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104 acres and buildings on Denison Road at $3700, or a total of $41, 900. The
South Family had a total of 554 acres and buildings for $35,500; and the
North Shaker Settlement had 396 acres and buildings assessed at $29, 800.
Their holdings at this point in time, well past the peak of their popularity,
amount to 2419 1/2 acres of land with buildings, assessed at $178,600.
Property holders, for some considerable time in past local govern-
ment history, were required to put in some time each year in maintaining
local roads and bridges, and the Shakers did their share. They also not only
took care of their own, but contributed to the support of the town poor. In
1863, Cincinnati, Ohio held a "sanitary fair" in connection with the Union war
effort, and the Shakers contributed 1 1/4 barrels of catsup, 1 barrel of sauer-
kraut, 5 barrels of dried apples, 1 barrel of green apples, 4 1/2 bushelsnof
dried sweet corn, 8 dozen brooms, 5 boxes of garden seeds, 10 gallons of
gooseberry sauce and 5 gallons of apple preserves, for a total estimated value
of over $158.
They also readily accepted orphans, unless the children would not
respond to "gentle and reasonable treatment." In the days when most orphan-
ages were conceived to be similar to those pictured in Charles Dickens, a
parent, unable because of illness or poverty to care for a child, would in
many instances prefer to send the child to the Shakers where he knew it would
be kindly treated, adequately clothed and fed, and given a basic education.
Eldress Emma King, in her treatise "A ShakerTs Viewpoint" says: