Hi All, Here's something I found when I googled United Thread Mills: <snip> James Chadwick & Bros Ltd, cotton manufacturers, Bolton, England was formed in 1893 and was doing business in New York, USA and Montreal, Canada. In 1896, J & P Coats, thread manufacturers, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, amalgamated with Clark & Co Ltd, thread manufacturers, Paisley, its American associates, Jonas Brook & Bros Ltd, thread manufacturers, Meltham Mills, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, and James Chadwick & Bros Ltd to form the enlarged firm of J & P Coats Ltd, with a market value of around GBP 22 million, and approximately 25,000 shareholders. Each company maintained its identity with the preservation of the names and trade marks which were used for the particular market with which they were associated. In 1917, The Clark Thread Co, thread manufacturers, Newark, New Jersey, USA, purchased the American business of James Chadwick & Bros Ltd. United Thread Mills Ltd, thread manufacturers, Glasgow, Scotland, was incorporated in March 1931 and almost immediately entered into agreements with J & P Coats Ltd, Clark & Co Ltd, Jonas Brook & Bros and James Chadwick & Bros for United Thread Mills Ltd to purchase properties from them. The companies continued to operate in their mills, but as a branch of United Thread Mills Ltd. <snip> This clarifies somethings I'd forgotten: UTM didn't manufacture: It was a selling agency for several manufacturers, including the combined Coats and Clark business trading in the UK as J&P Coats Ltd. Coats & Clark Inc, the American subsidiary of J&P Coats, had a mill in New Jersey (not from memory in Newark, but in a small town nearby), and in its early days, this was staffed by workers from Paisley. The town was a wee outpost of Scotland for many years until the thread business declined. There was an article about the town and its Scottish connections in a Scottish weekend newspaper a year or so ago. While this thread (!) is running, Coats have had a large operation in Brasil since around 1909, and in its early days it was staffed by Paisley emigres, so much so that when I worked there in the 1970s, the millworkers' word for a foreman was "um nhafi" (pronounced "nyaffee"), which was their pronunciation of a derogatory Old Scots word for a small objectionable man. One of the the early employees there was a fine soccer player (Archie McLean from memory), who is credited with introducing the Scottish short-passing game into Brasilian soccer, and this has remained the basis of the Brasilian style ever since. In the 1970s there were still second generation Scots Brasilians, the sons and daughters of the first wave of Paisley mill workers, living in Sao Paulo. The Coats mill is reputed to be the first large-scale factory to be built in Sao Paulo, so much so that the bus that runs out to Ipiranga, where the mill is, carries the simple destination sign "Fabrica" (Portuguese for "factory"). It looks pretty odd nowadays when you consider that Saou Paulo is now one of the largest manufacturing towns on the planet. Regards, Ken Mathieson ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mariposa Obsidian" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 11:49 PM Subject: RE: [Renfrew] Coats & Clarks Hi: Wow - I didn't expect to get this much info. Did anyone else have family go to Mexico to work in the Coats & Clark factory? Heather David Rorer <[email protected]> wrote: It's funny that the name Viyella should come up. My second great uncle Alexander James McNab was one of the principles in developing the practical manufacture of the thread called Viyella, in his mill at 171 Boden Street Glasgow. This building still existed as late as the 1970's and in fact I've looked at the aerial photos in Google Earth and it still appears to be there. Part of the story is quoted below. David Rorer Renison McNab & Co., Powerloom Cloth Manufacturers of Glasgow In 1863 Alexander James McNab and William Renison founded Renison McNab & Co., Powerloom Cloth Manufacturers, on Hosier Street, in the Bridgeton district of Glasgow. Later they appear to have built a new building at 140 Boden St. Renison McNab & Co specialized in weaving cloth on commission, utilizing power driven looms. One of their yarn suppliers was William Hollins & Company, Ltd of Derby, England, which had developed a specialty yarn known as Viyella. Unlike other yarns, Viyella was not made of a single fiber, but was a combination of wool and cotton fibers. Renison McNab & Co was one of the firms called upon to solve the problem of weaving this yarn into cloth. The problem with combining wool and cotton fibers in the same yarn is that different sizings were normally used for these fibers. The trick to successfully weaving the mixed fiber yarn was finding a sizing that would work well with both cotton and wool. Renison McNab & Co was one of the first mills to solve this problem and satisfactorily weave it into cloth for Hollins. Eventually, in order to ensure the quality of the cloth woven from it's yarn; Hollins purchased the Boden St Mill, in 1900, from Alexander McNab who by then was operating it as a sole proprietor. The mill was taken into the Hollins organization and there cloth was manufactured for the company for over three quarters of the 20th century. The Alexander McNab name was continued as the distributor of unbranded cloth on a wholesale basis until at least the 1950's. > >> > >>The connection between Paisley and Guadalajara is that Paisley was once > >>the > >>World's leading town for the manufacture of sewing thread. There were 2 > >>huge > >>family businesses, the Clarks and the Coats, which eventually merged as > >>United Thread Mills Ltd, a subsidiary of J & P Coats Ltd, which is now > >>part > >>of the Coats Viyella Tootal group. By the end of the 19th century, lots of > >>countries were erecting tariff barriers to limit imports and foster local > >>industry. Mexico was one such, and one of the Paisley companies set up a > >>mill there (I'm not sure which), but in the 1960s & 70s when I worked for > >>Coats, they had a mill in Guadalajara and another in Mexico City, as well > >>as > >>in countless other places around the world. Some googling should yield > >>further info. > >> > >>I hope this helps, > >> > >>Ken Mathieson, > >>Uddingston SCT Cualli Tonalli! Mariposita Obsidiana, P.A. http://www.thelensflare.com/u_mariposa.php http://mariposadreaming.blogspot.com/ "I am an amateur and I intend to stay that way for the rest of my life." - Andre Kertesz, Hungary, 1930 --------------------------------- Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.

