The UNH Flax-to Linen-Project Expands to Three Community Grow Sites

Posted by Dr. Kimberly Alexander

Director of Museum Studies and Senior Lecturer, UNH Department of History

James Hayes Fellow, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025

Funded by two fellowships from the UNH Center for the Humanities, the overall conceptual framework for this project began in a UNH History Department classroom in Spring of 2023 while teaching a new course for HIST600/800 entitled "From Homespun to Fast Fashion: A Global History of Textiles."  Now in our second year, in addition to growing, harvesting and processing flax and conducting primary source research, the Flax Team has presented over a dozen talks, given numerous demonstrations, and of note, opened an exhibition about the project at the Woodman Museum in Dover. (The exhibition entitled “Combing History: Flax and Linen in New Hampshire” is on view through 24 November 2024.)

For the 2024-2025 season, we shifted the project from its initial physical core at UNH and took what the project team learned about the growing and processing of flax out into the larger public Seacoast museum and history community. Dr. Alexander and graduate research assistants in the UNH History/Museum Studies program are working with three community partners (‘grow sites’), where each will grow flax and can incorporate hands-on teaching about the importance of growing flax and processing linen in New Hampshire into their public educational activities. Other related educational opportunities include discussions of sustainability, fast fashion and circular design models, gendered workspaces, and community agricultural events and seasonal celebrations.

 

There are three components to this next phase of the project: Allocating funds to three community partners as grow sites [Woodman Museum, Dover; Old Berwick Historical Society, South Berwick, ME, and Newmarket Historical Society, Newmarket]; exploration of the use of film shorts with film-maker Catherine Stewart to increase audience reach throughout New Hampshire and beyond and continued archival research. 

In the past, the unrecorded thousands of hours of cutting, retting, braking, spinning, dying, weaving, and sewing small clothes, bed linens, and all manner of domestic items contributed greatly to a New Hampshire family’s financial stability. This aspect of domestic production in rural economies continues to remain largely absent from history texts, particularly in the time before the mid-19^th century and the growth of the textile factory/industrial complex seen in just about every New Hampshire town.

 

The ability to deep dive into this single important fiber, while growing it at UNH and surrounding communities, offers a tremendous opportunity for university- and community-wide engagement and allows the extension of historic research surrounding our flax project to include 18^th and early 19^th century flax growing and linen production in the Seacoast.  The project started in the classroom and will continue evolve in the classroom, but it will spill out into the community, to Woodman Farm, and local archives, to presentations for interested groups both inside and outside UNH. It is anticipated that students will take this multi-faceted experience with them beyond the campus to expand in any number of ways.

 

Dr. Alexander’s research is funded by two James Hayes Fellowships from the UNH Center for the Humanities.

All photos are from community flax harvest days at the community grow sites.

Research: Flax and the Daybook of Josiah Brown

The Day Book of Josiah Brown, 1790 - 1833

by Kay Morgan, University of New Hampshire

 

Josiah Brown’s Day Book (1790 - 1833) demonstrates the multi-faceted life of a rural New Hampshire man as he marries and builds a life for himself. [1]  In the beginning of the day book he resides in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, with his parents, but tends lands and livestock in Stratham.  He also makes and repairs shoes, slippers and “Mogisons,” and in 1791 “measures Land for two men.”  He continues these activities for most of his life, though in later years does not record making shoes any longer.

 

In 1792, he builds a house in Stratham at what is now 17 Jackrabbit Lane, and marries Sarah Clark in Greenland, New Hampshire. They move to their new home in June. Their lives revolve around the weather and the necessity to clothe and feed the family, as well as to have some marketable crops. Over the years, he grows and shells corn, cuts hay and salt marsh hay, makes gallons of apple cider, hauls logs, raises and slaughters cattle, oxen and hogs, and buys and sells horses.

 

While he still lives with his parents, he reports “I broke flax,” on January 20, 1791 and “dresses” flax on March 23rd. The next reference to flax occurs in 1794 when he notes “I sow’d flax where the worms ate it.” In 1799, he goes to Hampton Falls “after flax seed.” Even though he continues to note planting flax, usually when he plants oats and barley in late April and before he plants corn, there are no further notations regarding harvesting or working with the flax to produce thread for linen or seeds to sell.

