Harriet Hayes Skinner
Born	Harriet Hayes Noyes (1817-07-05)July 5, 1817 Dummerston, Vermont, U.S.
Died	September 8, 1893(1893-09-08) (aged 76) Kenwood, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Oneida Community Cemetery, Kenwood, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Writer editor religiouscommunalist
Notable works	Oneida Community Cooking (1873)
Spouse	John Langdon Skinner ​ ​ (m. 1841; died 1889)​
Children	1
Relatives	John Noyes (father) John Humphrey Noyes (brother) Rutherford B. Hayes (cousin)

Harriet Hayes Skinner (née Noyes; July 5, 1817 – September 8, 1893) was an American writer, editor, and religiouscommunalist. Born into the prominent Noyes and Hayes families, she supported the religious views of her brother,John Humphrey Noyes, founder of theOneida Community. Skinner joined the Putney Association and later the Oneida Community, where she was active in both intellectual and domestic roles. She contributed toPerfectionist publications, served as editor of theOneida Circular, and taught composition and spelling within the community. Skinner authored the vegetarian cookbookOneida Community Cooking (1873), which documented the community's food practices and promoted the use of fresh, local ingredients. She advocated for the community's principle offree love, which she viewed as a means of promoting moral growth andsocial cohesion.

Harriet Hayes Noyes was born July 5, 1817, inDummerston, Vermont, the seventh of nine children in the Noyes family,^[1] a lineage descending fromNicholas Noyes, who emigrated from England and settled inNewbury, Massachusetts, in 1634.^[2]

Her father,John Noyes (1764–1841), graduated fromDartmouth College and served as a member of theU.S. House of Representatives from Vermont. Her mother, Polly (née Hayes; 1780–1866), was the daughter of Rutherford Hayes and the sister of the father of future U.S. PresidentRutherford B. Hayes.^[2]

Skinner grew up inPutney, Vermont, in a religious household. In 1831, during a revival movement, her brotherJohn Humphrey Noyes experienced a religious conversion that significantly altered his life path and beliefs. Skinner, along with other members of the Noyes family, was influenced by his evolving theology, including his belief in the possibility of achieving salvation from sin in the present life. By 1837, she had publicly expressed her support for these views.^[3] Her brother later founded the utopianOneida Community.^[4][5]

On March 3, 1841, she married John Langdon Skinner (1803–1889), a native ofWestmoreland, New Hampshire.^[2] He was a fellow convert and editorial assistant to her brother.^[1] The couple had one child, Joseph John Skinner, who later became a professor atYale University and held advanced degrees in civil engineering and philosophy.^[2]

Skinner participated in religious activities with her family and contributed regularly to publications associated with theperfectionist movement.^[3] She joined the Putney Association at its inception and later joined the Oneida Community on June 16, 1848, alongside her husband and son.^[1]

Within the community, she was active in both intellectual and domestic roles, later taking part in the community's culinary operations.^[3] She authoredOneida Community Cooking, first published in 1873, which documented the community's food practices. Skinner promoted the use of fresh, local ingredients and is credited with the phrase, "freshness is the sauce and seasoning for everything".^[5]

Skinner made substantial contributions to Community publications, serving for a time as editor of theOneida Circular and frequently writing for other periodicals. She also taught composition and spelling and acted as housekeeper for her brother during his vacations at Joppa from 1874 onward.^[1]

Skinner expressed support for the principle offree love, describing it as a foundation for a more dynamic and cohesive community. She contrasted it with conventional marriage, which she viewed as promoting selfishness and social limitation. In her writings, she stated that free love encouraged generosity, moral development, and a sense of organic unity within the community, and credited it with having a positive impact on her own character.^[6]

In 1881, the Oneida Community dissolved and reorganized as a joint-stock company, which later developed into the silverware manufacturerOneida Limited.^[5] Skinner died inKenwood, New York, on September 8, 1893,^[2] and was buried at the Oneida Community Cemetery.^[7]

• New Haven Perfectionism versus Methodist Sanctification (1848)^[8]
• Oneida Community Cooking: Or a Dinner Without Meat (Oneida Community, 1873)
• The Theodores of the Bible: A Lecture (with Constance Bradley Noyes; Oneida Community,c. 1877)[9]
• History of the Fever and Ague War in Wallingford, in Two Letters, reprinted from the Correspondence of the American Socialist (with John Humphrey Noyes; Wallingford Printing Company, 1876)

• Media related toHarriet Hayes Skinner at Wikimedia Commons

• 1817 births
• 1893 deaths
• 19th-century American non-fiction writers
• 19th-century American women writers
• 19th-century American writers
• American Christian socialists
• American Christian writers
• American cookbook writers
• American food writers
• American magazine editors
• American religious writers
• American women food writers
• American women magazine editors
• American women religious writers
• Christian perfectionists
• Christian vegetarians
• Christians from New York (state)
• Christians from Vermont
• Female Christian socialists
• Free love advocates
• People from Dummerston, Vermont
• People from Putney, Vermont
• Utopian socialists
• Vegetarian cookbook writers
• Writers from New York (state)
• Writers from Vermont
• American vegetarianism activists
• American women activists

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