The mention of wool may still activate romantic memories of the distant past. It can bring into view a dedicated mother sitting at a revolving wheel in her kitchen, converting wool from her sheep into yarn which she will use later to make the winter's supply of socks, mittens and sweaters for her family. Fortunately, when the good mothers retired from their spinning wheels in the late 1930s, their industry did not vanish. Tributaries of strong Irish and Scottish stock blended their typically natural talents, perfecting and, one might say, even immortalizing, the humble countrywoman's craft of earlier times.

On Prince Edward Island, the name Condon has been a household word for almost 60 years. It is still almost synonymous with warmth and comfort, the warmth and comfort of the famous Condon's woollen products.

John Condon and his wife emigrated to this country from Ireland in the 1790s or early 1800s, and settled eventually on Lot 63, in what is present-day Murray Harbor North, Prince Edward Island. One of their sons, James Condon, was the father of William Condon, who is the central figure, along with his brother-in-law, William Landrigan, in any story featuring William Condon and Sons Limited Woollen Mills of Charlottetown. William Condon was born May 19, 1870 in Murray Harbor North.

In 1925, William Landrigan bought a flour and grist mill in Souris, Kings County. This purchase was legalized by a Souris barrister, the late Arthur F. McQuaid, QC, November 8, 1925. In 1928, William Landrigan expanded his flour and grist mill in Souris, branching out into the production of yarn and woollen blankets. At a woollen mill in Oxford, Nova Scotia, the Oxford Woollen Mills Limited, William Landrigan bought a set of cards, a spinner, a reeler and a loom. Two employees at the Oxford plant, Frank Myatt and Sam Stiddel, came to Souris to set up the new woollen mill for Mr. Landrigan.

On July 5, 1929, production started at Landrigan's woollen mill in Souris. On the first day of business, 49 pounds of wool was spun into yam. This increased to 118 pounds on the next day. The first week's production was 1,227 pounds of wool. Clearly, the wool sensalion in Souris attracted a growing clientele. The "rumour mill" was likewise spinning vigorously in and around Souris. William Landrigan got a report that someone was planning to set up a woollen mill in Charlottetown. Naturally he was disturbed by this report and reacted. He approached his brother-in-law, William Condoo, a lobster-packer in Murray Harbor North, and both of them discussed the potential repercussions that such a venture might have on the Souris woollen industry.

Landrigan announced that he wanted to move his Souris business to Charlottetown where it could expand and enjoy a much larger market. He proposed to William Condon that he should move everything to Charlottetown except the carding mill. This should stay in Souris, he felt, because several people in that area still wanted their wool carded into rolls which they could then spin at home, even if home-spinning was rapidly becoming a lost art.

Indeed, most people in eastern Kings County now preferred to exchange their wool at the Souris mill for yarn or blankets. The immediate result of the Condon-Landrigan dialogue was that Condon joined Landrigan in a woollen mill business in Charlottetown. In late 1930 and early 1931, Condon's Woollen Mills Limited was established in Charlottetown. On October 17, 1930, Landrigan and Condon purchased a large four-storey building at 65 Queen Street in Charlottetown, which had been an hotel. Joining them as employees were Sam Stiddel and Frank (who helped found the woollen mill in Souris in 1928), Gus Paquet and Sarah MacPhee, both from Souris, and Jamie Prowse of Charlottetown. Stiddel and Myatt were to be card-operator and spinner, respectively; Paquet would be chief washer and wool-picker.

In July, 1931, production began and continued until Christmas of that same year. The mill operated only during the period when wool was available from the local farmers. The company received wool from Prince Edward Island farmers as well as from farmers in Nova Scotia and the Magdalene Islands. Locally, farmers exchanged their wool for yarn and blankets, usually paying a small amount to make up the difference. Some farmers sold their wool for cash.

Before long, the new company attracted a lively clientele who bought both yarn and blankets. Direct sales to merchants were fast becoming both an encouraging and profitable transaction. Sometime between 1930 and 1933, William Condon's son, Louis, joined the firm as an employee. In 1933, in a sudden move, William Landrigan sold his shares in the company to William Condon.

In June, 1934, the woollen mill was destroyed by afire originating in a woolpicker. However, the building was reconstructed, machines were repaired and production was resumed.

The years 1935-1940 revealed a continued increase in business at the mill, with several additional employees being hired.

Jerome Gillis of St. Peter's Bay, P.E.I., married Louis Condon's sister, Ada, in 1935. She worked at the mill as a bookkeeper. In the winter of 1940, Jerome joined Condon's as a regular employee, taking his turn in several phases of the operation. A man of great ability and dedicatiop, Jerome entered the business in a professional role before very long. On July 14, 1941, he joined William and Louis Condon in a partnerspip legalized by H. Francis MacPhee, QC. The firm was henceforth to be knowh as William Condon and Sons Limited Woollen Mills. On Christmas Eve, 1942, came the shocking news that the mill had been destroyed by fire again. However, the mill rose once more over the debris of its latest misfortune. By mid-1943, operations had resumed at the mill.

Between 1938 and 1945, most of Condon's sales were made to residents of Prince Edward Island and the Magdalene Islands. However, the company was also starting to do business with customers in New York City, West Virginia, Quebec and Alberta. In the midst of this business boom, William Condon retired on June 1, 1945, at the age of 75. Fire struck, again in June, 1945, but this time it was only an electrical fire, causing little structural damage. In the late summer of 1958, Jerome Gillis developed an illness which was later diagnosed as being cerebral haemorrhage, a condition which proved to be fatal in September. The seventeen-year partnership of William and Louis Condon and Jerome Gillis was prematurely dissolved.

On November 7, 1958, a new partnership was formed, consisting this time of Louis Condon and his sister Ada (Condon) Gillis, wife of the late Jerome. Ada's son, William Gillis, who started working at the woollen mill in 1961, later entered into partnership with Louis Condon and Ada Gillis. This arrangement lasted only five years when Louis Condon developed cancer, and died March 6, 1968. And, so ended the career of a man who had been associated with the mills since 1931. He was the last Condon in the long and successful line of Condons whose enterprise was, and still is, synonymous with woollen products on Prince Edward Island and in many other parts of North America as well. Later in 1968, William Gillis was appointed manager of William Condon and Sons Limited, a position he still holds as the business continues to prosper in Charlottetown.

Copyright
Waldron H. Leard