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My Textile Heritage

Casey Humpherys
Brigham Young University - Idaho

Textile - FCS 360

Jocelyn Stephenson
June 10, 2023
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The ancestry of my mother’s line includes many early pioneers of the Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-Day Saints. According to Family Search records, I am related to a whopping 50

pioneers that trekked westward across the plains. This has also connected me to 103 church

leader relationships, though they are mostly distant cousins or the relationship is due to the early

practice of polygamy. Many of my ancestors emigrated from all around Europe, but mostly

Germany, England, and Denmark. The time period we are looking at for these ancestors would

be 1800 - 1900, what is known as the 19th century.

With all the options of pioneers I could speak of, we are only going to focus on the

personal stories of one. Her name is Marie Jensen Hansen (see figure 1). She is my great-great-

great-great grandmother that emigrated from Denmark to the United Sates. Marie was born on

March 15, 1840 in Lunderstead, Denmark. According to a Denmark textile history article by

Lars K. Christensen, the country at this time was not a big player in the textile industry.

However, one thing Denmark utilized was “guilds”, or trade organizations to aid in controlling

pricing. According to Christensen, “In Copenhagen and other major cities, guilds existed for

cloth-makers, weavers, silk-weavers and hosiery-makers” (Christensen). My family records had

no indication of connection between the Marie’s family and working with textiles while in

Denmark, but nothing is impossible.

When Marie was pre-teen age in 1852, her family was baptized into the church. A bit

later, she accompanied a wealthy old lady on a voyage to the United States. The older lady died

on passage, and Marie arrived alone with the exception of a friend she had made on the ship.

Together, the young girls began to head westward. After reviewing a biography transcript written

by Lynne Nielsen, “They walked across the plains and carried their only pair of shoes because

they didn't want to arrive in Zion with their shoes all worn out” (Marie). This story’s truth was
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solidified by another piece of evidence of a biography transcript written by Sherie Christensen

stating “These two girls walked all the way across the plains and carried their only pair of shoes”

(Marie). These shoes would likely have been leather boots or clogs, which were common for the

era and Danish culture (see figure 2). It’s hard to imagine traveling such a long, unmaintained

trail completely barefoot. Yet, at the same time, I don’t blame them for not wanting to lose their

only pair of shoes which were one of their few possessions and not easy to simply buy at a store

like it is today.

Marie met with a group in Missouri to help them make the rest of the trek. One of the

group members was a man named Peder Niels Hansen, another Danish Saint, who Marie would

wound up marrying later on (see figure 3). The group arrived in Salt Lake in 1862 and Marie was

directed to head to Fairview, where Peder was living, about 93 miles south, to help settle this

community. Like many settlers of a homestead, their family was not wealthy. They started with a

mud dugout home and built onto it with materials made out of adobe over the course of two

years and brought 6 children into the world. In order to help provide her for family, Marie

learned skills that were very uncommon from her home country and what she had learned

growing up.

In the biography by Lynne Nielsen, it is shared that “Marie became a very talented

weaver. She carded wool and spun it into yarn. She dyed the yarn bright colors and hues with

dyes she made from barks and plants. With her eight-harness loom, which her husband made for

her, she fashioned beautiful blankets with woven designs. She also made cloth as needed for

clothing and rag rugs for their home. As their family grew, her blankets became a substantial

source of income for them” (Marie). In desperate times, Marie picked up trades that were not

common back in her home country, and it turned out she did very well!
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During the late 1800s, Marie would have carded wool by hand using two thick wooden

brushes with metal teeth running parallel to one another (see figure 4). The raw wool from sheep

would have been smoothened and brushed just a handful at a time between these two brushes.

This part would not have been extremely difficult, but rather time consuming depending on the

size of her brushes and if she had any help. At this point, the wool would have been considered

“roving wool”, or wool ready to be spun. She would then have likely moved to a warm spot,

such as by a fireplace, to allow the warmth of the fire to melt the lanolin, or natural waxing, of

the wool to make it much easier to spin on a wheel (YouTube C).

Once Marie had finished spinning the wool into yarn, the next step would be to dye it.

Being so limited in resources of her own, she would take to nature to help her dye the yarns and

create lovely tones and shades depending on the biodiversity around her. In central Utah,

especially around the mountains where she was in Fairview, there would have been many

options for her to choose from to create naturally occurring dyes. For instance, yarrow is a native

wildflower that would have been used to create a warm, summer yellow color whereas bark from

various fir, oak, and birch trees would have made reds and browns (Annika, U.S. Forest Service).

To retrieve the colors from these resources, they would need to be soaked in water for several

days. Marie would have probably had a few different dyes all going at the same time to keep a

good pace, or at least have some yarns being dyed while working with already prepared yarn to

create the blankets.

To create these blankets from yarn that has already been dyed, she would have used the

eight-harness loom built for her by Peder. It is not known what she used before he built this for

her, or perhaps he built it for her first and that peaked her interest in the work. Regardless, the

loom would have been quite large, taking up a good chunk of space in their small home, much
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like a four post bed (see figure 5) (Youtube A). Not uncommon at this time was keeping the

loom out in a barn, which was also possible in Marie’s case since it would have saved space in

her home with the kids. One would think that such a large piece of equipment could get a job

done quickly, however, the job of a loom is to move a group of yarns up and down, so it is still

done by hand and could take months to complete a single blanket.

