The Last Employer of Ben b.1824

Copyright 2018 Martin W Boling

It is documented by a newspaper obituary that Ben was a foreman at the Madison Woolen Mills of Madison Indiana in the 1880s. It was located at the corner of West St and Second St. That is just one block south of Main St in the downtown business district.

"Wool was cleaned and dyed before being sent to the carding room where carding machines typical of pioneer mills prepared the fibers for spinning. Large revolving cylinders shaped the wool into a flat web of brushed fleece similar to cotton batting. Rollers then divided it into yarn-like ropes, which were wound onto large spools. The spools were mounted on machines that extended and twisted the ropes into finished yarn. Yarns were then arranged on a reel and rewound onto loom beams."   Excerpt from the Watkins Woolen Mills web site