[SUBMITTED PHOTO]This sewing machine was donated to the Botetourt County Museum by Billy Ray Williamson. It was made by Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Co. The body was cast from iron with a registration mark of 1869. The original table shows the treadle underneath. Willcox & Gibbs manufactured their machines in the United States and Europe until 1973. The wooden spools of cotton thread came from the estate of former Botetourt Museum Director Emily Honts with Pat Watson’s help. Thread was made by James and Peter Coats, who opened their factory in Scotland in 1812. Their grandsons then opened a mill in the United States in 1864. They created a cotton thread for sewing machines called “Our New Thread”(hence the label O.N.T.) In 1952, J&P Coats and Clark Thread Company merged to become Coats & Clark, Inc.
