View the highlights & photographs from our July 2009 issue.

Issue #65 - July 2009

In this issue we learn more about textile tools from the Miller/Lee family of spinning-wheel makers as well as note three others from that part of Pennsylvania. From a family history we learn about a wheel maker in eastern Pennsylvania, and another signed wheel may also be from there. A strange European double-flyer wheel raises new questions, and two horizontal double-flyer wheels found in very different places can be traced to a region in Holland.

Miller/Lee Small Spindle Wheels and Reels by Mark Ware

Mark Ware continues his study, begun in Issue #64, of the textile tools made by members of the Miller/Lee family of Somerset County, PA. He describes some small spindle wheels and reels that show many of the distinctive features of their tools.

Miller small spindle wheel

Reel signed T. LEE

Three Other Spinning-Wheel Makers in Western Pennsylvania

Three other wheel makers from southwestern Pennsylvania are presented briefly. There is a signed example of a wheel by John Hook. No examples of wheels by Matthew Dill or Thomas McCartney exist, but the historical records tell us about them.

Wheel marked J. L. HOOK

The M. WRIGHT Great Wheel by Carol Brown

Carol Brown writes about a great wheel marked M. WRIGHT that was found in the farmhouse belonging to Gabriel and Margaret Brown, her husband Scot Brown’s great-great-grandparents. She describes this wheel and what she was able to learn about Moses Wright.

Great wheel marked M. WRIGHT

A Wheel Marked D. BELCHER by Bonnie Weidert

When Bonnie Weidert found a spinning wheel, she was determined to make it work and learn as much as possible about the maker. It was marked D. BELCHER and she thinks that it came from eastern Pennsylvania. She was successful in the first part but still needs help with the second.

Wheel marked D. BELCHER

An Unusual "T-Top" Double-Flyer Wheel by Jonathan Bosworth

Being a spinning-wheel maker, Jonathan Bosworth is fascinated by strange spinning wheels. The double-flyer wheel he presents is clearly European but unlike any other examples we have seen before. It is somewhat unclear how it works.

Unusual "T-Top" double-flyer wheel

Top view

Two Double-Flyer Dutch Spinning Wheels

Two examples of Dutch double-flyer spinning wheels appeared at different ends of the world, one in Australia, the other in Pennsylvania. It’s surprising that they are almost identical, and both look like an old postcard from Holland from around 1905.

Dutch wheel found in Australia

Postcard from Veluwe

Dutch wheel found in Pennsylvania