Signature quilt presumably made for the marriage of John L. Shot / Ghot (unknown) and Fannie Gish (24 January 1835 - 26 February 1916), by friends and family in Rapho and Mount Joy Twp. area. The Gish family were Mennonite farmers & are buried in Keener Cemetery, Manheim -- including "Fannie M. Gish" (name not changed to Shot). Marriage apparently did not occur and she continued to live in parents' home through old age, always listed as single.
Pieced top of printed cottons in red, green and yellow, except for white signature blocks. There are 25 blocks of varying prints pieced into a geometric floral design. At center of each is a 3.75" square of white cotton with a name in cursive done in running stitch with red thread. At top left, the square reads: "John. L. Shot (or Ghot) / Fannie Gish/ was made in/ the year/ 1854." Outer border and sashing are the same printed fabric of green and yellow.
Back is a red and pink cotton print, wrapped to front to create a self-binding. Cotton batting.
Provenance
Purchased by Herrs Antiques (Trish) in 1990 from the estate of John Getz (1901-1986), Pitt St., in Manheim. Family members believed his wife, Sue Gish Ober Getz, was the granddaughter of Fannie Gish, but research instead identifies Peter and Mary Nissley Gish as Sue's grandparents. Quilt recipient Fannie Gish remained single with no known issue. Quilt likely descended within the Gish family to John and Sue Getz and due to its excellent condition, seems to have never been used.
Very good condition; used little if at all. White squares show light brown staining.
Object ID
P.90.02
Notes
A John Schott was found who was born in France on 1 Aug 1793 and died in Marietta 10 Oct 1860. He is buried in the Marietta Union Meeting House Cemetery.
Place of Origin
Mount Joy Twp. and Rapho Twp.
Credit
Generosity of the James Hale Steinman Foundation, Heritage Center Collection
Signature quilt, Bear's Paw or Goose Tracks pattern, made of pieced and appliqued solid red and white cottons. Bear's Paw blocks are 9.5-10", made of 9 squares. The four corner white squares each have 2 red triangles & a square appliqued onto white to created pattern. Each center patch has a hand-penned signature.
Upper left block reads: "THE PROPERTY of Elizabeth Mann of Manor Township County of LANCASTER PA 1852." Remaining 35 blocks bear signatures of relatives and friends from Lancaster, York and Union Counties. Design blocks separated by 4" wide pieced white sashing; several horizontal sashes misaligned. Red binding stitched to front, wrapped and stitched to back. Backing is the same white cotton.
Hand quilted in white. Design blocks have lattice except for parallel lined in signature patch. Vertical sashing has vine with large flowers and large round berries? on vine. Horizontal sashing has large flower flanked by two long leaves and a line of rings within.
Made by family and friends of Elizabeth B. Mann (1832-1906) before her 1854 marriage to Eli C. Shuman (1830-1916), son of Jacob and Fanny Shuman of Washington Boro. See NOTES
Provenance
Quilt passed from maker to daughter Ida Shuman Willis to daughter Miriam K. Willis (single) who, at age 85, sold the quilt to Michael Rizzuto, an appraiser in York Springs, Pa. He then sold to Heritage Center.
Top has a sprinkling of various small stains and light soil. Back has increased soil, many small stains with some very dark.
Structurally very good condition.
Object ID
P.88.13.1
Notes
Elizabeth and Eli moved in 1860 to a 200-acre farm called "Bunker Hill Farm" in the Good Hope area of Cumberland Co. They raised 10 children and were then buried at Hope United Methodist Church on the Carlisle Pike.
See file for listing of signature names, places and relationships.
Place of Origin
Manor Twp.
Credit
Generosity of the James Hale Steinman Foundation, Heritage Center Collection
Friendship quilt, Variable Star pattern, made for and/or by Sarah Jane Taylor and signed by her friends, family and relatives. Made of pieced, mostly small-scale cotton prints, front and back, except for 3-inch-square white signature patches.
Quilt consists of seven columns of eight large blocks (8.75" square) in each (total of 56). Each block has various printed cottons with a variant star at the center and a white signature patch at the center of each star. Some signatures signed by hand in ink and some stamped. Most are Lancaster County, some are other counties and several are states such as Indiana and New Jersey. Dates range from 1843 to 1850. Sarah Jane Taylor patch is a bird-heart-flower oval stamp in 5th column, 3rd from bottom.
Blocks separated by inner sash of green print with black stripes. A wider portion of this print forms left border. Batting is wool. Hand-quilted in white w/ undetermined floral/foliate design. Wide left border has a 3-line cable pattern. Backing is a cotton print of black "T" shapes on white ground.
Quilt cut at top and right side, probably with a loss of the entire column of eight squares (as suggested by Amy Finkel appraisal). Edge is then finished with front bound to back. Bottom and left edges have original 1/4" binding of printed cotton, backing brought forward.
