Dear Stev1
You may have already seen the extract below from information on RJB Wilson's webpages. I attempted to contact him last year and unfortunately he has died.
http://www.island.net/~rjbw/Jawmem.htmlThis extract doesn't mention the Knowhead mill but the time frame the memoir is referring to is not clear.
regards
Megan
JAMES ALEXANDER WILSON (6th October 1872 - 28th April 1921)
A memoir by Fergus Brunswick Wilson
31 January 1987
It is difficult for me, his eldest son, to pay any adequate tribute to the life and work of my Father. Not only is it more than 60 years since his death, when I was a boy of 12, but also we saw nothing of him during the latter years of World War I, when he served with the Allied Forces in France, Egypt and Palestine as a Padre with the Y.M.C.A. So, most of what I am able to relate comes from what was told me by my Mother and by friends who knew him well.
James was born, the second surviving son, of William Orr Wilson and his wife Jemima ("Mima"). His home was the spacious and attractive Victorian house - Knowehead, situated on a Knoll to the north of the village of Broughshane in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The dwelling house backed on to a typical cobbled farmyard with its stables, cow byre, pig shed, bay barn, which served a small farm of some 70 or so acres. There was also a walled garden of some 4 acres where vegetables and fruit were grown. Quite a long tree-lined drive led up to the house. The carriageway consisted of small white rounded pebbles. I can still hear the sound of the pony's hooves and the wheels of the trap as it ascended the hill and shingle drive up to the front door of Knowehead. The principal rooms of the house faced south with a wonderful view of the Braid Valley with its small farms and fields, divided by stone walls or hedges. In the distance, dominating the entire landscape, lay Slemish Mountain where legend has it St. Patrick herded sheep as a boy. The River Braid and its tributary, the Artoges, lay just one field below the house to the south and east, forming the boundary of the farm.
William Orr [Wilson] owned a prosperous outfitter's business in the main street of Ballymena and he made the 4-mile journey daily from Knowehead by trap. Cousins of the family had established the Raceview Woollen Mill at the western end of the village of Broughshane. This enterprise, which produced high quality cloth and tweeds, provided employment for the majority of the local working population. At that time "the Wilsons" were held in high regard by the local community. I have been told that William Orr was regarded with great affection, not only by those who worked for him, but also the other people of Broughshane. The initial cut of hay always went to those who served on the farm, (each of whom had his own cow and pig), and the same was the practice when the potato crop was harvested.
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