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is said in the journals about the decision being made to close the North Family but certainly they
had no one left able to run it.

We have no first person accounts of what went on in the North Family--there are no
journals from there in existence, although they were kept, as all families were required by their
covenant or constitution to do so. The journals kept at the other families do give us occasional
glimpses of their happenings now and then." For instance, Rachel McDonald records the death in 1881
ofPhebe Lane at the age of 94 at the North Family. She was a black sister who had been a Shaker
for79 years, having been brought in with her natural sister,Betty, by her father and mother, Prime
and Hannah, in 1802. Prime left in 1810 and presumably Hannah did too, but Phebe and Betty stayed
on, Betty until her death in 1836. (Phebe must be the black sisterin the 1870 James Irving phPto-
graph of the North Family bell house.)

Rachel also records George Price and Caty Ferguson of the North Family coming to the
West Family in 1883 and 1884, presumably to use some large cooking apparatus they had, to boil
their catsup or "Mohawk sauce," She also tells thatin July 1883 lightning struck the office at the
North Family and "tore from garret to cellar. Sister Caty Ferguson and the girl that helped her were
both knocked to the floorbut not seriously injured." In November, she tells of Sarah Neal coming
from the North Family to have the West Family baker make some bread for her out of the North Family
flour. "Some said the flour was good, some say it was bad, and she wanted another baker's opinion,,11

In1886, during a visit to WaterVliet by two sisters from the black Shaker community
in Philadelphia, they were taken to the North Family "tosee where Mother Ann and the first Be-
lievers settled." According to Art Johnson's reckonings, this was across the road from the North
Family, on a slight knoll near the Shaker Creek on what is now the north end of the airport*

In June 1891, Elder Alexander Work and Sisters Ella Winship and Elizabeth Sidell from
Groveland, along with some others from New Lebanon, visited WaterVliet, and Elder Isaac Anstatt
brought them to the North Family one afternoon. We can surmise they were looking the place over.
In 1887, according to Elder Isaac'sjournal, Groveland had been $14,000 in debt and one family
had already broken up.

Nothing specific is said in these journals about the decision to close the North Family
being made but, on October 1st,1892, Elder Isaac records that he went to Groveland, returning
two days later, and on October 12th he went to the railroad station to get a load of cows shipped
from Groveland, and on October 28th, a railroad car of furniture. That one car took 13 wagonloads
to haul its contents from Niskayuna to the Shakers.

On October 29th, he says "what few are left at the North Family are moved to the Church
Family to make place for the Groveland people - 5 sisters and 1 brother move*" From the 1892 Census
we can find four sisters -Sarah and Charlotte Neale, Angeline Cox and Josephine Hewitt, and two
men - Orin Beaver and Burdett Hanks. Thomas Beal, aged 84, of the North Family is also listed as
making the move, but he drowned himself in the North Family quarry in August of that year.

Now the move from Groveland goes on steadily, with Elder Isaac of the West Family
doing most of the organizing and a great deal of the work. Elder Josiah Barker had composed a wel-
coming song for the Groveland Shakers and the West Family members had gone to the South Family
to practice it in the middle of October, but there is no indication of when ft was sung.