I have an account written by an American William Beattie of his trip to Antrim town in 1872/3. He was born in the US but his ancestors came from Antrim. It's a lengthy detailed description (which I am happy to share with anyone) but it happens to include a story about a tailor from Antrim. Not sure it will necessarily help Timothy find his family but may give a bit of background sense. Does for me, anyway.
“We returned from Coleraine to Uncle Sam's and started to talk of returning home. They wanted to keep me in Ireland and made all kinds of promises as to sending me to college and, as they put it, making a man of Willie. Mother listened to it all and at last she said, "We will leave it up to Will, Promise him all you like and
give him time to think it over and let him decide." I had been sickly up until the time we had started on our trip and was now entirely well and as robust as any boy my age. I had had a gorgeous time so they all thought they would have an easy time persuading me to stay. I heard all they had to say, but I did not need any time to make up my mind. Nothing doing! I was going back to old Missouri in the United States where all were alike, one as good as another, where there were no Lords or Ladies to bow to and no king or Queen to adore. That settled the matter, so then the uncles made up to outfit me with clothes made there in Ireland.
They went to Antrim and bought cloth. One evening they called me into the kitchen and there was a big burly man on a stool with the cloth on his knees. I was introduced to him as the tailor who would make my new clothes. He told me to stand out in front of him and to stand up straight and to turn around which I did. Then he got up and said, "All right. I will have the clothes in a week." He did not seem to have a tape measure with him and he took no measurements whatever. Sure enough he brought the clothes in a week and everything fitted perfectly. There was not a single alteration necessary. That started me thinking. I had watched the carpenter at McConnells make the cart without a plan and here was a tailor who looked more like a farmhand than a tailor, able to make me clothes that fit without even one measurement. After the time I had had in Philadelphia getting that overcoat, with three tailors and at least six fittings, my brain went to work to figure out how it was these fellows could do the work to perfection without all the detail of plan measurements. That line of thought has followed me all my life and made me the mechanic I have proved to
be. To carve a statue one must see the form within the block. In other words, one must see an object in detail and visualize it entirely before starting to make it. By intensive concentration many hard problems are overcome”.
