This early-nineteenth-century patriotic quilt was owned by members of the Brown-Frances family of Canterbury, Connecticut, before being donated to the Museum in 1947. The donor's grandmother had acquired possession of it along with other household furnishings that were in the eighteenth-century family homestead.
The focus of the quilt, the large center block, is an adaptation of the Great Seal of the United States. An appliquéd eagle holding an arrow in one claw and a leafy sprig in the other dominates the block A shield with fifteen stars that indicate the number of states from June 1, 1792 until June 1, 1796 is behind the eagle. Appliquéd floral and bird motifs complete the block. This center block is set in a field of 4¾-inch blocks alternately plain and pieced in a nine-patch variation. The fabrics include thirty-eight roller-printed, plain colored and white cottons. It is quilted in parallel diagonal lines ¾-inch apart, 7 or 8 stitches per inch. From the late-eighteenth century the American eagle motif has signified patriotism and sacrifice. This quilt by an unknown Canturbury, Connecticut, quilt maker displays a unique rendition of that powerful symbol.
This album style quilt top belonged to Susan and Henry Underwood of Baltimore, Maryland. The quilt top is composed of twenty-five 17½-inch blocks. Seventeen are signed or initialed by Underwood family members and friends associated with the Methodist Church. Susan and Henry were married in the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore on August 5, 1830.
Album quilts, so popular in the mid-19th century, were frequently made by groups of women for presentation to a friend or relative upon a special occasion or as a token to honor a highly regarded member of the community. The blocks on this quilt top include traditional pieced and appliqued patterns, and original designs. One block is dated and inscribed: “I love to see the falling leaf/ To watch the waning moon/ I love to cherish the belief/ That all will change so soon/ Henry Johnson/Baltimore March 9th/ 1844."
The blocks or assembled quilt top were given to Susan and Henry, with Susan expected to finish the quilt. The top, never lined or quilted, was passed down through the family to the donor, Susan Underwood's great-granddaughter.
Cordelia Townsend may have made this quilt or it may have just been in the family as it was donated by her great-grandchildren. Cordelia was born in 1799, married William Everett in 1817 at Goshen, N.Y. She died in 1821.
The early 19th century counterpane is quilted and stuffed, with a center design of a flowering tree enclosed in an oval of feathered arcs. Beyond this are flowers, bunches of grapes, and an undulating row of long feathered leaves. A pomegranate in each corner and groups of curved leaves around the outer edge complete the quilt. The motifs are typical of this period. It has a cotton lining, filling and stuffing. The motifs are stuffed and outlined in quilting; the background is quilted in parallel lines 1/8-inch apart 8-9 stitches per inch. A white cotton tape binding is folded over edge and sewn with a running stitch through all layers. It is finished with 3" fringe on all sides.
Thirty 10-inch blocks were carefully crafted of velvet and plush fabrics to create this crazy-patchwork parlor throw. All types of velvets are represented; plain, cut, embossed, striped, silk with velvet stripes, and velvet ribbon. The effect is of a three-dimensional surface. Each block is constructed on a cotton foundation and enhanced with various embroidery stitches. The throw has a cotton fiber filling. The lining or backing fabric is a challis or delaine, roller-printed with a floral motif. The throw is bound on all sides with a straight strip of black silk satin fabric. The fabrics used in this piece represent the range of velvets and plushes (silk pile fabrics) available to the upper middle classes in America.
According to family information, Rachel Woodrow crafted this example of a quilted and stuffed-work bedcover. Outlining the center is a meandering vine with baskets of flowers and vines. This is framed by a band of large quilted and stuffed diamonds. A plain white border of diagonal grid quilting, 9 stitches per inch, completes the counterpane.
Little is known of Rachel Woodrow. Donor information says that she died in 1812 in the area of Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and is buried in that cemetery. The family information claims a relationship to Woodrow Wilson. Rachel’s legacy is a finely executed needlework example of the early 19th century.
This whole-cloth quilt was made from an Indian palampore, about 1780, that according to the donor was given to Thomas Sully (1783-1872) by a woman whose portrait he had painted. An inscription written in ink on the palampore before it was lined and quilted states:
“. . . Thomas Sully This Quilt was purchased 1736 of a Smuggler of East India goods in the Isle of White [sic], England (Belonging to my late friend Mifs Bradford. Elizabeth Smith Charleston.”
While the date in the inscription appears to be 1736, the design of the palampore is more typical of the latter half of the 18th century.
Thomas Sully painted Elizabeth McEuen Smith’s portrait in 1823 (now in the collection of the Honolulu Academy of Arts). He painted another of her sisters, Emily and Mary McEuen (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Elizabeth was born in 1795 in Philadelphia, Pa. She married Charles Willis Smith in 1817. Elizabeth died in Georgetown, D.C., in 1839.
