Meet the People
The Owen-Maclure experiment was short-lived, but the people who came here in 1825-1827 spent lifetimes wrestling with questions that still matter today. Who were these reformers, scientists, artists, educators, and dreamers who left comfortable lives to build something new? What did they hope to achieve? And when their visions collided (as they inevitably did), what can we learn from their conflicts?​
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These brief biographies introduce key figures in the Owen-Maclure community's story. As the bicentennial unfolds, we'll expand these profiles and add more voices, including those who dissented, departed, or saw New Harmony's promise differently. Understanding this radical social experiment means understanding the complicated, brilliant, and flawed people who lived it.
"These, then, are the people, the Wonder Workers who provoke today's visitors to ask, "What is it about New Harmony?" Certainly the varied ethnic backgrounds, German, English, Celtic, Swiss, French, and Dutch, are factors. Mix in the multiple interests and training; scientists, zoologists, entomologists, geologists, mineralogists, artists, musicians, thespians; add a pinch each of fanaticism, theism, spiritualism, idealism, and materialism; leaven with a scoop of practicality and how could New Harmony not cast a spell?"
Janet R. Walker, Wonder Workers on the Wabash (Historic New Harmony, 1999), 59.
Educator
Guillaume Sylvan
Phiquepal d'Arusmont
1779-1855
French physician and educator who practiced Pestalozzian teaching methods and became involved in progressive reform circles in America.
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Industrialist
David Dale
1739-1806
Wealthy Scottish industrialist and philanthropist who founded the New Lanark cotton mills in the late 18th century.
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Artist
Jacob Maentel
1763-1863
German-American folk artist known for his distinctive profile portraits rendered in watercolor and ink.
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Scientist
David Dale Owen
1807-1860
Son of Robert Owen and Caroline Dale who became one of America's most prominent geologists in the mid-19th century, transforming New Harmony into a major center for geological research.
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Reformer
Robert Dale Owen
1801-1877
Eldest son of Robert Owen and Caroline Dale who came to New Harmony and became an influential editor, politician, and social reformer in his own right.
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Artist
Lucy Way Sistare Say
1800-1886
American artist and scientific illustrator who married naturalist Thomas Say in 1827, becoming one of America's first female scientific illustrators.
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Scientist
Gerardus Troost
1776-1850
Dutch-American geologist and mineralogist who came to New Harmony in 1826 as part of William Maclure's "Boatload of Knowledge."
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Reformer
Frances Wright
1795-1852
Scottish-born writer, orator, and radical social reformer who became closely associated with New Harmony and co-edited the New Harmony Gazette with Robert Dale Owen.
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Craftsman
John Beal
1797-1863
American cabinet maker and carpenter who was recruited by William Maclure to travel to New Harmony on the "Boatload of Knowledge."
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Educator
Jane Dale Owen Fauntleroy
1806-1861
Daughter of Robert Owen and Caroline Dale who came to New Harmony and became an important figure in the community after the communal experiment ended.
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Scientist
Charles Alexandre Lesueur 1778-1846
French naturalist, artist, and explorer who came to New Harmony in 1826 as part of William Maclure's "Boatload of Knowledge."
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Secretary
Donald McDonald
1791-1872
Scottish military officer and secretary who accompanied Robert Owen to America in the 1820s and documented the early phases of the Owen-Maclure experiment.
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Scientist
Richard Owen
1810-1890
Son of Robert Owen and Caroline Dale who came to New Harmony and became a distinguished geologist, natural scientist, and educator in Indiana.
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Administrator
William Owen
1802-1842
Son of Robert Owen and Caroline Dale who came to New Harmony and actively participated in the early operations of the communal experiment.
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Scientist
Thomas Say
1787-1834
American naturalist known as the "Father of American Entomology" and "Father of American Conchology" who came to New Harmony in 1826 with William Maclure on the "Boatload of Knowledge."
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Reformer
Josiah Warren
1798-1874
American musician and inventor who participated in the Owen-Maclure experiment and emerged from it as one of America's first anarchist philosophers.
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Family
Ann Caroline Dale
1778-1831
Daughter of wealthy Scottish industrialist David Dale and wife of Robert Owen.
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Scientist
Robert Henry Fauntleroy
1806-1849
American geologist and civil engineer who came to New Harmony to work with David Dale Owen on geological surveys in the 1840s.
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Educator
Joseph Neef
1770-1854
Swiss-American educator and former Napoleonic soldier who became one of the first practitioners of Pestalozzian educational methods in America.
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Reformer
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
1746-1827
Swiss educational reformer whose progressive teaching methods revolutionized education in the early 19th century and profoundly influenced the Owen-Maclure experiment.
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Engraver
Cornelius Tiebout
circa 1773-1832
American copperplate engraver who came to New Harmony in 1826 and taught in William Maclure's School of Industry.
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Architect
Thomas Stedman Whitwell
1784-1840
British architect and civil engineer who proposed ambitious architectural plans for Robert Owen's utopian community in New Harmony.
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