Vital Record; Social Security Death Index, 1937-1998: Miles Barager; Date of birth: 30 Aug 1898; Social Security applied for in Washington; Date of death: July 1981; Residence: Seattle, Washington 98115; SS#: 531-01-0788.

THE KORESHAN UNITY MEMBERSHIP LIST by Claude J. Rahn: Mildred Fischer.

FOLKS WE KNEW WHILE IN THE K.U. by Marie McCready: The only ones of this family I remember are Ida and Mildred --Marie McCready. Irving, Jr. joined the Navy. Arnold, who enjoyed hunting and often went alone, was bitten by a rattlesnake and died before reaching the hospital --William McCready."

U.S. Federal Census; Estero, Lee County; Florida; 1910; Enumeration date: 23 Apr 1910; Koreshan Unity; Enumerator: Walter S. Turner, Jr.; Microfilm number: Fl 1910-H T624; ED: 80; Transcribed by Joyce Nelle Ratliff, 4 Jan 1995: Mildred A. Fisher; Sex: Female; Race: white; Age 9; Marital status: Single; Place of birth: Wisconsin; Place of birth of father: Switzerland; Place of birth of mother; Wisconsin; Language spoken: English; Occupation: None; No. of months not employed: 0; Can read and write: yes; Attending school: yes.

U.S. Federal Census; Estero, Lee County; Florida; 1920; Enumeration date: Jan 2, 1920; Enumerator: Henry D. Silverfriend; ED: 109; SD: 1; Fourth Precinct; Microfilm roll number: 1820221; Transcribed by Joyce Nelle Ratliff, Dec 1994: Mildred A. Fisher; Relation to head of family: daughter; Place of residence: Poultry yard road; Age 19; Single; Place of birth: Wisconsin; Place of birth of father: Switzerland; Place of birth of mother: Wisconsin; Occupation: Lino-type operator/Publishing House.

Vital Record; Social Security Death Index, 1937-1998: Mildren Barager; Date of birth: 12 Dec 1900; Social Security applied for in Washington State; Date of death: June 1995; Place of residence: Seattle, Washington 98115; SS#: 532-24-8908.

FLAMING SWORD, Community Current Events, Vol.59, No.6, June 1945, p.10: Mr. and Mrs. Miles Barager of Seattle, Washington, arrived on Monday the 14th to visit her mother, Mrs. Ida Fischer, who has been in very poor health for some time. Mildred (Mrs. Barager) was brought into the Unity by her parents in 1907, when a very young child, and together with her two brothers, Erwin and Arnold, grew up in the Unity. In time the two boys left to make their homes elsewhere. Erwin joined the navy and for a number of years followed the sea. At the expiration of his enlistment he came back to Florida and engaged in commercial fishing, but is now interested in a Shell Factory at Bonita Springs. Arnold remained in the vicinity and also became a fisherman, but while out hunting in the woods he was bitten by a rattlesnake and died from the effects of its deadly poison. Mildred remained in the Unity with her mother and when a Linotype machine was installed in the printing house she learned to operate it and for several years she set up the type for the Eagle. In the meantime, however, Mildred had grown to young womanhood and she, too, went out to seek her fortune and soon found it in the shape of a very personable young man, who, it seems, had been waiting for just such a girl as Mildred, and so cupid lost no time, and soon they were married and journeyed away off to Seattle, Washington, where they have made their home, and now Mildred is the mother of two children, one already in training to serve his country; the daughter, Alice, is still in high school.

ORAL HISTORY: On April 9, 1982, I, Captain K. C. Alvarez, Interpretive Naturalist for the Florida Park Service, interviewed Mrs. Mildred Barager of Seattle, Washington, by telephone to gather information on the Koreshan Unity. The following is a report of that interview.

Mrs. Barager came to the Koreshan Unity in 1908 (at the age of seven) from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her parents and two brothers. She remained with the Unity at Estero until she returned to Milwaukee in 1920 (when she was nineteen). Her father was a Swiss-born machinist and her mother was of German extraction.

One interesting thing Mrs. Barager pointed out was that the name "Koresh" was pronounced with the accent on the first syllable. Another interesting fact was that one of the Unity members (a female) was black. The Koreshans, according to Mrs. Barager, were free of any racial prejudice. This is surprising since racial intolerance was pronounced in the United States in the early 1900's, particularly in the South. She said that local blacks and Seminole Indians often came to shop at the Koreshan Store. All were treated equally.

Replying to a question about education for the children, she said that, in general, it was sadly lacking. Education was not compulsory, although instruction was sometimes given to the children by an older member during a part of each day. The remainder of the day was spent in "practical education" (some form of work). This practice of dividing the day between classroom and practical education conformed to Koresh's teaching. Mrs. Barager felt that her education was well below the level of anyone who had attended public school at that time.

Another interesting aspect of the children's education was that there was no attempt to indoctrinate them with Koreshan beliefs. She was aware of the beliefs, but only because she heard them discussed among her elders, not as a result of any formal instruction. She did say that Koreshan doctrine was a popular topic of conversation.

She remembers hearing of "The World's College of Life" as one of Koresh's ideas, but she saw nothing of it in practice.

Children in the Unity were kept very busy, just like the adults. She washed and ironed her clothes, the old fashioned way, at the age of nine and, at twelve, went to work in the printing shop as a typesetter. She also learned to operate a Linotype. She waited on tables in the dining hall when the adults ate. Her brothers and the other boys washed the dishes. She also spent many hours practicing on the piano in the Art Hall (it is still there), and also waited on tables.

