Perhaps the most readily identifiable Pennsylvania wheel is the “Irish castle” wheel.  Its distinctive style is best described by collector, Bill Leinbach: “The vertical lines, the splay of the long legs, the relationship between the drive wheel and the flyer bobbin assembly, all contribute to the magnificent display of this tripod temptress.” (Leinbach, SWS p. 6) 

Aside from its harmonious lines, its height is impressive and its design practical, with long hefty legs providing a solid base with a small footprint.  The solidity and stability allows for steady, even spinning, while the small footprint is welcome in tight living quarters. 

While this wheel style has been found occasionally in other parts of this country, it flourished in Pennsylvania. Why and how this Irish wheel design was adopted by Pennsylvania German wheel makers remains something of a puzzle.  Some have speculated that this style may have originated in Germany and migrated to Ireland, with the “castle” name having derived from the German town “Kassel.”  (P&T, p. 56)  On the other hand, wheel collector John Horner suggested that these wheels are named “castle” because of their shape and are “peculiar” to Ireland.  (Ulster Museum, P. 21) 

Patricia Baines notes that in Britain castle wheels refer to vertical wheels in which the drive wheel is above the flyer mechanism, with Scotland having its own castle wheel, different than the Irish.  (Baines, p. 45).  Whether born in Ireland or not, the sturdy three-legged Irish castle wheel was an integral part of 19^th century life in northern Ireland, especially in Donegal and Antrim counties, used early on for flax and later for wool spinning into the 20^th century.  (Baines, p 144-46, P & T, p. 53)      

While some castle wheels were brought over from Ireland to Pennsylvania and other states, the majority that we find in this country appear to have been made here, primarily by Pennsylvania wheel makers of German descent. 

Probably the most well-known is Daniel Danner, who signed and dated many of his wheels with a paper label pasted onto the back leg.  Of course, most of those labels have not survived, but his wheels have distinctive qualities that identify them as Danner wheels.

Danner was born in Manheim in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in 1803.  His father, Adam, was a weaver.  Daniel married Elizabeth Hartman in 1833 and they had five children, only two of whom survived to be adults.  (Leinbach, SWS, p. 6)

Fortunately, Danner kept daybooks, which show that he made wheels for over 40 years, from 1821 until at least the early 1860s.  He made great wheels, saxony-style wheels, and what he called “cassel” wheels.  Perhaps this was a phonetic spelling of “castle” (his daybooks were written in English, not German), or it could be an indication that these wheels did have a German origin.  As with so many spinning wheel makers, Danner was not limited to wheel making, but made and repaired all types of household and farm items, including reels and swifts.  About forty percent of his wheels were castle wheels, which he priced at $4.00, fifty cents more than his regular flax wheels.

There is no definitive answer as to why Danner and other Pennsylvania Germans were making Irish Castle style wheels.  Perhaps there were similar wheels remembered from Germany—although I am not aware of anyone actually identifying a German wheel of this style.  Perhaps he was influenced by an Irish wheelmaker, such as Samuel Humes.  Humes, born in 1753—considerably older than Danner–came to Lancaster County from Antrim, Ireland.  Danner’s saxony-style flax wheels were very similar to Humes’ wheels, almost copies. 

Whether he did this with Humes’ permission or not remains a question. I am not aware of evidence that Humes made Irish castle wheels, but it is certainly a possibility and other wheel makers in the area, including Danner, may have copied the style from him.  It is also possible that Irish Castle wheels were simply a response to market demand. 

When I started digging into genealogy research on Danner, I found several family trees on ancestry.com that had Danner’s father, Adam, as born and living part of his life in Shelby, North Carolina.  Because that is a region with many Scots-Irish immigrants, I was excited to think that might offer some explanation for Danner’s adoption of this style. 

As it turns out, I believe that is a different Adam Danner and Daniel’s family likely did not venture outside of Pennsylvania.  But it got me looking into Scots-Irish settlement in Pennsylvania and I found Scots-Irish immigrants from Antrim and nearby counties settled in many of the same areas in Pennsylvania as the Germans.

Perhaps they sought this style wheel from the local German wheel makers.  While I have only seen a few pages of Danner’s day book, in those, it appears that the surnames of most of his customers were of German origin, but with a smattering of English and Irish names, including “a new flyre” for Barb Donoven.  (McMahon, p. 16).  So, it is possible that, at least initially, these wheels may have been made for Irish customers seeking this wheel style.  We just do not know.

While probably the most well-known, Danner was not the only one making this style wheel in Pennsylvania.  Some did not sign their wheels and will remain a mystery.  Samuel Henry, however, another maker of German descent, did stamp his name on at least some of his unique and elaborate castle style wheels—quite different from Danner’s. 

Another intriguing maker is usually referred to as the “Landisville” maker because several of his wheels showed up in that area of Pennsylvania. 

