Well, it's just that the people at the Chester County Historical Society wouldn't believe that JOhn Smith didn't grow sheep or flax on his land, and seemed to need to know what he did for a living, even though the tax records clearly show that he had very little but a loom, and he was chiefly taxed on his skills and business as a weaver. I always assumed that either he bought the thread or yarn or people brought their fiber to him to be turned into cloth. What I really want to know at this point is whether he wove wool or flax. It's actually beginning to look like a Presbyterian in Londonderry would ahve been more likely to have woven flax. Ireland was forbidden to export wool, or anything else, and they ahd to get all raw materials they needed to import from England, which is why Ireland had no industry at all going into the potato famine. Yours, Dora Smith Austin, TX [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eliz Hanebury" <[email protected]> To: "Dora Smith" <[email protected]> Cc: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 4:34 PM Subject: Re: [PaOldC] Would a London Britain township weaver have woven linen? Even if not taxed for sheep he still could have woven wool <G> in the exchange principal. And he could have woven for people who brought their linen, wool or possibly even cotton. He could even have been like the men who did coverlets with a jacquard loom. The connection between Ireland and linen is so strong <G> to us. Most interesting question, I wait for others to chime in <G> Eliz