 

Given that he is quite specific regarding taking his corn, hay, cider, potatoes and animals to market, and often specifies the price he gets, it seems that flax did not factor into his cash flow or potential bartering for other goods. This may not be surprising, in that usually men were involved in planting and harvesting flax, but women typically “skutched, hackled, carded, combed, spun and wove the fiber.” [2] The linen thus produced may have been entirely used by the family or shared with their extended family.  

A contemporaneous diary (1785 - 1812) of Martha Ballard, a Maine midwife, illuminates the distaff side of a family economy, the comings and goings of young women and the work they do to help with the massive undertaking of processing flax into thread and woven cloth. In the Ballard household, the fabric produced might be sold, bartered for other goods, or used by the family. The Pulitzer prize winning author of A Midwife’s Tale, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, develops the idea that in that era, young women living outside their own family was a form of education as well as a way to earn money. [3]

 

Each year Josiah records the names of the young women who come to work in the Brown household. This practice begins in May 1793 when he writes, “Lidia Tarlton began to work here.” At that point, his wife, Sarah, is one month from delivering their first child, a son named Nathan. In August, Lidia goes home and Betsy Clark comes to work. These girls provide household help for Sarah, which could include working with flax. Betsy stays on into November of 1795, when she “was took sick of the Billious fever.” She goes  home and Eunice Bachelor takes her place later in the month. From Josiah’s day book, it appears that Josiah and Sarah had a daughter born in 1796, who did not survive more than a day, so until 1810 and 1812, when Sarah and Mary Ann were born and then old enough to participate in household linen production, hired girls would have been a necessity.  It is interesting that Josiah didn’t mention these births in his daybook, though he reports the birth of every one of his eight sons.

 

A 1995 donation to the Stratham Historical Society included several homespun items made by various members of the extended Brown family.  Women often identified their work by embroidering their initials on a corner of the completed piece. Two pillowcases made by Sarah Clark Brown bear the initials SB in cross-stitch, and a sheet initialed AB in pink embroidery floss, was made by Abigail Brown, who married Greenleaf Clark Brown, Sarah and Josiah’s fourth son, March 6, 1828. She is also the maker of two hand towels which are stamped in ink with her initials and two pillowcases stamped with her name. [4] At present, we speculate they wove the cloth for these items, as specific items were passed down by family members and given the longstanding family connection with flax and linen as seen in Brown's daybook and extended family network; however, it is possible that the textiles were purchased or bartered from someone else who was the weaver.

 

Josiah Brown continues to plant flax according to his daybook, with the last notation three years before his death at age 68. His last years appear similar to his early years:  He surveys land, plants his fields, cuts hay and cornstalks, tends his livestock and notes the coming and going of his sons, their marriages and the weather. On October 14th and 15th, 1833, he writes: “I was unwell.”  On December 12, 1833, someone else notes “Josiah Brown Died and this Journal discontinued.

 

* * * * * * * * *

 

[1] Josiah Brown Day Book is housed at the Stratham Historical Society, Stratham, New Hampshire, Accession #1989.3.11. More information may be found at  http://www.strathamnh.gov/historical-society .

 

Many thanks to Andra Copeland and the Stratham Historical Society for the use of their collections and their help with research.

 

[2] Sofi Thanhauser, Worn: A People’s History of Clothing (New York: Vintage Books, 2023), 12.

 

[3] Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife’s Tale:  The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785 - 1812 (New York:  Vintage Books, 1991), 81.

 

[4] Stratham Historical Society, Stratham, NH, Sewall/Brown Box:  Item marked SB. Accession #1995.30.2; Items marked AB, Accession #1995.30.1; Items stamped Abigail Brown, Accession#1995.30.5. 

