I'm trying to find info. on my gillis family who lived in Armagh during the early 1800's. I understand some of the sons owned a linen mill there. Any help or ideas would be awesome. I did email the Lisbon linen mill.
sidnie
My understanding of linen making is that in the early 1800s it was mostly a home based industry. The larger commercial linen mills didn’t really get going till the mid 1800s. (The necessary machinery wasn’t invented till then). See this link for linen making history:
http://www.fergusonsirishlinen.com/pages/index.asp?title2=History-of-Irish-Linen&title1=About-Linen
If your ancestors were making linen in the early 1800s I’d guess it was home weaving (which every farm labourer did, especially in the winter months). If the family did have a mill it was more likely a corn mill or such like.
You could search PRONI's records to see if they have any record of a Gillis mill:
http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/ecatalogue.htm
How did you get in, my Family worked in Gillis Mill
Sorry on
Hi! I'd love to chat more with you if your family worked in a Gillis mill ! Sidnie
Hi Sidnie, The base of Gillis mill is still there as is the mill owners house, the mill was burnt down during the troubles I believe its chimney only recently demolished (54.3595122, -6.6580260) sorry bout the late reply thats the google cordinates Marty