Battenkill Fibers - Carding and Spinning Mill

WOW. That's all I can say.

Processing Services
Yarn Sales
Mill Tours

There is nothing glamorous about this job - you just have to be very passionate about yarn.
They are working on huge pieces of equipment which look like they came right out of the 1880s - and Karen told me that in some cases, the equipment is exactly like what they were using back then.
They need to humidify the work area so as not to get shocks. The heat can be significant inside the work space, though the other day it was cool, they were still adding humidity.
Fiber from rutting rams can be overpowering, knocking you off your feet. (I hadn't considered that as an occupational hazard.)
They will process many types of fiber - including cats and dogs! Probably not on a regular basis.... Someone even asked them about Hemp.
For the summer they employ farm raised young people for they understand the nature of 'organics' in/on the unwashed fiber.... All sorts of things fall out on the screens as the fiber is examined - bugs, sticks, grass, feces.....
The fiber is washed a minimum of two times, air dried and then sent through a humongous carding machine imported from Montreal. The pieces of loose fiber gets all over everything, gathering all throughout the machines and in the air.
Vacuuming must be a large part of the job description.... though perhaps that wasn't in the main body of the craigslist ad.


Karen, the mill manager, was very friendly and dedicated a huge amount of time to walking me through the process and answering my questions. The structure in which they are housed is a modern aluminum building - no historic building pulling power from the Battenkill river. The employees are wearing t shirts and shorts, listening to their mp3 devices with the wires tucked in to their shirts so that they don't get caught in the machinery. Karen explained to me how in the last century the women would strip to their undergarments when it was hot, but that accidents would happen when the sleeves of their blouses would get pulled in to the machinery.

Overall, my visit was a fantastic learning experience. I admire their passion. I recognize the need for the service, especially to all the farmers out there. I value the employment, especially in this fairly depressed region.

Both employees had to stop what the process to attend to the fiber - he is spinning the fiber and she is taking three spools of what he has created and winding them together to make a three ply yarn. The lengths differ on the spools, so she must change the spools on a regular basis so that there is always three threads being twisted.

This photo is taken from the other side of the machine the young man in the orange cap is working - this is from where he pulls the roving to create the threads. Nothing glamorous abut the space....

#1 Reviewer, again

Got my #1 spot again.... Apparently I had been pushed out for a while, as I got an email saying I was in the top 10, but....

This time, however, they tell me how many reviews and photos I have and how many the other reviewers have.... fostering some serious competition. (At least that has that effect on me....)

A combination of Sewing and Knitting

I am not saying I love what they came up with, but I am intrigued by the idea of combining knitting and sewing.

I was walking along a major thoroughfare in my home town and saw this in a boutique window:

Please forgive the poor quality of the image - I do not possess the latest telephone technology.

It is clearly meant to look like a sweater vest over a t-shirt, but why? Seems a rather nerdy style, but perhaps that plays in to a hipster sensibility.... but this just doesn't seem to work. And the necklace? - the stylists are trying too hard to be au courant. Look, now I am a fashion critic. (We know I have no credibility there....)

I guess my conclusion is that I am eager to see a good execution of the confluence, but that this is not it. Too bad.

Wikitree

I have gotten behind on Herb's letters because I am awfully surprised not to have letters from the Fall of 1917 before November. I need to take the time spreading out his letters around me with a scanner near by to sort through everything I have. That may not happen for a couple of weeks.

In the mean time, I have been researching a German branch of the tree. I am hindered by a) my internet connection and b) the fact I do not read German. I found that one cousin - Ida Heitmann - but I have plenty of others who were living in Germany at the time of WW1. (I told my nieces that we had neither Nazis nor slave owners in our family; I trust that statement remains true with this additional research. Certainly it's true on our paternal line - one good thing for having no wealth....)

I have been doing my best to add deceased family members to Wikitree. I am also learning about widgets. I just wanted to add this one below - for the fun of it; see what it looks like and what it does.

Join me @ WikiTree

Men in Section 580

And here is the list of men in Section 580.