The loom’s job of moving groups of yarn up and down is part of a process called

weaving. One textile journalist, Jason Crawford, described a loom as “any machine or device

that holds the threads and helps you weave them. You stretch out one set of threads, the “warp”,

parallel on the loom. Another thread, the “weft”, goes over and under the warp threads, back and

forth, again and again, to create the woven fabric” (Crawford). The weaving itself could be down

by your own hands, a needle, or a piece called a shuttle. A shuttle is typically made out of wood

and hold the spool of yarn in such a way that it can be easily unraveled as you go without

becoming too loose and leaving yarn everywhere. The user slips the shuttle through the thread

spaces smoothly thanks to the shuttle’s sleek design (see figure 6). It is also likely Marie had a

shuttle to go with her loom, as this is often the preferred method.

I, personally, had never even touched a loom before. It wasn’t until Mandy, our Teacher’s

Assistant for our class, offered to have students come work with the looms on campus. These

looms were obviously not bed-sized, but the basics were still an important role. I took this

chance as an opportunity to try and see what it would have been like for Marie to weave all day

(see figure 7). One thing I learned is that you really don’t want to mess up, and if you do, you’d

better hope it was caught soon after it happened. I was practicing various styles of weaves such

as plain, basket, and satin, when I realized my pattern was off. I had to unweave two rows of the

loom out of the warps and do them over again, and if I had spent days on a project before
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noticing that mistake, how sad that would have been! I had spent an hour weaving with the little

shuttle provided and only got, maybe, 2 or so inches done. It was easier for me to understand

how tedious of a job this had to have been for my 4 th great grandmother to learn and become

proficient in.

After having learned about the loom, Mandy took me over to the spinning wheels and

explained to me a bit more about going from fiber to finish. Though I won’t have had the chance

to use the wheels before the due date of this paper, I tried to soak in what I could to relate it to

Marie’s experience. We discussed and felt the roving wool (see figure 8) and how it can be tricky

to get it spun nicely on the spinner the first time. With roving wool, it seemed like filament at

first, but as we pulled at it, I realized it was closer to a staple fiber. Yet, as we pulled it in certain

spots, it was as if these staple fibers locked themselves together, thus demonstrating to me their

capability of being spun into yarn. After spinning it, I am hoping to dye it with some sort of

flowers or bark like Marie would have done, in honor of her.

It would also be great if I could build up the skills to weave my newly spun yarn into

something simple such as a coaster or scarf. My crochet or knitting skills have never been up to

parr, but I’m betting Marie felt that way at first about her weaving and she was able to turn it into

a reputable source of income for her family. Considering the pioneer poverty of homesteading

most of these people were in during the late 1800s, it is estimated that one of Marie’s blankets

could have sold for a price between $3-$8, which in today’s money would be between $100-

$200 per blanket (National Parks). This might sound like a lot to some for a simple blanket, but

with all the work that goes into one piece, even today a handmade queen-sized blanket can go for

an average of $400 on the cheaper end.

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I’m incredibly grateful that Marie took such a brave jump leaving her home country

seeking religious freedom and a fresh start. It is apparent how many sacrifices she made, but she

ended up being blessed to learn a new skill that was rare for someone in her country to do, that

is, weaving beautiful blankets with hand-spun and dyed thread. Perhaps one day I can find a

blanket of hers in some relative’s attic, waiting to be used and hugged once more.

Photos

Figure 1, Marie Jensen Hansen

Figure 2, Leather Boots and Clogs

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Figure 3, Peder Niels Hansen

Figure 4, Antique Wool Carder Brush

Figure 5, Antique Bed Post Loom and photo of both an antique loom and spinner from the
Fairview, Utah Heritage Museum (I can’t prove it belonged to Marie, but it’s not impossible!)
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Figure 6, Antique Loom Shuttle and Bobbin

Figure 7, Me working on a loom for the first time

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Figure 8, Roving Wool prior to spinning

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Works Cited

Annika. (2023, February 2). Plant materials from the woods you can use for natural dyeing.
Rosemary And Pines Fiber Arts. https://www.rosemaryandpinesfiberarts.de/plant-
materials-from-the-woods-you-can-use-for-natural-dyeing/#:~:text=Tree%20barks%20like
%20birch%2C%20oak,before%20it%20can%20be%20used.

Christensen, L. K. (n.d.). Denmark and the textile industry.

https://natmus.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/Editor/natmus/danmarksnyeretid/Dokumenter/
Industrikultur/Denmark_textile_history.pdf

Crawford, Jason. Learning the loom. The Roots of Progress. (2018, May 27).
https://rootsofprogress.org/learning-the-loom#:~:text=A%20loom%20is%20any
%20machine,to%20create%20the%20woven%20fabric.

Marie Jensen Hansen. Marie Jensen Marie Jensen Hansen - FamilySearch.org. (n.d.).
https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/47487869?
p=43515803&returnLabel=Marie+Jensen+%28KWJ8-XVX%29&returnUrl=https%3A
%2F%2Fwww.familysearch.org%2Ftree%2Fperson%2Fmemories%2FKWJ8-XVX

National Parks Services. (n.d.). 1870 Catalog Goods.

U.S. Forest Service. Forest Service Shield. (n.d.).

https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/ethnobotany/dyes.shtml

Utah native plants. Gardenia.net. (n.d.). https://www.gardenia.net/native-plants/utah

YouTube A. (2013). Weaving on an 18th Century Loom. Mt Vernon. Retrieved June 8, 2023,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnbUF0wgIfw.

YouTube B. (2016). Hand Carding Wool. YouTube. Retrieved June 8, 2023, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6pcQK2ZQ_k.

YouTube C. (2022). Spinning Yarn on an 1800’s Spinning Wheel. YouTube. Retrieved June 8,
2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvVu8Lhxoi4.