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 1762 - 1838 (76 years)
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| Name |
Elisha Thomas |
| Born |
25 Sep 1762 |
Bucks County, Pennsylvania  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
5 Oct 1838 |
Pleasant Hill, Mercer County, Kentucky, U.S.A. |
| Buried |
Shaker Cemetery, Mercer County, Kentucky, U.S.A. |
| Notes |
- www.shakervillageky.org/?/pleasant_hill_shakers.pdf
"By all accounts, the 'Second Great Awakenings,' or 'The Kentucky Revivals,' which began in 1801 at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, was the largest camp meeting ever held in the Ohio River Valley. No one knows precisely how many, but possibly ten to twenty thousand people flocked to this mass encampment. Hundreds of wagons gathered on hilltops; preachers climbed on stumps and shouted their doctrines; thousands of people sang, cried, danced, whirled, fell into trances, barked like dogs, spoke in tongues, proclaimed visions and were saved. No doubt, the Shakers in New England saw the phenomena as a fulfillment of Mother Ann's prophesy that 'the next opening of the gospel will be in the southwest; it will be a great distance, and there will be a great work of God.'
Three Shaker missionaries, John Meacham, Issachar Bates and Benjamin Seth Youngs, left Mount Lebanon, New York on New Year's Day in 1805, and traveled on foot to Kentucky. In August of that year, they found three Kentuckians who were willing to listen to their testimony. They left the Cane Ridge Meeting House for a private meeting with Elisha Thomas [related to the Banta family by marriage], Samuel Banta and Henry Banta, who soon became the first Kentucky Shaker converts.
Within a short time, Believers began moving to Elisha Thomas' 140 acre Mercer County farm. On a site near the banks of Shawnee Run, a small communal family took shape. In December 1806, forty-four persons signed the first family covenant. Two years later, they moved to a nearby hilltop with beautiful vistas and started constructing a permanent village [now known as Shakertown] they named Pleasant Hill.
The Pleasant Hill Shakers were hardworking farmers, first or second generation descendants of pioneers who settled the early 1800s Kentucky River frontier. Many of their fathers and grandfathers had come from Virginia following Daniel Boone and James Harrod up the Wilderness Road. Some had come by river from Pennsylvania. They were accustomed to overcoming hardships by using strong will, ingenuity and determination. Their hard work served them well in establishing a utopia in the wilderness."
http://bar-b-k.tripod.com/id15.html
"The first five families to join the Shakers in August of 1805, carried close ties to the Low Dutch Colony, [of New Amsterdam, NY], and had been among those who migrated to New Jersey, then to York County, PA, and finally to Mercer County, KY]: Banta, Thomas, Montfort, and Bruner. Elisha Thomas was a grandson in law of Hendrick Banta, III, Charity Montfort was his daughter, Ruth Bruner was born a Banta, a granddaughter of Hendrick. Elisha Thomas gave his farm to the Shakers to start the community of Pleasant Hill and John Banta also bought and gave land to extend their property. Samuel and Hendrick [called Vestus by the Shakers] also joined and added property to the soon to be village of Pleasant Hill. Both were sons of Hendrick Banta, III and his second wife, Antie Demarest."
F. Garvin Davenport, "Antebellum Kentucky: A Social History, 1800-1860," (Oxford, OH: Mississippi Valley Press, 1943), pp. 133-134.
"... Although their numbers increased and their communities thrived, the Shakers met opposition on all sides in these early days. Revival leaders who had received the original missionaries with a friendly smile of welcome soon denounced all Shakers as 'wolves in sheep's clothing,' and as a menace to organized religion. The Shakers, in turn, denounced their enemies in no uncertain terms. They seemed to feel resentful toward Barton W. Stone in particular, and it was recorded in their records that 'Barton W. Stone, the great preacher of spurious gospel, shut his door against us. We feel our skirts clear from the blood of the wicked Cane Ridge' [revival].
Shaker preachers were constantly in danger. They were threatened with mob violence and irate farmers shot at them as they rode along the roads. Their preaching stands and tents were set afire while they slept. One night while camping near a Danville, Kentucky, a group of Shakers was aroused by a great commotion among their tethered horses. ..."
Kentucky Pioneer & Court Records, Mercer County, Harrodsburg Court House: "Benjamin Graham . . . Exec's, brother Samuel Graham and friend, Elisha Thomas. . . . Proved September 1890 Court."
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/FULTON/2000-03/0952197219
"In 1781, Elisha Thomas volunteered in Hampshire County, Virginia, for military service as a spy and pilot during the Revolution. He claimed he was present at Yorktown when Cornwallis was captured."
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| Person ID |
I41606 |
Complete |
| Last Modified |
28 Oct 2013 |
| Father |
Morris Thomas, b. 23 Apr 1718, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , d. 13 Jan 1796, Hardy County, Virginia, U.S.A. (Age 77 years) |
| Mother |
Mary Cantrell, b. Abt. 1730, Pennsylvania , d. Abt. 1790, Hardy County, Virginia, U.S.A. (Age ~ 60 years) |
| Married |
Abt. 1750 |
Chester County, Pennsylvania |
| Family ID |
F18044140 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family |
Anna Fulton, b. 14 Oct 1756, Hampshire County, Virginia , d. 15 Jul 1823, Pleasant Hill, Mercer County, Kentucky, U.S.A. (Age 66 years) |
| Married |
Abt. 1784 |
Hampshire County, Virginia |
| Children |
| | 1. Elizabeth Thomas, b. Abt. 1784, Lincoln County, Virginia |
| | 2. Thankful Thomas, b. Abt. 1785, Lincon County, Virginia |
| | 3. Eunice Jinny Thomas, b. 20 Aug 1787, Mercer County, Virginia , d. 20 Feb 1812, Mercer County, Kentucky, U.S.A. (Age 24 years) |
| | 4. Ursula Sally Thomas, b. Abt. 1789, Mercer County, Virginia, U.S.A. |
| | 5. Anna Thomas, b. Abt. 1791, Mercer County, Virginia, U.S.A. , d. Abt. 1848, Washington County, Kentucky, U.S.A. (Age ~ 57 years) |
| | 6. Morris Thomas, b. Abt. 1793, Pleasant Hill, Mercer County, Kentucky, U.S.A. |
| + | 7. Patsy Jane Thomas, b. 11 Feb 1795, Mercer County, Kentucky, U.S.A. , d. Abt. 1866, Peoria, Peoria County, Illinois, U.S.A. (Age 70 years) |
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| Last Modified |
5 Dec 2012 |
| Family ID |
F18044176 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Event Map |
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 | Born - 25 Sep 1762 - Bucks County, Pennsylvania |
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 | Married - Abt. 1784 - Hampshire County, Virginia |
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 | Died - 5 Oct 1838 - Pleasant Hill, Mercer County, Kentucky, U.S.A. |
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 | Buried - - Shaker Cemetery, Mercer County, Kentucky, U.S.A. |
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