The Shakers utilized hired labor as early as 1826 when stone masons were brought in to build the Round Stone Barn. As Shaker membership declined in the second half of the nineteenth century, especially in the Brethrenââ¬â¢s order, farm workers were hired to keep lands in production and perform heavy labor. Hired men were lodged in a separate building, convenient to the Trusteeââ¬â¢s Office, where they received their daily work assignments and ate their meals. Hired men worked for the Shakers doing a variety of jobs such as chopping wood, stacking hay, and digging underground aqueducts.
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