Detail of the Keagy/Noble
Blanket showing stitched letters.
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Who was Keagy?
John Keagy was a woolen mill owner operating during the civil war. In 1846 he purchased the Keagy Woolen Mill from John Potter, who had erected the mill in 1837 along the Pennsylvania creek that still bears his name in Bedford County. John was the son of Abraham Keagy; they called him "machine Abe" because he could build or repair just about anything in a mill with the technology of the time.
The business name of John Keagy's mill was called the Globe Factory. Five men and two women were employed at the Globe Factory and they used three waterpower looms and one handloom. According to Andrews and Walters "A Checklist of American Coverlet Weavers", they produced 150 Coverlets annually.
During the Civil War the mill made blankets used by Union
Soldiers. A larger mill replaced the 1837 mill in 1869. Production continued until the death of the last owner-operator, Herman Clouse. That was 1938.
Bible, Axe and Plow, B. VanHorn
Captain David F. Keagy MCH page 40
Who was Noble?
Joseph B. Noble was another mill owner during the civil war. He was born in 1807 at Licking Creek, the eldest of four sons to John Noble who was a General in the state militia. In 1849, Judge Joseph B. Noble purchased the Waterside Woolen factory from Robert Nicodemus.
In 1860 Judge Noble enlarged the factory buildings and operated his firm under the name of J.I. Noble and Co. That same year his second son, James D. Noble graduated from Jefferson Medical College and was appointed assistant surgeon of the 55th Pennsylvania Regiment, then commanded by Col. (afterward Governor) J.F. Hartranft. He was promoted to surgeon, which position he resigned in 1864. In 1865 he was appointed assistant surgeon in the United States Navy and held the position until the end of the war. He died in 1874 at the age of 37.
Joseph E. Noble was another of the seven sons. He continued operations at the Waterside Woolen mill after his father's death in 1875. He also was elected as a member of the state legislature and served in the session of 1879.
History of Bedford Somerset and Fulton Counties 1884
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How were Keagy and Noble connected?
John Keagy and Joseph Noble owned and operated woolen mills before, during and after the civil war. Their mills were a mere 2 miles apart and they shared the water. Local workers relay the story of cooperative messages being sent between the mills so as to store and draw down their millponds, utilizing the water most effectively. There was definitely a spirit of cooperation.
They are connected in other ways. Census records from the period refer to numerous spinners and weavers in the area. Most certainly some of the skilled craftsmen performed service at both mills. Mr. Detwiler's great grandfather was Herman Clouse, the last owner and operator of the Keagy Woolen Mill. He died in 1938. His grandfather, Maurice "Dutch" Clouse was reared in the Keagy Mill Homestead and learned the trade from Herman. At the age of 27 he moved a few miles down the creek and continued the trade as the proprietor of the Waterside Woolen Mill. Dutch Clouse continued until his death in 1970, at which time the mill was sold and woolen operations ceased.
In 1990 Mr. Detwiler purchased the mill and began the reactivation process in an effort to continue the family trade and the long tradition of quality textile craftsmanship of this short stretch of rural Pennsylvania creek.
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