page 9
August
In 1896, for a "releasement" the sisters took the Hudson River dayboat to

Kingston Point for a picnic to get away from their "same rigammarole - canning,
puttying and painting windows, washing and ironing, 8 and sometimes 10 hired men
to feed, once in a whiole a dress made. According to the Federal Census taken
in 1892 there were 28 females, but 10 of these were under 18. There were but 4
men, aboy 15 and one aged 5. By 1900 there were 20 females, 8 of whom were 16
or younger, one man, one boy and 3 laborers; in 1905 13 women, 2 girls and 1 boy.;
in 1910, 14 women, 4 girls, 1 boy and 2 men. The last census available is for
1925 when there were 15 women, 3 girls, 2 men and the Strobel family.

The most detailed account of various events occurs in the journals kept by
Anna Goepper. Most of the others restricted a daily account to a line, or to the
amount allotted by a diary - half a page or a small page. Anna used large lined
books and kept writing about a day until she had said everything she wanted to.
This included her often pithy comments on the people involved. Anna had beern born
in Ohio and taken to the Union Village Shaker Society when she was 8 years old. In
1910 when Union Village closed, she came to Watervliet. She was a great admirer of
Eldress Anna and appreciated all the difficult people and decisions the Eldress was
confronted with.
When Anna's journals begin in 1915, Elder Isaac Anstatt of the WF has just died
at the SF and they are fumigating and redecorating the room he had occupied. The
only other Shaker at the WF had been the black sister, Harriet Jones, who moved to
the CF. Therefore, to be cared for, Elder Isaac had to come to the SF when he be-
came ill. This was the end of the WF and one of Eldress Anna's chores was now to
oversee the rental or sale of those buildings and land.
In 1917, the Enfield, Conn. Society closed and Eldress Caroline Tate, her uncle
Harry Richmond (not a Shaker), and Sister Lucy Bowers moved to the SF. Maria
who was years old, moved to the Watervliet NF. Eldress Anna was dickering with
various peoples to rent or sell the WF to for several years, finally selling it in
1918. Elder Josiah Barker of the CF and Eldress Anna made major decisions for the