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Archiver > MAWORCES > 2006-02 > 1139934621


From: "Lisa Lepore" <>
Subject: Fw: [MAWORCES] More on who might have recruited where in Canada for Southbridge
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 11:30:21 -0500


Hi List -

Thanks for your answer, Alison, but I think it came only to me, and
not to this list, so I'm sure you won't mind that I am reposting it
here,
so Jeannine will see it.

This reminds me to ask if the list can be changed so that the replies
go to the list?

I'll look around - I had some websites for mills. the Mills in North
Grosvenordale,
Thompson, Connecticut were owned by Grosvenor of Providence RI.
Another
big mill family were the Knights. I think they bought the Grosvenor
mills -
they eventually became Arrow [men's shirts]. I have a book around
here
with more information - I'll check it out and let you know.

These messages are the first time I've seen other mills referred to as
Slater mills,
beside THE Slater Mill in Pawtucket. I'm not sure if that means mills
owned by
Slater, or mills like the slater?

Lisa



----- Original Message -----
From: "AGFranks" <>
To: "'Lisa Lepore'" <>
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 6:29 AM
Subject: RE: [MAWORCES] More on who might have recruited where in
Canada for Southbridge


Hello Jeannine:

If memory hasn't failed me too badly, I think there was a Slater Mill
in the
area of Thompson, Windham Co., CT. If not Thompson, then maybe in
Killingly. At any rate there is a book about the mills in Windham
Co., CT.,
that were along the Quinnabaug River.

The Killingly Historical Society in Danielson, CT has quite a few
books on
the textile industry in the area.

www.killinglyhistory.org . You can e-mail them ask what the name of
the
book is on the mills.

Speaking of this Historical Society, they have an excellent collection
of
books, films, cd's and of course family files, pictures, and maps
Windham
Co., Ct., to include RI and MA. They also have some French Canadian
material and from other states besides. If anyone interested in the
Native
Americans of the area (Nipmucks for the most part), there are records
there
too.

What you may or may not know there was the old turnpike that ran from
Thompson, CT to Douglas, MA. There are still some milepost markers on
the
road. So if you are looking for something in Douglas, look in
Thompson and
vice versa. Thompson was part of Killingly until 1845, so earlier
records
if there are any will be found in Killingly.

Regards,
Alison Franks
Archivist, Rawson Family Association
Life Member, and Volunteer, Killingly Historical Society

-----Original Message-----
From: Lisa Lepore [mailto:]
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2006 11:58 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [MAWORCES] More on who might have recruited where in
Canada for
Southbridge

Hi Jeannine -

When you say Slater mills - do you mean mills built
like the Slater - an Arkwright mill [the technology]
Or do you mean any textile mills?

If you are looking for any mills, they were located
just about anywhere where there was a big enough
river to power the machinery.

Are you looking for mill history, or a particular family?

Lisa




----- Original Message -----
From: "Jay Kubik" <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2006 11:45 PM
Subject: Re: [MAWORCES] More on who might have recruited where in
Canada for Southbridge


