agent for patroon Van Rensselaer, about the rent.
2 Feb 1817 Great number of spectators to meeting. in 70
carriages, so at an average of 6 per carriage = 456 persons.
13 Sep 1817 Buy an orchard in Niskayuna from Nicholas Van
Vranken for $40.
3 Nov 1817 Finish lathing the new Dwelling House. Took
about 20,000 feet of lath and 260 Ibs. of nails.
The earliest covenant of the CF (CM-7580) is dated July 16,
1801 and has 19 men and 34 women signatures. Another early
journal, CM-10403, was kept by a sister, probably Sarah or Cla-
rissa Buckingham, and goes from Nov. 12, 1818 thru Nov. 24, 1835,
but the entries are very brief and we don't learn much more than
what she does and who dies, viz.
18 Mar 1832 I go to Office to work.
8 Oct 1833 I make the ketchup.
4 Mar 1834 I begin to spin linen.
14 Sep 1823 Polly Bates died.
22 Nov 1823 Hezekiah Rowley died
except on July 27, 1823 she records "Martin Van Buren and the
ladies come."
David Austin Buckingham kept a brief journal from Dec. 1,
1817 (VB-298 on reel 46) to Oct. 18, 1819, and does not do so
again until May 4, 1842, but then he continues through VBNN-321
to the end of 1847; VB-338 begins Jan. 1852 and continues to
18 July, 1870 being labeled "Records of CF at Wisdom's Valley
containing Principal Events." His personal journals start in
1854 and go to 1884. (VB-281-282)
Journals are also kept by some of the sisters. (VB-315
on reel 47 starts with accounts of work done by the sisters in
1830, 1831 and by$ the author {whom I believe to be Polly Vedder)
in 1834, 1835 and 1837. The journal itself begins in 1835 and
ends Aug. 12, 1841 and does not have an entry for every day.
Journals in the possession of the NYS Library and called the "Ann
Buckingham Journals" (CM-16877) g|o from 1837 to 1878. However
I believe they are those kept by the sisters who lived at the
Office and, while Ann Buckingham did live there for some years
and wrote the journal at those times, I believe other authors
included Lydia Annas and Samantha Bowie.
There is also a journal (VB-296, reel 46) kept by Freegift
Wells fron/ilay 2, 1857 when, at the age of 72, he was relieved
from the "Elders Order" and set up a woodworking shop at the
south end of the Herb Shop. This gives great derail of the work
one man and his teen-aged apprentice, Thomas Almond, did around
the CF and Wisdom's Valley. It continues until Dec. 31, 1865
when he says he has such numbness in his hands he "cannot hold a
pen to write or a tool to work." (However, he did not die until
1871.)
His entries are such as:
7 Jun 1858 Been to mill and rough turned 200 brush
handles in my new lathe.
8 Jun 1858 Turned 300 more.