CHAPTER II. 



THE HOUSEHOLD WOOLEN INDUSTRY 1607-1800. 



Many of the American colonists brought with their sheep their spin- 

 ?;nmg- wheels and looms and a knowledge of spinning and weaving, and 

 |one of their first cares was to obtain an ample supply of materials for 

 I their clothing. For the first years, both in Virginia and in New Eng- 

 ^ land, sheep were not in sufficient numbers to furnish wool, for which, 

 ; and other raw materials, the settlers were compelled to depend upon 

 : Dutch ships which came across the ocean to trade, and from the mother 

 country, paying for wool and cloth with tobacco, tar, potash, boards, 

 and other products of the forest and field. When sheep multiplied and 

 wool could be obtained the spinning-wheel and the loom were brought 

 ; into play, and from that day to the present throughout this country 

 ; and Canada the country people have manufactured a portion of their 

 I coarser clothing. It would be well did they do more of it. 



The diminished intercourse with England, consequent upon the stop- 

 page of emigration about 1642, and the uncertain means of communi- 

 cation, turned the particular attention of the colonists to the manufac- 

 ture of their own linen and woolen cloth, and the more than paternal 

 royal governors and colonial assemblies never wearied of giving orders 

 for the preservation and propagation of sheep, the importation of cot- 

 ton from Barbadoes, the saving of hemp and flax, and the fabrication 

 of these raw materials into clothing. The first of these orders appears 

 to have been made by the general court of Massachusetts May 13, 1640, 

 and had reference only to linen and cotton cloth, or the product of those 

 materials combined. 



The court, taking into serious consideration the absolute necessity for the raising 

 of the manufacture of linen cloth, doth declare that it is the intent of this court 

 that there shall be an order settled about it, and therefore doth require the mag- 

 istrates and deputies of the several towns to acquaint the townsmen therewith, 

 and to make inquiry what seed is in every town, what men and women are 

 skillful in the braking, spinning, weaving; what means for the providing of wheels ; 

 and to consider with those skillful in that manufacture, and what course may be 

 taken for teaching the boys and girls in all towns the spinning of the yarn, and to 

 return to the next court their several and joint advice about this thing. The like 

 consideration would be had for the spinning and weaving of cotton wool. 



This order pointed to the manufacture of a cloth which then formed 

 the principal apparel of the English people, a mixture of linen and cot- 

 ton under the name of fustian, dimity, etc. There were many similar 

 orders made by the assemblies of other colonies, which have been par- 



95 



