1900 Census Sheds Some Light

Fidela Recio born in 1883, she was 17 in 1900. She died at age 90.





This evening I was researching my Family History and found an interesting entry that I had not heard of before as a profession listed next to three women in my Jose Maria Recio family group. All the men listed were listed as "farm laborer." The women were listed as doing "Mexican Drawn Work." The women were my great-grandfather, Feliciano's sisters, Basilia, Amada, and Fidela.

I read it but was not sure what it meant. I had never heard of it. So, I "googled" it. It is a decorative type of hand work. I found the explanation below.

The craft of drawn thread has been around a long time. It’s a kind of openwork on linen where you remove some of the threads from the base fabric then rearrange or decorate the remaining threads with stitchery. It’s used especially for doilies, table and dresser scarfs, place mats and anywhere a decorative cloth can be used.

These women are from the late 1880s and dressed of that era. They are holding frames from the Mexican Drawn Work.