Lilly: The Givernaud Silk Mills (Factories) were owned by the brothers who were French. They brought many French over to work in the mills. Ann In a message dated 9/12/2007 3:14:03 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: Hello list readers, When the very first SILK factories were being established in USA, in Allentown, Pennsylvania and in Paterson, New Jersey, many SYRIAN immigrants migrated to PA and NJ in order to work at these factories. Syria was a major center for Silk weaving, and therefor had skilled workers, whereas America did not have any experience with Silk production. Traditionally the Christian villages near HOMS, Syria and Damascus, Syria had alot of Silk weavers, in fact that would have been one of the main jobs, other than Farming. The very first Syrian family to USA was about 1875, but I believe the period of 1880 to 1910 was when thousands of Syrians came into USA. These immigrants were almost totally Christians: Syrian Orthodox and Greek Catholic, some Maronite Catholic, and a few Protestant. I am not sure how the Syrians were enticed to come to work in the Silk factories? Perhaps someone went over to Syria and promoted the idea of migration to these new factories? I would like to hear from anyone with Syrian ancestors. Best regards, Lilly Martin > > > ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com