Ira B. Eddy was born in Pittstown, New York about 1807, son of Tisdale and Elizabeth Eddy. He married his first wife, Sally, in Connecticut and moved west to Chicago. By 1850, Eddy was a successful businessman and building owner. He was raised as an orthodox Christian but wasn’t satisfied with their teachings.

Seth Paine was a high-spirited radical from Vermont who moved to Illinois in 1834. Like Eddy, he was Christian but disagreed with Christian teachings at the time. He was also an abolitionist who ran a branch of the Underground Railroad from Chicago to Lake County.

Rapping medium, Mrs. Julia Lusk, visited Chicago in 1849. Eddy became her first follower after attending a séance where he communicated with a friend who had passed. By 1852, when Eddy rented space in his building to Seth Paine and invested in his bank, there were enough Spiritualists to form a society.

Paine’s Spirit Bank was not a typical enterprise. His goal was to loan money only to “good people” who could prove their worth. He became known as a “confrontational crack pot who called out Chicago’s fat churches and fatter bankers for spiritual hypocrisy.” He did so with no apology.

While Paine was operating his bank on the main floor, Eddy rented out the hall on the third story for spiritualist meetings and lectures.  He became the first president of the local society and named the meeting room “Harmony Hall.”  The speakers on Spiritualism included Seth Paine, who proved to be not only a good lecturer, but a writer. The Christian Banker was published by Paine in January and February of 1883.

Critics complained that “the affairs of the bank [were] carried on by the use of mediums. A female was in the habit of retiring to a back room with Mr. Paine or Mr. Eddy, and there professed to hold conversation with the spirit of such men as General Washington, General Jackson, and many others, who directed how the affairs of the bank should be carried on . . .”. 

Both the bank and the Christian Banker closed abruptly in February 1853. Paine refused to honor a bank note. The bank’s conservator started a lunacy proceeding against Eddy and had several of the mediums charged with embezzlement.

According to the Telegraph, “It appears the person of Mr. Eddy was suddenly and violently seized, without any legal process, by several persons… was tied, gagged, and borne away from his own house, he knew not whither.” Eddy was taken by train to Hartford, Connecticut and committed to an asylum. After a court hearing that included many letters and testimony, he was released and returned to Chicago.  

Paine escaped a similar fate after several trials. He moved to what is now Lake Zurich and formed a secret society called the “League of Universal Brotherhood” in 1849 which promoted secret acts of kindness and generosity. Eddy remained in Chicago. His first wife died, and he married Caroline Lomis, mother of his daughter Ida.

Despite Eddy and Paine’s suffering, the Harmonialists formed in 1856.  Lectures were delivered by Spiritualists from different parts of the country.  In 1864, the National Convention of Spiritualists met in August, the first ever held in the United States or any other country. It’s estimated that by 1871, there were 10,000 Spiritualists in Chicago.

Andreas, Alfred Theodore (1884) History of Cook County, Illinois: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Chicago: A. Andreas.

Britten, Emma Hardinge (2017) Modern American Spiritualism: A Twenty Years’ Record of the Communion Between Earth and the World of Spirits. Reprinted by Forgotten Books.

Paine, Seth and John W Holmes, eds. The Christian Banker: The Love of Money is the root of all Evil
1853–1853 Weekly, Chicago, IL.

Rutter David (2020) “In Search of Seth Paine.” Country Magazine. April 1 Issue.