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American vegetarian, religious leader From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Dorrell (March 15, 1752 – August 28, 1846) was an American new religious leader of the Dorrellites, a utopian sect located in Leyden, Massachusetts. He was also an early vegetarianism activist.
William Dorrell | |
---|---|
Born | March 15, 1752 |
Died | August 28, 1846 |
Dorrell was born in Yorkshire.[1] He became a soldier and went abroad to fight in the American Revolutionary War in 1775 under John Burgoyne.[1][2] He escaped after being taken prisoner at Saratoga. In 1777 he married Polly Chase and resided in Vermont.[1][2] Dorrell began preaching in 1794 and became known Reverend Dorrell. He founded a religious sect in Leyden, Massachusetts which became known as the Dorrellites.[1]
Dorrell preached a vegetarian message that was founded upon the principle that people should not eat animal flesh or cause the death of any living creature.[1][3] Members were forbidden to wear leather shoes or the skins of animals for any domestic purpose.[1][3] Dorrell and his followers wore wooden shoes and lived upon milk and vegetables.[4] Dorrell taught that people not need to pray, they must abide by God's laws and not any man-made law of the church or state.[1] Dorrell advocated a philosophy of free love and did not believe that a man and woman need to marry before sexual intercourse.[1][5] This caused rumours outside of the sect that Dorrell and his followers engaged in wild sexual activity. By 1798 some members left the community.[1]
Dorrell starved himself to death because he thought he would live forever if he continued to eat.[2] He died in Leyden on August 28, 1846.[6]
Dorrell's wooden shoes are located at the Memorial Hall Museum in Deerfield.[7]
Dorrell believed he was a prophet sent to supersede the Christian dispensation and introduce a new one.[8] He did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus or last judgement. He held the view that no prayer or worship is necessary; there is no law but that of nature.[8]
The Dorrellites have been described as discrediting their own sect by their un-social behavior and strange beliefs.[2] They held the view that each generation had a Messiah and William Dorrell was the Messiah of his generation. Dorrell believed he possessed supernatural powers and that he could not be harmed by any man.[4] He retracted this claim after he was knocked down by Capt. Ezekiel Foster at a meeting and this resulted in the disbanding of the sect.[2][9] Zadock Thompson noted that because of this incident, Dorrell renounced his religious doctrines.[4] Dorrell admitted to his followers that he had duped them.[4][10][11]
Historian John Warner Barber suggested that Dorrell "did not believe in the Bible" and was "in the habit of occasionally drinking too much".[12]
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