Lucy Wright

Lucy Wright (February 5, 1760 – 1821) was the leader of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, also known as the Shakers, from 1796 until 1821. At that time, a woman's leadership of a religious sect was a radical departure from Protestant Christianity.

Lucy Wright was born February 5, 1760, the daughter of John and Mary (Robbins) Wright of Pontoosuck plantation (later Pittsfield, Massachusetts), in the Housatonic River valley of the Berkshire hills near the New York border. At that time, Pontoosuck plantation was a frontier settlement, which was reached via path-like roads. Aside from Jonathan Edwards’ in , the area had no church until Wright was almost thirteen.

Wright was considered an attractive woman and a leader. With Elizur Goodrich, she attended the New Light Baptist revival at New Lebanon, New York in 1779. Near the end of the revival, they heard a preacher expound on Romans 8:8 (“Those who are in the flesh cannot please God”), which may have set the stage for their conversion to a new religion.

Lucy Wright married Elizur Goodrich on December 15, 1779. By mid-1780, Elizur Goodrich was drawn to the preachings of the Shaker leader, Mother Ann Lee, despite the new religion's requirements of celibacy and confession of sins. His bride, however, was reluctant to convert. Thus Elizur Goodrich and his wife Lucy lived “uncommonly continent”.

Goodrich and twenty members of his extended family joined the Shakers. After several months of deliberation, Wright resumed her maiden name and replaced her marriage with a commitment to Shakerism, living apart from her husband, who became an itinerant Shaker preacher. Within a decade Wright rose to leadership within the Shaker sect, with the power and authority which women were not allowed in other religions.

As soon as Wright shifted her commitment from her husband to her new religion, Mother Ann Lee found it expedient to separate the young couple. She sent Goodrich on the road as an itinerant preacher and missionary. Wright moved to the Shaker community at Watervliet, New York, where Ann Lee mentored the young woman and she became a leader among her peers.

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