Research: Flax and the Diary of Matthew Patten, Bedford, New Hampshire

By Beth Gallucci, History and Museum Studies MA Program

            Born in 1719 in Ulster, Ireland, Matthew Patten emigrated to America with his family in 1728. The Patten’s were among the many Scotch-Irish Presbyterian families who came to America to escape religious persecution in Northern Ireland.[1] Matthew and his brother Samuel moved to Souhegan-East in 1738 which is now known as Bedford, New Hampshire. Patten was a jack-of-all-trades like many New Hampshire settlers of the 18^th century. He worked as a carpenter, joiner, farmer, surveyor, justice of the peace, and a probate judge in the town of Bedford. His diary was recorded from 1754 to 1788, written on individual, unbound pages, in the form of a daily account, documenting life in the second half of the 18^thcentury. Though Patten’s narrative may not appear to be a colorful one, he certainly provides the reader a glimpse into the life of a farmer on the colonial frontier and enables historians like us to engage with his world of planting flax.

Patten intermittently records the planting and harvesting of flax by himself, his family members and a mixture of men and women who were hired as help. Though his accounts are more detailed regarding the planting of rye, corn and barley, Patten duly notes (most years) the seasonal process of sowing flax in May and harvesting and “swingling” flax in the fall. The crop seems to be a staple in his household, and he records the annual hiring of women (and it is always women) to come and live in his home for six to eight weeks “to spin.” He does not discern whether it is flax or wool that they are spinning but flax was usually spun in late fall or early winter, and this is when Patten usually notes that women came to spin. A diary entry dated September 27, 1760, notes that Matthew paid Hannah Chamberlin 12 pounds for 6 weeks of spinning work, and on February 5^th of 1766 he mentions that he “finished” 100 pounds of flax that year, giving the reader an idea of how much he harvested per year. He mentions taking linen and tow cloth to various people to make “britches” and dresses. This work is completed by men or women depending on who he was able to hire at that moment in time. Of particular interest, he mentions a man by the name of McCleary who weaves striped linen for him. Patten often uses flax seed to barter for payment of goods and services and he also receives flax seed as payment for services rendered.

There is a communal feel to how Patten and his surrounding neighbors work in harmony with one another to survive living in rural New Hamsphire. They barter and trade for many of their items and credit is also used quite often. They seem to know who they can trust to make good on payments, and Patten and his neighbors seem diligent about paying their debts. His entries revolve around documenting his agricultural practices along with his financial and contractual obligations, however Patten does note weather conditions, illnesses, and various social issues such as births, deaths and marriages.

He provides only small glimpses of the political issues brewing throughout the colonies, such as the Pine Tree Riots of 1772 and the shots fired at Concord in1775, but never goes into great detail about his political views. He does mention that his son John joins the Continental Army, but never mentions the fact that he was shot in the arm at Bunker Hill in June of 1775. A diary entry from May 21, 1776, reveals John’s battle injury but also demonstrates Patten’s heartfelt emotions of loss and anger when he describes John’s death while he was stationed in Canada with the Continental Army.[2]

John contracted smallpox, and while severely sick his regiment had to relocate further south, and John had to relocate with them. Matthew attributes his son’s death to being moved “in a weakened state” and to being shot in the arm while fighting at Bunker Hill the year before. This account is the only entry where Matthew vehemently shows anger towards the British by calling King George III a “Tyrannical Brute” (p. 361).[3]

 Matthew Patten Homestead - Demolished in the early 20^th century.[4]

---

[1]     Kenneth Scott, “Matthew Patten of Bedford, New Hampshire,” Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society (1941-1965) 28 (September 1950): 3, 129-145.

 

[2]     Matthew Patten, The Diary of Matthew Patten of Bedford, N.H: From Seventeen Hundred Fifty-Four to Seventeen Hundred Eighty-Eight, Rumford Printing Company, 1903. Scholar Select, Franklin Classics.

 

 

[3]     Matthew and his wife Elizabeth had 11 children and his papers were preserved by his daughters, Sarah and Polly. Written on plain white paper that was folded together and bound with linen thread these papers made their way into the hands of the townspeople of Bedford, New Hampshire. The townspeople felt they were of great importance and had them published in 1903. Patten’s original papers have been preserved and can be found in the New Hampshire State Library in Concord. Matthew’s son James moved to Ohio in 1789 and was captured by the Delaware Indians in 1791. He was held captive for four years until he was released in 1795 in a prisoner exchange. The University of Michigan has a collection of 16 letters written by James, Matthew and Elizabeth along with other members of the Patten family.

