Harriet Hayes Skinner

Harriet Hayes Skinner
BornHarriet Hayes Noyes
(1817-07-05)July 5, 1817
Dummerston, Vermont, U.S.
DiedSeptember 8, 1893(1893-09-08) (aged 76)
Kenwood, New York, U.S.
Resting placeOneida Community Cemetery, Kenwood, New York, U.S.
Occupation
Notable worksOneida Community Cooking (1873)
Spouse
John Langdon Skinner
​
​
(m. 1841; died 1889)​
Children1
Relatives

Harriet Hayes Skinner (née Noyes; July 5, 1817 – September 8, 1893) was an American writer, editor, and religious communalist. Born into the prominent Noyes and Hayes families, she supported the religious views of her brother, John Humphrey Noyes, founder of the Oneida Community. Skinner joined the Putney Association and later the Oneida Community, where she was active in both intellectual and domestic roles. She contributed to Perfectionist publications, served as editor of the Oneida Circular, and taught composition and spelling within the community. Skinner authored the vegetarian cookbook Oneida Community Cooking (1873), which documented the community's food practices and promoted the use of fresh, local ingredients. She advocated for the community's principle of free love, which she believed fostered moral development and social cohesion.

Biography

Early life and family

Harriet Hayes Noyes was born July 5, 1817, in Dummerston, Vermont, the seventh of nine children in the Noyes family,[1] a lineage descending from Nicholas Noyes, who emigrated from England and settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1634.[2]

Her father, John Noyes (1764–1841), graduated from Dartmouth College and served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Vermont. Her mother, Polly (née Hayes; 1780–1866), was the daughter of Rutherford Hayes and the sister of the father of future U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes.[2]

Skinner grew up in Putney, Vermont, in a religious household. In 1831, during a revival movement, her brother John Humphrey Noyes experienced a religious conversion that significantly altered his life path and beliefs. Skinner, along with other members of the Noyes family, was influenced by his evolving theology, including his belief in the possibility of achieving salvation from sin in the present life. By 1837, she had publicly expressed her support for these views.[3] Her brother later founded the utopian Oneida Community.[4][5]

On March 3, 1841, she married John Langdon Skinner (1803–1889), a native of Westmoreland, New Hampshire.[2] He was a fellow convert and editorial assistant to her brother.[1] The couple had one child, Joseph John Skinner, who later became a professor at Yale University and held advanced degrees in civil engineering and philosophy.[2]

Career

Skinner participated in religious activities with her family and contributed regularly to publications associated with the perfectionist movement.[3] She joined the Putney Association at its inception and later joined the Oneida Community on June 16, 1848, alongside her husband and son.[1]

Within the community, she was active in both intellectual and domestic roles, later taking part in the community's culinary operations.[3] She authored Oneida Community Cooking, first published in 1873, which documented the community's food practices. Skinner promoted the use of fresh, local ingredients and is credited with the phrase, "freshness is the sauce and seasoning for everything".[5]

Skinner made substantial contributions to Community publications, serving for a time as editor of the Oneida Circular and frequently writing for other periodicals. She also taught composition and spelling and acted as housekeeper for her brother during his vacations at Joppa from 1874 onward.[1]

Free love

Skinner expressed support for the principle of free love, describing it as a foundation for a more dynamic and cohesive community. She contrasted it with conventional marriage, which she viewed as promoting selfishness and social limitation. In her writings, she stated that free love fostered generosity, moral development, and a sense of organic unity within the community, and credited it with having a positive impact on her own character.[6]

Later life and death

In 1881, the Oneida Community dissolved and reorganized as a joint-stock company, which later developed into the silverware manufacturer Oneida Limited.[5] Skinner died in Kenwood, New York, on September 8, 1893,[2] and was buried at the Oneida Community Cemetery.[7]

Publications

References

  1. ^ a b c d Teeple, John B. (1984). "Skinner, Harriet H. Noyes". The Oneida Family. Oneida Community Historical Committee. pp. 22–23.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Prof. Joseph J. Skinner, C. E., Ph. D.". Biographical Record, Classes From Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-Eight to Eighteen Hundred and Seventy-Two of the Sheffield Scientific School. New Haven, CT: Yale University. 1910. pp. 84–85.
  3. ^ a b c J. (December 1908). "Harriet Hayes Skinner". The Quadrangle. 1 (9) – via New York Heritage.
  4. ^ "John Humphrey Noyes". NNDB. 2019. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  5. ^ a b c Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko (2022-05-07). History of Vegetarianism and Veganism Worldwide (1430 BCE to 1969): Extensively Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook (PDF). Lafayette, CA: Soyinfo Center. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-948436-74-8.
  6. ^ Nichols, Thomas Low; Nichols, Mary Sargeant Gove (1854). Marriage: Its History, Character, and Results. V. Nicholson & Company. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-608-40947-4. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  7. ^ "John Langdon SKINNER & Harriet Hayes NOYES". Salmon Creek Genealogy & Publishing. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  8. ^ "New Haven Perfectionism versus Methodist sanctification". WorldCat.org. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
  9. ^ "The Theodores of the Bible; a lecture by Skinner, Harriet H., Constance Bradley Noyes". Biblio. Retrieved 2025-05-02.
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