The Cult That Made Your Grandmother's Fine Silverware

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For many Americans in the 20th century, holiday meals meant getting out the special Oneida Silverware. Stainless steel, ornamental and moderately expensive, it wasn’t a fancy dinner unless there was a Silverplate Oneida spoon on the table. Despite its traditional look, the history of Oneida Silverware is anything but.
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[@thorambar961]

Some may call it cultlery. I'm sorry I'll find my way out.

[@fencefirst2722]

Thorambar W... Please stay..

[@laurakuhn8743]

Pun tax

[@uruiamnot]

Bouncer: do your thing.

[@danzigmcnaniel5226]

Thorambar HIYOOOOOO YOU ARE CORRECT SIR

[@healinggrounds19]

I will tip the bartender and the waitress.

[@jaspr1999]

You're right! I have my grandparents' cutlery collection, that is mostly intact, and it is Oneida. I had never thought about it any further than just making sure that I polished it before I used it every year for family get-togethers. I had never heard of this group, but less anything else. Just amazing and wierd.

[@kayehenry3737]

Your contribution to dinner conversation is set then, right? :-)

[@christophertstone]

I own and use Oneida silverware daily, and was fortunate enough to buy while the company was still owned by the original cult crazies. Truly a piece of history.

[@TheMechanicalGirl999]

Would you say these are a "cult classic"!?!

[@justindunlap1235]

@@TheMechanicalGirl999 yes

[@laurabentzinger200]

Me too

[@johnnycashew9101]

Do you cut a steak and think, "you know what I want her steak as well". The Lord wouldn't want us to quarrel over steak.

[@samuelbenefiel5362]

Were you aware of the company's occultic history

[@jamesslick4790]

"Spiritual Spouses" is a good name for a band. Debut Album: "Bride of All Saints".

[@TurkeyCreekjackjohnson_]

Many saints of Newark

[@katied2579]

Brides of Christ. Your comment is great thanks

[@sarahgray430]

My Nana's silverware was made in England. She thought the Oneida silver was trashy...and now I know why!

[@indiekiddrugpatrol3117]

Sarah Gray all the best steel comes from England

[@christinecnew3268]

I knew about this history of Oneida "cult." I must give credit to my teachers at Minneapolis Central High School in the early 70's for giving me that knowledge. I often wondered what kind of Juju was happening in upper state New York that allowed these "communities" to blossom. Oneida was one of many cults. Others were Amana (soon to be appliance makers) and Shakers (furniture). Probably more I don't remember them all.

[@isiartdotcom]

Ha! I have a perfect set of silver Community silverware in original boxes not realising it was Oneida or that it was anything to do with a commune. Thanks. How cool!

[@DrinkYourNailPolish]

I live in that area of upstate NY. There's a Noyes street in utica.... Oh and its pronounced "oh-nye-duh" not "onee-dah"

[@jasonflay8818]

Drink Your Nail Polish at least he didn't completely butcher it and say One-I-da, always a pet peeve of mine

[@timewave02012]

I'm from Wisconsin near where the Oneida tribe from NY ended up and pronounce Oneida to rhyme with my pronunciation of Al-Qaeda.

[@CaalamusTube]

Actually they're still in Oneida timewave02012. All Six Nations still reside on their Ancestral Lands, right here in New York. The Onondaga just south of Syracuse, the Oneida situated around the city of Oneida, the Mohawk up along the St. Lawerence, the Cayuga on the north end of Cayuga Lake, east of Seneca Falls, the Seneca south of Buffalo & the adopted Tuscarora up by Niagara Falls. The Mohawk also have land in Quebec & the Oneida in the northern Midwest... as you mentioned.

[@jasonflay8818]

Caalamus the above commenter is partially correct a band did go to Wisconsin, but as far as I know the two groups don't associate with one another

[@Kara_Kay_Eschel]

Ever been to Albany to try steamed hams?

[@brokeneyes6615]

Suddenly my own religious childhood of brimstone and damnation if I didn’t punch enough rapture tickets before the second coming doesn’t seem nearly so bad...at least I didn’t have to literally sneak hugs at night with my parents.

[@bluebell2522]

Broken Eyes

[@hardcorebarbell]

Broken Eyes *victim mentality* Will you be ok without your "terrible" morals and wisdom along with that perfect eternal life you were taught of? *Dont teach me morals* *Ppl made mistakes teaching me and misrepresented the purpose* *Wahhhh I'm a victim, religion is bad.* *Booohoooooo*

[@FriedEgg101]

I don't want a god that created humanity with 99% redundancy. Chase me or go to hell. That's nice.

