Archibald McNicol - "Since 1871, a date now over a half a century in the past, Archibald McNicol has been an important factor in textile manufacturing in New London County, Connecticut, first, in Norwich, then in Jewett City. The McNicols, Archibald, the father, Archie and Alexander, the sons, were contemporary in the textile business, and when the elder man passed away, at the age of seventy-four
, he was succeeded by the son, who from his capable father had received the instruction in manufacturing which made him a worthy successor. Archibald McNicol was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1840, where he spent the first twenty-six years of his life, there obtaining a good education and mastering the details of the machinist's trade in its relation to textile printing machinery. He came from Scotland to the United States in 1866, and for five years was employed in erecting machinery, manufactured by a Scotch firm, and used in the printing of textiles. In 1871 he entered the employ of the Arnold Print Works, and was connected with different mills until 1889, when he came to Greenville, a suburb of Norwich, Connecticut, there associating with the Norwich Bieachery, and then the United States Finishing Company, dyers and printers of textiles. A large cotton cloth printing, dyeing plant. McNicol, with his family, visited in Scotland, his old home, and toured Europe, returning in 1902 to Jewett City. There he reentered business life as founder and principal owner of the Jewett City Textile Novelty Company, of which he was president until his death, in May, 1914, aged seventy-four years. He was one of the strong men of the textile manufacturing business in Eastern Connecticut, and was highly regarded by his business associates. McNicol married, in Scotland, Mary Montgomery born there in 1865, who died in Jewett City, Connecticut, in January, 1919. They were the parents of six children.
