The Altruist
Alcander Longley was born in 1832 in Oxford, Ohio, just before the family moved to Lebanon, Indiana. He was only twelve when the family moved to the Clermont Phalanx and embraced the socialist communal society which his father helped to organize. By age 19 Alcander helped organize a phalanx in nearby Moore's Hill, Indiana.
The next year he went to the North American Phalanx in Colts Neck Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Why and who with is unknown. He would spend time there off and on until 1854.
The North American Phalanx was established in September 1843 and included the participation of writer Albert Brisbane and famous newspaper publisher Horace Greeley, two of the leading figures of the Fourierist movement. The Association disbanded in January 1856, following a catastrophic fire which destroyed a number of the community's productive enterprises. At that time it was the last of about 30 Fourierist Associations established during the 1840s still in existence and thus was the longest-lived.
The next year he went to the North American Phalanx in Colts Neck Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Why and who with is unknown. He would spend time there off and on until 1854.
The North American Phalanx was established in September 1843 and included the participation of writer Albert Brisbane and famous newspaper publisher Horace Greeley, two of the leading figures of the Fourierist movement. The Association disbanded in January 1856, following a catastrophic fire which destroyed a number of the community's productive enterprises. At that time it was the last of about 30 Fourierist Associations established during the 1840s still in existence and thus was the longest-lived.
Map of the Communal Societies
Like his brothers, he also learned the printing trade. After getting married in 1854, to Zellie Mottier, he went to work in the family printing business in Cincinnati until 1861. For two years he was also a Post Master in Cincinnati.
But Alcander was a very strong believer in the utopian socialist communal idea. Even more than his father. While helping with the family business he was still traveling across Indiana, Ohio and Michigan trying to start, or help set up, phalanxes (communes). As they say "He talked the talk and walked the walk". By 1864 he got 24 families to join him to start their own commune in Muskegon County, Michigan. His Black Lake Cooperative Association failed within two years. Alcander then started to embrace the ideals of another French politician, journalist, and author Étienne Cabet. His followers were called Icarians and had a commune in nearby Corning, Iowa.
But Alcander was a very strong believer in the utopian socialist communal idea. Even more than his father. While helping with the family business he was still traveling across Indiana, Ohio and Michigan trying to start, or help set up, phalanxes (communes). As they say "He talked the talk and walked the walk". By 1864 he got 24 families to join him to start their own commune in Muskegon County, Michigan. His Black Lake Cooperative Association failed within two years. Alcander then started to embrace the ideals of another French politician, journalist, and author Étienne Cabet. His followers were called Icarians and had a commune in nearby Corning, Iowa.
The Icarians were another French-based utopian socialist movement. In an attempt to put his economic and social theories into practice, Cabet had led his followers to the United States in 1848 where they established a series of egalitarian communes in the states of Texas, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and California. The movement split several times due to factional disagreements.
In 1839 a large number of Mormons had moved to the small community of Commerce, Illinois (soon renamed Nauvoo), where critics denounced their theological beliefs and worried about their political influence. In 1846 local citizens violently forced the Mormons out of Nauvoo after their leader Joseph Smith was killed. Then the Icarians moved into Nauvoo. But, they negotiated with the local community and creating ties through trade and social activities. In 1852 these Icarians split with some moving to a new commune near St. Louis and others relocating to just outside of Corning, Iowa. Their 46 years of tenure at Corning made it one of the longest-lived non-religious communal living experiments in U. S. history.
In 1839 a large number of Mormons had moved to the small community of Commerce, Illinois (soon renamed Nauvoo), where critics denounced their theological beliefs and worried about their political influence. In 1846 local citizens violently forced the Mormons out of Nauvoo after their leader Joseph Smith was killed. Then the Icarians moved into Nauvoo. But, they negotiated with the local community and creating ties through trade and social activities. In 1852 these Icarians split with some moving to a new commune near St. Louis and others relocating to just outside of Corning, Iowa. Their 46 years of tenure at Corning made it one of the longest-lived non-religious communal living experiments in U. S. history.
The Icarian Newspaper from Corning
Wanting to help spread the word about his beliefs Alcander left Iowa and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he had cousins. (Also, his idol Étienne Cabet had died in Missouri in 1856 and was buried in St. Louis.) There he began printing a publication called The Communist about his way of life. It would later be renamed The Altruist.
By 1869 he and four followers established the Reunion Colony near Carthage, Missouri. After two and a half years, it failed. Not to be deterred in his beliefs, he tried again in Buffalo in Dallas County, Missouri, He called this commune Friendship.
Having found a backer, William H Bennett, with some money this venture thrived. At Bennett's insistence they leased a hotel and opened a general store for more income. By the next year Bennett thought the commune was not developing fast enough and shut down the hotel and general store and left. He also took 40 acres of corn with him.
Alcander was able to put together $500 and purchase a 500 acre farm nearby. Unfortunately, it was too late to plant new crops so the commune struggled to exist on what they had left over. He was now down to only five followers.
