Editing Oneida Community (section)

{{Short description|Religious commune in Oneida, New York (1848–1881)}}
{{About|the religious settlement in New York||Oneida (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use shortened footnotes|date=May 2020}}
[[File:Oneida Commune.png|thumb|The Oneida Community between 1865 and 1875]]
{{Socialism US|history}}
The '''Oneida Community''' ({{IPAc-en|oʊ|ˈ|n|aɪ|d|ə}} {{respell|oh|NYE|də}})<ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Oneida|accessdate=2024-03-23}}</ref> was a [[Christian perfection|perfectionist]] religious [[communal society]] founded by [[John Humphrey Noyes]] and his followers in 1848 near [[Oneida, New York]]. The community believed that [[Jesus]] had [[Hyper-preterism|already returned in AD 70]], making it possible for them to bring about [[Millennialism|Jesus's millennial kingdom]] themselves, and be perfect and free of [[sin]] in this world, not just in [[Heaven]] (a belief called ''[[Christian perfection|perfectionism]]''). The Oneida Community practiced [[Intentional community|communalism]] (in the sense of communal property and possessions), [[group marriage]], [[Coitus reservatus|male sexual continence]], [[Oneida stirpiculture]] (a form of eugenics), and mutual criticism.

The community's original 87 members grew to 172 by February 1850, 208 by 1852, and 306 by 1878. There were smaller Noyesian communities in [[Wallingford, Connecticut]]; [[Newark, New Jersey]]; [[Putney, Vermont|Putney]] and [[Cambridge, Vermont]].{{sfn |Chmielewski |2001 |pp=176–178}} The branches were closed in 1854 except for the Wallingford branch, which operated until the [[1878 Wallingford tornado|1878 tornado]]{{sfn|''Harper's Weekly'' v. 22 #1131|1878}}{{sfn |''The Roslyn News'' |1878}} devastated it.{{sfn |Brew |Roper |2014}}{{sfn |''Social Welfare History Project'' |2015}}

The Oneida Community dissolved in 1881, converting itself to a joint-stock company. This eventually became the [[Cutlery|silverware]] company [[Oneida Limited]], one of the largest in the world.{{sfn |Hays |1999}}