Leaders of the Paterson Silk Industry in America

A superficial glance at the history of the silk industry in this country reveals three figures as those of men who were the leaders and in whose footsteps hundreds of others have followed. The names of these men, John Ryle, Catholina Lambert and William Strange, will always be remembered as prominently identified with bringing the silk industry to its present flourishing condition. Two of these men, Ryle and Strange, have long since joined the "great majority;' Mr. Lambert alone lives to see daily the fruits of his industry. All three were actively engaged in the manufacture of silk over half a century ago....

Of all the industries in Paterson, silk has always been predominant; there have been times, when there was an unusual demand for the product of the iron manufacturing establishments, when the total wages paid there exceeded the total wages paid in the silk mills, but those months were never very numerous and frequently there were years when the furnaces were cold and lathes idle. But Paterson could always depend on silk; no matter whether prosperity abounded or people complained of "hard times," there was always more or less demand for silk.

John Ryle was born at Bollington, near Macclesfield, England, October 22, 1817. He first handled silk as a bobbin boy when he was five years of age and from that time to the day of his death, November 6, 1887, he was interested in the silk industry. He learned the manipulation of the fibre in all its branches and at twenty-two of age was the superintendent in the mill of his two brothers, Reuben and William, in Macclesfield. In 1839 he sailed for this country and obtained the position of superintendent in a small silk mill owned by Samuel Whitmarsh, in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he became acquainted with George W. Murray, who had been interested in silk manufacture in England before coming to this country. While in that position Mr. Ryle received an offer from his two brothers in Macclesfield to handle the product of their mill in this country and for this purpose opened a store on Maiden lane and William street, New York. Mr. Murray induced him to abandon the business of importer in order to join him in the manufacture of silk in this country. Mr. Ryle visited Paterson, where he became acquainted with Christopher Colt, who had experimented at making silk thread for about three months in the old Gun Mill, but had abandoned the project. The result of Mr. Ryle's visit to Paterson was that Mr. Murray purchased the Gun Mill, equipped it with silk machinery and placed Mr. Ryle in charge. Mr. Ryle was the first in this country to put silk on a spool, the successful experiment being due to a conference between him and Elias Howe, the inventor of the Howe sewing machine. This enabled Mr. Howe to overcome one of the chief difficulties he had in perfecting his sewing machine, a way to feed the silk thread to the needle. Mr. Ryle's machine twist was the first of its kind that could be successfully used on a sewing machine. This was the beginning of the spool silk industry in this country...

Catholina Lambert was born in Keighley, Yorkshire, England, March 28, 1834. When he was nine years of age his parents removed to Derbyshire, where, after attending school for eleven months, he was set to work in the cotton mill of Walter Evans & Company, at eighteen pence a week. He frequently told in after years of his visit to the residence of the senior member of the house and there seeing what he believed to be the finest furniture man could make. This furniture almost became an object of veneration to him and so attached did he become to it that, many years afterwards on a visit to his former home, he bought it all and it is now a part of the furniture in his residence in Paterson. Mr. Lambert came to this country as a young man and, after having been employed in a clerical capacity for some time in Boston, found employment with the silk manufacturing firm of Tilt & Dexter, composed of Benjamin B. Tilt and Anson Dexter. When Mr. Tilt retired, Mr. Lambert and Charles Barton entered the firm and business was continued under the name of Dexter, Lambert & Company....

...They were at that time engaged in manufacturing upholstery, military, parasol, millinery, hatters', furriers', cloak and dress trimmings, and were in fact what was called in those days a trimming house. They, or rather their predecessor, attempted ribbon weaving in 1849, but it was not a success financially, for the greater part of the ribbons made, not being sold, were purchased by Dexter, Lambert & Company at the time of their organization. This, it is said, was probably the first attempt at ribbon weaving in this country....

Attracted by Paterson and its surroundings, Mr. Lambert decided to make it his place of residence, and in 1861 with this view he purchased a country residence at South Paterson.

A desire to have the manufactory nearer to New York and under his personal supervision induced Mr. Lambert in 1866 to purchase a mill site on the east side of Straight street and thereon erect the Dexter mill, a three-story brick building, 220x250 feet, with detached buildings for engine and dye houses. The removal of the firm's machinery to Paterson was followed by the gradual withdrawal of their stock and closing up of outside stores and the concentration of their merchandizing in New York....

William Strange, the third of the triumvirate to which so much of the success of the Paterson silk industry is to be attributed, was also a native of England, where he was born in 1838. During the days of the rebellion the firm of Strange & Brother, E.B. and Albert B., the latter the father of William, were engaged as silk importers in New York City. One of the most serious difficulties they encountered was to obtain the exact shade of ribbons demanded by fashion from time to time; these could be obtained only by sending orders to England the filling of these orders and bringing the goods to this side of the Atlantic consumed too much time. In order to surmount this difficulty the firm started a small silk mill in Williamsburgh, with no idea of making money directly out of the manufacturing.

The enactment of the high tariff during the last years of the war and the consequent high rate of exchange induced the firm to seriously consider the question of manufacturing silk on an extensive scale. In 1868 the firm removed its machinery to Paterson and silk manufacturing was begun here under the firm name of William Strange & Company, Mr. E.B. Strange having devoted himself exclusively to importing ad Mr. A.B. Strange having turned the business of manufacturing over to his son, although still retaining an interest in the industry. The firm found considerable difficulty in obtaining tram and orgazine, and for the purpose of being independent of all other similar establishments imported a quantity of silk throwing machinery from England. This together with the looms removed from Williamsburgh was placed in the Greppo mill on Slater street and Dave avenue; the mill was subsequently enlarged, but the additions did not keep pace with the demand for the product of the establishment, and in 1874 the firm purchased the mill of the American Velvet Company on Essex and Madison streets...

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