| bio | horticulturist, painter, stonecutter of tombstones, cabinetmaker, and tailor. Although he is best known for
the Watervliet Community map he drew in 1839, his main interest was in botany and plant breeding. He developed
the II Austin Strawberry" in 1855, and was involved in planting and grafting fruit trees. In 1843 he recorded
a Shaker dance, which he himself might have received as a gift, and a Shaker song, "Mother's tongue," dated to
1845, is ascribed to him. Being the leading musician at Watervliet, he was also a Shaker music scribe, using
both the customary letteral system, and repeatedly experimenting with a numeral system of his own device [for
the third time in 1873]. In 1870 or 1871 his Perpetual Calendar was printed at New Lebanon, by Br. E. D.
Blakeman, and his II Rural Register and Almanac for 1876..." was printed in Albany. He was also interested
in acquainting the world with Shaker inventions and improvements, and was the first to publish a list of them
in THE SHAKER MANIFESTO, in 1877. Also in 1877, "EpitomicHistory of the Waterv/iet[NY] Shakers" appeared in THE
SHAKER. In 1880 he actively participated in the renovation of the Watervliet cemetery, and in 1881 he built a
white picket fence for the graveyard. As late as 1881-1884 he was still busy tending his grapevines.
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