At Left: Wide view of front-right side of loom. The rockers are free-standing on the base of the loom. At Right: Detail view of crudely scratched information on underside of loom base. The loom builder, Abjiah Bayless, is reported to have initialed and dated the loom "A.B. 1794" (with the 4 pointing backwards). This is the only rocker beater loom to have identification markings of any kind.

Museum records indicate a Mr. Vandeventer donated this loom to the James White's Fort Museum. He had purchased the loom sometime during the 1940s, at an auction held by the Bayless family. The family lived in an area of northeastern Tennessee known as Bumbus Cove but, at the time of the auction, they were being displaced by the flooding of the Holston River as the Tennessee Valley Authuority (TVA) created Lake Holston. Abjiah Bayless, was one of the Bayless family ancesters. He had been among the early pioneers settling that area of Tennessee. This was one of three looms included in a 1980s study done by Rita Adrosko, Curator Emeritus of the Smithsonian Textile Collection. Link to museum website: James White's Fort Museum Return to Loom Photograph Index