 

[4]     Photo of the Matthew Patten Homestead – early 20^th century: https://theclio.com/entry/170979

Research: The Stratham Historical Society

By Kimberly Alexander, Project Director & Director of Museum Studies

In July, the Flax Team spent the morning at the Stratham Historical Society, Stratham, NH. We initially came to see two child's homespun and hand sewn dresses (c.1827 - 1835) from the Lane family (descendants of Deacon Samuel Lane and his son, Jabez Lane). I viewed the dresses the previous summer (Summer 2022) and was captivated by the textiles, the sewing, the details and the mending, and the stories behind the maker and the wearer. After working to untangle some misattributions on the written receipts, we are now making progress with these two charming dresses. [1]

Olivia Emeline Lane dresses, c.1827-1835;
made by her mother, Hannah French Lane

Note the exquisite matched mend on the puffed, vandyked sleeve.

Thanks to the Historical Society collections manager, Andra Copeland, we found much more than we had anticipated -- including several outstanding examples of homespun linen (and other fibers as well) created by three generations of women from the Brown family of Stratham. 

As our research unfolds over the next year, we will share updates on the homespun linen found in this corner of New Hampshire and, where possible, the names of the makers responsible.

This research is active and ongoing.

[1] The Lane dresses are housed at the Stratham Historical Society, in Stratham, NH. For information, see Stratham Historical Society at http://www.strathamnh.gov/historical-society

The author thanks Andra Copeland, Skip Stearns, Bruce Kerr and Teddie Smith of the Stratham Historical Society for their assistance throughout the summer of 2022 and 2023.

          For a guide to the Lane Family Papers at the New Hampshire Historical Society, see: https://www.nhhistory.org/object/272904/lane-family-papers-1727-1924.

For a comprehensive account of Samuel Lane, see Brown, J. E., & Garvin, D.-B.. The Years of the Life of Samuel Lane, 1718-1806: A New Hampshire Man and His World. (Univ. Press of New England, 2000).  For an account of Lane and additional 18^th century New England shoemakers and their business, see Alexander, K., Treasures Afoot: Shoe Stories from the Georgian Era (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018)

Research: The Woodman Museum, Dover, NH

By Kimberly Alexander, Director of Museum Studies & Project Director

The UNH Flax Team has visited the Woodman Museum in Dover, NH several times and found numerous items in their rich collections which have assisted our research. The holdings can be divided into three categories: tools needed for processing flax into linen; examples of homespun linen used for sheets and clothing items; and written daybooks and account books, kept by local merchants, shopkeepers and farmers.

Three flax heckles (or flax combs), c. mid-18th through early 19th century 
All images courtesy, the Woodman Museum; K. Alexander, photos

Graduate student and research assistant, Sophie MacDonald, measures a hemp brake 
in the Garrison House at the Woodman Museum

We were especially fortunate to locate examples of homespun linen with a known provenance, created by two Dover women. Shown here are linen sheets (c.1810-45) with the linen woven by Eunice Pinkham (died 13 August 1870, at age 84) and then sewn by her daughter, Phebe T. Pinkham Thompson (died 9 May 1848, at age 36). Other items from the Pinkham family include Phebe’s needle-case, a cap, and a nightshirt/shirt. All are from the 1st half of the 19th century, and likely not after 1848. One especially fine piece is dated 1833.

Phebe T. Pinkham and Eunice Pinkham sheet (above and left image); unknown maker’s homespun, c. 1820 (right), probably from Dover, NH.

We are also investigating several daybooks and account books which mention braking flax, selling flax seed and so on. More on these items as research progresses.

'Old Dover Account Book' Ellen P. Rounds Collection

From tools such as a hemp brake and heckles, to examples of locally grown and hand-spun linens --- sheets, caps and shirt -- the Woodman has proved an invaluable resource for learning more about the processing of flax and the production of linen. 