On Sunday evenings, the Koreshans held religious services in the Art Hall. The services consisted of singing, solo piano playing, and reading from the works of Koresh. There was no single religious leader after the death of Koresh. Responsibility for conducting the religious services rotated among the group. Following the services, the members would all retire to the Planetary Court to hear a "record concert". The records always consisted of classical music or operas. At the time, Mrs. Barager disliked these concerts, but, in later years, she was grateful for the musical background, with which she had been provided. The Planetary Court was where the female board members lived.

In addition to religious services, she remembers the Art Hall resounding with the music of the orchestra, and she also remembers plays being presented. Two members, James Calderwood and Bertie Boomer, wrote the plays. They made their own costumes. She remembers that romance never figured in any of these plays.

Mrs. Barager feels that the three-story dining hall was one of the Unity's most important buildings. It was the center of activity. When she recently returned to the site, she had difficulty orienting herself because the dining hall was missing. The Unity women lived in the two upper stories of this building. There were no interior walls; sheets were hung to partition space. The ground floor was the dining area. She remembers meals being served at 5:30 a.m., 12:00 noon, and 5:30 p.m. The dinner bell was rung twice at five-minute intervals for each meal.

She does not remember food ever being abundant; the meals were always rather sparse. This was another surprising bit of information. I had the impression from the research that the Koreshans had a great abundance of food and even produced a surplus. Mr. Barager reports that trips to Ft. Myers were made weekly to purchase provisions such as eggs, milk, and sugar. The trip was made by boat until 1914 when the Unity acquired an automobile and made a difficult journey to town over sand roads. Numerous "break-downs" were a feature of the automobile trip. The Koreshans did have chickens and cows and grew produce, but their agricultural production was apparently inadequate. She can remember the crops being devoured by insects and she can remember drinking milk that was blue in color. At that time there were no insecticides such as we have today, and forage for cattle was very poor on the "open range."

White corn meal mush was served each morning for breakfast. The leftover mush was brushed with lard and baked in the oven for the evening meal. During the summer the Koreshans went to the beach to harvest nesting sea turtles. The meat from these turtles was always ground up and used like hamburger. The men hunted in season and occasionally provided turkey and venison for food. The biggest meal of the year was on Koresh's birthday in October. That was the one time of the year that butter was served, as well as homemade ice cream. It was a day that the children looked forward to. Citrus fruit was always plentiful and, on occasion, mangos, avocados, and sapodillas were available. The Koreshans had bee hives and she remembers that there was always "burnt honey" on the table. The burned honey was the result of not being able to store honey in Florida without refrigeration. In the cooking process, it was inadvertently burned. That burned honey lasted forever.

Children were separated from their families when they arrived at the Unity, but Mrs. Barager does not recall the experience as being traumatic. The girls lived in a house with a caretaker who left the Unity (along with a number of others) when Koresh died. The girls then moved in with another woman. In later years, Mrs. Barager moved back with her mother. The boys lived in a structure some little distance to the south that they referred to as the "Hotel de Swamp". The number of children at the Unity probably varied somewhat during the time Mrs. Barager was there. She seems to recall twelve to fourteen or more at one time.

It seems to her that relations among the group were fairly harmonious though there was some friction as might be expected with a large group of people living at close quarters. One source of friction was the fact that some individuals received spending money from outside sources, violating the principle of community-owned wealth. Gossip was a common pastime.

The interview touched on a number of other miscellaneous items. For example, the tennis courts were constructed around 1913-1914 and were the personal project of one woman member of the organization.

The grounds, according to Mrs. Barager, presented a much better-kept appearance in the old days than they do at present.

People came from quite some distance to shop at the Koreshan store. She remembers the Whiddens, who came all the way from Immokalee.

The Estero Post Office was in the store; there was no restaurant during the time she was there.

A Koreshan sister, Emma Norton, was a blood sister of Koresh. She also was Matron of the group and was in charge of the medicine chest. The Koreshans never went to Fort Myers to visit a doctor. The Matron was the Doctor. There was another blood sister, Melora, and a brother, Oliver, in the Unity.

The Solar Festival, in celebration of Koresh's birthday in October, was the big event of the year. Christmas and Easter were not celebrated nor were any other of the general holidays. On April Fools' Day, we kids would have great fun out of pinning old, long rags on some of the sisters' long skirts. There was a dearth of toys, etc. for kids amusement.

Mrs. Barager arrived with her family at Estero in February 1908. When her family arrived at Estero, the Koreshans were having an "oyster feed" out-of-doors. Her mother did not like raw oysters. Koresh died in December of the same year. She vaguely remembers him and she remembers going to Estero Island after his death to view the body.

Some of the paintings are missing from the Art Hall.

Her older brother left Estero in 1914 and joined the Navy and subsequently married. He and his wife later returned to Estero, not as members of the Unity, and lived in a house down the river, owned by the Unity and called the Amity. When she was nineteen, her brother and his wife invited her to move to Wisconsin and live with them. She moved with them to Madison in 1920 and found a job as a Linotype operator. Her younger brother left the Unity around 1917. He died as a result of being bitten by a rattlesnake while hunting turkeys in and around Naples. She reports that her father lost his mind in the fall of 1908 and passed away in May 1909. Her mother passed away in 1945 at Estero. She had become a very devoted member.

Mrs. Barager feels that growing up in the Koreshan Unity did not prepare her properly for her later life. Her education was inadequate and she was very naive about the world outside the Unity.