AV 9 Zoar, Ohio Photograph Collection

              AV 9
Zoar, Ohio Photograph Collection
Page 1
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Audiovisual Collections
AV 9
Zoar, Ohio Photograph Collection
Ca. 1870 – 1960
OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Number:
AV 9
Title:
Zoar, Ohio Photograph Collection
Creator:
Collection assembled by the Ohio Historical Society
Dates:
Ca. 1870 - 1960
Media:
Photographs, negatives, glass plate negatives
Quantity:
1.5 cubic feet
Location:
Ohio Historical Center
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COLLECTION
Future members of the Society of Separatists of Zoar arrived in the United States in 1817 after fleeing their homeland of Wurttemberg, Germany in search of religious freedom. On August 14, 1817 they landed in Philadelphia and found friends in the Quaker community. They bought a 5,500- acre tract of land on the east bank of the Tuscarawas River in northeastern Ohio with a loan from the Quakers. This land would become the Zoar settlement. In the fall of 1817 the Separatist leader, Joseph Baumeler ( later changed to Bimeler), and other members left Philadelphia to prepare their new home in Ohio. On December 1, 1817, the first home in Zoar was completed. The Separatists wanted to create a self- sufficient community where they would be able to worship freely, but an economic system had to be established. Johannes Breymaier advocated a form of communalism that was accepted by most of the members. Both male and female members of the community signed the Articles of Association, which created the Society of Separatists of Zoar, on April 15, 1819. The Articles were revised in 1824 and in 1833 a constitution was accepted. It stated that the government of the society would consist of a board of three trustees, a standing committee of five, an agent general, and a cashier. The Society contracted to dig seven miles of the Ohio- Erie Canal, which passed through their land. Their work was completed in 1828 for $ 21,000 and allowed the Society to pay off its land debt. The canal opened the area for commerce and at one time, the Society operated as many as four canal boats. Zoar was almost totally self- sufficient, and excess goods were sold to outsiders.