 

A special thank you to the Director Jonathan Nichols, and Operations Manager Mike Day for sharing their knowledge and their enthusiasm.

For more information on the Woodman Museum, see https://woodmuseum.org

 

KSA

Process, Method, and Timeline

Sophie measures and sketches a hemp break at the Woodman Museum, Dover, NH

Sowing, growing, harvesting, and processing

Traditionally, from sowing to harvest to processing was a year-long cycle as revealed in historical accounts.  Our project timeline is roughly May 2023-June 2024, which will encompass planting to harvest, process to production. We will work with Professor Sideman from the Sustainable Agriculture department on growing our crop while also undertaking the necessary historical research.

We sowed two varieties of flax seed — Avian and Nathalie -- on May 17th, 2023, and now, in mid-June, our plants our looking healthy and are approaching a foot in height. We plan to harvest the crop in late August or early September, at the beginning of the fall semester. [For updates on the growth of the flax, please see additional blog posts and attached videos.]

Historic Context 

Account book kept by currently unknown Dover resident, c. 1779-1780
Woodman Museum, Ellen P. Rounds Collection, #3749

The cultivation, production and sale and trade of flax is an integral part of my scholarly research into New Hampshire’s pre-industrial, rural-based textile economy. I have worked extensively with the 18^th century writings of shoemaker and Deacon Samuel Lane of Stratham, NH, General John Montgomery of Haverhill, NH and numerous other day and account books throughout New England, looking at the home production and sale of textiles at places like Portsmouth Market Day or via trade and barter with neighbors. The opportunity to deep dive into this single important fiber, while actually growing it at UNH offers a tremendous opportunity for university- and community-wide engagement and allows the extension of historic research surrounding the flax project to include late 17^th through early 19^th century flax growing and linen production in the Seacoast.  For example, last summer, with the assistance of the Stratham Historical Society (one of our community partners) I located two c1825-35 child's dresses from the Lane family which are of homespun linen and handsewn. Through lengthy research, I was able to determine that the dresses were worn by Olivia Emeline Lane (14 November 1825- 4 September 1905) and made by her mother, Hannah French Lane (1802-1841). Look for a future post on these charming garments.

We are continuing to work with the Stratham Historical Society, the Newmarket Historical Society, the New Hampshire Historical Society, the Portsmouth Athenaeum, the Moffatt-Ladd House, and the Woodman Museum, in addition to many others. 

Backstory: How the Flax Project Began

 

"….in all Joshua Sow'd about 1½ Bu. & ½ peck flax Seed.”

Samuel Lane, Almanack, May I, 1769.

The concept for this project began in a University of New Hampshire (UNH) History Department classroom. During the Spring semester of 2023, I taught HIST600/800 "From Homespun to Fast Fashion: A Global History of Textiles." After several classes spent on an in-depth study of both the global and local history of growing flax for linen production, a student noted it would be a unique experience if we could try growing flax and processing it. My response--why not?

The class is now collaborating with UNH Extension Professor Becky Sideman from UNH’s Sustainable Agriculture program and is experimenting with growing flax, cotton, and rye in a 50’x50’ plot at the Woodman Agricultural Research Farm, part of the UNH Campus. After access to the plot was confirmed, class members (grad and undergrad working together) conducted research on the best type of flax seed for New England soil and textile production. The students and the Department are excited about the project, which will extend from spring 2023 through spring 2024. We hope it will generate more interdepartmental collaborative projects. 

The following posts will introduce you to team members, track the growth of the flax, take you behind the scenes to New England museums and historical societies, and chart our experiments with everything from building a flax break to harvesting, retting and scutching the flax and -- we hope--processing enough linen thread to make a small article of clothing. 

Our methodology is both experiential and archival-- based on the knowledge shared in newspapers, documents, letters, diaries, and almanacs, as well as the surviving textiles made and saved by those living in the Seacoast of New Hampshire during the late 17th through early 19th centuries. We thank these frequently anonymous individuals for taking the time in their busy world to record their endeavors. 

Dr. Kimberly Alexander

Director of Museum Studies & Senior Lecturer