Joyful, California Explained

Joyful is a former settlement and vegetarian colony in Kern County, California.[1] It was located 2miles southwest of Bakersfield, where Pennsylvania Lane now joins Ashe Road just north of Panama Lane.[2] [3] [4] [5]

History

Californian fruit farmer Isaac B. Rumford and his wife Sara converted to a raw food vegetarian diet in 1881.[6] They advocated an "Edenic Diet" in which all animal foods were forbidden apart from honey. They held the view that "cooking destroys the vitality of the food, besides being a waste of labor and of time; it makes a slave of the one who cooks and shortens life."[6]

Joyful was founded by Rumford and his wife in early 1884 as a Utopian colony under the auspices of the Association of Brotherly Cooperation.[7] Joyful was located on the bank of Panama Slough, wetland adjacent to the Kern River that has been dry since before 1967.[8] Joyful was a vegetarian colony in which members followed a way of life influenced by the Biblical Adam and Eve before the Fall.[7] Members would eat a raw vegetarian diet of almonds, fruit juice, grated apples, raisins and a ground mix of oats and wheat called grainia.[6] They opposed cooking food as they believed it reduced nutritional value. Rumford and his wife founded the newspaper, Joyful News.[7] The Joyful post office operated from 1883 to 1884, when the colony was abandoned.[2] Although the other members abandoned the colony,Rumford continued to work as a fruit farmer with his family. In 1902 at age 68, Rumford wrote that his raw vegetarian diet consisted of starch foods such as dry flour with fruits and nuts.[9]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Iacobo . Karen . Iacobo . Michael . 2004 . Vegetarian America : a history . 2024-02-24 . Worldcat.org . Praeger . en . Westport, Conn..
  2. Web site: Durham . David L. . 1998 . California's geographic names : a gazetteer of historic and modern names of the state . 2024-02-24 . Worldcat.org . Word Dancer Press . en . Clovis, California.
  3. Book: Bailey, Richard C. . Kern County Place Names . Merchants Printing and Lithographing Co. . Introduction by Ralph F. Kreiser . 1967 . 1st . Annual Publications of the Kern County Historical Society and Kern County Museum (No. 29) . Bakersfield, Calif. . 12 . en-us . 74018077 . 158106 .
  4. Web site: Rumford . Isaac B . May 4, 1883 . Post Office Department, Office of the First Assistant P. M. General . live . https://archive.today/20240224102248/https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/dc-metro/rg-028/M1126/M1126-052/M1126-052-0589.jpg . February 24, 2024 . February 24, 2024 . The National Archives and Records Administration.
  5. Web site: Rumford . Isaac B. . May 4, 1883 . Diagram showing the location of the Joyful Post Office . live . https://archive.today/20240224102537/https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/dc-metro/rg-028/M1126/M1126-052/M1126-052-0590.jpg . February 24, 2024 . February 24, 2024 . The National Archives and Records Administration.
  6. Book: Hine, Robert V. . California's utopian colonies . 1983 . Berkeley : University of California Press . Internet Archive . 978-0-520-04865-2.
  7. Web site: Lewis . James $. . 2002 . The encyclopedia of cults, sects, and new religions . 2024-02-24 . Worldcat.org . Prometheus Books . en . Amherst, N. Y..
  8. https://newspaperarchive.com/advertisement-clipping-jun-28-1969-669591/ "Museum Alliance Marks Centennial"
  9. 1902 . Starch Food Necessary . The Vegetarian Magazine . 6 . 7 . 163-164 . HathiTrust.

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