Lee, Ann (1736–1784)

English religious leader and visionary. While in prison she had a ‘grand vision’ that was later interpreted by her followers as the ‘second coming of Christ’. When the Shakers received a ‘revelation’ that they should be spreading their message in New England, she and eight followers went to New York in 1774. By 1778 she and her followers had settled in Watervliet, near Albany. By then known as Mother Ann or Mother of the New Creation, she travelled throughout eastern New York State and New England to spread her message and gain converts to the Shaker faith. Imprisoned briefly in 1780 because of her pacifist teachings, she was also opposed to slavery. It was her insistence on celibacy, however, that proved both to distinguish and ultimately doom her Shaker church.

She was born Ann Lees in Manchester, England. A blacksmith's daughter, she was working in the textile mills when she joined the Shakers. She married in 1762 but the death of her four children in infancy led to self-mortification, ending in a revelation that cohabitation of the sexes was the source of all evil. By about 1770 she was dedicating herself to preaching her new gospel and was twice imprisoned, before moving to the USA.