Matson Loom

During the summer of 2024, MHS was gifted a vintage loom once owned and used by Anna Roito Matson of Milford. Anna and her daughter Alma immigrated to Milford from Finland in 1906. In 1908 she met and married afellow Finn, Waino Nieminen. It is understood that his name was changed to Matson when he went through immigration. Waino started two businesses in
Milford; Milford Beverages and Matson Lumber. They had two sons, Bruno and Theodore. Bruno was a musician and played with big bands. Teddy became a WWII hero. After the war he returned to Milford and operated Matson Lumber until his death in 1976. Alma opened a preschool in
Brookline, MA and became a successful investor in start-up companies.

The loom was built for Anna around 1919 and had been in the family until the time of the donation. It was assembled in our barn shortly after arriving. Remarkably, only a few small, easily replicated parts were missing. It’s fortunate for MHS that George Congdon, our summer neighbor, is an experienced weaver. He happily assisted us with assembling the loom last summer and again in 2025 when we were ready to display it. The loom was built so all the parts fit together without nails or screws which makes it easier to break down and store. 

George gave himself a challenge and decided he would like to use the loom to demonstrate the art of weaving. He spent hours checking the parts to make sure they were in good operating condition and that the fragile strings of the heddles were strong enough to be threaded. 

Then he began the process of creating a design and choosing colors. The challenge at this step was figuring out how much of each color thread he would need, then measuring, cutting and bundling the threads in chains to keep them organized. Each of the 120 threads had to be 18’ long to created the items he planned to weave. 

When he was ready, he began the painstaking process of warping (threading) the loom. At times, his wife Marcia came in to assist in holding the 18’ threads straight as he began to warp. Overall the process took several days to complete. George worked slowly and with care. Because today’s looms are much more streamlined and efficient, he had to figure out how to make
the techniques he knows work on our loom. And he did! 

George spent many, many hours in the Carey House working on the project during the month of July. When he started the actual weaving he realized he would have to physically balance the heddles during the entire process. But the extra labor didn’t deter him and there is now a run of woven place mats on the loom, with more to be created during the August open house. 

His knowledge and love of the art, plus his unending patience in getting it all to work correctly has insured that the loom will be a feature at the Carey House for a long while. 

Thank you, George!
Photos by Marcia Congdon
Thank you, Marcia!