I wonder which men were the rough necks living in what is now expensive NYC real estate...

#16 is Herb
#9 - Mr. Gray, well, he's the cook. There were several memos/letters talking about cooks. And I think poor Mr. Gray got scabies, or some such.... And given how often Herb talks about the food, well, of course it was interesting.

German surrenders to Ambulance Man

This is the only article I found in the files which was published in their Radiator newspaper. Apparently it was quite a surprise when a 'Boche Prisoner is Captured by Ambulance Man."

I love the idea of the poor German soldier, "hungry, tired and scared", grinning sheepishly when Mechanic Duval claims him as his own.

And I can not understand one iota about the second article entitled "Blowouts". Why is that funny or interesting for a newspaper; among the section, sure, but in a newspaper? Hmmmm. I suppose not enough of those newspaper men and cartoonists were sending in good copy.

The Mail

Given how much complaining about the mail delivery and the fact that Herb's Dad is a postman, this memo caught my eye. Apparently it was enough of an issue that an order had to be written so that mail could find the men. It seems a little late in the game - given it is dated November 3, 1918.

So, Commanding Officer, you are instructed "to insist upon the execution of this order". And, by the way, call it in, but if you aren't near a phone, well, then send a courier. Because you aren't clever enough to figure this out on your own.

The Source of the Sections

Herb mentioned a Section made up of Syracuse men. I thought that odd at the time, but it seems to have been very common; schools made up sections, even companies. Very patriotic. And I had no idea.

I didn't see a Syracuse section, specifically, though. Yale, Harvard, Penn State are represented, as are cities, New York, Allentown, Pottsville, Boston....

One of the largest contributors is the Stoneman Fellowship - at least 10 sections. A Google search lead me back to a web site I had visited long ago in my genealogical research. This site offers a ton of information on the Ambulance Corps, and they are the source of my information about this Stoneman Fellowship.

The Stoneman's Fellowship was a fraternal organization doing philanthropic work in the northeast section of the city for many years. [Philadelphia] They had first-aid classes and furnished ambulance service to their members. When the call was sounded for recruits for the new Ambulance Service, it was natural for this group to join up.

My, how things have changed. With our volunteer army, nothing like this would exit today. It makes me think about the world in which we live - with the world events as they currently stand - Israel on the ground in the Gaza strip and the Malaysian commercial airline scattered over a nine mile diameter of the Ukraine.... Israel existing, at least in part, on the events from WW1 which lead to WW2 and Israel, and the apparent desire of Putin to recreate a Cold War buffer zone around Russia. To what end, I ask.

Ida A. Heitmann

I was researching a German Maternal branch of my tree the other day and I came across this cousin who falls squarely in to my group of childless women about whom I want to write their stories as best as I am able. I never knew her, or of her, but her story has to be pretty remarkable: she was trapped in Germany during World War 1. Apparently she was visiting German relatives when the war broke out and she was unable to return home. I learned this from her passport application. When I can find the time I am sure it will be fun to piece together and imagine her life.

She certainly seems very stern, doesn't she?

the latest dope

In that skinny folder I did find this flyer requesting for input and announcing the launch of the newspaper.

I don't know, would this entice you to contribute? I guess this circular is the equivalent of Facebook in 1918.

I have found some lists of personnel in Section 580 - and all the other sections - but too many to include, but I wonder if there were any 'experienced newspaper men and cartoonists in the sections.' I hadn't thought about what professions these other enlistees followed. Would be interesting to know.

And, the newspaper would be/should be where one would learn 'just why you don't hear anything from that application for transfer"? Hmmm, I think I would want to learn that from my commanding officer, not published for the whole Ambulance Corps to read.

I do appreciate the mention of the Censor, though. Transcribing the letters is a bit of a challenge because Herb spends a lot of time telling his family about his health and about the weather. I finally saw a written mention about the Censors in his letters, so I can see why his letters are so thin in that regard. I just wish Herb would write more family news. I suppose the USA AS commanding officers instruct the enlistees to tell their families how they are faring and that gives nothing away to the Germans.