age of 77 y's
daughter of Henry Slingsby & Martha Glover
wife of Thomas Kay, superintendant of woolen mills

OBITUARY:
WIFE of FOUNDER of WOOLEN MILLS PASSES AWAY
Resident of Salem Since 1889.
Well Known Woman Leaves Many Friends
Death called another of Oregon's honored pioneers when Mrs. Ann Slingsby Kay passed away at her Salem home at 4 o'clock yesterday morning, at the age of 77 years. Mrs. Kay, who was the wife of Thomas Kay, deceased, founder of the Brownsville Woolen Mills, and of the Salem Woolen Mills, has been in Oregon since 1864.
Born in England
Mrs. Kay was born in Shipley, Yorkshire, England, October 21, 1837, and was married there to Thos. Kay in 1856. About five years later she followed her husband to America and they settled in New Jersey. They came to the Pacific coast by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1864.
On their arrival in Oregon they located in Brownsville, where Mr. Kay established the Brownsville Woolen Mills. They moved to Salem in 1889 and Mrs. Kay had made her home here since that time. She had been a devout member of the Baptist denomination for forty-five years, and attended the Salem Baptist church for twenty-five years.
Leaves Many Relatives
Mrs. Kay leaves five children, fifteen grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and three sisters. The children are: Mrs. C.P. Bishop, wife of State Senator Bishop, Salem; Thomas B. Kay, state treasurer, Salem; Mrs. O.P. Coshow, Roseburg; Mrs. Carl T. Roberts, Portland, and Mrs. Ralph B. Fisher, Portland.
The grandchildren are: Messrs. Chauncey Bishop of Salem, Clarence and Roy Bishop of Pendleton, Mrs. K.H. Pickens of Roseburg, Erol and Margery Kay, Dale and Leone Coshow of Roseburg, Harry Kingsley, Carlisle and Imogene Roberts, and Ralph B. Fisher of Portland. The great grandchildren are: Robert Bishop, Charles Bishop, Elizabeth Jane Bishop and Lola Dale Pickens. The sisters are: Mrs. Greenwood Beacon of Lawrence, Mass; Mrs. Elizabeth Bateson, and Mrs. Phoebe Raistrick of Shipley, England.
The funeral services will be held Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. from the Baptist church. Rev. H.E. Marshall officiating. Interment will be in the I.O.O. F. cemetery.
Daily Oregon Statesman 26 Jan 1915 8:5.

Mrs. Kay Buried-
The funeral services over the late Mrs. Ann Kay, widow of Thomas Kay, Sr., were held yesterday at 2:30 p.m. from the First Baptist church, conducted by Rev. Harry E. Marshall. The Baptist choir sang, "Nearer My God to Thee", "Some Sweet Day" and "When We Meet Again". Among the beautiful floral offerings were a casket spray of white roses from the local order of Elks and a floral pillow composed of lilies and pink and white carnations, which was sent by the members of the state treasurer's office. Interment was in the I.O.O.F. cemetery. The pallbearers were Judge Burnett, Milton Meyers, Thos. Ryan, Walter Jenks, Sam Vail and Theodore Roth.
Daily Oregon Statesman 27 Jan 1915 5:4.
∼WHAT AN AMAZING PICTURE OF AMERICAN PIONEER WOMANHOOD Ann Kay was!

It's difficult to get a real idea of the movements of Thomas & Ann after their marriage. Much has been written and published about Thomas and his children, but dates and timing are all over the place, very rarely agreeing on anything. I've documented here what I could, but immigration records and census returns are playing hard to find. For me, the discovery of Mrs Weber's interview (see below), was the clincher. While Ann has been chiefly shuffled aside by historians and researchers, she's the real hero in this family. And her children are her crowning glory, given what sacrifices Ann made just keep them alive! I'd love to see a photo of her . . .

Calverley, Yorkshire, England, marriage records show that Ann Slingsby, 20yo spinster, married Thomas Kay, 20yo bachelor (weaver by trade), on 3 Apr 1857. Both were living in Windhill at the time of their marriage. Ann could sign her name, Thomas could not (signed with an x). Thomas' father was Isaiah Kay, clothier. Ann's father was Henry Slingsby, clothier.

