Career
He was a disciple of George Whitefield. Ireland was the child of Abraham and Abigail (Durrant) Ireland and he was baptized in Cambridge, Massachusetts on 16 January 1718. In the 1750s, Shadrack Ireland experienced a change in his "mind and body" that he believed resulted in his becoming "perfect and immortal".
Ireland preached abstinence except for those who had reached perfection.
Being under the threat from authorities for his behavior, Ireland moved to the north part of the town of Harvard, Massachusetts. In 1769, he and eight followers built a house now known as "The Square House".
While living at Harvard, Ireland also had a spiritual wife, the "widow Logy". As a Perfectionist, Ireland claimed that he would not truly die but would be resurrected.
He ordered his followers not to bury him when he died, but to await his resurrection.
Holden learned the details when he went to visit the Square House, not knowing that Ireland had died. The evening of his death, Ireland appeared changed but calm and serene. He then laid down on the bed and died.
Ireland"s body was left as he had ordered until the smell became so bad, that he was put in a long white box in a corner of the cellar and covered with lime.
David Hoar then led the group for a while. Ann Lee later anathemized Ireland and would sometimes refer to his presence as an "evil spirit".
At one time, she even claimed to have banished him to hell.
