At the age of twenty-four, the Rhode Island Quaker Jemima Wilkinson (1752-1819) recovered from a bout of fever with the pronouncement that she had been directed by a vision to preach to a "dying and sinful world." Announcing that Jemima had died and that her body now housed a new spirit, the Publick Universal Friend, this remarkably charismatic—and notably scandal-plagued—woman gathered several hundred followers and settled to the west of Seneca Lake. Although the religious community she founded on a framework of abstinence and friendship did not long survive her, Wilkinson remains a figure of fascination and mystery to this day. Herbert A. Wisbey Jr.'s 1964 biography is the authoritative account of her life, times, and ideals.
The classic biography of the Rhode Island Quaker, Jemima Wilkinson (1752-1819), who at the age of 23, after recovering from a bout of fever, pronounced that she had been directed by a vision to preach to a "dying and sinful world."（Cornell University Press）
