Sunday, April 11, 2010

Lilly May's Threader


Lilly May Widmark patented this fabric loop turner 29 June 1937 in Minneaoplis, MN.  The patent document is here.  I didn't find any other patents by Lilly May, so this will be her claim to fame.

A search of the 1930 census turns Lilly up with husband Carl Axel, 47, a contract bricklayer from Sweden, and daughter Muriel, age 17.  Lilly was a housewife of 41, born in Minnesota to a father from Sweden and a mother from Norway.  She had no other occupation.

I looked for her in Google and didn't find anything so I tried the Minnesota Death Index.  Nada.  I broadened my search at Ancestry.com and found husband, Carl, dying in Kern County, California in 1957.  Lilly May died there in 1971 at age 82.

I'd like to think that sales of that little loop turner, sent to their home in Minneapolis allowed them to buy a nice retirement house in California.

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