The Oneida Community
The\xa0Oneida Community\xa0was a\xa0perfectionist\xa0religious communal society founded by\xa0John Humphrey Noyes\xa0in 1848 in\xa0Oneida, New York. The community believed that\xa0Jesus\xa0had already returned in AD 70, making it possible for them to bring about\xa0Jesus's millennial kingdom\xa0themselves, and be free of sin and perfect in this world, not just in\xa0Heaven\xa0(a belief called\xa0perfectionism). The Oneida Community practiced\xa0communalism\xa0(in the sense of communal property and possessions),\xa0complex marriage,\xa0male sexual continence, and mutual criticism. There were smaller Noyesian communities in\xa0Wallingford, Connecticut;\xa0Newark, New Jersey;\xa0Putney\xa0and\xa0Cambridge, Vermont.[1]\xa0The community's original 87 members grew to 172 by February 1850, 208 by 1852, and 306 by 1878. The branches were closed in 1854 except for the Wallingford branch, which operated until devastated by a\xa0tornado\xa0in 1878. The Oneida Community dissolved in 1881, and eventually became the giant\xa0silverware\xa0company\xa0Oneida Limited.[2]