[@senorpants5604]

hardcorebarbell Projecting insecurities Dude, he was talking about his life personal experience. Not about religion in general.

[@dianabrown2258]

@@hardcorebarbell salvation isn't earned, anyone preaching differently is spiritual abuse, so yes he is a victim of spiritual abuse, I encourage you to connect with jesus if you want to spew hate

[@JKSSubstandard]

Its pronounced Own-eye-duh (im a former local to that part of NY)

[@nekad2000]

Do they make cwafee cups or whoota glasses?

[@JKSSubstandard]

nekad2000 it's not an accent thing. It's an old native American name. Like 50% of Western NY is old native American names

[@jacobgarofalo635]

@@nekad2000 That's not really an Upstate NY thing. More like ah vowels, fast talking, bland accents, and a mish mash of German, Italian, Irish, English and Native American slang and names of things. Source: live there.

[@NefariousKoel]

The pronunciation of the spelling is German-style. 'ei' pronounced "eye".

[@thatonedog819]

nekad2000 it's the same pronunciation over in WI where there was also an Oneida tribe ... I think it was part of NY tribe

[@TheJojo01902]

WOW! The stuff I'm learning! Thanks to Simon for hosting/narrating, and thanks to the stellar research team supporting these videos!

[@annettefournier9655]

Oneida is only 3 hours east of me. It is nothing to write home about now. Sleepy little Oneida. Who knew is had such a saucey history?

[@annettefournier9655]

@William Loudermilk You should never presume to assume you know anything about the life of someone else. I have lived in this area only 3 years. We are steeped in the history of the area we grow up in as we grow up and become educated there. I know about the history of the state and neighboring states where I grew up. Also you have no idea of a person's mobility. Do try not to be so presumptuous and insolent.

[@Ripsaw51]

Historians

[@rickc2102]

@William Loudermilk wow, you're a judgemental dick, and wrong, to boot.

[@LlyleHunter]

Hey Loudmouth! Go take your meds, find your favorite park bench and sleep it off!

[@jimh4375]

This was funny when he achieved "perfection", but it quickly went from funny to epic tragedy mired in moral decay.

[@BigSmiley0TV]

They were actually part of a class and had to read about them, and one thing about the metal traps they made, is that one one of the members had devised something new, with the traps, that they had a patent on, and this helped them with much needed funding until they went into silverware

[@lilMissAdoria]

Now, I've admired my mom's smart choice in stainless steel special occasion cutlery for years just because they don't need to be polished and made a fuss over. Now I'm doubly glad! I also don't recal my grandma having silverware, except perhaps a few serving spoons. So, smart ladies not investing indirectly into a creepy cult who's rules both intrigue and horrify. 😆

[@RoverStorm]

I'm starting to understand why heretics have historically been so, er, "Frowned upon"

[@darken2417]

Its also because they used to tend to revolt trying to start their own nation with the support of their local nobility hungry for power and would from time to time forcefully convert villages that they occupy. This was all in earlier times however where local powers had the weight to actually cause some real damage as compared to the increase in firepower and manpower of authorities in later time periods.

[@Wonmirriondorra]

Used to work in a restaurant inside the mansion house. Grew up in sherrill right across from the silverware factory. Had to walk through the basement quite a bit and those tunnels are spooky.

[@KendrixTermina]

It's interesting how we're told the baby boomer view of family has always been the "one and only way of life" when alternative ways of life have always existed both as exclaves within our own society and outside of it. Of course just because they're breaking away from mainstream society that doesn't mean they are getting it all right , but we could all use some more humility, there's too much focus on the left-right debate and too little time for both greater context and a look at maladioes shared by our society as a whole. The baby boomer view has never been the one and only way and I don't think the "tumblresque" view of "tthere is always a clearly defined obviously right behavior with no ambiguity" will be the end-all, be-all either. We're all still trying to build a goiod society and there's no guarantee that we won't get it wrong as well, at least witth some ways. The closest thing to an objective measuring stick is probably "Is there evidence of harm?" rather than following ideologies - if a teen comes out of a session with a grandma traumatized and negatively affected, it's probably not a good idea.

[@wouterkessel5030]

To be fair any teen that does not come from a conversation with their grandparents somewhat horrified is probably mentally less than healthy considering its supposed to be a very naïve individual talking to somebody that has seen the worst horrors of life that is trying to warn the child away from experiencing them by making the way to experiencing them sound even more horrible than they actually are. Of course a lot of the time the grandparents don't get the reason why those horrible things happened right so it oft isn't succesfull

[@Allan.m432]

The factory is still open under the name liberty tabletop that is the only USA made silverware left. They are expensive but I have a set myself and I love them.

