William Keil

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William Keil (born March 6, 1812 - died 1877) was the founder of communal religious societies in Bethel, Missouri, and Aurora, Oregon, which he established and lead in the nineteenth century.

Influenced by German Lutheranism, pietism, and revival Methodism, Keil's theology was never formalized and remains somewhat unclear. Keil was born in contested territory on the border of Prussia and Germany in 1812 and raised by German Lutheran parents. He emigrated to the United States as a young man, apparently after receiving a mystic text from a gypsy. Initially, he settled in New York and worked as a tailor, his family trade. Within a year, he and his German wife moved to western Pennsylvania, where Keil gained a reputation as a mystic and healer.

Keil was influenced by revivalism and utopianism, which were popular in western Pennsylvania during the 1830s. After becoming a successful Christian preacher and building a large congregation, Keil and his followers moved to Bethel, Missouri in 1844, and started a Utopian commune. This colony was considered successful but many of its members, again led by Keil, moved to Oregon between 1853 and 1856 to start a new settlement, which became known as Aurora Mills. Keil died in 1877, leaving a power vacuum that led to the dissolution of the colony in 1883.

[edit] References

• Bek, W.(1909) The Community at Bethel, Missouri and its Off-Spring at Aurora, Oregon. German American Annals, n.s. 7 (September, 1909), 263
• Kanter, R.(1971) Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in Sociological Perspective. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
• Bethel Colony, Missouri
• Aurora Colony Museum, Oregon