Letter from Peter L. Maxey to Oliver H. P. Maxey (November 26, 1845)
“He is a thorough Methodist believes in all of the religious exercises after the straightest of the sect…. I shall not fall out with him for advocating the genuine Jerks….”
Newspaper Article from the Delaware State Reporter (November 1, 1857)
“Our informant was present at several of their meetings in Avoca, and describes the scene as very exciting. From fifty to a hundred were jerking at the same time….”
Joseph Badger’s “Account of the Strange Exercise called the Jirks” (November 1826)
“I saw several young ladies…, who began to be uncommonly exercised…. It appeared to mortify and embarrass them very much, when they had ‘the power’ as it was called…. [T]heir shoulders would be seized with violent and sudden convulsions, the neck, also, would be affected with spasms, which threw back the head in a frightful manner….”
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.”
Excerpt from the “Life and Times of John Rogers” (1817)
“[O]ccasionally I attended [revival meetings in 1817], & witnessed the disorders of Jerking, dancing, swooning….”
