I think that we should try to affix dates to our historical evidence. If I understand Regina, she must be talking about male lacemaking between 1609 and 1674 when New Amsterdam ceased to exist under that name and became New York. Several of the people who are citing the activities of family members appear to be discussing lace making activities of the 19th century. A two hundred year difference in time is significant. I think a better question is who was doing it when and where? Where there periods and places where it was done principally in convents? Were there periods and places when it was done principally in cottages by agricultural workers? I think that the term Lacemaker for a man may well mean an entrepreneur, as in the case of the 17th century grave of the major entrepreneur in Honiton where I think the term Lacemaker is used to describe him. But, might it not be the case that such a person would know how to make lace? Wouldn't he most likely learn the business from the bottom up, so that he can exercise quality control and train the workers? One thing that is surprising to me is the number of women who owned and ran lace businesses in all eras. The recent paper by Jean Hemigway about Miss Jane Clarke who lived 1794-1859 and was a lace dealer is very illuminating. One point made was that she ran her business exactly the way the men in the business ran theirs. The research by Carol McFadzean on Mrs. Treadwin opens up an Aladdin's cave of female entrepreneurial lace activity that even changes in its nature decade by decade during her long career. There is a Ph.D in the IOLI library of which there are probably very few copies, in which the author doggedly analyzed colonial newspapers for references to lace sellers in the colonial south of what was to become the US. A surprising number were women. Some were widows, some were married. In fact, it was surprising how little the marital status seemed to matter, since these women seemed to pass from married to widowed to married with some frequency. That material deals with the period before our Independence which occurred in 1776. The 16th century activities of the women of the Plantin family as lace dealers, is described in the Levey book. Also described in the Levey book are the activities of the Tribout family, in the 18th century, where daughter Claire was sent for lessons to learn how to design elaborate lappets, and later took over the family Valenciennes business. It is very exciting that some people are undertaking real historical research on the topic. Regina, I would be very interested in any information you have about lacemaking in New Amsterdam/New York, or in reading anything that you may be writing about it. Devon
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