Harmony

In the mid-1700s, the Indian population of Western Pennsylvania was sparse and mixed. The most populous villages were along the Allegheny, Ohio, and Beaver Rivers. The rich southwestern area was only used as a hunting ground because of the hostility of the Catawba and Cherokee to the south. Logstown, near Economy (now Ambridge) was the most important village in the region. The Delaware, Shawnee, and Mingo (Senecas) lived there and were also watched by the Five Nations of the Iroquoian tribes. Many English traders had followed the Indian migration to supply them with the goods they had known in the east.

Although the Appalachian plateau was largely unoccupied in 1753, it was not unclaimed, and conflict over the upper Ohio Valley was inevitable. The French occupation of Western Pennsylvania was the task of the Marquis Duquesne, appointed governor of New France in 1752. To arrest the progress of the English, he decided that the only effective procedure would be the military occupation of the region and the construction of a line of forts at strategic points. By the spring of 1753, he had an army of 6,000. Fort Presque Isle was constructed at Erie, then Fort Le Boeuf on French Creek. Captain Joncaire and a scouting expedition were sent to Venango at the mouth of French Creek, where it had been decided to build the third fort. John Fraser had abandoned his trading post there, so Joncaire took possession of his house and raised the French flag. At one time, this area was part of Virginia.

The governors of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia were alerted. Three delegations of Indians warned the French not to proceed further. They were ignored, so the Indians decided to "take up the hatchet" against the French.

Instructions from England to the governors were to demand French withdrawal and, if that failed, to repel force by force. Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia was authorized to build forts on the Ohio at the expense of his Colony. These instructions were received in October 1753, and Dinwiddie promptly selected the youthful George Washington to deliver the summons to the French.

In 1753, Major Washington, then 21 years old, set out on the mission from Williamsburg, Va., to Fort Le Boeuf (near Erie) to warn the French to vacate forts established in British-claimed territory. Accompanied by his guide, Christopher Gist, the Iroquois Indian Half King and others joined him at Logstown (Ambridge) on his journey northward.

On Washington's and Gist's return trip to Pittsburgh, an Indian offering to be a guide to show them a shortcut joined them at Mutherington, the future site of Harmony. The Indian was a traitor. After a few miles, the Indian suddenly shot at them, and only poor aim prevented the course of history from being changed. In his diary, Washington referred to this area as "Murderingtown." For the next 50 years, the area was known as "Murderingtown."

Mutheringtown vanished as settlers relentlessly pushed westward, and half a century passed before the creation of the Harmony Society.

By the early 1800s, Johann George Rapp, the German vineyard worker turned prophet, had assembled a large following, willing to follow him to the New World to seek the religious liberty not found in Europe. Father Rapp and his followers were originally Lutheran, but they thought the organized church was becoming too materialistic. Rapp left to search for a new home in 1803 and purchased from Detmar Basse a tract of 4,600 acres in Western Pennsylvania the following year. Basse, who planned to establish a medieval barony, was the founder of Zelienople, named for his daughter Zelie. In 1804, Rapp and religious separatist followers from Germany's duchy of Wurttemberg began building the village of Harmonie, the current Harmony borough. The Harmony Society was founded in 1805 and became one of America's most successful communal groups as hundreds more followers continued to arrive from Germany. Under the spiritual leadership of Father Rapp and the business and architectural skills of his adopted son, Frederick Reichart Rapp, a model town was created in the wilderness. From hardship and poverty, the society progressed in ten years to a thriving economic and cultural level unique to the area. The Harmonists had 2,000 acres under cultivation and 130 buildings erected, including a church, a school, a tavern, a grist mill, a brewery, a distillery, a tannery, and others.

These words sum up the basic philosophy Rapp espoused. On February 15, 1805, his 500 followers pledged all their worldly possessions to George Rapp and the Harmony Society for the common good. The Society provided the necessities of life, plus religious and educational instruction. In 1807, a religious fervor caused the Society to adopt celibacy, a step toward its ultimate extinction. The young people thought that Jesus Christ was coming any day, and they didn't see a future on earth. They worked hard and wanted to be prepared to go with Christ.

These words may contain the seeds of Rapp's desire to find a new home for the society. In 1814, the Harmonists sold the town to Abraham Ziegler for $100,000 and moved on to Wabash, Indiana, to found the town of New Harmony. Ten years later, another move was made to the Economy (Old Economy, Ambridge), where the society finally dissolved in 1905.