A small stamp, possibly an agent’s stamp in Tamil appears in the same area as the inscription. The palampore quilt top was both mordant-painted (a chemical process to fix a dye), dyed, and hand-painted, in Madras, India. It was probably quilted and lined in the mid-19th century.
Initials “S.A.Y.” are inked on the corner of this pieced and appliqued quilt. According to family information Sarah Ann Young made this quilt and two others as a teenager, probably with the assistance of her mother, Elizabeth Young. The cotton fabrics used to create the “Rose of Sharon” variation were home dyed. What appears tan now, was once green. The 3-ply cotton applique threads still show as a green color against the tan. It is quilted, 10 stitches per inch, with hearts, vines, and outline and echo quilting on the appliqued motifs and background.
Sarah Ann Young was born in Preble Co., Ohio, July 28, 1849 and died in Greenville, Ohio, April 20, 1936. The quilt descended in her brother, John Franklin Young’s, family.
Martha Jane Taylor employed her needlework skills to create this chevron patterned parlor throw. According to the donors, her granddaughters, she died in 1882 after a long illness; possibly making this throw was a distraction for her as her health declined.
The 4-inch vertical bands made of strips of silk pieced in a chevron pattern are separated by 1 ½-inch silk ribbons. A 4-inch crazy-patched border with some embroidery frames the center. The lining consists of 30 square and rectangular fragments of a purple/black/white plaid silk fabric. The filling is cotton with an inner lining of cotton cloth. It is tied with purple and yellow silk.
Martha Jane Nicar was born in 1827 or 1828 in Lynchburg, Virginia. In 1845 she married Carlo Reed Taylor (1821-1897) in Mishawaka, Indiana. Carlo R. Taylor was born in Lewiston, N.Y., but traveled and worked in many parts of the country. During the Civil War, according to the family, he was employed by the Confederate Army, possibly manufacturing all the printer’s ink for the Confederacy during that time. He was involved in businesses in Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, among other places. They had five children. Martha died in South Bend, Indiana in 1882.
An appliquéd and embroidered adaptation of the Great Seal of the United States centers this cotton quilt made by Susan Strong in the early second quarter of the nineteenth century. Susan probably made this quilt in Ohio, where her family moved prior to 1820. The Great Seal has been in use since 1782 to authenticate documents issued by the United States government. Adaptations of this patriotic motif, a bald eagle with its wings spread, have been used on many quilts.
In Susan’s adaptation, the eagle holds vines in its talons and beak instead of the arrows, olive branch, and banner with E Pluribus Unum that are found on the traditional motif. The thirteen appliquéd 8-pointed stars above the eagle represent the thirteen colonies. The center panel is framed by three borders, each 7½-inches wide. They are appliquéd with the same design of flowering vines growing from corner vases. Two fabrics, a white cotton and roller-printed discharge white on blue cotton, are used alternately for the appliqué and the background. The shield and details on the eagle’s head are embroidered with silk thread in chain and satin stitches. Quilting is 6 stitches to the inch, in various patterns. This patriotic quilt is an example of an important design motif used to decorate many objects during the early part of the nineteenth century.
Susan Strong was born on July 4, 1809, in Frederick County, Maryland. She is listed among the pioneers in Richland County, Ohio, those who lived in the county prior to 1820. Charles, George, and John Strong of Maryland are among the 1818 listing of property owners in Jefferson Township. Susan married William Bell (1805-1847) on December 6, 1831. William was the son of Robert Bell, an early developer (1814) of the town of Bellville, Ohio. They had six children, two boys and four girls (all of whom taught school). In 1840 they moved to Hancock County, but Susan returned to Bellville after the death of William in 1847. She did not remarry and later lived with her daughter, Sarah (Mrs. Charles H. Dewey), in Omaha, Nebraska. Susan died in 1875, at age 66.
A block-printed bird dominates this appliqued center panel probably used for a quilt top. Four sprays of block-printed roses and leaves appear to have been later replacements, evidenced by needle-hole patterns in all four corners. The motifs were cut out and appliqued on white cotton; an efficient way to utilize expensive printed fabric. A 1/2-inch red border frames the motifs.
The appliqued panel was part of a larger donation of 18th and 19th century textiles that included quilts, coverlets, rugs, printed fabrics, white-on-white embroidered counterpanes, and blankets among other items.
The date “June 3 1836” and initials “W.B.” in the center panel are plainly evident on this quilted and stuffed white counterpane. Unfortunately no further information was given at the time of donation. Does the date signify an engagement or wedding date? Is “W.B.” the maker or a person honored?
