Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

Hi, have to confess, dont know much about this subject yet, but am slowly learning.
I know that many good ol' Accrington folk left their homes for a new life in America from c1850 onwards. Some had been tempted by an inducement held out to block printers who in England had been feeling the results of the machine printing. Many of our ancestors ventured to cross the Atlantic with the hope that there would be brighter prospects in that country for that trade. Many went to Rhode Island, Fall River, Providence etc.
I have a friend lives out there, she is a result of an Accrington family travelling out there and making it their home. (her family left here early 1900's). She has just sent me a wonderful link, thought I would share it, and hope we get more information about the cotton trade on this thread. She tells me she has, only this week, been touring the mills in Lowell, Massachusetts with friends. It is a National Park Site with rooms full of looms running at top speed. The mill she was in was built just about the time her grandparents left Accrington to go to Rhode Island.
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. www.nps.gov/lowe/

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

Some of their sons came back to Accrington at the outbreak of WW1 to enlist in the forces. The same for those who emigrated to Canada, over 70 men who had been born in Greater Accrington, joined the Canadian Army, and were stationed in England during part of their training.

Retlaw.

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

I've seen lots of references to people moving to mill towns in many North East US States; Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New England and New Hampshire - but particularly Pawtucket Rhode Island. This article on the textile migration is quite interesting.

The Howard and Bullough American Machine Co. was set up in Pawtucket. I'd assume it's location was in part related to the high number of Lancashire folk in that area.

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

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An excellent essay on a subject I find very interesting as my grandfather and his brother went to New England. The brother stayed and I am in touch with my 'cousins' and 'aunts' I once read a letter sent to the Accrington Observer by an Accringtonian who had gone out there. It told of a big gathering of Accy folk having recently taken place - 400 of them.
I have visited Lawrence & KLowell. In Lowel I came across a weaving shed with Lancashire looms The cast iron plate on the end read ENTWISTLE, LOWELL. I reckon Entwistle was a Lancashsire bloke whio had had the looms made in Accrington with his name on.

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

No need to have them made back in Lancashire, once Bullough's, or Northrop had set up a factory's abroad, johnny foreigner was quick to strip machines down, and duplicate their own, using the end plate of a Northrop Loom as a pattern, give it a good rapping to allow for contraction, fill in the existing name with moulding sand, and press in a wooden block with your own name on it, and when its cast it will be as you saw it. Langs & Bullough's used to do that with broken machine parts, tack weld the broken parts, & use it as a pattern, when it would have been too expensive to make a duplicate wood pattern. Some things they did have to have made here, as the septics couldn't make high quality steel, when Samuel Colt started making his early revolvers he had to buy the silver steel for the barrels & cylinders in Sheffield.
Retlaw

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

That's interesting, patterns are usually made oversize to allow for contraction when the metal freezes. I would have thought that using a part as a pattern would produce too small a casting.

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

Thats why I included the term give it a good rapping, a metal spike is inserted in the origanal casting, and before it is removed from the mould, it is rapped well, this causes enough movement to make up for some of the contraction losses, 1/120, whch is roughly 3/32nd of a inch per foot.
Retlaw.

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

I guess "rapping" means moving it about a bit in the sand - I thought it meant hitting it!

That's a neat trick - I'll remember that.

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

My Evans family were some of those who left and settled in Fall River, Massachusetts in the 1880s. And now I'm "returning" to Lancashire, through family history research and a visit this summer.

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

Fascinating! Glad you realise you are Lancashire through and through! :-)
Where were your ancestors living before they went to America?
Have you made contact with our Family History group yet?

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

This may be of interest
Fall River, Massachusetts City Information - ePodunk

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

I have relations, in fact a stray who turned up in Fall River and looking through the census records there were a large amount of people arriving from East Lancashire. For Facebook types, here is a good link
https://www.facebook.com/FallRiverHistoryClub

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

In a very old Observer, I read a letter from someone who had emigrated to New England. It told of a recent gathering of over 400 Lancashire folk, many from Acc. Many of the mills are still standing, made into 'condominiums' - flats. I visited some of my relations for the first time in 1978. They had placed a Nori on the table to make me feel welcome. They had taken it home on a recent visit to see where their dad grew up.

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

EllisIsland.org makes interesting reading, a while ago I entered my surname as a general search and was surprised at the number of my lot arriving there in the late 1800's from Clayton le Moors and indeed Lancashire.

Re: Lancashire cotton folk in Amercia
 

Hi Atarah,
First of all, apologies for calling you June earlier. Confusion over messages and replies at first. And yes, I've been persusing the Hyndburn page and enjoying it. Haven't found any relatives yet, but I haven't given up.
Thank you so much for getting me the invite and for your interest and help,
Kristin