Pleading in his newspaper for new members he was helped out by the 1873 Financial Crisis across the country. People came seeking relief from their hard times. When prosperity started to return in a couple years people drifted away and by 1877 he abandoned the commune and returned to St. Louis.
Never one to let his ideals die he soon tried, but failed quickly, with a commune named Principia in Polk County, Missouri. By 1883 he finally succeeded in establishing one near Glen Allen in Bollinger County, Missouri. He named the 120 acre commune "The Mutual Aid Community". He expected to draw 500 people and obtain $50,000 in property. Once again, it was a short lived experiment and by 1887 he returned to St. Louis to concentrate on his newspaper.
Having found a backer, William H Bennett, with some money this venture thrived. At Bennett's insistence they leased a hotel and opened a general store for more income. By the next year Bennett thought the commune was not developing fast enough and shut down the hotel and general store and left. He also took 40 acres of corn with him.
Alcander was able to put together $500 and purchase a 500 acre farm nearby. Unfortunately, it was too late to plant new crops so the commune struggled to exist on what they had left over. He was now down to only five followers.
Pleading in his newspaper for new members he was helped out by the 1873 Financial Crisis across the country. People came seeking relief from their hard times. When prosperity started to return in a couple years people drifted away and by 1877 he abandoned the commune and returned to St. Louis.
Never one to let his ideals die he soon tried, but failed quickly, with a commune named Principia in Polk County, Missouri. By 1883 he finally succeeded in establishing one near Glen Allen in Bollinger County, Missouri. He named the 120 acre commune "The Mutual Aid Community". He expected to draw 500 people and obtain $50,000 in property. Once again, it was a short lived experiment and by 1887 he returned to St. Louis to concentrate on his newspaper.
By this time Alcander's wife must have tired of this semi-nomadic life. That year she went back to Cincinnati after her father died there and did not return to St. Louis. She listed herself as Alcander's widow in the Cincinnati city directory. That was less shameful than being divorced (no record has been found that they had) or just leaving him. In Cincinnati their daughter, Justine, was listed as a Short Hand Teacher. She may have been working at her Uncle Elias's shorthand and typing school. She and her mother were staying with Elias's son Leo at this time.
Zellie would spend the rest of her life with her daughter. She passed away in 1926, at age 93, at her daughter's home in Cabin John Park, Maryland. Her body was returned to Cincinnati, but no grave site has been located. It is believed she is buried in the Mottier family plot in the Spring Grove Cemetery.
Zellie would spend the rest of her life with her daughter. She passed away in 1926, at age 93, at her daughter's home in Cabin John Park, Maryland. Her body was returned to Cincinnati, but no grave site has been located. It is believed she is buried in the Mottier family plot in the Spring Grove Cemetery.
In 1890 Alcander married again. This time to a 22 music teacher from Iowa named Genevieve Everingham Decker. The marriage lasted less than a year when Genevieve died from pneumonia.
Alcander soon had two more failed attempts of a utopian system at Kingsland, Arkansas, and Higbee in Randolph County, Missouri, between 1895 and 1897.
Alcander soon had two more failed attempts of a utopian system at Kingsland, Arkansas, and Higbee in Randolph County, Missouri, between 1895 and 1897.
1897 St. Louis Dispatch Article About Alcander's Life
In 1900 Alcander tried marriage again. Her name was Susan Ella Jones. She was 49 and he was 67. He had met Susan at one of his Missouri communes. Sadly, this marriage would end very tragically.
One night in 1907 while sitting at home discussing his newspaper that Susan helped him with it was getting dark and Alcander lit a lantern. Passing the match to his wife to light the one near her it exploded when she touched the match to it. It had recently been filled with fuel that Alcander had purchased from a passing peddler. Instead of kerosene it was gasoline.
Susan was enveloped in flames. Then a can of oil nearby was ignited and the entire room went up in flames. First Alcander tried ripping her burning clothes off to no avail. He rushed into the bedroom and retrieved some blankets to smother her with. Her thrashing about would not allow him to use them so he tried putting her out with his hands. By now his clothes were also on fire. He passed out from exhaustion when two neighbors burst through the door in time to drag him to safety.
Coming to, Alcander refused treatment for his burned hands and tried to re-enter the apartment to see his wife's charred body. He was not allowed to.
Alcander soon left for Sulphur Springs, Jefferson County, Missouri, where he had previously purchased land on the bank of the Mississippi River. Giving it one last try for a commune he moved there. In 1909 a visiting reporter called it "the most pathetic of his utopian ventures." It was just him and a sickly old lady living in a rundown building. Giving up, he returned to St. Louis to keep printing The Altruist until 1917. Leaving St. Louis he went to Chicago to live with his widowed daughter Rosell Hubbard in her apartment. A month after his 86th birthday in 1918 he passed away there. His death certificate stated he was returned to St. Louis for burial.
The location of his burial was unknown until I found him listed in the records of Saint Peter's Cemetery in Normandy on the northwest edge of St. Louis. His name had been recorded incorrectly as "Alexander Longly" and shown as buried 2 days after his death in Chicago. Further proof that it is Alcander is that his second and third wives are buried next to him.
Saint Peter's Cemetery