My G.G.Grandfather Andrew Warnock was a Thread manufacturer in Paisley, in the 1850's he lived and worked at 59 High Street Paisley, and the building was at the corner of High street & Causeyside street. He was married to Annabella Clark who I am certain was a sister of John & James Clark who I have always thought to have been part of the "Clarks Cottons" Family John from West Aus

Hi folks, The head of the Clark family of thread fame is Sir Jack Stewart-Clark, Bart., former leader of the Conservative Group in the European Parliament and Vice chairman of the European Parliament who now runs the family home, Dundas Castle (next to the dreadful M8000 bottleneck between the M8 and Forth Road Bridge) as a conference centre, weddings venue etc. Jack is a very charming man and intensely proud of the part his family played in the development of the thread industry. Interestingly my cousin and her partner now own one of the penthouse flats in what was the factory right in the centre of Paisley. It has to be ironic that a factory where thousands toiled for low pay is now around 60 luxury properties for today's mass affluent citizens of Paisley. Cheers Mark Mark Sutherland-Fisher Director Fisher (Holiday Enterprises) Ltd email: [email protected] web site: www.highland-family-heritage.co.uk Tel/Fax: 00 44 (0) 1862 871877 Mobile: 00 44 (0) 7765 272815 Skype call name: easterross -----Original Message----- From: John from West Aus [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 26 July 2006 01:53 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Renfrew] Coats & Clarks My G.G.Grandfather Andrew Warnock was a Thread manufacturer in Paisley, in the 1850's he lived and worked at 59 High Street Paisley, and the building was at the corner of High street & Causeyside street. He was married to Annabella Clark who I am certain was a sister of John & James Clark who I have always thought to have been part of the "Clarks Cottons" Family John from West Aus

Is that building part of the Co-op these days and I believe it is closing down? Sandy (Wagga x 2) ----- Original Message ----- From: "John from West Aus" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 10:53 AM Subject: Re: [Renfrew] Coats & Clarks > My G.G.Grandfather Andrew Warnock was a Thread manufacturer in Paisley, in > the 1850's he lived and worked at 59 High Street Paisley, and the building > was at the corner of High street & Causeyside street. He was married to > Annabella Clark who I am certain was a sister of John & James Clark who I > have always thought to have been part of the "Clarks Cottons" Family > John from West Aus > > > > >

My mother's family the MASSON's lived in New Street which ran from High Street through to Causeyside. Sandy (Wagga x 2) ----- Original Message ----- From: "John from West Aus" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 10:53 AM Subject: Re: [Renfrew] Coats & Clarks > My G.G.Grandfather Andrew Warnock was a Thread manufacturer in Paisley, in > the 1850's he lived and worked at 59 High Street Paisley, and the building > was at the corner of High street & Causeyside street. He was married to > Annabella Clark who I am certain was a sister of John & James Clark who I > have always thought to have been part of the "Clarks Cottons" Family > John from West Aus > > > > >