Worcester Daily Telegram Saturday, 13 July 1935 "TEXTILE UNION CHIEF TO SPEAK. Anthony VALENTI, National Officer, to Address Uxbridge Workers. Strike Unchanged. U. T. W. Progress Will Be Submitted to All Union Locals Today. "UXBRIDGE--July 12--Anthony VALENTI, secretary-treasurer of the Woolen and Worsted division of the United Textile Workers, will present at a meeting of all members of Local 20?6 at 10 a. m. tomorrow, the program adopted by the executive board of the UTW. The members, workers in all four plants of the town now in operation as well as those in the Rivulet plant--now closed--will be called upon to ratify the program. "There was no change in the local strike situation today. The sole activity was a meeting of the Worsted division, at 3 p. m. in Union Hall on South Main street, under the direction of Joseph A. WILSON, president, J. William GREEN, UTW organizer in charge of the strike and several strikers spoke. "No further action was taken by either Federal or State authorities in arbitrating the strike. Developments seemed to be held up pending action of the UTW program. "The U. T. W. program will be acted upon tomorrow and Sunday by all the locals in the country, and after its acceptance will then be presented Monday to all textile manufacturers." I found this on the same copied page as an obituary I ordered from the Worcester Public Library, and thought it might be of interest to someone researching the surnames VALENTI and GREEN. Rev. Joel B. Keith joelk300@tampabay.rr.com Lakeland, FL

Morning all Listers, Sue R thank you for sharing the Thayer/White update with all our Mendon researchers. As u all know by now the Thayer and Aldrich families are 2 names that draw the most researchers to Mendon, Ma. and area. Ironically, I also moderate the Aldrich list on yahoo and am Past Pres. and Sec. of the National Aldrich Association. . :) I descend from both families, ands also the White and other Founding families. Joel that strile in Uxbridge was very interesting.. Amazing in the midst of the Great depression that anyone would want to strike.. Seems if u had a job at that time no matter what the pay or circumstance , you were one of the fortunate ones.. ( my opinion only) There is a lot of interest in the old businesses in the area, seems poor records were kept of many small mills , shops etc. Tim, I remember Miscoe soda also. :) and I have yet to find an orange crush that even comes near to that one.. All today , to me, taste like kool-aid. Yes Miscoe Bottling Company is still operating at the same site but they strickly do bottled water. They were very generous to the Mendon Historical Society when we were renovating the Museum abt. ,1994 also. When u walk up the brick walk and new steps , u can thank Miscoe Bottling Co. :) It is nice to see more activity on the list.. There is a lot of history in this area, and in all local libraries a goodly amount of genealogical material. I know anyone visiting the area never go home without a good find or a new tidbit.. Please ask queries and share with the list any tidbit , I am sure you will get some help and in sharing you will be helping another reseraher. Have a nice day, Dreary rain here and cool for end of May. Alice

>Worcester Daily Telegram >Saturday, 13 July 1935 > >"TEXTILE UNION CHIEF TO SPEAK. >Anthony VALENTI, National Officer, to Address Uxbridge Workers. >Strike Unchanged. U. T. W. Progress Will Be Submitted to All Union >Locals Today. > > "UXBRIDGE--July 12--Anthony VALENTI, secretary-treasurer of the >Woolen and Worsted division of the United Textile Workers, will >present at a meeting of all members of Local 20?6 at 10 a. m. >tomorrow, the program adopted by the executive board of the UTW. The >members, workers in all four plants of the town now in operation as >well as those in the Rivulet plant--now closed--will be called upon >to ratify the program. > "There was no change in the local strike situation today. The >sole activity was a meeting of the Worsted division, at 3 p. m. in >Union Hall on South Main street, under the direction of Joseph A. >WILSON, president, J. William GREEN, UTW organizer in charge of the >strike and several strikers spoke. > "No further action was taken by either Federal or State >authorities in arbitrating the strike. Developments seemed to be >held up pending action of the UTW program. > "The U. T. W. program will be acted upon tomorrow and Sunday by >all the locals in the country, and after its acceptance will then be >presented Monday to all textile manufacturers." > > I found this on the same copied page as an obituary I ordered from >the Worcester Public Library, and thought it might be of interest to >someone researching the surnames VALENTI and GREEN. > >Rev. Joel B. Keith >joelk300@tampabay.rr.com >Lakeland, FL > > I found this to be extremely interesting but from the other side of the coin. I was ten years old at the time and was attending Uxbridge Grammer school. My Dad, Donald Barnes, son of Frank Barnes, Jeweler, Uxbridge was the superintendent of Rivulet when it moved to Macon