Ringing in the New Year One Hundred Eleven Years Ago

The start of the new year, 1913, would have been a solemn one for the Shakers of Pleasant Hill. In that week they buried two members of the community; their numbers were quickly dwindling.

The sad occasion of Sister Jane Sutton's passing on December 29th (see the obituary) turned tragic with the passing of another beloved Shaker, John Pilkington, the next day. With two deaths so close together, the next and final day of 1912 was marked by their double funeral.

1912 - 1914 microfilm reel

As grim an occasion as that would have been, we should also consider that they had both been blessed with close to eight decades of life. More than that, they willingly and gratefully chose life as Shakers and died of natural causes having lived their utopian existence on Earth.  

Obituaries often contain clues that need to be followed-up and when I read that the Harrodsburg Herald, the paper that had covered the funeral, had also done an "extended sketch" on the life of Jane and that John Pilkington was "also mentioned" in the article, which reportedly appeared in the Herald two weeks earlier, I knew I had to track it down.

Over the course of two months, inquiries were made and a microfilm reel slowly made its way to me from the University of Kentucky, which I learned was the sole repository of the reel from 1912. While none of my nearby libraries maintain a microfilm reader any longer, I knew one still existed in my county's historical society research room. At last I was able to see for myself the "extended sketch." 

While I was hoping the article would reveal all sorts of Runyon / Sutton connections it does not. Rather, the article is more accurately described as an "extended sketch" on the life of John Pilkington that also mentions Jane Sutton. Still, it is genealogy gold and thrilling to find a description of a family member in print, beyond the details of occupation and when and where they were born or died. Jane -- the daughter of my first cousin five times removed -- was described as "loved by everyone" and a "natural leader" who "commands respect and a following."

Here is the complete article:

Three Shakers

Oldest in Village Are Very Ill and Facing the End.

Three of the oldest citizens of Shakertown are dangerously, ill, and for them life's shadows are growing long and purple, and it may be that soon the shadows will be blotted out altogether by the dark of eternity. The three who are facing the shadows are Sister Jane Sutton, Sister Sarah Nagel and Brother John Pilkington. Sister Jane is known and loved by every one. She has been one of the commanding figures of Shakertown for years, and is a natural leader who would command respect and a following no matter in what walk of life she had been placed.  There are many, even outside the Shaker village, who will grieve that her firm hand is beginning to tremble with the weakness of age. Sister Sarah Nagel is now ninety-seven. She joined the colony over sixty-eight years ago and her life has been a silent, simple benediction, just as even and peaceful as it is now that with resignation she is waiting for the end.

Brother John Pilkington is one of the most picturesque and interesting members of the shaker colony. He was formerly a thorough man of the world, highly educated for his day and at one time was the friend and private secretary of George D. Prentice. About the time of the Civil War ended he came to Shakertown, broken in health from the reckless life he had lived. In three years he was a different man, well poised, vigorous, clear of mind, and he went back to the world he had loved. But a year later the quiet village saw him again and took him once more to her peaceful bosom. He vowed never to leave the Shaker village again, and he never has. Later on his mother joined the colony and afterward died there. Brother John is well along in the seventies, now, and in spite of his secluded life he has always kept abreast of the times. He was a printer by trade, has been a great reader and a philosopher in his way, and even today his wit is keener than that of the average person. The history of Brother John's life there among the hills lying along Kentucky river, is touching in the extreme. From childhood he has always desired to be a great musician, yet his only audiences have been the quaint brother and sisters of the little colony. In the top drawer of the old bureau in his small bare room mare all the treasures that he brought from the outside world with him. They are his violin, his mother’s picture, and a faded daguerreotype that is never opened in the sunlight. It is the dearest of all his treasures for it is the likeness of the girl he loved many many years ago. "She was the sweetest girl I ever knew," Brother John would say when showing the picture, and his lips would quiver as he added, "She died." The violin is the second love of the aged Shaker, and despite his stiffened fingers he has never ceased to make his fiddle sing. Not the new songs - oh no! - but the sweet old melodies that will live in always in the human heart. "Annie Laurie," "Robin Adair," "Auld Land Syne" and "Ah, I Have Sighed to Rest Me!" Brother Pilkington will soon know the long long rest beside his comrades who are sleeping in the quiet God's Acre on the hill overlooking the peaceful village. At one time there were many to keep step beside him, but time and change and death have narrowed the little band to a mere handful, and soon there will not be one left to watch the sunset behind the green Kentucky hills along the river.

-published in the Harrodsburg Herald, December 13, 1912

Happy New Year everyone. May 2024 be a year of peace and contentment for you and your loved ones.

We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne.

Brooding Quiet of the Little Village Broken by the Death Angel

The final days of 1912 marked the last moments in the life of Jane Sutton, daughter of Polly Runyon Sutton and granddaughter of  Joseph and Jane Runyon. Jane's Shaker brother, J. W. Pilkington, died that same week and the Harrodsburg Herald was there to cover the double funeral:

Double Funeral

John Pilkington and Mary Jane Sutton
Buried Same Day at Shakertown - 
Service by Dr. Yeaman

