JOURNAL OF WEST FAMILY
WATERVLIET
1857 - 1881


This book has nothing to indicate who the authoress is,or specifically what family it Is
about. When reading it, you deduct it is about the West Family, but this reader never
determined the authoress^ It is one of the Sisters, because the work done by the Sisters is
recorded, while little of detailof what the brethren were doing is recounted.

Those involved at the West Family during this periodare: Elder Jeremiah, Elder Augustus
(Blase), Eldress Paulina Bates, Pamelia Early, Mary Train, Charlotte Youngs, Anna Clement,
Jane K. , Almtra Teachout, Mary Ann Mathews, Hester Crandall, Agnes Baker, Alvira
Conklin and Deborah Knight, also SKubel Prentiss,Alexander Youngs, Edward Powers,
Charles Pretsch, and Isaac Anstatt.

There is an entry almost every day of these twenty-four years. This always includes the
weather, and then details the visits made back and forth among the WaterVliet families,
and between the WaterVliet community and other Shaker villages. In the late summer
the canning took place and it has beenTmcluded a couple of times to indicate the amount
of work itentailed. Laundry was done every Monday originally; then this lapsed to every
two weeks. One of the brethren usually helped them with the fires and equipment. All of
these happenings, when a usual occurrence, are usually omitted here and what follows are
the more out-of-the-ordinary happenings.

Excerpted by Elizabeth D. Shaver
1984 January




WATERVLIET WEST FAMILY
1857 - 1881
1882-1893