This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Mayers/Mayrs/Mears/Meare/Meyers Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/oh0.2ACEB/1701 Message Board Post: Family Genealogy - Mayers - LOC L2 (1) MAY The History of Silk Dyeing in the US John Ryle is universally referred to as "the father of the silk industry in Paterson. Mr Ryle was born at Bollington, near Macclesfield, 22nd October 1817." Mayers Family Genealogy 'Prepared in honor of the 50th wedding anniversary of Minnie D and Robert E Mayers - December 23 1927 and December 23rd 1977. William Meare son of William Mayrs (Mears) Thomas Mayers - Silk Worker, son of William Meare, baptised February 4th 1753 at St Michael's married Elizabeth Hough at Prestbury Parish Church in 1778. They had the following children: Mary 1779 Christ Church David 1781 St Michael's Rebecca 1782 St Michael's Betty 1787 Thomas 1788 William 1793 Christ Church Joshua 1795 Christ Church David 1798 Christ Church David 1781 married Ann and had: Sarah Thomas Jessie David Samuel Thomas 1788 married Elizabeth Brown and had: William 1809 David 1813 Betty 1814 Martha 1817 Sarah 1819 James 1820 Rebecca 1821 Mary Ann 1827 David 1828 Thomas Mayers Born 1758 Silkworker He had Thomas Mayers born 1787 Silkman, Carter He had James Mayers born 1820 Silk Weaver, Dyer He had John Mayers born 1858 Silk Weaver, Paterson, NJ Hugonis/Hugo/Hugh Meyers/Meare Baptised 1670 | William Mayrs/Meare Baptised 1694 Married Margaret Shelmerdine | William Meare Baptised 1731 | Thomas Mayers Silkworker born 1753 Married Elizabeth Hough at Prestbury in 1778 | Thomas Mayers Silkman/Carter born 1788 Married Betty Brown | James Mayers Silk Dyer born 1820 Went to USA 1839 Married Sarah Ann Albinson born New York 1823 | John Meyers Silk Weaver, Paterson, NJ born 1858 Married Margaret Bertram born Scotland 1859 As the years passed, many others from Macclesfield followed Mayers and Ryle to Paterson. Here it was possible to rise from weaver to entrepreneur and take advantage of the great opportunity for upward mobility. Many fortunes were made in Paterson by former Macclesfield weavers, names like Lambert, Strange, Dougherty, Wadsworth, Grimshaw, Crewe and Henshall all rose from the loom to become prominent. Even today a visit to Lambert Castle overlooking the City attests to their great wealth. By 1900, there were 3000 people living in Paterson, The Paterson Call published regularly the Births, Marriages and Deaths from the Macclesfield Courier. In his travels about the City and business dealings through the years, James Mayers must have met many old friends from his youth in England. I wonder if they fully acknowledged the fact that all followed in his footsteps and those of John Ryle, the first Englishman, in the silk industry, to arrive in Paterson, the Industrial Cradle of America.