Description:
Flax spinning wheel made by Ambrose (1764-1847) & Isaac (1766-1836) Parish of Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. The "I. Parish" stamp may suggest only Isaac made this example. According to a 1894 letter in the file from John H. Thompson, grandson of Ambrose, to the Thorne family of Deerfield who owned the wheel, the brothers were both wheelwrights and cabinet makers, and made most of the spinning wheels in that section of the country. he states: "In my grandfather's account book, I find the usual charge for making a flax spinning wheel was 1.12 pounds. The dates in this book are from 1801-1820, but they both made wheels earlier than these dates." The wheel has 10 spokes (possibly a regional characteristic). The wheel hub is smaller than other flax wheels, and features very fine supports, original footman, and oroginal flyer and bobbin. The flax wheel appears to be mostly intact, only needing new leathers. Horizontal piecing of distaff. Base is similar to another flax wheel in the collection (2933). 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.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+54.004.05 |
