DOCSLIB.ORG

Early Days in a Dundee Mill 1819-23

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Early Days in a Dundee Mill 1819-23 Early Days in a Dundee Mill 1819-23 Extracts from the diary of William Brown, an Early Dundee Spinner edited by John Hume Dundee Abertay Historical Society Publication Number 20 - 1980 Acknowledgements The Abertay Historical Society must record its gratitude to Dr. J.R.L. Halley who was responsible for the very survival of the material for this publication. It was he who procured a typescript copy of the original manuscript of William Brown's Essays before it disappeared on the death of the owner. He presented a copy to Dundee University Library and brought it to our attention with the suggestion that it should be published. In addition, he has given us the benefit of his time and long experience in the textile industry to help us with several words and phrases whose meaning we were unable to discover in textbooks. Certain limitations have been put on this edition by the loss of Brown's own notebook. It is impossible to be completely certain whether all the punctuation, spelling and figures are his or the typist's. At several points, the editors have had to use their discretion, where the context indicated more likely alternatives than the typescript version. Even worse, his sketches of different types of machinery, not copied when the typescript was made, have now disappeared for ever. Despite these reservations, however, the Society considered that the document deserved a wider readership than those who have access to Dundee University Library and to the City of Dundee Archive and Record Centre, to which Dr. Halley has also presented a copy. We have to thank Mr. John Hume of the University of Strathclyde for undertaking the task of selection and comment. Annette M. Smith Honorary Editor Abertay Historical Society CONTENTS Page numbers Introduction 1 Preface 4 Brown's apology for his writings 5 The Mill and its Working: History of East Mill 6 General Description of East Mill 8 The Weekly Expense of Carrying on the Mill 13 Facts, Maxims etc. 16 Performance 19 Management: Notes to Managers 20 Instructions for the Undermanager 22 Letter to John Reid 29 Of Order in Management 30 Plan of Management 31 On Business 36 Copy of Letter to Messrs B. & B. 37 Disorder in Business 44 Night Spinning 45 Fire and Insurance 51 Relation with Employees: Queries Concerning Flax Spinning 55 Charity in Hands of East Mill 57 Reduction of Wages 58 Reduction of Working Hours 59 Memorandum regarding Hecklers 60 Extract from Notes to Managers 62 Improvements to East Mill: Improvements on the Mill Yard 63 On the Jakes at East Mill 65 Description of Improvements and Expenses Involved 67 67 The Steam Engine and Machinery: The Steam Engine 72 Expense of Fuel for Steam Engine 73 Account of Accident 74 Notes on Alterations 75 Imperfections in Driving Shaft 77 On the Management of the Steam Engine 80 Breaking and Scutching 83 Carding 85 Spinning 88 Visit to Leeds in 1821: Information Regarding Flax Spinning at Leeds 1821 92 92 1 INTRODUCTION Dundee has been fortunate in the personal records left by its textile pioneers. Alex J. Warden, a Dundee merchant, published in 1864 The Linen Trade Ancient & Modern which contains the best nineteenth century history of a Scottish industry, prepared from personal recollections as well as from documents. Peter Carmichael, engineering genius behind the success of Baxter Brothers, wrote an autobiography which, edited by Enid Gauldie, forms a substantial part of The Dundee Textile Industry 1790-1885 (1969). William Brown, whose Essays are published here for the first time, presented to the public his Reminiscences of Flax Spinning in 1861. Of all the substantial accounts of the early Dundee linen trade, Brown's essays have in many respects the most appeal to modern man. For Brown was not concerned with retrospective analysis, and only to a limited extent was he putting on paper the everyday trivia of a mill- manager's life. His intention in writing the essays was "to improve the author of them in the knowledge of his business and to assist him in the management of' it" and the entries have both coherence and clarity. They have as well freshness and immediacy. From them emerges a picture of a young man coming to terms with problems novel in a Dundee context, drawing inspiration from his knowledge of factory masters elsewhere, and adopting a cool, rational, scientific approach based on eighteenth century ideals. Yet his coolness is tempered by speculation, and Brown is revealed as a humane man, in no sense an exploiter of his workpeople, and sensibly rather than obsessively concerned with-profit and with innovation. William Brown was the youngest of four sons of James Brown, a pioneer of water-powered flax spinning. His father operated Trottick, Friockheim and Arrat Mills, in rural Angus, before building the steam- powered West Ward or Bell Mill in Guthrie Street, Dundee, in 1806-7. This was a pioneering enterprise, largely of fireproof construction, with a twenty-five horsepower engine driving Leeds-made machinery. 