Excerpts from the Journal of Benjamin Seth Youngs (May 30, 1805–January 14, 1806)
“Charity M. came about 10 A.M. with the Jerks & in trouble & opened her mind to B. She said She received the Jerks to be a compelling power from God….”
Letter from Francis Asbury to Daniel Hitt (July 28, 1805)
“Brother Dougharty writes they serve God all manner of ways, jerking, dancing, etc.; yet the work goes on….”
Newspaper Article from the New York Tribune (November 1, 1857)
“The scene in the church was often supremely ludicrous. Just imagine forty or fifty persons going through all the different postures, twistings, bendings, strikings, kickings, and other violent motions…, and you will have a faint idea of the scene exhibited here night after night….”
Article on “Jerks: Ancient and Modern” (1858)
“The duration of this epidemic was much shorter than that of most of those in Europe. In a little more than a twelve-month, it had almost entirely disappeared…. It was to the scenes enacted at this time, we believe, that the epithet ‘Jerks’ was first applied.”