[@MakeMeThinkAgain]

The Community was rather similar to the extreme forms of Hussite and Anabaptist religion in Bohemia and Belgium respectively.

[@53Aubergine]

MakeMeThinkAgain I doubt they were polyamorous. I know the Hussites are communal, but which Anabaptists were? My paternal line comes out of that tradition so I read a lot and always interested in more.

[@timothylongblacksmithing6743]

They still sell it at Big Lots

[@meeeka]

We learned about the Oneida Community, as well as the Shakers, in US History in high school. There were a lot of those crazy cults, all who arose about the same time, and place. Some still exist, like the Latter Day Saints....

[@PawnMan]

Definitely covering this on my show soon this story is nuts

[@flashgordon3715]

Hey, I might be a raving homeless man someday. Remember when raving homeless men wore sandwich boards proclaming "The end is near"?

[@kidkurmudgeon-0_o]

Wow! I frequently picked silverware polishing as my chosen fancy dinner chore as a child (due to laziness& clumsiness- its damn hard to break a fork) I never quite looked at who made it. However given that my grandmother's father came over from Denmark it was probably these weirdos or a knock off. I can still remember the smell of that pink goo... so weird.

[@Doodle1776]

I'm sure that people have already corrected it but the pronunciation of Oneida is O-Nii-Da, with the long I sound, not an E one. Named, no doubt, after Oneida County in New York. Which itself was named after the Oneida tribe that was once part of the Iroquois Confederation. They backed the British during the French & Indian War (Seven Years War) and the Oneida were one of the few tribes to support the American cause during the Revolution.

[@loditx7706]

I already knew the story. I think I read about it years ago. A few years ago I gave my daughter and son in law a set of Oneida flatware for an anniversary present and told them about the community which was really, basically a commune. We always pronounced it O Nie (long i) da.

[@oduffy1939]

Here's something else you can say "Today I found out" - A group marriage comprised of several men and women all married to each other is called an "adelphic marriage" also called a "group marriage" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_marriage

[@GabyGeorge1996]

“Oneida”? Wait a second... *Flashbacks to Sam O’Nella’s video on the Assassination of President Garfield intensify*

[@haywoodyoudome]

Holy shit, over 13 minutes of actual content and no embedded ad for shit nobody wants. It is possible.

[@LlyleHunter]

We had Reed and Barton. By the way it’s only silverware if it’s all silver. Oneida is silver plated. The category of carving knives and forks in the US is specifically called cutlery where much of the rest of the world calls the entire category cutlery. In the US table knives, forks and spoons are legally categorized as flatware by tradelaw.

[@Padoinky]

I grew up in central NY (Syracuse).... we pronounced the name as “O Nye Da” - as reference to the aforementioned silver products, the City of Oneida, Oneida County, Oneida Lake, The Oneida Indian Nation, etc.

[@Henchman1977]

A woman getting married in 1950 isn't a baby boomer.

[@gasphynx]

This is by far the strangest silverware documentary I've ever seen.

[@defectiveparts8604]

Oneida NY. The furniture factory was still here filled right up with unsold furniture for the longest time. The first settlement in the area was Indians. Most of the land was sacred burial ground, so Is really just cursed. The second was actually a coven of witches, which eventually died/conformed and slowly morphed into The Cult Of Oneida after Noyes came about and started convincing. Located between a railroad triangle, this place is a spiritual logistical nightmare.

[@mattkaustickomments]

If I was told I wasn’t allowed to climax I’d say “No forking way!”

[@carjam49]

Sarah Vowell wrote a very in-depth chapter on this community in "Assassination Vacation." I used to live near here and visited the museum it is now. I never guessed it was so gross. It's not O-nee-dah. It's O-Ni-dah.

[@twistedvoodooful]

My grandmother was 13 when she married her husband who was 16 at the time. They lived together for well over fifty something years until my grandfather died in 2009. He was 62 at the time, I believe. Nothing to do wwith this video persay, but still.

[@madnessbydesign1415]

Maybe grandmas did know, and they were a little more freaky than any of us suspected... ;)

[@crystalmobley3424]

LOL Grandmas often are :) It's also possible that the details of exactly what that commune was doing weren't commonly known at the time.

[@GeneralNickles]

I had a teacher in high school called Mrs. Noyes. We called her "miss maybe".

[@haidengeary8277]

My grandparents lived through the Great Depression, so they werent exactly ones to bother with this fancy nonsense. Hell, growing up, they had a difficult time keeping a small house heated, and boiled their water.