According to Bill Leinbach, Clarke Hess, a well-known Pennsylvania historian and collector, believed that perhaps the Landisville wheels can be attributed to Johannes Berg or his son Jacob Berg, based at least in part on probate inventory records.  Hess died several years ago and his extensive collection was auctioned off.  In Lot 5525 of Clarke’s on-line auction collection, a sampler was identified as made by Maria Berg, daughter of “Turner” Jacob Berg of West Donegal Township, son of immigrant Andreas Berg.  I do not know if this is the same Jacob Berg that Clarke had been researching—there are multiple Jacob Bergs in Lancaster County–but it is a clue worth pursuing.  

Donegal Township had a large number of Irish settlers, so might have been fertile ground for these wheels and is not far from where Danner was making his wheels in Manheim, Pennsylvania.  That may be important because, apparently, multiple wheels have been found with bodies made by Danner and drive wheels made by the “Landisville” maker.  Bill Leinbach suggests that may indicate that they knew each other or even worked together at some point.  This is an area ripe for more research. 

My wheel, Elizabeth, which came from Bill Leinbach, is one of those combination wheels.  The body has classic Danner features, but the drive wheel appears to have been made by the Landisville maker.  Danner’s drive wheels were made of four equal pieces and had “shotgun shell and olive” spokes—a perfect descriptive term because that is just what they look like. 

The Landisville/perhaps Berg maker constructed his drive wheels with two long and two short sections (felloes) and spokes closely resembling those on wheels from Ireland—they look like wine goblets to me. 

For an excellent visual comparison and description of wheels made by Danner, the Landisville maker, and Samuel Henry, I recommend Michael Taylor’s article “Castle Wheels in Lancaster County, PA.” listed below. 

While there is no label on my wheel, the body appears to be a beautiful example of Danner’s work.  The long flat treadle fits around the back leg,

and is attached to the axle with a long cord and leather top—typical of Irish wheels. 

While the legs are heavy, they are gracefully curved and highlight the wood grain. 

The top cross bar has two holes.  Danner traditionally used one for the distaff and the other for a reeling pin.  Having two holes allows the spinner to place the distaff on either side and also provided a place to mount a water dish for flax spinning.  I am fortunate to have two distaff supports, one on each side. 

Danner had some variations in the turnings for the distaff supports.  I believe the left hand one is typical of Danner’s wheels,

but am not sure if the other one is also made by him or some other maker. 

The flyer set up is ingenious. 

One wooden key releases the end flyer bearing so that the flyer can be removed. 

The other raises a central bar to control tension. 

The flyer hooks are seated opposite to most flyers, in other words, the hooks are on the top right side and lower left side of the flyer when looking down the arm, in contrast to the usual configuration of right on top of the left arm and below the right. 

According to Patricia Baines, this was the way the flyers were usually made on castle wheels in Ireland.  She suggests that this may have originally been to facilitate spinning flax in the “S” direction.  (Baines, p. 146)  It is interesting to see how that unusual feature seems to have been carried over from Ireland to many of the castle wheels made in Pennsylvania. 

While most makers of these wheels were in Pennsylvania, a few wheels have appeared in New England, too, including one signed “M. Wood.”  That name is intriguing because we know of two New England wheel-making brothers, Phineas and Obadiah Wood (see previous post “Scarlet”).  Could M. Wood be related? 

There is still so much research to be done on American castle wheels—to pin down who made them and why.  But there is already a tremendous amount of research that has been done.  I only skimmed the surface here.  The articles and books listed below were my references and contain much more in-depth and complete background and analysis.  I highly recommend them. 

Descriptions and photographs do not do justice to the beauty and fine craftsmanship of this wheel. A heartfelt thank-you to Bill Leinbach for entrusting me with this amazing wheel, for his generosity in sharing time and knowledge, and for the photograph of Elizabeth Danner. 

References:

Leinbach, William A., “Daniel Danner: The Man Behind the Wheel,” The Spinning Wheel Sleuth, Issue 4, January 1994, pp. 6-8.

McMahon, James D., “Daniel Danner Woodturner: An Early 19^th Century Rural Craftsman in Central Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Folklife; Vol. 43, No. 1, Fall 1993., pp. 8-19.

Taylor, Michael, “Humes, Danner, and Killian Flax Wheels,” The Spinning Wheel Sleuth, Issue 35, January 2007, pp. 2-4.

Taylor, Michael, “Castle Wheels in Lancaster County, PA,” The Spinning Wheel Sleuth, Issue 93, July 2016, pp. 2-4.

Baines, Patricia, Spinning Wheels, Spinners & Spinning, B. T Batsford, Ltd, London, 1977, pp. 144-46.

Pennington, David and Taylor, Michael, Spinning Wheels and Accessories, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., Atglen, PA 2004, pp. 53-59.

Thompson, G.B., Spinning Wheels (The John Horner Collection), Ulster Museum, Belfast 1976. 

Ancestry.com for genealogies of the Danner and Berg families in Pennsylvania.