Provenance
Descent from Sarah Jane Taylor Slemmer (June 15, 1834 -- Jan. 26, 1869) to sister Kate's daughter, niece Helen Haskell (born 1890) who married Charles F. Bowman, Sr.. Quilt given by their three children.
See file for: Correspondence and supporting info., retired photo loan file of Karen Weaver of Denver, CO, and copy of Amy Finkel's one-page appraisal.
Quilt has been cut along right side and top, with the front folded back. Possibly an entire column of 8 blocks was removed. Multiple brown stains and soiling overall. Wear to fabrics with discoloration; binding esp. worn with many areas of exposed batting along bottom and esp. left side. Backing has strong wear.
Object ID
G.91.09
Notes
Sarah Jane Taylor (1834-1869) married Washington Slemmer 25 Nov. 1862 in Rosemont Twp. in Delaware County, PA in Radnor Methodist Church (located on Main Line between Bryn Mawr and Villanova).
Place of Origin
Leacock Twp.
Credit
Given in memory of Helen Haskell Bowman by her children Helen Bowman Jermyn, Marian Bowman Weaver and Charles Franklin Bowman, Jr., Heritage Center Collection
Nine-block floral applique quilt, white cotton front and back. Front is pieced with 9 large blocks 24" square, each having the same large appliqued branching flowers. Surrounding blocks is an outside border of white, 7" wide. Narrow binding has front wrapped around to back. No apparent batting.
Floral appliques have a large red bloom centered on a 3-branch flower with green leaves and red buds terminating each branch. Central bloom has a cutwork center roughly conforming to shape of bloom with additional embellishment. Blooms are solid red cotton; stems and leaves are a green cotton print having tiny yellow dots on a faint grid pattern.
Densely handquilted in white thread. Intricacy & density make it difficult to identify motifs, but they appear to be circles, large sunflowers and other variously sized flowers, floral vining with feathery leaves lining only one side of vine, filfots, scalloping, etc.
Donor's written note states maker was Elizabeth Kraybill (1812-1894). See Notes
Provenance
Passed from mother to daughter as follows:
Elizabeth Kraybill Nissley to
Katherine Nissley (Engle) to
Martha Engle (Groff) to
(Frances) Ruth Groff (Fox) to
Donor Jean Fox (White).
Donor states quilt was examined by Heritage Center staff many years ago and was told the quilt was made before 1850 as indicated by the dating of the green fabric.
Very good condition overall with only several light stains on front and back.
Object ID
G.08.02.01
Notes
Elizabeth Kraybill married Jacob Kraybill Nissley (1808-1862) and operated a farm just NW of Mt. Joy Boro. They are buried in Kraybill Mennonite Cemetery.
See descent chart in file.
Place of Origin
Mount Joy Twp.
Role
Quiltmaker
Credit
Gift of Jean White in Memory of Martha Engle Groff, Heri
Tulip block quilt of cottons. Blocks are set on point with tulip blocks arranged in 4 columns of 5, alternating with plain white blocks.Tulip design has 3 blooms with 4 petals each. Blooms are a red floral print and stems w/ leaves are a green abstract print.Tulip blocks pieced in 7 patches and stem w/ leaves are applique. White borders are 4.75" wide except for 9.5" bottom. Back is white and wraps edges toward front to form narrow binding. Cotton batting separated.
Cumberland County, likely Shippensburg area
Hand quilted with white thread following still-visible pencil lines. Outer borders have an undulating feather interspersed with an 8-petal flower. The tulip blocks have horizontal parallel lines and the white blocks have a feather wreath. All quilting has double lines.
See Provenance & Notes.
Provenance
Letter of 6/5/1948, in file, from donor's great aunt Nannie (Nancy) Foreman Spangler, states the tulip patches were made by donor's great great great Grandmother Culp, being "at least 150 years old" and that she (Nannie) "had them quilted about sixty years ago" (c.1890?). Trish Herr believes the prints used in the tulip blocks are circa 1840s, confirming the story.
Thus, patches were made by the mother of Mary Culp Atherton (1812-1849), she passed to Mary, then to her daughter Ann Margaret Atherton Foreman (1840-1925) to daughter Nannie Foreman Spangler (1859-1951) who had quilt assembled, to grand niece & donor Margaret Wagner Aungst (1918- 2012).
Generally good with some brown scattered stains and a large stained area at middle of left edge. Apparently rarely washed due to still very visible pencil lines. Many seams in piecing are separating. Backing has acid burn on fold lines and section that was folded and likely touching wood of blanket chest.
