76 



learned tlicm to braid from nearly all the towns around Provi- 

 dence, and never received any compensation for it. I learned all 

 ■\vlio came, to make bonnets, free of expense. Many said I ought 

 to get a patent ; but I told them I did not -wish to have my name 

 sent to Congress. 



I could easily earn one dollar per day, and sometimes one dol- 

 lar and fifty cents, for several -weeks at a time. It became very 

 profitable business for several years. 



Yours, &c. Betsey Baker. 



This was sent in reply to a letter from Mrs. Metcalf, written at 

 my request. I had always heard that straAV braiding in this coun- 

 try commenced in the neighborhood before described. On apply- 

 ing to Mrs. M. for information, I was informed by her that the 

 uniform statement in the family was that her late husband's sister, 

 Mrs. Baker, commenced the business. At the suggestion of Mrs. 

 M., I afterwards called on Mrs. Catharine Brown of Newport, a 

 sister of Mrs. Baker. Though well stricken in years, her recol- 

 lection of the facts detailed in Mrs. B.'s note was peculiarly dis- 

 tinct and positive. She remembered Hannah Metcalf, referred to 

 in that note, who was a daughter of her uncle Michael, and cor- 

 roborated the statement of Mrs. B., " that she never braided." 

 The aunt referred to by Mrs. B., was Miss Selah Gay, now de- 

 ceased, a sister of Mrs. Joel Metcalf. Miss Sally Richmond, also 

 referred to, lived the next door to Miss Metcalf, on Benefit Street. 

 She was the daughter of Capt. Nathaniel Richmond. She be- 

 came the wife of Mr. Nicholas Angell, and died in April, 1816. 



From a letter, which accompanied the foregoing statement of 

 Mrs. Baker, I am permitted to make the following extract : 



" I wrote, as you requested, about braiding. Aunt Selah en- 

 couraged me ; all the rest, but father, said I should never learn. 

 I wrote an account of it before I was married, and have copied 

 out the dates. I do not remember when we first had machines to 

 split the straw. Father was very anxious we should keep a straw 

 shop, and, you know, fitted up a shop. We had quite a manu- 

 factory for some time ; but Sophia's health failed, and I never 

 wished to be confined to a shop. I know I could have got money ; 

 but it did not suit me. You know Sally Richmond, who married 

 Nicholas Angell. Some got the impression that she was the first 

 that braided. I have often been told that I learned to braid by 

 taking a bonnet to pieces. I never saw a piece of braid until I 

 braided it. The four strand trimming was the most difficult of 

 anvthing I ever tried to learn. I persevered until I got it right, 

 and for a time had twelve cents per yard." 



Mrs. Baker again refers to this subject, in another letter to 

 Mrs. Metcalf, under date of March 12, 1858, from which the fol- 

 lowing extract is made : 



