362 Percy Wells Bidwell 



spun the fibers thus prepared into yarn and thread on the large and 

 small wheels then found in every farmhouse. Bleaching and dyeing 

 were also a part of the multifarious activities of these women. In the 

 latter process almost all the materials used, such as pokeberries, 

 madder, goldenrod, the bark of the hickory, butternut and sassafras 

 trees, and various flowers, could be found in the woods and fields. 

 For producing the deep blue which was so popular, indigo must be 

 imported, and this was one of the few standard commodities sold at 

 the stores and by itinerant peddlers. 



Weaving, the next stage in the production of homespun cloth, 

 was not so uniformly performed in every household. Looms were, 

 however, to be found in every house of considerable size, and many 

 houses had a room, or an ell, especially devoted to these ponderous 

 and noisy machines. Gallatin wrote in 1810: "Every farmer's 

 house is provided with one or more wheels, according to the number 

 of females. Every second house, at least has a loom for weaving 

 linen, cotton, and coarse woolen cloths, which is almost wholly done 

 by women. "^ It is probable that a considerable share of this work 

 was taken over by men, some of whom may have carried it on as a 

 regular trade.- There were often many smaller looms in the house 



' Report on Manufactures. 1810. p. 435. The note from which this quota- 

 tion is taken refers to household manufactures in New Hampshire. It is inter- 

 esting to compare in this regard the figures given by a writer in the Massachu- 

 setts Historical Society's Collections, II. 7:70, for Hillsborough County, New 

 Hampshire. He found 5,490 looms, in a population of 49,282 (about 9,000 fami- 

 lies) in 1810. According to Coxe, Digest of Manufactures, 1812, p. 667, in the 

 back-country of Pennsylvania there was in one county, McKean, only one loom 

 among a population of 142 persons. In three other counties the proportion 

 was one to every 20 or 30 of population. The spinning wheels were much more 

 numerous, averaging about one to a family. 



-Miss Earle says, Home Life, pp. 212-213: "Every farmer's daughter knew 

 how to weave as well as to spin, yet it was not recognized as wholly woman's 

 work as was spinning; for there was a trade of hand-weaving for men, to which 

 they were apprenticed. Every town had professional weavers. They were a 

 universally respected class, and became the ancestors of many of the wealthiest 

 and most influential citizens today. They took in yarn and thread to weave on 

 their looms at their own homes at so much a yard; wove their own yarn into 

 stuffs to sell; had apprentices to their trade; and also went out working by the 

 day at their neighbors' houses, sometimes carrying their looms many miles with 

 them." Miss Earle cites no authorities; the lists of tradesmen given in the statis- 

 tical accounts of various towns in Connecticut make no mention of weavers, and 

 the only confirmation I have been able to find of her statement is an entry in 

 the account book of Rev. Medad Rogers of New Fairfield, Conn., of money paid 

 out for weaving. See infra, pp. 366-367. 



