Long ago the people in my district used also make their own starch. They used make it in the following manner.
First they used get potatoes and clean them and then grate them with an instrument known as a grater. This instrument was made of iron and one side of it was rough. The liquid stuff that would come out of the potatoes after grating them would be put into a basin and put out in the sun to bleach. Then when it would be bleached it would be taken out of the basin and made into starch. This was very good starch and it was used by all the old people long ago for starching collars and shirts. This starch is not made by any of the people in my district now.
This starch was made long ago by an old woman in my district named Hannah Whelan. This woman's