INTRODUCTION TO INDEX OF NAMES

This is an attempt to draw together the names of the
children who, according to Shaker journals and official censuses,
passed through the families of the Watervliet Shaker Community.
It is necessarily incomplete because the Shakers often did not
give the names of those who came (as indicated by the number of
"unknowns" at the end of the list), and often did not say
anything about the activities of the children while they were in
house, at least to the extent that they named those who
participated in an activity. Apparently they were following the
old precept that "children were to be seen, not heard" to include
"not noticed".
Many names were phonetically spelled by the Shakers or as
they heard the name given; thus two girls were listed both as
"Russell" and "Bussell"; the name "Shearman" is given, but it
might have been "Sherman": we have the name "Torrance" and also
"Van Torrance".
The South Family and West Family were both "gathering
orders" where newcomers customarily went and then, after a
testing period, were sent on to another family. The families are
designated by the letters SF, WF, etc.
Quite often the children were listed as being "brought" by a
mother or father--usually because the other parent was deceased.
Usually these children stayed only a short while--maybe a few
weeks or months. If they reached teen ages they would often be
tempted to leave. In the early days that was as much education
as children usually received and went into the working world; so
especially the boys would be able to earn a living. The Shakers
were more careful of teenage girls who ran away and attempted to
find them and get them to a relative.
Children who would not behave and mind the rules were given
short shrift and returned to relatives as soon as possible. You
will note that there are few cases of dismissal because of
physical or mental impairment--the Shakers tried to sort those
out before they were taken the first time.
The column headed "Source" indicates where the name was
first noted; "J" means in a Shaker journal; "C" means in one of
the official censuses. Sometimes that is the only time the name
appears.
This is a very imperfect and incomplete listing of the many
children who passed through the Watervliet Shakers, but, at
present, the best we can do.