"A Women's Awakening"

"By 1838, more than 40% of the converts could be identified as the offspring of this firmly entrenched first generation.  In some cases the lineage of conversion had passed unbroken through each stage of the revival cycle...Oneida County was littered with pamphlets, sermons, and ecclesiastical resolutions testifying to this same religious imperative, devising practical ways to guide a second generation toward salvation and full allegiance to the church of their parents." -Mary P. Ryan

In Mary Ryan's piece, "A Women's Awakening: Evangelical Religion and the Families of Uitca, NY, 1800-1840," she demonstrates the serious importance to the parents of Oneida County after the first revival of the Second Great Awakening of having God-fearing children who follow in their footsteps.  According to Ryan, they worked hard, using multiple methods, to bring their children up in such a way that would nurture their spiritual lives and cause them to convert as they [the parents] had earlier in life.  This makes me think of today and the way my parents brought me up, and their hopes for my future, especially in a spiritual aspect.  It makes me wonder how many parents strive with as much effort as the Oneida parents did to bring their kids to make the decision to follow in their parents "religious footsteps."  It would also be interesting to see where parents do this the most.  Would it be in the rural areas like the people in Ryan's focus?  Or mostly suburbs?  In what ways do Americans go about guiding their children in the "correct" spiritual path?  I think in a lot of senses, we still use pamphlets and sermons to reach kids in Sunday School and other organizations like Awana.  Ryan's comments on religion and conversion through multiple generations, one after another, were intriguing, especially because they remind me of personal experiences from growing up.