2
to them in "72 tongues." It is interesting to speculate whether only four
scholars could have readily recognized 72 different languages. If so, how
did an illiterate woman, who could not even read and write, become able to
speak in this many languages?

Mother Ann had another vision; this one, of a large tree with every
leaf shining, was interpreted as telling her to go to America. Fortunately,
a man named John Hocknell had just joined their group and he had enough
money to pay their passage. [Holloway]
A group of eight came to New York in 1774; they were Ann Lee, her
husband Abraham Stanley, her brother William Lee, her niece Nancy Lee,
James Whittaker, John Hocknell, John's son Richard Hocknell, James Shep-
herd and Mary Partington. They all took jobs to sustain themselves while
they looked for a place where their group could settle. Ann's husband
became ill and she nursed him devotedly. Once recovered, however, he
asked her to give up her beliefs and become his wife in fact again. When
she refused he left, returning with a streetwalker whom he threatened to
marry unless Ann gave in. She refused and this was the end of him as far
as the Shakers were concerned.
In 1775, Mother Ann, as she was now called, her brother William,
and four others came up the Hudson River and found a tract of land northwest
of Albany that they could buy from the Van Rensselaer patroonship.* Itwas
described as a "wilderness tract," "dense forest beside a small, very

1. Melcher, M. F. The Shaker Adventure, p. 53
* This is in the general area of the present Albany Airport.