Birth and death dates taken from her Oregon State Death Certificate, birth affirmed by the 1900 US census. Birth location found in the 1851 UK census. The same 1851 census shows Ann to be the daughter of Henry & Martha Slingsby, living in Idle, Calverley, Yorkshire, England. Father was a Clothier by trade, 14yo Ann and 13yo Phoebe working as Weavers.

According to her Oregon death cert, mother's maiden name was Glover. West Yorkshire Non-conformist Church records show she was baptized on 22 Jul 1838 at Calverley. (Baptism record incorrectly gives birth month as August.)

In the 1860 census, her husband is living in Philadelphia, sharing a place with another weaver. No sign of his family, and some sources intimate that Ann was still in England. In the 1880 census, they are living together in North Brownsville, Oregon. Thomas is a Superintendent in a Woolen Mill, with his 16yo son and 13yo and 14yo daughters working for him at the mill.

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In 1936-7, the WPA sent people out to Linn County, Oregon (and many other places), to interview people of "historical interest". These public-domain recordings were made available to the public in a booklet called "Pioneer Stories of Linn County, Oregon". I think the following interview shows what a remarkable woman Ann (Slingsby) Kay really was. Let's let Ann tell her story to us, through her friend Mrs Weber.

INTERVIEW with Mrs Fred Weber concerning the Thomas Kay family.

Mrs Weber was first asked as to how long ago the Thomas Kay House was built. Her conversation was, in substance, as follows:

I cannot tell you just how old that house is, but it is very old. The house was built a little at a time and I do not know just when it was begun. Thomas Kay was an Englishman, and a very heavy drinker. When he first came to Brownsville to work in the woolen mills, he and his wife lived at the rooming house. (Situated a short distance east of the mill. The building was later burned.) Kay drank all his money up as fast as he got it until they were so poor that they could no longer board. In order to live, they secured, either by lease or purchase, the lot where the house now stands. Here they put up first a tiny one room shack. They lived, ate, and slept, all in one room.

Little by little, as they were able, they added to the house until it was as it now is, but that took them a good many years. Some of the house is much older than other parts.

Mrs Kay was an English girl and a mill girl. She told me that it would be impossible to describe how frightened she was when she first came to Brownsville. Everything was very strange to her. She had always lived in mill towns and before she came to America she had never "so much as seen a live chicken running at large". At first, she knew nothing about housekeeping. All that she knew was mill work.

After two children were born, the Kays' circumstances became so bad that Mrs Kay was compelled to work in the mill to feed her children. She took her two babies with her to the mill and had them beside the loom in a big box where she could watch them. One day as she was weaving the shuttle flew from the loom and barely missed the head of one of the children. Mrs Kay looked hastily around and thought that no one had observed the incident, so she went on with her work, but another weaver had seen what had happened. He left his work and went into a small room where Thomas Kay was working by himself. (Kay was an expert workman, and was turning out samples of new fabrics.) The observer brought Kay out into the open mill and berated him soundly, saying, "You drunken sot! If that shuttle had hit your child's head, you would been to blame, and a murderer. You have got to straighten up and fix things so that your wife and children can live decently and in safety."

Later other English weavers came to work at the mill. They enjoyed Mrs Kay's English cookery and begged them to take them as boarders. They still had only one room in which to live, but she finally consented to do so. She insisted that the men pay her only, and so the family had somewhat better times, though at best barely able to exist. The children went almost naked.

Someone gave the Kays a dog, and to make a place for it to live, they dug a hole underneath the side of the house. One day Mrs Kay was at work in the house and she heard the dog struggling with something beneath the house. This frightened her greatly. Not ever having even seen a live chicken, she did not know what terrible thing might be beneath the house -- a fierce wild best, perhaps. Finally the dog came out of its hole dragging a great dirty b undle of clothes. The mill workers in those days almost never had their working clothes washed. They wore them in the mill until they were so permeated with grease and dirt that they no longer wearable, and then threw them away. It was such a bundle of dirty mill clothes which some workman had thrown into the dog's shelter which the dog had dragged out. Mrs Kay took these old rags and washed them up, and from them made clothing for her children. She did this for a long time, but at last she told the men not to throw their garments away, because she would wash them and make them fit to use for a longer time.

In the course of time, the Kays became slightly more prosperous and completed their house. In later years, Mr Kay attended the preaching of a travelling evangelist and quit his drinking. The Kays became well-to-do.