2 According to Warden, the mill cost £17,000 and "for twenty years... stood unmatched in the town". It was not, however, the first steam- powered mill in Dundee. Two small-scale mills were built in the early 1790s, but both failed. In 1798, however, a tannery in Guthrie Street was converted to a mill by George Wilkie of Achlishie, near Kirriemuir, who installed a twenty horse-power Boulton and Watt engine to drive the machinery. This became known as the East Mill, and it was taken over by the three younger Brown brothers, the eldest, Andrew, remaining with his father at West Ward. The new proprietors almost immediately ran into a depression, and the mill was closed for some months in the autumn of 1810 and the spring of 1811. They had a struggle to keep going until 1816, but after that trade picked up, and the mill remained profitable until the mid 1820s depression. William became manager of the mill in 1810. At first he had no responsibility for the commercial side of the business, and concentrated on production, which fascinated him. He was, according to Warden, the leader in making the improvements which rendered the spinning of tow a practical and commercial possibility. From the dates quoted by Warden it appears that Brown was involved in this development before 1814, and it certainly seems to have been virtually completed by the commencement of these essays. John Brown left the partnership in 1817, and it may have been the increased responsibility falling on William that stimulated him to jot down his ideas and comments. Dr. Dennis Chapman's article "William Brown of Dundee, 1791-1864: Management in a Scottish Flax Mill" published in Explorations in Entrepreneurial History in 1952, which makes extensive use of Brown's own writings, also draws together other references to Brown's life. These indicate that the concern for the well-being of his workers which unobtrusively underlies many of the essays was carried into his later life. The partnership provided schoolrooms and teachers for young workers, and a newspaper room for older people. Great pains were taken to box in machinery and to ensure proper ventilation in the mill. Seats were provided in the spinning rooms and also an early form of "Music While You Work"; the foreman played the violin as he 3 walked up and down the factory floor on his supervisory duties. In general the workers seem to have been well satisfied. Chapman quotes the views of two female employers one of whom stated to the Factory Enquiries Commission that "there cannot be better employers" and the other "that she believed Messrs Brown the finest masters in this town". According to their evidence Brown gave sick relief and also kept employment open during sickness. Writing in the early 1860s Warden commented that "although Mr. Brown has retired from his favourite trade, he is still an enthusiastic spinner, and takes delight in witnessing the onward progress of mill spinning". This observation was echoed in his obituary, which commented "never during his long life-time did his enthusiasm for his favourite trade flag or falter" (1). * * * * * * As might be expected in pieces written intermittently by a busy man, the essays contain a certain amount of duplication. In addition some of his observations are verbose, and technical comments are usually rather detailed for the general reader. The manuscript has therefore been rearranged, and summarised where appropriate to reduce it to a length suitable for publication. Neither Brown's accounts nor any sums of money he mentions have been adapted to modern usage. Readers are reminded that before decimalisation twelve pennies or pence (12d.) made one shilling (1/- or 1s.) and twenty shillings equalled one pound (£1). John R. Hume June 1979 1) Quoted by William Norrie in Dundee Celebrities (Dundee, 1873) 245. 4 PREFACE Essays on Flax-Spinning and Remarks on the Management of East Mill, Dundee (1) by William Brown, the Manager, 1819. The chief object of these essays is to improve the author of them in the knowledge of his business and to assist him in the management of it. They are meant to be composed of such circumstances, ocurrences, rules, regulations, descriptions and hints for improvements at East Mill, as may appear useful to be perused or remembered afterwards. It is evident that by means of such essays much useful information will be preserved which would otherwise be lost; and when it is considered that in the flax-spinning business nothing can be obtained from books, all from observation or enquiry only, the reading or writing of essays must be particularly useful to exercise the understanding and to refresh the memory.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Glossary of Terms
    The Missing Chapter: Untold Stories of the African American Presence in the Mid-Hudson Valley Glossary of Terms Bay: A compartment in a barn, used fore storing hay or grain. Britches or Breeches: Short trousers, especially fastened below the knee. Breeches were originally made of leather, but were made of various materials. Buckskin: Leather made from a buck’s skin, could also refer to a thick smooth cotton or woolen cloth. Coating: A cloth used for making coats. Drab coloured: A dull brownish yellow or dull gray color. Felt: A fabric made of wool and hair. Fife: A small high-pitched flute without keys, often used in military and marching bands. Fustian: A coarse sturdy cloth of a cotton-linen blend; any durable fabric with a raised nap made mainly from cotton, for example, corduroy or moleskin. Gaol: is an early Modern English spelling for jail, with the same pronunciation and meaning of a place of legal detention. Grogram: A rough fabric of silk and wool with a diagonal weave. High Dutch: An eighteenth century term for German. Homespun: Spun or woven in the home; a plain coarse woolen cloth made of homespun yarn. Instant (inst.): The current calendar month. Inventory: a detailed list of things in one’s view or possession; especially, a regular survey of all goods and materials in stock. Linsey Woolsey: A coarse fabric of cotton or linen woven with wool. Low Dutch: used to signify those persons of Netherlandish descent. Manchester velvet: A fine cotton used in making dresses. The Missing Chapter: Untold Stories of the African American Presence in the Mid-Hudson Valley Nanekeen: A sturdy yellow or buff cotton cloth.
