plan what to do. On December 29, Alexander died. Elder
Augustus commented "We own nearly 1000 acres of landr of which
Alexander bought about 300. Our land debt is $4000, other debts
not all known" but about equal to what was owing to them.
In February they made plans for a new barn. in the meantime,
they converted other buildings or built sheds to other buildings
to house some of their stock. Some stock was sold; the CF took
42 sheep, 4 colts and 3 steers for the winter; the NF took 3
heifers. They leased their Rosendale farm for $900 a year to
William Scarf f and their mill for $450; sold their "river farm"
to the CF for $4200. By February 15th they were cutting and draw
ing timber and beginning to draw stone from the quarry. in March
one of their sisters, Emeline Clark, died. Elder Augustus com-
mented that "she was terribly frightened by the fire of the barn
last October and soon after laid up."
Their deacons kept a journal (#323, reel 47, WR Coll.) with
records of hay, corn, potatoes, oats, wheat grown 1830-1846 as
well as the stock they had, brooms made, etc. up until 1855.
For instance in January 1847 the stock they were wintering was:
17 cows, 1 bull, 8 young cattle, 3 yoke oxen, i pair steers, 7
horses, 112 sheep and 12 hogs. At that time they owned 560 acres
of land of which 326 was cleared and 234 wooded. They had made
43,452 brooms, 13,800 brushes, 100 barrels of cider, 2003 Ibs. of
butter. In 1853 they made 32,768 brooms.
The earliest elders were Seth Y. Wells, Joseph Hodgson, and Jesse
Wells. In 1857 Joel Smith became Elder, with Jeremiah Lowe as
Elder Brother; in 1861 Jeremiah became Elder, with Augustus Blase
as Elder Brother; Augustus became Elder in 1871 with Isaac
Anstatt at Elder Brother; Isaac became Elder in 1884 when
Augustus died and there was no other male to be Elder Brother.
Isaac served until his death in 1915; there hada been no Eldress
since 1913 when Rachel McDonald died. The only other Shaker at
the WF in 1915 was Sister Harriet Jones and she moved to the CF.
Some of these elders were prodiguous workers. Jeremiah Lowe, an
Englishman, was basically a farmer so, although he had all the
duties involved with being an elder, he also kept very detailed
records of everything that happened on the farm -- what was set out
in the hotbeds, what and when planted in the fields, when hoed
and harvested -- and he was in charge and helped do it all.
Besides the usual crops, in 1863 he mentioned planting tobacco.
Elder Augustus Blase was another hard worker. He had been born
in Hanover, Germany, and especially during his time at the WF,
there appear many German names among those trying out the Shaker
way of life, although only a few became members. Some are iden-
tified in the journals only as "Rudolph, the Dutch boy," or "two
Germans, Jacob and Frederick," "Grace, the Dutch woman," "Rudolph
and Giles, the German boys," and are there only a few days or a
few months. Others appear in either the state or federal cen-
suses, such as: Conrad Brahm, Johan Smith (Schmidt), Philip
Phiss, Carl Shinamen, Gottlieb Ziegler, Mathew Mesner, Henry von