Georgia. It was a fun time for a Yankee boy to go into the sixth grade of a Deep South school where memories of "The War" were still strong. Recently I put together a piece so that my chilcren and grand children could understand why their ancestors lived "Up North" Below is what I wrote. Don Barnes 2016 Lynch Ct Winston Salem NC 27106 dbarnes6@triad.rr.com AT LITTLE OF UXBRIDGE MOVED SOUTH In 1934, my father , Donald W. Barnes at age 33, was superintendent of the Rivulet Mill in North Uxbridge. Rivulet, one of the oldest textile mills in the country, was owned by the Uxbridge Worsted Company. Rivulet made "shoddy". Shoddy was an inexpensive fabric made with a cotton warp threads and and filling threads spun from reused woolen rags. It went into coats, overcoats and pants . Warm and cheap it would sell to working people even at the depth of the Depression. Uxbridge Worsted did well selling shoddy and wanted to expand. A combination of labor unrest and cheap power caused them to look toward the south. in 1934, Dad and several other Uxbridge executives travel thought out the southern textile country looking for an existing mill that was for sale. Everywhere the southern textile industry was in one of it cyclical depressions with many inactive mills . In Macon, Georgia, they found a complete cotton duck mill. It had been built in 1920 and manufactured light canvas cloth. It was complete from from opening bale to finished fabric. Besides the machinery, the mill included warehouses, office, railroad siding, elevated water tank and lake, sprinkler system, steam plant that supplied power to all the machinery, a company store, church, boarding house and 45 houses complete with their own privies. Bibb Manufacturing had a plant just a half mile away and had made a standing offer for the operation of $40,000. Uxbridge gave the owners their asking price of $45,000. Bibb never forgave those Damn Yankees for stealing their mill. Unfortunately the church fell down before the deal was complete, buy Uxbridge stood by its word. They changed the name from Adams-Swelze to Macon Textile and started moving south. The Uxbridge plan was to remove the cotton machinery and replace it will woolen spinning and weaving then located in Rivulet. To make shoddy, you needed both cotton warp threads and woolen filling. Uxbridge had been buying cotton thread from selected southern cotton mills. Then someone got a bright idea. Macon Textiles made cotton thread. Why junk that machinery and move in woolen machinery. Mills were almost being given away just to attract jobs to depressed towns. Find another cheap mill and make it the shoddy mill. and that is just what they did. The mill they found was in Cedartown, Georgia, 165 miles northwest of Macon. They bought it, named it Cedartown Textiles, and set it up as a shoddy mill. The natives of Cedartown promptly renamed it as "The Fuzz Factory". Dad was selected to manage both Macon Textiles and Cedartown Textiles. He elected to move his family to Macon because it had better schools for his three children. After all, the main street in Cedartown, the one leading to the Polk County Court House, was dirt, and remained dirt for several more years. With the move to Macon, Uxbridge lost five that had been born in the town; Dad; Mother, Grace Blanchard Barnes; Me, Donald Warren Barnes, Jr., and my two sisters; Barbara Arline Barnes and Lynne Fairfield Barnes. Dad spent alternating weeks in each mill and he needed someone that spoke the same language to watch Cedartown when he was in Macon. His father-in-law, Fred Seamans, age 60, was the youngest of the Blanchard Brother Quarry family. The Quarry was struggling and Dad asked Grandpa to move to Cedartown. Grandpa and Grandma, Maude Kendall Hall Blanchard, came on down. Uxbridge lost two more. That makes seven. Dad asked his secretary at Rivulet, his sister-in-law, Katherine Blanchard to come down to Macon. Another one gone. That's eight. Dad's half-brother, Lee F. Barnes, was a stock broker in New York. During the depression, as a stock broker, Lee had been using his talents employed as a tool keeper with the WPA. Lee came down to work at Macon. Lee had been born in Uxbridge, had become a dye-in-the-wool New Yorker, but ended his days as a bookkeeper at Macon. That makes nine. Dad's nepotism was finished but that was just the beginning. Grandpa Blanchard's son, William Hartwell Blanchard, was away at college and later Medical School during these moves. When he started his medical practice, he settled in Cedartown. He needed a nurse so he asked his widowed sister, Lois Blanchard Morehouse, then living in Hopedale, to join him. That's two more for a total of eleven. Grandpa's remaining child, Mirian Chase like Cedartown and settle there when she and her husband Harold Chase of North Uxbridge retired. Two more. The Chases had two sons. Allen Chase moved to Atlanta to be near his parents. That is the last one of my family that move south. A total of 14 born in Uxbridge that moved to Georgia. None ever returned, and many are lie buried in it's red clay.