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Archiver > SCT-ISLAY > 2006-10 > 1159762361


From: "Sue Visser" <>
Subject: Re: [SCT-ISLAY] Starch Mills
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2006 00:12:41 -0400
References: <001301c6e5c0$9c6fec20$82dcfea9@roy3b49a903bac>


Perhaps this might be a lead....

http://www.paisley.org.uk/history/intro.php

.....during the Napoleonic War, when supplies of silk thread to make heddles
for the looms were scarce, the Clark brothers experimented with a cotton
substitute. It proved highly successful and was also taken up by local
housewives as a sewing thread superior to the older linen thread. Clarks
were followed by Coats, and there can have been few seamstresses throughout
the world in the last 150 years who have never used the products of one or
the other of these two firms. Another process in the weaving of a shawl
required the use of a starch paste to strengthen the warp.

The starch was provided by the firm of Brown and Polson, who later further
refined it and developed household corn flour.

Good Luck
Sue Visser
Ontario, Canada


----- Original Message -----
From: "Roy McMillan" <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2006 9:18 PM
Subject: [SCT-ISLAY] Starch Mills


Hi Listers:
Anyone out there heard of Starch Mills, perhaps located near Paisley
Scotland. One of my family is trying to locate McDougal's who supposedly
came from that area.

Thanks, Roy

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