[@Dontneedahandle0]

Great! Thanks Simon, now every damn family dinner where we break out the “good silverware” I’m going to think about this. 🤦‍♀️ lol, thank you for the video, very well made and annoyingly informative. 😁

[@Datan0de]

I grew up just outside of Oneida, and remember going to the retail store there with my mother and grandmother as a kid. I can say with certainty that my grandmother knew some of this, but doubt she had the full story.

[@tamarahead3311]

Holy Poker Playing Hippies and Glitter Burping Frogs!!!! I never knew the backstory/history of the Oneida company. Simon, you have completely gobsmacked me once again!!

[@St0rmcrash]

Unfortunately Oneida brand silverware is no longer made in the USA, but in China. However the former Oneida factory in New York is still alive as Sherrill Manufacturing, and sells silverware under the brand name Liberty Tabletop. Liberty is currently the only brand of silverware still manufactured in the United States

[@davidspinney2664]

sounds like they had a lot in common with Scientology, FLDS Jehovah's Witness etc.

[@Black_Sun_Dark_Star]

a community way ahead of its time.

[@Lumina_Solaris]

So, I go to the dining room to check what silverware we have that was from grandparents. Oneida LTD.

[@pamholloway5962]

You really do come up with some good subjects. Keep up the good work!

[@paxconsciente3352]

honestly this community sounds very open minded and positive and most of what noyes says is spot on

[@HolgerBrandsmeier]

I always thought that as you are from Europe you would create more videos for a global audience. I was quite surprised how much US centric terms you used here like the second awakening without explaining what this means.

[@TodayIFoundOut]

TIFO is U.S. based. :-) -Daven

[@BackFromTheMadeUp]

Oh right, so most American's would know what The second awakening is? Mmm, not sure about that. In what way is this channel US based? Do you mean your target audience are Americans?

[@HolgerBrandsmeier]

So Simon the host of the show is actually from Europe and living in Prague (didn't know that TIFO itself is from the US). While not everyone in the US knows the second awakening there is I assume many do, but essentially nobody in Europe does. It is something we would usually explain (unless the audience are only experts).

[@BackFromTheMadeUp]

LOL, exactly. In what was is the channel "US based'?

[@dragonsword7370]

If you don't know a thing then you should research it. I do, so do most.

[@theprodigalson4003]

Imagine if you could touch anything and visualise it’s entire history since it’s creation. I think about that a lot

[@errabbitc]

that cult was ahead of the times. in both good and bad ways

[@michaelkellys3906]

I'll never look at my Oneida measuring cups the same way again?! Haha

[@larryscott8775]

Have you ever heard of another Upstate NY community at Mottville near Skaneatles?

[@sarowie]

40 children born, only 9 request denied. Why that this sound a lot like every 5th request was denied? Or did some pairings have more then one of spring (reducing the number of request)? Where some request not filled because of the assumption that it would be denied?

[@lindamoses4236]

Very interesting, I grew up very close to Oneida, but I didn't know all these details! Also, it's pronounced "O-nide-ah", not "Oh-need-a". There are still Noyes descendants in the area, I went to high school with one.

[@glucosedaddy4525]

I'm here because i found a silver spoon in a second hand stuff selling Bazar. Made by this company, i bought it for like a dollar because the seller had no idea that it was silver.

[@cindymckown821]

wow...I live in upstate New York, and have been in Oneida often - never new this history! (New York seems to have a bunch of weird cults).

[@diansu4403]

Fun fact: a particular member of the o neida commune was Charles Julius Guiteau a madman who shot and killed President Garfield with a pearl handled revolver, which he though would looker better in a museum. after Garfield's death he said " I didn't kill him the doctors did" which was true for you see the if the doctors didn't poke around the wound it was likely that Garfield would've survived. And greatest part about this entire shitshow was that during his trial Guiteau yelled obscenities at the judge and jury, at his hanging he requested that an orchestra play (sadly didn't happen) whilst he sang a high pitched rambling poem from the perspective of a child watching President Garfield get shot. Following his death I believe the rope he was hung with were sold as souvenirs his body parts were given a more distinguished fate with his brain now being on display at the Mutter Museum.

[@history2873]

SICK...

[@googlethis313]

By 7:50 I forgot why I was even watching this! Then, I remembered silver wear. Next thought, WTF?!?

[@TheCptCoy]

I tell people about this all the time and they never believe me.

[@chernobylFarms]

More recently defunct is those useful Longaberger baskets.

[@Sodoffshotgun]

I read the title, spider sense tingling! Something's going on here. Then I start watching the video NOPE on a rope!