    [Show full text]
  • Online Appendix ∗
    Necessity is the Mother of Invention: Input Supplies and Directed Technical Change ONLINE APPENDIX ∗ W. Walker Hanlon UCLA and NBER July 14, 2014 Contents A Further details on the empirical setting 1 A.1 Increase in transport costs caused by the Civil War . .1 A.2 Additional details on cotton supplies . .2 A.3 Most innovative technology categories by patent count . .2 A.4 Definitions of important textile terms . .3 A.5 Cotton textile machinery . .4 A.6 Details on the differences between cotton types . .7 A.7 Impact of ginning on cotton fiber length . .8 A.8 Example patent specifically mentioning Indian cotton . .8 ∗Author email: [email protected]. A.9 Indian cotton exports . .9 B Data appendix 9 B.1 Overview of the patent data . .9 B.2 Data on spinning technology subcategories . 11 B.3 Identifying patents related to Indian cotton . 12 B.4 Details of the British patent system between 1852 and 1883 . 13 B.5 Details on inventors in the patent database . 14 B.6 Further details on the patent quality measure data . 15 C Appendix to the Empirical Analysis Section 16 C.1 Analysis of patent data . 16 C.2 Analysis of high-quality patents . 24 C.3 Dobson & Barlow graphs . 26 D Appendix to the relative price analysis 29 D.1 Full price regression results . 33 D.2 Using the same denominator for all relative price series . 35 E Some evidence on the elasticity of substitution between cotton types 36 2 A Further details on the empirical setting A.1 Increase in transport costs caused by the Civil War The figure below shows an index of transport costs during the early part of the war constructed using the wedge between the cotton price in New Orleans, which was within the blockaded region until April of 1862, and the price in Liverpool.
    [Show full text]
  • Education Teacher’S Kit
    Industrial Heritage - The Textile Industry Education Teacher’s Kit Background There is archaeological evidence of textile production in Britain from the late-prehistoric period onwards. For many thousands of years wool was the staple textile product of Britain. The dominance of wool in the British textile industry changed rapidly during the eighteenth century with the development of mechanised silk production and then mechanised cotton production. By the mid-nineteenth century all four major branches of the textile industry (cotton, wool, flax, hemp and jute and silk) had been mechanised and the British landscape was dominated by over 10,000 mill buildings with their distinctive chimneys. Overseas competition led to a decline in the textile industry in the mid-twentieth century. Today woollen production is once again the dominant part of the sector together with artificial and man-made fibres, although output is much reduced from historic levels. Innovation Thomas Lombe’s silk mill, built in 1721, is regarded as the first factory-based textile mill in Britain. However, it was not until the handloom was developed following the introduction of John Kay’s flying shuttle in 1733 that other branches of the textile industry (notably cotton and wool) became increasingly mechanised. In the second half of the eighteenth century, a succession of major innovations including James Hargreaves’s spinning jenny (1764), Richard Arkwright’s water frame (1769), his carding engine (1775), and Samuel Crompton’s mule (1779), revolutionised the preparation and spinning of cotton and wool and led to the establishment of textile factories where several machines were housed under one roof.
