The Ebenezer Colonies was a settlement founded by the Community of True Inspiration in what is now the town of

West Seneca, New York West Seneca is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 44,711 at the 2010 census. West Seneca is a centrally located interior town of the county, and a suburb of Buffalo. West Seneca, Orchard Park and Hamburg form the ...

. A congregation of Inspirationists emigrated to the site from Germany in 1843. The congregation began to relocate to Iowa in 1855, and the settlement's land was eventually abandoned and sold.

History

The Community of True Inspiration congregation in

Alsace, France Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

was led by Michael Krausert,

Barbara Heinemann Landmann Barbara Heinemann Landmann (January 11, 1795 – May 21, 1883) was a spiritual leader with the Community of True Inspiration, for which she served as ''Werkzeug'', or Instrument, in both Europe and the United States. Her sermons and writings are ...

, and Christian Metz in the early 1800s. Due to internecine disputes, prosecution by local authorities, and agricultural difficulties, the congregation decided to emigrate to the United States. Metz and a committee of elders traveled to New York State and selected a site near the present West Seneca that had formerly been occupied by

Seneca Indians The Seneca () ( see, Onödowáʼga:, "Great Hill People") are a group of Indigenous Iroquoian-speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Their nation was the farthest to the west ...

. The tract was purchased from a local company in what may have been a fraudulent transaction. Metz named the tract ''Ebenezer'' after a passage in the

Books of Samuel The Book of Samuel (, ''Sefer Shmuel'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the narrative history of Ancient Israel called the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Joshu ...

.Perkins, 1891, pp. 50–51. The congregation started building a self-sufficient community with schools and milling facilities in 1843. About 800 Inspirationists migrated from Alsace to inhabit the settlement, and communications with members still in Europe degraded. After conflicts with some Senecas still living in the area, the congregation paid the tribe an annual fee. The American government ordered the Senecas to vacate the land but the tribe claimed in court that they were still the owners.Manley, 2010. The dispute ended in favor of the Inspirationists and the Senecas moved to the Cattaraugus Reservation to the south. By 1854, the Ebenezer Colonies were unable to grow any further due to expansion of the nearby city of Buffalo, while some of their practices were curtailed upon being incorporated into the new town of

West Seneca West Seneca is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 44,711 at the 2010 census. West Seneca is a centrally located interior town of the county, and a suburb of Buffalo. West Seneca, Orchard Park and Hamburg form the ...

. Metz testified that he had experienced a religious vision in which the Inspirationists would move to the American Midwest. A committee traveled to Iowa and selected a new site at

Homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...

for the congregation. The Inspirationists sold the land in West Seneca and migrated to the Iowa site. That settlement became known as the

Amana Colonies The Amana Colonies are seven villages on located in Iowa County in east-central Iowa, United States: Amana (or Main Amana, German: ''Haupt-Amana''), East Amana, High Amana, Middle Amana, South Amana, West Amana, and Homestead. The villages ...

and the move was completed by 1865.

Legacy

The Ebenezer Colonies' cemeteries were incorporated into facilities that are still maintained by West Seneca today. An Inspirationist meeting house was moved and currently serves as the West Seneca Historical Society and Museum. The West Seneca town seal includes images of Metz's house and an Ebenezer Colonies boundary marker.

References

Sources

*Manley, J. E. (n. d.). ''Lot 94/95 History of Burchfield Property''. Retrieved June 6, 2010, from https://web.archive.org/web/20101013221403/http://www.westseneca.net/history.html *Perkins, W. R. and Wick, B.L. (1891). ''History of the Amana Society or Community of True Inspiration''. Iowa City: State University of Iowa. *Shambaugh, B. M. H. (1908). ''Amana: the Community of True Inspiration''. 1988 facsimile, Museum of Amana History and the State Historical Society of Iowa. Iowa: Penfield Press. {{ISBN, 0-941016-47-1 History of New York (state)