Editing Harmony Society (section)

===First settlement: Harmony, Pennsylvania===
[[Image:HarmonyPAmuseum.jpg|thumb|Harmony Society building in [[Harmony, Pennsylvania]], built in 1809.]]
{{main|Harmony, Pennsylvania}}

In December 1804 Rapp and a party of two others initially contracted to purchase {{convert|4,500|acre|km2}} of land for $11,250 in Butler County, Pennsylvania,<ref>William E. Wilson, ''The Angel and the Serpent: The Story of New Harmony'' (Bloomington: [[Indiana University Press]], 1964), p. 13.</ref> and later acquired additional land to increase their holdings to approximately {{convert|9,000|acre|km2}} by the time they advertised their property for sale in 1814.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Harmony Society'', p. 135, 137.</ref> Here they built the town of Harmony, a small community that had, in 1805, nearly 50 log houses, a large barn, a gristmill, and more than 150 acres of cleared land to grow crops.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Harmony Society'', p. 76.</ref>

Because the climate was not well suited for growing grapes and nearby property was not available to expand their landholdings, the Harmonists submitted a petition to the U.S. government for assistance in purchasing land elsewhere. In January 1806 Rapp traveled to Washington, D.C. to hear discussions in Congress regarding the Harmonists' petition for a grant that would allow them to purchase approximately {{convert|30,000|acre|km2}} acre of land in the Indiana Territory. While the Senate passed the petition on January 29, it was defeated in the House of Representatives on February 18. The Harmonists had to find other financial means to support their plans for future expansion.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Harmony Society'', p. 84, 86–90.</ref> By 1810 the town's population reached approximately 700, with about 130 houses. The Society landholdings also increased to {{convert|7,000|acre|km2}}.<ref>Christiana F. Knoedler, ''The Harmony Society: A 19th-Century American Utopia'' (New York: Vantage Press, 1954), p. 10–11.</ref> In the years that followed, the Society survived disagreements among its members, while shortages of cash and lack of credit threatened its finances. Still, the young community had a good reputation for its industry and agricultural production.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Harmony Society'', p. 92.</ref>

At Harmony, George Rapp, also known as Father Rapp, was recognized as the spiritual head of the Society, the one that they went to for discussions, confessions, and other matters.<ref name=usi>{{cite web|author= Historic New Harmony|title= The Harmonie Society|publisher= [[University of Southern Indiana]]|year= 2008|url= http://www.usi.edu/hnh/pdf/Expanded%20Text%20on%20the%20Harmonist%20Society.pdf|access-date= 2012-06-13|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120330112904/http://www.usi.edu/hnh/pdf/Expanded%20Text%20on%20the%20Harmonist%20Society.pdf|archive-date= 2012-03-30}}</ref> Rapp's adopted son, Frederick, managed the Society's business and commercial affairs.<ref>Wilson, p. 15–16.</ref>

Rapp let newcomers into the Society and, after a trial period, usually about a year, they were accepted as permanent members.<ref name=Bole3334/> While new members continued to arrive, including immigrants from Germany, others found the Harmonists' religious life too difficult and left the group.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Harmony Society'', p. 100.</ref> In addition, during a period of religious zeal in 1807 and 1808, most, but not all, of the Harmonists adopted the practice of [[celibacy]] and there were also few marriages among the members. Rapp's son, Johannes, was married in 1807; and it was the last marriage on record until 1817.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Harmony Society'', p. 97–99.</ref> Although Rapp did not entirely bar sex initially, it gradually became a custom and there were few births in later years.<ref>Wilson, p. 24–25.</ref>

In 1811 Harmony's population rose to around 800 persons involved in farming and various trades.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Harmony Society'', p. 121.</ref> Although profit was not a primary goal, their finances improved and the enterprise was profitable, but not sufficient to carry out their planned expansions.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Harmony Society'', p. 123–127.</ref> Within a few years of their arrival, the Harmonist community included an inn, a tannery, warehouses, a brewery, several mills, stables, and barns, a church/meetinghouse, a school, additional dwellings for members, a labyrinth, and workshops for different trades. In addition, more land was cleared for vineyards and crops. The Harmonists also produced yarn and cloth.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Harmony Society'', p. 105–107, 112.</ref>

Several factors led to the Harmonists' decision to leave Butler County. Because the area's climate was not suitable, they had difficulties growing grapes for wine.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Harmony Society'', p. 84.</ref> In addition, as westward migration brought new settlers to the county, making it less isolated, the Harmonists began having troubles with neighbors who were not part of the Society.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Harmony Society'', p. 130–131.</ref> By 1814 Butler County's growing population and rising land prices made it difficult for the Society to expand, causing the group's leaders to look for more land elsewhere.<ref>Arndt, ''George Rapp's Harmony Society'', p. 133.</ref> Once land had been located that offered a better climate and room to expand, the group began plans to move.<ref>Ray E. Boomhower, "New Harmony: Home to Indiana's Communal Societies," ''Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History'', 14(4):36.</ref> In 1814 the Harmonites sold their first settlement to Abraham Ziegler, a  [[Mennonite]], for $100,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=100000|start_year=1814}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) and moved west to make a new life for themselves in the Indiana Territory.<ref>Wilson, p. 37–38.</ref>