born Feb. 29, 1736, Manchester, Eng.
died Sept. 8, 1784, Watervliet, N.Y., U.S.
British-American religious leader.
A factory worker in her youth in Manchester, she joined the Shaker s in 1758 and was acknowledged as their leader in 1770. Persecuted by the English authorities and compelled by what she believed was a vision, she immigrated to America in 1774. With a band of followers, she founded a settlement at Niskeyuna (present-day Watervliet), N.Y., in 1776, and thereafter her movement spread rapidly. Mother Ann, as she came to be known, was said to have performed miracles, including healing the sick by touch. She was imprisoned briefly for treason because of her pacifist doctrines and refusal to sign an oath of allegiance.