    [Show full text]
  • The First Plant Bast Fibre Technology: Identifying Splicing in Archaeological Textiles
    Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2019) 11:2329–2346 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0677-8 ORIGINAL PAPER The first plant bast fibre technology: identifying splicing in archaeological textiles Margarita Gleba1 & Susanna Harris2 Received: 2025 May 20172018 /Accepted: 2625 July 20182018 /Published online: 25 July 2018 # The Author(s) 2018 Abstract Recent research into plant bast fibre technology points to a Neolithic European tradition of working fibres into threads by splicing, rather than draft spinning. The major issue now is the ability of textile specialists and archaeobotanists to distinguish the technology of splicing from draft-spun fibres. This paper defines the major types of splicing and proposes an explicit method to observe, identify and interpret spliced thread technology. The identification of spliced yarns is evaluated through the examination of textiles from Europe, Egypt and the Near East. Through the application of this method, we propose that the switch from splicing to draft spinning plant fibres occurred much later than previously thought. The ramifications of this shift in plant processing have profound implications for understanding the chaîne opératoire of this ubiquitous and time-consuming technology, which will have to be factored into social and economic reconstructions of the past. Keywords Plant bast fibre . Splicing . Spinning . Technology . SEM . Identification method Introduction 25 years, however, research into a different yarn-making technology has developed based on the Pharaonic Egyptian Fibre technologies: from plant to thread textile finds—it is known as splicing, a term that in fact subsumes a variety of related techniques (Leuzinger and Plant bast fibre products, such as linen textiles, have a Rast-Eicher 2011).
    [Show full text]
  • My Linen Legacy a Tale on Women's Strength
    My Linen Legacy A Tale on Women’s Strength Words by Marta Bahillo Photography by Adrià Cañameras My grandmother was like linen: robust, hard to get, She always talked about watching for the ‘brown beautiful and practical. little ball’ to come out in order to know when it She lived in Chaveán, a very small village in was ready. These brown little balls are the seeds. Galicia, North West Spain, by the highest mountain When they are brown and the stem turns yellow of the area, in a house that she had inherited from her it is time to harvest the plant. In order to get the great grandparents. She was wealthy enough never to maximum length of fibre for the linen, the plants have cattle, but she loved cultivating linen. From flax were never mown but uprooted: the longer the to cloth: for many years it was an obligatory process. stems, the longer the fibres and longer fibres meant And she made sure I knew about it. Ever since I can better quality. This laborious process, now done by remember, during each of my summer visits, she machine, was performed by hand right up until the told me the story of the linen process. end of the Second World War. I was the eldest granddaughter and now I know Once the harvesting was over, the real work how important that story was to her. It was a story began. The stalks were left to dry for weeks in the of community, a story of women´s hard work and open summer air.
    [Show full text]
  • ON the MANUFACTURE of HEMP and WIRE ROPE. Ropes Are Mainly Constructed Either of the Fibres of the Hemp Plant
    170 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF HEMP AND WIRE ROPE. BY MR. CHARLES P. B. SHELLEY, OF LONDON. Ropes are mainly constructed either of the fibres of the Hemp plant (cannabis sativa) or of Iron Wire. Other vegetable substances and other metal wires are also used ; but in the present paper only the two important manufactures of hemp rope and iron wire rope are referred to : and as the treatment of the hemp fibres and manufacture of them into rope is quite different from the formation of iron wire rope, the subject naturally divides itself into two branches. Hemp Rope.-Of the other substances besides hemp which have been found useful and profitable for rope making, the most important are- “ manilla ”, the fibres of which are obtained from the bark of a wild species of banana grown in the Philippine islands, manufactured into a rope commonly known as I‘ white rope”; jute, grown in Bengal, the fibres of which are used for adulterating hemp ; cocoa-nut fibre for inferior ropes ; Indian hemp or “ sunn ”, the high price of which however keeps it out of the market ; and Spanish grass or esparto”. Of these ‘‘ manilla ” is the most common slibstitute for hemp. The machinery employed for manufacturing any one of these several fibres into rope is similar with slight modifications to that employed for hemp. The intestines, hide, and hair of animals are sometimes used for rope for special purposes ; and the Romans are said to have formed ropes by binding together rushes (junci), whence the name (‘junk ’’ for cable is believed to be derived.
