When Keith and I travelled to Scotland, we discovered that Archie's sister married a carding miller named Dugald McAlpine. I do not know whether Archie was buying wool from him, Willie McLeod, or others. It is impossible to know if Willie's departure from Clachan affected Archie's (and other weavers') source of carded wool. For the sake of this story, I will presume it had some impact on him. This imagined scene begins just after John visited Willie at his mill.
Deep in thought, John walked home from McLeod’s carding mill. He knew his father would be disappointed with Willie’s decision to leave Clachan. Nonetheless, what stood out most in John’s mind were Willie’s words: “Follow your heart. Someday your father will forgive you. He may even thank you.”
How could John break the difficult news to his dad about not carrying on the family business? Then the thought struck him: he would do it through his Mom. Yes—that was it—he would speak to his mother first.
John was soon at the table with his mother, recounting his dreams to become a blacksmith. In turn, she shared her aspirations to be with her parents and siblings in Upper Canada. John realized he could combine the two ambitions: become a journeyman blacksmith and move to Wellington County. He would join Aunt Kate and Uncle Donald and his other uncles and aunts. He would see his Milloy grandparents and work with his cousins. How grand would that be!
They were interrupted when Archie entered the house. “Well, John, what did you find out about Willie McLeod?”
“He is moving to Paisley to find work in a power mill.”
“Ach! Another carding miller—gone!”
“Who will supply your wool now?”
“Dugald can't provide enough for all of us. I suppose we could move to Dunskeig Farm, raise our own sheep, and card our own wool.”
Mary said, “If we’re going to move, let’s move all the way to Upper Canada. The McMillans are prospering there. Kate says they have proved up on their homestead. Their son owns several mills and a cooperage. We can raise our own sheep there and start anew!”
“They don't need weavers in Upper Canada. They need farmers, blacksmiths, and millwrights.”
“Then let’s take up farming. The land is awfully cheap there.”
Archie’s face flushed. “No! I’ve dedicated my life to weaving. I'm too old to change now. Besides, the Darrochs have lived in this parish for seven generations and will for seven more. We inherited a legacy from Mulmorich Darroch, and we should honour that.”
John said, “Father, you're right that Mulmorich left a legacy by moving here. But he had to leave his home to do it! I will honour his legacy by moving to where I have the best chances of success.”
“Success? You stand to inherit my whole business! How is that not success?”
“Inheriting your business is your dream—not mine. You say you are too old to change, but I am not! You say Upper Canada needs blacksmiths and that is what I aim to be! There is no future here. I need to leave!”
John stomped out, slamming the door behind him.
Archie, red in the face, turned to Mary. “Where does he think he’s going?”
“Probably up the hill to think. He’s got a point, you know. My family left years ago, and more families leave each year. There is not much left here for us but a struggle with poverty.”
“But it doesn’t feel right to leave the land of my fathers.”
“Well, your son might leave the land of his.”
Archie turned and headed toward his loom, signalling the end of the conversation.
Mary sighed. The loom was his refuge. This wrestle between father and son—young bull and old bull—was becoming frequent. Judging by how Archie hunched over his loom, it would be a long day ahead.
Let's unpack this vignette. Even though Archie was a rural weaver, he would have felt the impact of fickle markets and technological advances. For example, the Jacquard loom was invented in 1804 and was gaining popularity. It created patterns by using hole-punched cards. Instead of taking two weeks to make a shawl, a Jacquard loom could make one in a single day.[1] That is a fourteen-fold increase in productivity.
The Industrial Revolution made matters worse for hand-loom weavers, for the power loom “increased the output of a worker by over 40 times.”[2] An 1845 report observed:
The extension of the use of the power loom has for the past twenty years borne hard upon the poor hand-loom weavers, who have long suffered from low wages with exemplary patience…. When the weaver found difficulty in making wages to support his family, the only apparent remedy was to get looms for his children, girls as well as boys, and set them to work also. This, when work was to be had, ... brought so much more weaving labour into operation…and every succeeding year the prices became lower.[3]
This downward spiral forced many weavers out of business, so it would likely have affected Archie and his family. The Darrochs did move to Dunskeig Farm.[4] Did they move to raise sheep, grow their own food, or diversify their income? If they did it for money, they would have been disappointed, for farming fared no better than weaving. Crops were poor, and “agriculture was, as a science, almost unknown in the parish” and “the old system of cropping the same field successively by father, son and grandson” was detrimental to soil fertility. [5]
John was a first-hand witness to the economic doldrums there. He had two distinct directions to consider: take up the traditional craft of his father, or pick a new trade and leave home. Would he stay or would he go?
Dunskeig Hill would have been a great place to ponder his life decisions.
References:
[*] Hendrik Hondius I, Two Bulls Fighting, etching, Holland, 1610. This file is in the public domain because it has been released by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
[1] Weaver’s Cottage: Teachers’ Pack , The National Trust for Scotland, 2011, 12-13, 16- 17 (http://www.nts.org.uk/learn/downloads/packs/NTS_TP_Weavers-Cottage.pdf). [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution (accessed, May 19, 2014). [3] “Parish report for Glasgow, County of Lanark, (1834-45).” In The New Statistical Account of Scotland (Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and Sons, 1845), volume 6, 155. http://stat-acc- scot.edina.ac.uk/link/1834-45/Lanark/Glasgow/6/155/ (accessed July 13, 2010). [4] Scotland Census, 1851
[5] “Parish report for Kilcalmonell and Kilberry, County of Argyll” (1834-45)." The New Statistical Account of Scotland. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and Sons, 1845, volume 7, 410. http://stat- acc-scot.edina.ac.uk/link/1834-45/ (accessed July 13, 2010).