Beaded woman's cap made of black string and black beads. Beads likely made of a thermoplastic substance, now brittle.
Dome section of cap is a beaded crocheted netting with two overlapping knotted and swagged fringes at bottom. Strung with both round and tubular beads.
Used in Quaker family in Drumore Twp. (see provenance). Donor describes it being use over a "top-of-the-head" hairdo. (Written by Wendell Zercher)
Provenance
Inherited by donor (age 81) from her father, Harry Penrose Carrigan. Donor believes cap was worn by his mother, Roberta Penrose Carrigan, or other female member of her Penrose family. She recalls seeing photos of a family member wearing this, but cannot find photo.
Date Range
Late 19th century
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
DAC
Storage Wall
Island 2
Storage Cabinet
Unit 13
Storage Shelf
Shelf 3
Storage Container
Box 0059
Object Name
Cap
Material
Cotton
Diameter (cm)
26.67
Diameter (ft)
0.875
Diameter (in)
10.5
Condition
Good
Condition Date
2005-11-09
Condition Notes
Several string swags along bottom edge are broken and beads missing. Several loose beads.
Object ID
G.05.27.02
Place of Origin
Drumore Twp.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Four-block squares alternate with squares of whole white print. Four blocks composed of two red squares of a red print and two squares of a white print. Perhaps ten different red prints are used alternately. All framed by three narrow borders using a red print for two and a blue print for the middle one.
Quilted shell patterns are used throughout along with a rope pattern at border, all stitched in an uneven hand. Roberta would likely have been around 65 years of age when the quilt was made.
Both the Penrose and the Carrigan families were Quaker and attended the Drumore Meeting (12 mi. south of Liberty Square). However, Enos Carrigan converted to Presbyterian, and after Roberta Penrose married him, they attended the Chestnut Level Presbyterian Church. Enos Carrigan was a farmer (did not follow blacksmith trade of his father) who also helped found and was one of the directors of the Farmers National Bank in Quarryville as well as the director of the Southern Mutual Insurance Co. also in Quarryville. In addition, he was Drumore Twp. school director at time of his death. Enos & Roberta are both buried in the Drumore Friends Meeting House cemetery.
Provenance
Donor believes the Penrose & Carrigan families were Scots-Irish, as were so many of the early settlers of Drumore Twp. She & her genealogist cousin are unaware of any Welsh ancestors. Ellis & Evans states (p. 969) that the Penroses emigrated from Bucks to Lancaster Co. in 1827.
Donor recalls as a little girl seeing her grandmother Roberta and her unmarried sister Sarah Jane (who was then in a wheelchair & living with Enos Carrigan family) both setting up the quilting frame in the living room during the winter months. It was likely during these years that this quilt was made.