    [Show full text]
  • The Hygienic Aspect of Flax Manufacture
    Thc H.~/gie~tic Aspect of FIw.," Jl,~f, ctt~rt~. 249 performed, there is every reason to believe that the cure will be permanent. I must not omit to express my indebtedness to Sir Victor Horsley for having given me the great advantage of seeing him perform this operation, and for advice regarding in- struments and other things. ART. XI.--The HygieJtic Aspect of Flax Jla~t~lfact~lre. ~ By HENRY S. P~'RDO~% M.D. ; Certifying Factory Sur- geon, Belfast. ThE city (Jf Belfast and the surrounding district are very ex- tensively engaged in the linen industry- that is to say, the cultivation of flax, scutching, spinning of yarn, linen wear- ing, finishing and bleaching. There are no flax scutching mills near Belfast, but they are to be found in our country districts, where the farmers grow their flax crops. In these mills, the flax is bruised in rollers, so as to remove the outer coat or fibre, and this precess was formerly a very dusty operation; however, the introduction and use of fans to extract and remove the dust from the atmosphere is now general, and the air is much purer. The persons employed in our scutch mills are so engaged only for a few months in the year, consequently when the scutching is over, they return to their usual " out-of-door" occupation. The first stage of flax manufacture, as employed in our mills, is, I think, the most unheMthy. The process may be classed under the heads of heckling, sorting, machine heckling, carding and preparing.
    [Show full text]
  • BOWERS-THESIS-2015.Pdf
    Copyright by Jordan D. Bowers 2015 The Thesis Committee for Jordan D. Bowers Certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: Functional Analysis of Spindle Whorls from the Castro Culture of Northwestern Portugal APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: Maria Wade Samuel Wilson Functional Analysis of Spindle Whorls from the Castro Culture of Northwestern Portugal by Jordan D. Bowers, B.A. Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin December 2015 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Maria Wade for being my advisor and mentor throughout this research project and, more generally, my time as both an undergraduate and graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, and to Dr. Samuel Wilson for his insight and participation as the second reader for this Master’s Thesis. I would also like to give a special thanks to Pedro Brochado de Almeida and Ana Maria Valentim of the Gabinete de Arqueologia of Vila do Conde for their collaboration and assistance with this research project, as well as the success of The Bagunte Project, and also to José Manuel Flores Gomes of the Museu Municipal de Etnografia e História of Póvoa de Varzim, and to Álvaro de Brito Moreira of the Museu Municipal Abade Pedrosa of Santo Tirso, for allowing me access to the spindle whorls from Cividade de Terroso and Castro do Monte Padrão in order to do this project.
    [Show full text]
  • Natural: History
    ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS \ OF THEB American museum of -Natural: History. Vol. XII, Part I1I. PERUVIAN TEXTI LES. BY M. D. C. CRAWFORD. 195 NEW YORK: .Published by Order~of, the Trustees. American; 3Ii'seum of Natural History. PUBLICATIONS IN ANTHROPOLOGY. In 1906, the present series of Anthropological Papers- was authorized by the Trustees of the Museum to record the results of research' conducted by the Depart- ment ,of Anthropology. The series, comprises octavo volumes of aboi t 350 pages each,. issued "in parts' at -irregular intervals. Prvost 9&atce eoted, to- anthropological subjects appeared as occasional papers in the Bulletin and also in the Memoir series of teMuseum.- A complete list of these publications with prices .will. be furnised when requested. All communications should be addressed'-to the Librarian of the Museum. The recent issues are as follows:.- Volume X. I. Chipewyan Texts. By-Pliny Earle ,Goddard. Pp. 1-66. 1912. Price $51.00. II. AknalysIis~of Cold Lake Dialect, Chipewyan., By Pliny Earle Goddard. i 07-10 ad249 text figures. 1912, Price, $1.00., III. Chipewyan Tales. By Robert H. Lowie. Pp. 171-200. 1912. Price. Z.25. IV. (In preparation). Volume XI. Societies land Ceremonial Associations in the Oglala Division of the Teton Dakota.i By Clark Wissler. Pp. 1-99 andl 7 text figures. 1912.Parric e, $.50. Ili Dance Associations of the Eastern Dakota. By Robert H. Lowie. Pp. 101-142. .1913.1 Price, $.25. III.t Societies of the Crow, Hidatsa and, Mardan Indians.t Byl obert H. Lowie. Pp'. 143-358 and 18 text, figures.
