1805-1809, Benjamin Seth Youngs, Dancing Exercise, Diaries & Journals, Issachar Bates, John Meacham, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Richard McNemar, Winterthur Library
“[T]he exercises by the invisible power of God went pointedly to the destruction of all antichristian forms, and inventions of men by such exercises as Jerking…& the restitution of, the true worship of God by such as dancing….”
1805-1809, Barking Exercise, Benjamin Seth Youngs, Correspondence, Falling Exercise, Issachar Bates, John Meacham, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Other Bodily Exercises & General References, Pennsylvania, Richard McNemar, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Reserve Historical Society
“Soon after they began to sing several were taken with the Jerks, while sitting on their seats. Their heads, & shoulders were Jerked back & forth, with such increasing violence, that in a few seconds their hats, & bonnets, & even hankerchiefs which were tied close to their heads would fly off. Some would soon be Jerked flat on the floor, in a manner very mortifying to all delicate feelings….”
1805-1809, Barking Exercise, Benjamin Seth Youngs, Dancing Exercise, Diaries & Journals, Dreams, Trances & Visions, Falling Exercise, Issachar Bates, John Meacham, Kentucky, Ohio, Other Bodily Exercises & General References, Richard McNemar, Running Exercise, Uncategorized, Winterthur Library
“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….”
1805-1809, Anonymous/Unknown, Church Records, Other Bodily Exercises & General References, Pennsylvania, Presbyterians
“[B]odily agitations, where they had appeared, have almost wholly subsided, and have given place to calm inquiry into the great and leading doctrines of the gospel….”
1816-1860, American Antiquarian Society, Archibald Alexander, Books, Essays & Treatises, New Jersey, Other Bodily Exercises & General References, Presbyterians
“In those remarkable bodily affections, called the jerks, which appeared in religious meetings some years ago, the nervous irregularity was commonly produced by the sight of other persons thus affected; and if in some instances without the sight, yet by having the imagination strongly impressed by hearing of such things….”