified. He began by actually trying to convert to Judaism, but decided to establish his own religion after being rebuffed by the Liverpool synagogue. His own creed was an ascetic regime based on Mosaic Law, including a ban on pork, shellfish, alcohol and tobacco, elaborate rules about dress, the requirement to wear a beard, Sabbath observance and the adoption of male circumcision. Wroe himself was publicly circumcised in 1824, and later that year he circumcised a young convert. Like many evangelists in our own day, he had some trouble with sexual temptation, and he was charged with an offence against a 12-year old servant girl, though acquitted. Later his own followers set up an inquiry into his “indecencies” with three young women of the congregation. It does not seem to take long for an adult who has chosen a bodily alteration like circumcision for himself to try to force it on others, and in 1824 one of Wroe’s followers was charged with manslaughter after a boy whom he had circumcised in Bedford died from the wound. Another convert was James Smith (1801-57), known as Shepherd Smith, who wrote an autobiographical account of the sect in which he wrote of himself as follows:

He was now a Jew or Israelite bodily and spiritually. … He kept the law of Moses as faithfully as any modern Jew. He abandoned the use of pork … or fish without scales. He abandoned even the occasional use of spirits, tobacco or snuff, and adopted all the cleanly, chaste, and orderly habits which were enjoined. [2]

The last reference is of particularly interest, suggesting that the adoption of a Jewish lifestyle was another route to the work-focused sobriety of the Protestant ethic: cleanliness, chastity and orderly habits were exactly the values being enjoined on the Victorian middle class at that time, by doctors and clergy alike. Wroeism flourished in the new industrial towns of Yorkshire in the 1820s and 30s, though it is not clear whether all adherents underwent circumcision, and from there emigrants took the new creed to the Australian colonies.

The Wroeites did not attract a strong following in the Antipodes, and what I know of them comes from a pamphlet by a regretful convert, with the uncompromising title, The abominations of the Wroeites (or Christian Israelites) fully and completely exposed, published in Melbourne in 1863. [3] The author, Allen Stewart, was an apprentice carpenter who reports that on his Sunday rambles he met "some of Wroe’s preachers, listened to their sermons and read their tracts, which gradually worked upon my mind, till I really thought I had met with the best and purest people on earth, who could assuredly show me the way to heaven."

To join their society Stewart had to wrote out a full confession of his sins, and then to undergo what he described as “the unpleasant rite of circumcision”, in which ordeal he was told that he would be “divinely supported”. In the event it did not turn out to be the uplifting spiritual experience he had been led to believe: “I found it to be a terrible operation, which cost me three weeks of agony before I recovered from it”. Stewart also reported that the Wroeities practised a strange penitential rite in which the man leaned over a table and confessed his sins, while a woman massaged his buttocks and “private parts”. One ex-convert reported to John Milton MD (presumably John Laws Milton, a leading authority on spermatorrhoea) that she “began to manipulate his private parts till he was afraid he would not be able to contain his … [sic]”. This did not happen to Stewart himself, and the ritual seems oddly at variance with the ascetic trend of the cult; it may be that he was retailing hostile gossip rather

than giving an accurate description of its practices. Calling himself a fool and madman to get involved with the sect, Stewart concluded with a warning to parents:

Remember that your children … may be deluded by these people, that the atrocities which I have witnessed may be practised upon them – then happy will they be if … they are rescued … even [if it is] with a shattered constitution, a shaken mind and life-long remorse.

I wonder here whether Stewart was referring mainly to circumcision, or whether it was to the apocryphal masturbatory rite, since the consequences he enumerates – shaken mind, shattered constitution and life-long regret – are exactly the results which, according to nineteenth century doctors, flowed inevitably from that shameful indulgence. Of course, the life-long remorse could just as easily refer to his allowing the amputation of his foreskin.

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Des photos sur la maison de David sous copyrights malheureusement, mais que je recommande ; il y a en effet un musée sur le mouvement …

http://www.lighthousecolorprint.com/Israelite_House_of_David/music.html#Ms1

http://www.houseofdavidmuseum.com/history/index.htm