    [Show full text]
  • Preferred Fiber & Materials Market Report 2019
    Preferred Fiber & Materials Market Report 2019 2018 photo to be replaced (Infinited Fiber Pic?) Foreword from La Rhea Pepper At Textile Exchange, our Mission is to I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if the Recycled Polyester Commitment inspire and equip people to accelerate we are serious about shifting from a fossil that encouraged brands and retailers to sustainable practices in the textile value carbon-based sector to a circular one, we publicly commit to accelerating their use chain. We focus on minimizing the harmful need to embrace innovations that reduce of recycled polyester by 25 percent by impacts of the global textile industry and and reuse waste, and regenerate farmland. 2020 – a goal that was achieved in 2018, maximizing its positive effects. two years earlier than expected Textile Exchange is taking this need for a Textile Exchange is proud to bring you the transformational shift seriously. Under a Textile Exchange not only encourages Preferred Fiber and Materials Market Report new strategic direction that we’re calling companies to accelerate their use of 2019. This report, along with our annual “Climate+,” Textile Exchange will be the preferred fibers, but as you’ll see in our Organic Cotton Market Report, measures driving force for urgent climate action with soon-to-be-released Material Change the production of fiber and materials with a goal of 35-45% reduced CO2 emissions Index (MCI), the largest peer-to-peer improved social and environmental impacts from textile fiber and material production by comparison initiative in the fashion – what we call Preferred.
    [Show full text]
  • Extraction Method of Flax Fibre and Its Uses
    Plant Archives Vol. 15 No. 2, 2015 pp. 711-716 ISSN 0972-5210 EXTRACTION METHOD OF FLAX FIBRE AND ITS USES Namrata Dhirhi*, Rajshree Shukla, Nirmala Bharti Patel, Hemant Sahu and Nandan Mehta Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, I.G.K.V., Raipur - 492 012 (C. G.), India. Abstract Flax (Linum usitatissimum) is a bast fibre plant cultivated for the production of fibres, for use in a wide range of woven and non-woven end uses. Bast fibres are also known as ‘soft’ fibres or skin fibres and are characterised by their fineness, strength and flexibility, which distinguishes them from the coarser and less flexible fibres of the leaf, or “hard,” fibre. Flax is a renewable resource and has the potential to be much more eco-friendly than cotton. Linen fibres are obtained from the inner bark (or skin) of a plant. Flaxseed fibre is a high quality, organic, natural, unrefined whole food product that is naturally gluten free with a shelf life of two years, as reported by the manufacturers. The fibres support the conductive cells of the phloem and provide strength to the stem. Traditionally, the production of fibre from flax has focused on long fibres for use in the manufacture of linen yarns. However, short-fibre flax can also be produced and processed to be a ‘cottonised’ fibre for the production of textile yarns on cotton processing equipment. the production of a cotton compatible fibre from flax crops. Flax fiber is a raw material used in the high-quality paper industry for the use of printed bank notes and rolling paper for cigarettes and tea bags.
    [Show full text]
  • Flax Production at South Union, Kentucky Donna C
    Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® DLSC Faculty Publications Library Special Collections 1-1-1992 Flax Production at South Union, Kentucky Donna C. Parker Western Kentucky University, [email protected] Jonathan Jeffrey Western Kentucky University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_fac_pub Recommended Repository Citation Parker, Donna C. and Jeffrey, Jonathan. (1992). Flax Production at South Union, Kentucky. The Shaker Messenger, 14 (1), 7-9, 23. Available at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_fac_pub/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in DLSC Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Flax Production at South Union, Kentucky by Donna Parker and Jonathan Jeffrey Shakers were known for their ingenuity and industriousness. Converts brought a diverse body of knowledge and skills to each community, including the manufacture of textiles. Linen was an essential fabric for most early settlers. All the Shaker communities grew flax, but in the western and southern settlements “flax was an especially important crop, for these communities were heavily oriented to agriculture and agricultural products rather than to manufacturing.” 1 Through several tedious processes, the Shakers at South Union, Kentucky, cultivated flax and manufactured that utilitarian fabric, linen. Charter members at South Union lost no time in preparing to meet immediate needs by harvesting and storing flax. In 1810 the area’s earliest Shaker converts collectively gathered 21 loads of flax for the community’s use. Unfortunately an arsonist torched the barn where the important commodity was stored.
    [Show full text]