The son of Benjamin Fewkes who established the lace factory in Ipswich was Jesse Fewkes. He was a researcher and wrote one of the lace history books with emphasis on that machine era, apparently. The book is in the Internet Archive. 

Anyway: I took a bunch of photos of his notebooks. The most interesting thing was a sample of the finest and smoothest linen I've ever seen. I have not found a linen even close (although to be fair I haven't found all the linens in my relatively short time in lace). 

There was also a sample of the finest cotton made in the US in 1882. 

There were 3 prickings in his notes--short pieces, but definitely prickings. 

I have a bunch of "research" photos, I can't share them publicly but I have posted them in the Ipswich discussion forum. There are more photos, but these are the highlights. 

You have to be a member to see the Discussion Forums, btw.