Packet boat on the Erie Canal

 

 

Alonzo's decision to become a weaver reflects a typical mid-nineteenth century regional professional trend, particularly among farmers' sons. With the opening of the Erie and Champlain Canals in 1819, the upstate area became an attractive location for many manufacturing companies due to the improved transportation system and subsequent lowering of shipping costs.

Textile mills, an important industry to New England in the early 1800s, gravitated to the area, locating largely around canal waterways close to rapids where the churning water supplied power for plant operations. As businesses expanded and people moved to the area for work, the price of land increased, making farming a more difficult profession to enter. Farmers' sons, particularly those without significant opportunity for land inheritance, increasingly turned to jobs offered in the manufacturing sector to earn a living. Some industries offered fringe benefits to further entice the cash-poor away from farming, providing employees with discounted rents on company-owned homes.

Picture Enlargement

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