The Perfectionists of Oneida, New York, and Wallingford, Connecticut, are best known for their practice of what they called âcomplex marriage,â a system of polygamy and polyandry devised by their founder John Humphrey Noyes (1811â1886). This account by Charles Nordhoff (1830-1901), a journalist based in New York, was drawn from his visits to the Perfectionist colonies, and includes a description of their history, organization, manners, beliefs, worship, faith-cures, and their practice of âcriticism.