4 Oct 1869 Raining very hard. "About 9 a.m. the SF bell rang
for a long time denoting trouble. Their mill and dam came near
going off. Our attention was called home for before 10 a.m. the
water was running over our dam. We at the Office made all the
preparations we could by taking up all the carpets, mats, jugs,
preserves of all kinds. Jesse and Stan ton brought the sugar
barrels out in the hall and set them up on the sink and table and
by 10:30 the water was 8" on the kitchen floor and 20 feet in the
cellars. Hired men all went to the swelling house to dinner and
supper. C. Miller went and got some dinner for us at the house
and brought it to the Office for we could get nothing from the
kitchen without wading in 8" of water. It began to go down about
2 p.m. and by 3 we went to work with brooms, mops, etc. Five or
six of the sisters came to help which we were thankful for. The
village was all afloat, the great stone bridge by the bee house
was carried off or destroyed and all the wooden ones ruined as it
were." 14 inches of rain in 36 hours. (PAB) DAB says all
bridges washed away EXCEPT the stone one.
17 Oct 1869 Zeviah Spier died at the age of 89, "the last of
what is called 'the first born.'" This is what the Shakers
called those who had been in the Shakers when Mother Ann was
alive and supposedly seen her and heard her words of wisdom.
Zeviah was with the Shakersj but was only between 3 and 4 years
old she could not have remembered much.
13 Dec 1869 DAB comments that the Cardiff Giant was on exhibit
in Geological Rooms in Albany, "all sorts of opinion about it."
21 Dec 1869 "A man from Oneida came, had dinner. He wanted to
talk with some of the head ones about the internal revenue tax."
(PABJ
25 Jan 1870 Their "lobbyist in Washington" is working to get
them exempt from the new income tax. (VB-338)
1 Feb 1870 C. Miller went to the South Farm to meet a man who
is to rent the farm for a small milk concern, from 10-12 cows.
(PAB)
17-18 Feb 1870 James Irving, the photographer from Troy, came
again to take some inside views. "Could not make much headway for
it was so very foggy. He managed to take one view of baskets in
the store. . ." {PAB)
16-17 Mar 1870 Some of the men from CF and NF were going to their
woodlots in Saratoga County and had breakfast at 5 a.m., but it
snowed and blew all day; sat up until 11 p.m. waiting for them.
When they arrived the next day , found that they had stayed at
Tribes Hill with a farmer who turned his cattle out of doors and
took their teams in . ( PAB )
9 May 1870 C. Miller bought a clock from the Camps, made in
1807 by Benjamin Youngs , for use in the Office . {PAB )
25 June 1870 "It is decided to have pockets in frock coats,
surtouts and great coats put in thru the outside, having the
upper end of the pocket opening slant forward 2" from a perpen-
dicular line, and the bottom of the pocket opening should be
^exactly even with a perpendicular line of the front of the arm
as this naturally suspended at the side." (DAB) (He is natu-
rally interested in this tailoring detail as he had become the
tailor for the CF since 1859 when Frederick Wicker died.)


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