[@pavel0900]

Amazing story! Thank you

[@bobbyfeet2240]

The title is a bit misleading; it sounds like the cult phase was basically over well before the company really took off, certainly before my granny bought any of their silverware. So it was founded by a weird cult, but that's actually surprisingly common. Look at Kellogg's. (Technically maybe not exactly a cult, but same idea.)

[@Hercules1-v9m]

Never heard of this silver ware. Around my house anything above a paper plate is fancy.

[@carinamchugh4436]

Could you please do a video on being shanghaied! ☺️ Also I love your channels I watch all of them and Danny rocks I know it’s different channel but just saying. 💖

[@elias_xp95]

Never heard of it, certainly wasn't ever silver spoons in my family but none the less very fascinating.

[@charlessanborn551]

And I'll continue using my fingers to eat ..what a ride.

[@mickilicciardi7244]

I always thought it was pronounced Ohn EYE da. ??

[@Silkendrum]

Yes, it is.

[@ServiceComputers]

Wow! Outstanding research.

[@melody3741]

They did laundry "when 'onieda' rose?" 😂

[@DavidWilliams-DSW558]

Amazing! I wondered how humanity survived the prudish Victorian era

[@amberkat8147]

Well, it was mainly prudish for women and for gay men. Men were expected to have healthy sex drives and were not looked down much on for visiting ladies of the evening. In fact, men's sex drives were such a problem that it's the reason why Freud came up with his bizarre theories- he had so many young female patients telling him they were being r*ped by their fathers, and although it was a natural outgrowth of a culture that emphasized male control and domination of everything including the family and that was very permissive of the male sex drive, he couldn't bear to accept it.

[@LiLi-or2gm]

I have a large old Community Plate poster hanging up in my studio. I’ll never look at it again without thinking of this bizarre cult!

[@waterfallsandrain]

Now do one about the Amana community, who made/make washing machines? (Amana/Whirlpool)

[@larryalden79]

So freaking awesome, great video man

[@steveserpe8972]

I lived in oneida, it's still talked about.

[@lindsaygoodwin3140]

Fascinating. Overall this cult doesn't sound too bad. The logical and fair way they disbanded is quite unusual.

[@abbey5899]

Honestly my knowledge base is so weird that I knew about Oneida but not that they made silverware. I still learned something and that’s what matters

[@sentient_roomba7035]

all i new was that the man who killed garfield used to live thare

[@GiffysChannel]

I can't wait to tell my Grandma!!

[@swilson5320]

Boy, I can’t wait to bring this up during Thanksgiving

[@lukejreid]

That was quite forked up.

[@thedriver146]

O - nigh - da anything from central , western NY we kinda have to walk you through the names .

[@origin248]

I wonder if anyone tried to compare this community with those described in Plato's Republic? I mean it's pretty similar

[@k.stacey7389]

Making me think about the board of vintage Oneida Twinstar I’ve been collecting over the years... 🤔

[@mentak2593]

My great grandmother's silverware was made by Wallace silversmiths. So, guess we avoided the cult.

[@Ethan-ct2px]

I live just a few miles away from the mansion that the cult lived in. It's a beautiful place, and supposedly haunted.

[@Victoria-dh9vb]

Please do a video on mantis shrimp. Even if you don't, I promise they are worth a Google. The sea is where the really weird stuff lives.

[@nimmuraj]

5:53 "I always melted." I did while reading it.

[@cptgunhadaable]

What a wild ride 😂 9 mins in I was wondering if we were going back to cutlery

[@shannonobrien7095]

Didn't the younger members break off and eventually help settle Orange County, California? I seem to reading that at one point. I think Charles Guiteau (James Garfield's assassin) entered and left the community a couple times and at one point sued them for not paying him for his labor.

[@tonyperson4569]

Random guy suggestion:) When you put text on the screen, maybe make it something that Simon doesn't read along with. Perhaps a source, or an alternate quote? Love your work. Just had a suggestion you're welcome to ignore.

[@mooxblubble7404]

I was looking for Oreida french fries recipes

[@JamesParsonsDunckervon]

Utopian Societies were often very successful economically despite easy work days for members (Oneida silverware, Amana washing machines, Shaker furniture and seeds) they usually dissolved because their social and sexual structures caused dissatisfaction or doomed them to ever dwindling populations.

[@HigherHeartWarriorChannel]

Everything other than the horrible child sex abuse sounds tad bit interesting. Great video thank you for sharing this information.

[@geowidman]

Al together now, "Owe - NIGH - duh." Not "Owe - NEE - duh."

[@laztoth3104]

So much History So Little TIME 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼. Use your time wisely...

[@WateverWatever04]

I watched this video before bed the day it came out and honestly it was so trippy that I thought I made it up..