The old Shaker Community in this county will in a short time, be reduced to its last member.  On last Sunday, and again on Monday, the brooding quiet of the little village was broken by the death angel and two souls answered the call and passed into "that bourne from which no traveler returns."  Sister Mary Jane Sutton, an extended sketch of whose life appeared in the Herald two weeks ago, and Brother John Pilkington, also mentioned in the sketch, died within a few hours of each other, and on Tuesday a sad little cortege wended its way from the village to the burying ground on the hill where the winter sunshine was slanting across two open graves.  There was one funeral service for both old people, and an impressive scene it was - the two caskets side by side in the hall of the Central House, while other members of the faith, neighbors and friends, gathered to pay the last tribute of respect.  It was pitiful to see the two with quiet, folded hands, but far more pitiful was the little group of mourners - the old "brothers" and "sisters" of the broken colony.  The service was conducted by Rev. M. V. P. Yeaman, of the Assembly Presbyterian church of Harrodsburg, who not only read appropriate selections from the Scriptures and offered prayer, but also made extended and touching remarks concerning the blameless and peaceful lives of the deceased.  Jane Sutton, one of the oldest and most beloved members of the colony, was in her eighty-first year, and had been a member of the Shaker community since her infancy.  She was born in Lexington, her parents being Isaac and Polly Sutton.  Her mother was a Runyan, a daughter of Joseph and Jane Runyan, and well connected.  J. W. Pilkington was in his 80th year.  He was born in Bullitt county in 1833, but lived in Louisville for a number of years, where he was connected with the old Louisville Courier, and also the Journal, before the consolidation of the two.  He was an intimate friend of, and was highly esteemed by, George D. Prentice.  The parents of the deceased were Abraham Pilkington and Indiana Skinner.  But seven of the Shakers now remain.  The colony has gradually dwindled till the halls of the great houses have become almost silent, and the hum of industry is no longer heard.  At one time, in 1864, there were as many a 146, and thousands have come and gone, and others into the great beyond.  The burying ground of the Pleasant Hill Community contains about four hundred graves.  Two of the remaining seven are old ladies, both over ninety years of age, sisters Sarah Nagle and Susan Murray.  It was a pathetic sight to see the two looking with tearful eyes upon the caskets containing the bodies of their life-long friends, and many and tender must have been the memories it stirred within them.  The passing of Shakertown seems a great pity and is regretted by many, as it makes one more of the several institutions to go that gave Harrodsburg a fame that is now so largely in the half-forgotten past.

-- Harrodsburg Herald, January 3, 1913

Watervliet - the first of the villages

Watervliet Center, North Albany, Albany and Schenectady Counties, 

New York, published by Stone & Stewart, 1866

Recently, I had a day to spend in Albany and decided to finally see the first of the Shaker communities - Watervliet. The area was known as Niskayuna by the natives and Watervliet by the Dutch settlers. Today, what remains of the Shaker village is within the Town of Colonie, adjacent to the Albany International Airport.


At its peak in 1839, Watervliet had 350 members and 2,500 acres of land. Sadly, in the 1920s, a fire destroyed all of the North Family buildings.  The South and West Family buildings were sold off to private hands;some are still standing. A handful of the Church Family buildings remain. I happened upon the village during an annual craft show in the meeting house and picked up some lovely Christmas gifts.

Thanks to a reworking of the east-west road that runs through the community, drivers cannot easily cut-through the village and this effectively slows the pace, enabling one to envision life here in the late 18th century and 19th century, before flight and automobiles. Inviting trails surround the old mill pond just south of the church family cluster.

Beautifully-drawn plans of the Shaker community at Watervliet, as it was in the 1930s, as the county was taking over the property, are here

Watervliet community showing locations of Church, North, West, and South Family plus Cemetery (north to the left)

Detail of South Family shows Shaker precision, order and practicality 

This 1813 poem about Watervliet was written at the Hancock, Massachusetts community and republished in Landmarks of American women's history by Page Putnam Miller :

Mother

Near Albany they settled

And waited for a while

Until a mighty shaking

Made all the desert smile

At length a gentle whisper

The tidings did convey

And many flocked to Mother

To learn the living Way

It's just a short walk from the Church family buildings to the cemetery where I visited Ann Lee's grave. Her brother William rests beside her on one side in the quiet, orderly burial ground. On her other side is the grave of Mother Lucy Wright, who ran the New York communities after Ann's death. As with the Runyon family, Lucy and her husband Elizur Goodrich joined the Shakers with many of their extended family members.

What impressed me most about Watervliet was how little remains. Of 778 original acres, most is now taken up by the airport, surrounding business complexes, the country club, the county jail. It makes me realize how lucky we are to have Pleasant Hill in its present condition.

On this date 232 years ago ...

Ann Lee, founder of the Shakers in America died at the community of Watervliet, New York.

Do all your work as though 

you've a thousand years to live, 

and as you would if you knew 

you must die tomorrow. 

- Mother Ann Lee 

Ann Lee's grave at the Shaker Cemetery in Albany County, NY
Photo by Erik Lander, 2001

Shaker records on Find a Grave

I've been working to make sure all of the Runyon relations who were Pleasant Hill Shakers are available and accurate on Find a Grave. While now part of Ancestry.com Find a Grave assures its members that its data will remain free and available to all.

To look up any Runyon, Badgett, Ryan, Sutton, etc. enter the last name below and click on search.

Many links to Phineas and Charity's non-Shaker descendants are starting to appear as well so that connections can easily be understood.

Remember that markers for individual Shakers were usually not placed in the graveyard (none exists for the Runyon family members) so requesting a photo will not result in a gravestone photo. 

Search for cemetery records in Shaker Cemetery, KY at by entering a surname and clicking search: Shaker Cemetery, KY (181 names)All of Find A Grave (146.0 million names) Restrict search to Surname

January 21 - On This Date in 1831

The Shaker journal entry recording the death of the oldest of the Runyon clan simply reads, "Phineas Runyon, age 87, dies at Pleasant Hill."

Very few headstones exist in the Pleasant Hill graveyard. Although no markers remain for them (if they ever existed), many members of the Runyon family are among those buried in the here.

The cemetery at Pleasant Hill, photo by Nancy Reddy