Description:
Flax wheels were used to spin flax fibers into yarn suitable for weaving. They are also known as low wheels, Dutch wheels, saxony wheels, Brunswick wheels, or bobbin-flyer wheels. Flax spinning and linen weaving were important household industries in early European settlements of the American northeast until well into the 19th century. This examle has a history of ownership within the Jenney/Warren families. According to the donor: "This spinning wheel was inherited by my husband Charles Stoddard Jenney of Brookline, Massachusetts, from his cousin Henry Dexter Warren. Mr. Warren was born in Boston, 1865. His father was Henry Williams Warren born in Lincoln, England, November 1st, 1830. His Mother Emily Francis Roby born in Boston July 15, 1837. My husband's cousin who was Henry Dexter Warren from whose family we inherited the spinning wheel was a member of the Society of the Cincinnatus of New hampshire by right of descent from Lieutenant William Roby who died in the service June 15, 1776 - William Roby (1742-1776) served at Bunker Hill was in the battle of the cedars where he was taken prisoner. He was born in Dunstable, Massachusetts, and died in Ticonderoga. I do not know whether the spinning wheel came from New Hampshire or Massachusetts." The wheel is tension screw, and is missing its distaff and flyer bobbin. The table is in the shape of a wedge which suggests a New England manufacture. One wheel spoke has been repaired and put in backwards. The footman does not appear to be original.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+64.146 |