The white-work counterpane is an example of stuffed work using a method of spreading apart the threads in the lining and inserting cotton stuffing. In this way the motifs such as the plumes, sunflowers, daisies, and undulating vines are given a dimensionality. Precise quilting, 10 stitches per inch, further enhances the elegance and overall design of this bedcover.
Two printed cotton fabrics, an indigo and white resist and a brown polka-dot on white, were used to make this version of a "Nine-patch" pieced quilt. Eight-inch pieced blocks alternate with 8-inch printed squares. The original 5-inch border was cut down to 2-inches on three sides and rebound. The quilt is a worn, but well-ordered, geometric example of early 19th century quilt-making.
This album quilt has the inscription "Benoni Pearce Pawling 1850" plainly appliquéd across the top. Whether to celebrate an engagement, announce his availability for marriage, or as a token of friendship it is not evident why this quilt so boldly bears the name, Benoni Pearce. It is known that album quilts were quite popular in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1850 family and friends in the Pawling, New York area joined together to create this example well expressed by one of the inscriptions: "This Humble Tribute I Present - My Friendship to Portray." The needlework, artistry and many inscriptions on the Benoni Pearce Album Quilt make it an important part of the collection.
The eighty-one distinctive blocks of the quilt represent a great many of the quilting techniques and patterns popular in the mid-nineteenth century. Fifty-eight blocks are appliquéd, thirteen are pieced, eight are pieced and appliquéd, one is reverse appliquéd and one is quilted and stuffed. It is constructed mainly of roller printed cottons. The motifs of each of the eighty-one quilt blocks differ, from basic pieced star patterns to free form designs such as a girl jumping rope, a deer or trees. Details on many of the blocks are added in ink or embroidery. The quilting patterns also represent a variety of styles with quilted symbols of hearts, flowers, and various geometric shapes found throughout the quilt.
The many contributors to this quilt have appliquéd, inked or embroidered their signatures to individual blocks, often adding dates, place names, relationship to quilt recipient Benoni Pearce, and even poems. One quilt block depicting a barren gnarled tree expresses the following sentiment:
"I am a broken aged tree
That long has stood the wind and rain
But now has come a cruel blast
And my last hold on earth is gone
No leaf of mine shall greet the spring
No Summers sun exalt my bloom
But I must lie before the storm
And others plant them in my room.
Presented by Your Aunt Anna Dodge."
("Lament For James, Earl of Glencairn," Robert Burns)
Other inscriptions express conventional sentiments. It is through the many dated inscriptions that some of the history of Benoni Pearce's Album Quilt has been established.
Benoni Pearce married Emma Stark in 1851, farmed in the Pawling, Dutchess County, New York, area, had two daughters and died in 1871. By 1873 his widow, Emma, had moved to Washington D.C. with their two daughters and was working as a clerk for the U.S. government, one of the early government girls. Emma Stark Pearce continued to live in Washington D.C. and worked in various government offices until her death in 1899 at age seventy. After she died the quilt remained with her daughter, Jessie, who never married. The other daughter, Augusta, apparently died at a young age. Jessie also lived in Washington D.C., kept boarders and was listed in the city directory as a china painter or artist until her own death in 1907. It was in Jessie's handwritten will that mention was made of "my album quilt . . . ." probably the one that was eventually donated to the Museum in 1972 by descendants. According to the donors they felt that the Museum was better able to preserve and care for the quilt and that such a beautiful object, Benoni Pearce's Album Quilt, should be shared and valued.
In 1891 members of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Findlay, Ohio, created the blocks for this parlor throw to raise money for their newly organized church. Each person was to get ten names at ten cents each for the 25 blocks, for a total of $25.00. Rev. H. C. Stuckenberg was the pastor in charge at the time. When he left a few years later in 1893, the blocks were given to him and his wife, Bertha. It was not until after his retirement in 1929, and just before his death in 1933, that he and his wife settled on the arrangement of the blocks. It was then that she put the squares on a black ground and finished the project.
Rev. Harry C. Stuckenberg was born August 29, 1853 and died October 27, 1933.
Aimee Elkington was twelve when she first embroidered a ribbon for this decorative parlor throw in 1877. It was the beginning of the popularity of “crazy quilts,” decorative tops that were pieced of irregularly shaped bits of silk fabrics, elaborately embroidered, and lined with a silk or cotton fabric. While some may have been used as bedcovers, more often they were displayed in the parlor.
Merchants sold packages of fabric samples, instructions for assembling them, and embroidery patterns to add an endless variety of designs and ornamental stitches. Often the throws were individualized by incorporating mementoes such as campaign ribbons, embroidered or printed poems, and significant phrases, dates or initials. Aimee employed many of the popular motifs and techniques on her throw.