> Thanks, Lisa, for providing this post.
>
> Does anyone on the list know where the other Slater mills were
located, in
> addition to Pawtucket?
>
> Many thanks,
> Jeannine
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lisa Lepore" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 5:15 PM
> Subject: Re: [MAWORCES] More on who might have recruited where in
Canada for
> Southbridge
>
>
> > Dora -
> >
> > Thanks for letting us know about this book being on line.
> >
> > Listers should check their librarys' websites periodically to
> > see what can be accessed from home through the local library.
> >
> > RE the recruiters -
> > http://www.nps.gov/blac/discover/history.htm
> > During the 1860's and 1870's, mill owners began to recruit
> > French Canadians to leave their farms in Quebec and become
> > mill workers in the Blackstone Valley
> >
> > http://www.adaction.org/craypo20000516.html
> >
> > Immigrant Labor
> >
> > "The story of immigrant labor is as old as American industrial
> > history.
> > One fascinating example is the pre-Civil War New England textile
> > mills.
> > The industrial workforce in those mills, the first industry that
we
> > would
> > recognize as a mass production industry, was composed primarily of
> > what were called "New England mill girls." Employers literally
sent
> > contractors
> > out in carts. They would visit the farm. Farmers were agreeable to
> > sending
> > their daughters to southern New England into the mills providing
that
> > there were some sort of dormitory arrangement, or "in loco
parentis,"
> > to ease their worries as parents. As a result, for quite some
time,
> > the
> > industry had little trouble recruiting enough mill girls, in
addition
> > to the
> > entire families they sometimes employed. These recruits become the
> > first true American industrial workers."
> >
> > http://ecommunity.uml.edu/lhs/lowell_history.htm
> >
> > 1823 Merrimack Manufacturing Company recruits Yankee women to
work in
> > its textile mills.
> >
> > 1865 Samuel P. Marin is employed by the textile companies to
recruit
> > French-Canadians.
> >
> > If you are trying to find the names of these men who actually held
a
> > job of recruiting
> > you would have to find some original company documents.
> >
> > Newspapers of the time might provide advertisements.
> >
> >
http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/wes/indexes/subject_index/factorytext/
> >
> > This site has a listing of mill records for women at Harvard
Business
> > school.
> >
> > A few weeks ago, you asked why they would work for terrible
factory
> > wages -
> > the answer is that the work was available, there wasn't much work
in
> > Canada
> > for them, and there wasn't much work at all for women. They
wouldn't
> > have to
> > be dependant on the weather, and wait until the crops were
harvested
> > and sold
> > to receive payment - that is if they were lucky enough to have
their
> > own farms.
> >
> > I have read that the farms were failing because of the failure to
> > rotate crops [I think],
> > the family farms could not support all the individuals in an
entire
> > family. If you look
> > at the occupation of many of our ancestors, it was often listed as
> > journalier - this
> > translates to a day laborer. Factory work must have looked pretty
> > good with a
> > guaranteed paycheck every week, and in many cases a place to live.
> >
> > http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/readings/leaving.htm
> >
> > French Canadian Emigration to the United States, 1840-1930
> >
> >
> > Lisa
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Dora Smith" <>
> > To: <>
> > Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 12:33 PM
> > Subject: [MAWORCES] More on who might have recruited where in
Canada
> > for Southbridge
> >
> >
> > > I got ahold of "The French Canadian Heritage in New England"; it
is
> > online
> > > at NetLibrary.
> > >
> > > It says, "
> > > By 1860, 12,000 new French-Canadian immigrants had reached New
> > England;
> > > together with the natural increase, these new immigrants doubled
the
> > > Franco-American population. Most continued to live in the same
> > areas, but
> > > important concentrations now became apparent in about two dozen
> > central
> > > Massachusetts towns in the area around Worcester, south along
the
> > Blackstone
> > > Valley into Rhode Island, and along the Merrimack Valley
including
> > > Manchester, New Hampshire. Franco-Americans continued to be
engaged
> > in a
> > > variety of occupations, but prophetically, in southern New
England
> > towns a
> > > large number were recruited as contract laborers for the textile
> > mills."
> > >
> > > and
> > >
> > > "Some industries actively recruited labor from Canada,
especially in
> > the
> > > years immediately before and after the Civil War. For example,
in
> > 1859-60 I.
> > > M. Boynton hired several French Canadians who lived in the
vicinity
> > of St.
> > > Hyacinthe for work in textile mills in Chicopee and Lowell,
> > Massachusetts,
> > > and Salmon Falls, New Hampshire.13 Many agents appear to have
been
> > > Franco-Americans; among them were Joseph Proulx, a resident of
> > Holyoke,
> > > Massachusetts, who operated near St. Hyacinthe on behalf of the
> > Lyman Mills
> > > at this time,14 and Samuel P. Marin of Lowell, Massachusetts.15"
> > >
> > > and
> > >
> > > "Other persons from St. Ours settled in nearby Southbridge and
> > Worcester,
> > > Massachusetts, about this time. 16"
> > >
> > > My brother in law is descended from one of the persons from St.
> > Ours - and
> > > that family also lived in St. Hyacinthe. His other Southbridge
> > French
> > > Canadian forebears came from two other towns up to 20 miles
away.
> > The
> > > families were not related to each other. If any direct ties
> > existed
> > > between these families I don't know what or how they were.
> > >
> > > OK, my question that I'm still trying to get an answer to - does
> > anyone know
> > > if somebody was specifically going around to those towns
recruiting,
> > and if
> > > so, who?
> > >
> > > Yours,
> > > Dora Smith
> > > Austin, TX
> > >
> > >



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