The parlor throw is composed of twenty-five crazy-patched and embroidered blocks. In 1946, almost seventy years after she first started, Aimee joined the blocks together. She died shortly after, before she could add a planned border and lining. Among the motifs are fans, cattails, sunflowers, spider webs, and hearts, all frequently found on other parlor throws. Flowers were not only embroidered but also made of puckered and tacked velvet, padded silk pile, or silk floss that was tacked down and sheared. Applique, crazy patchwork, hand-painting, and fancy embroidery stitches were used to create the elaborate top.
The embroidered initials “AE” in the center signify Aimee Elkington. Some of the blocks may have memorialized friends, such as the crane motif, said to be included for a friend named Crane. A poem, “Easter” by William Croswell, printed on one silk patch, may have had special significance for Aimee. The silk, satin, and velvet fabrics are typical of the period, as are the many colors of silk embroidery thread, chenille, and metallic cord used to embellish them. Created over a lifetime, it is in the rendition that Aimee created a unique and very personal object.
Aimee Elkington was born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1865. She married a Mr. Shepherd, and the couple's daughter, Glaydes, was born in Florida about 1890. On the 1900 census, Aimee was widowed, she and young daughter were living with her mother, Elizabeth Elkington Power, and stepfather, Samuel Power, in Eustis, Lake County, Fla. By 1910 Aimee had remarried, to John L. Hodge, and was living in Lucas, Ohio. As a young child in 1868, John had moved from Canada to the United States. Aimee died in 1946. Glaydes, Aimee’s daughter, donated the quilt (parlor throw) in 1970 and was “delighted to have [my mother’s quilt] in an interesting and wonderful place.”
The focal point, an appliqued basket of flowering branches, is surrounded by an undulating flowering vine and a 2 ½-inch band of printed cotton. These are in turn framed by an 8-inch border appliqued with a leafy undulating vine, another 2 ½-inch band of printed cotton, another 13-inch border with appliqued motifs and a final outer band of printed cotton. Quilted, 9-10 stitches per inch, with a variety of leaf motifs and background of diagonal lines and clamshells. This quilt is a fine example of the frame-within-a-frame overall design.
The large central square contains the inscription: “Presented to Mrs. Mary B. Hill as an expression of esteem by the Ladies of Maltaville.” Mary B. Hill was the wife of Reverend William Hill (1814-1851) of the Presbyterian-Congregational Church of Maltaville, New York. She was born November 13, 1816, to Benton (1786-?) and Elizabeth Barnard in Litchfield, Connecticut. She married on July 13, 1836 and they had one son, Roland. Mary died May 5, 1862, in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1847, women in the church made, joined, lined, and quilted sixty blocks, in addition to the dedicatory center block, to create this example of an album quilt.
Album quilt blocks often contain name, date, or place, and sometimes a poem or verse of special meaning. Almira E. Olmstead added this to her block:
The Tulip and the Butterfly
Appear in gayer coats than I
Let me be dressed fine as I will
Flies, worms, and flowers, exceed me still.
The lines are from “Against Pride in Clothes,” published in 1720 by Isaac Watts (1674–1748), a well-known English hymn writer whose verse is often found on quilts of the period.
The appliquéd blocks are embellished with embroidered details in addition to the inked inscriptions. Flowers, leaves, hearts, stars, crescents, double ovals around the signatures, and other motifs are found in the quilting. As a token of appreciation, this quilt displays the fine quilting skills of the “Ladies of Maltaville.”
This counterpane, or whole-cloth quilt is made of lengths and fragments of cotton, block-printed in England with a palm-tree-and-pheasant motif. A design very popular in the early nineteenth century. The printed fabric dates from 1820-1830, although the quilt was made in the mid-19th century. The lining consists of 36 pieces of plain-woven cotton with several different thread counts. A few pieces have rows of needle holes from previous use.
Written in ink on one piece is "E.L. (?) Hale P.” The quilting pattern consists of diagonal lines about 1 inch apart; 5-6 stitches per inch. The binding is a ¾-inch (finished) straight strip of roller-printed brown striped cotton seamed to the front, whipped to the lining. This quilt is an example of recycling fabrics, possibly bed furnishings, in the mid-19th century.
Below the crewel embroidered basket of flowers in the center panel of this quilt is the cross-stitched inscription: “Margret Nowlan 1822.” The quilt was found in a trunk by renters of a house in Maumee, Ohio. It was noted that Margret Nowlan was a housekeeper whom the owner of the house married after his wife died. After he died, she remarried again, but no names were provided. The significance of the 1822 date is unknown.
Five borders frame the central motif. The two plain borders are composed of several pieces of white cotton fabric that had been previously used. Roller-printed cottons were used for the other three borders. Linen thread was used for the zigzag quilting pattern on this example of a framed center quilt.