Object ID
G.08.03.03
Notes
Nancy Foreman was the maternal aunt of donor's father, Marshall Wagner. Printout of digital photo taken by Trish of the Foreman sisters is in this file. Aunt Nannie Foreman Spangler is positioned at two o'clock. They were raised in Shippensburg where their father James K. Foreman was Sheriff. Nannie married Henry Spangler & lived in Phila. where Henry was a professor at U. of Penn. They had one child, also Henry.
Donor states the Culp gr gr gr grandmother who pieced the quilt patches is unknown at present, altho she believes descent went from a great great great grandmother Culp to an Atherton to the Foreman family. (Correct - wrz). Donor may have records or photos in storage, but unlikely to discover soon. (Deceased 2012)
Place of Origin
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
Credit
Gift of Margaret C. Aungst, Heritage Center Collection
Quaker-made quilt, Star Block pattern of cottons by Ann Mather Ambler. Made before her Jan. 1861 marriage to Quaker farmer Aquilla Bolton Lamborn, after which they settled on a farm near Liberty Square in Drumore Twp.
Made of 16 hand-pieced blocks, each 17" sq., set straight in rows 4 x 4. Each block is a broken star design of red cotton prints and off-white muslin, pieced with diamonds and squares. Red print sashing 3" wide with diamond-in-square cornerstones. Outer border is a red print 5" wide and inner border is white, 3" wide.
Back is a tan and blue cotton print, brought forward to front to create binding. Batting is a very thin-weight cotton. Handquilted in white; outer border has diagonal lines, inner border and sashing have a double-line twisted cable and pieced star blocks have outlined components.
Appraiser notes two names for this quilt: "Carpenter's Wheel" and "Eight-point Broken Star" (Barbara Brackman's book #3810).
Provenance
Maker to daughter Alice Lamborn Long (she and husband James Long moved to Chester Co. in 1915), then to Alice's granddaughter Ruth W. Long (of Toms River, NJ) for safekeeping until finally given to nephew/donor Mitchell K. Long.
Ruth W. Long lived in Toms River, NJ. and recopied the handwritten family history, now laminated. Additional old paper note reads: "Quilt made by Ann M. Lamborn before 1861."
Pieced quilt of silks, cotton batting, glazed cotton back, cut in 2 halves, made by Quaker Deborah Simmons Coates, wife of Lindley Coates (1794-1856). Has 19 horizontal bands of dress silks (many produced by Harmonist Community) in alternating triangles arranged in Birds in the Air or Flying Geese pattern using the template method. Large triangles of varying patterns alternate with large triangles with 3 smaller appliqued triangles of contrasting patterns. Colors are browns, tans, beiges, electric and royal blue, peach and green. Each quilt half has a green silk binding on the three outside edges, and tan silk on the inner vertical cut edge. Quilting patterns are clamshell, diamond, cross in a square and diagonals.
At quilt center is a cream-colored triangle with an abolitionist stamp depicting a kneeling enslaved Black male in chains over the words: "Deliver me from the oppression/ of man." This stamped triangle was cut in two when quilt was divided; image now hidden by modern binding. According to Cuesta Benberry research, this image of a kneeling enslaved person originated with the English ceramic firm of Wedgwood in the late 1700s. See items 08.242 and 42.76.11 in the collectiosn of Metropolitan Museum of Art for seals with a similar motif. The Wedgwood family were ardent abolitionists, decorating various ceramics with this image, resulting in its rapid adoption by American anti-slavery groups. Used in many forms and media over the years, it remains the logo of the still-existing Pennsylvania Abolition Society and appears on organization's official publications.
Lindley and Deborah Coates, of West Grove, Chester Co., married there on 12/16/1819 but lived near Christiana in Sadsbury Twp., Lancaster Co. They attended Sadsbury Friends Meeting House near Christiana. Ardent abolitionists, their home was what is now designated station #5 on the Underground Railway. Lindley became President of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1840, before William Lloyd Garrison. Deborah Coates became a Hicksite Quaker minister according to historian Beverly Wilson Palmer. Hicksites were the more radical Quakers, named after leader Elias Hicks.
Provenance
Quilt passed to son Simmons (1821-1862) & wife Emeline Jackson. (Deborah Coates lived w/ widow Emeline on her Chester Co. farm (Evergreen Hall in West Grove) for many years following Simmon's 1862 death. See census records). Descent to their daughter Elizabeth Jackson Coates who married Marriott Brosius, U.S. congressman from Lancaster. The quilt was then divided between their two daughters, donor's maternal grandmother Graceanna Brosius Biddle and her sister Gertrude Coho Reinhartson. The two halves were then reunited when given to donor, Marjorie Ayars Laidman. Deborah S. Coates was donor's great great great grandmother.
Overall good condition. Two halves of quilt (with recent inside binding on cut edges) are "mounted" on cotton muslin, side-by-side. Silks show significant deterioration -- cracking, splitting and abrasion -- with some losses. Binding also has deterioration with some losses. (See 1985-86 condition report by conservator Linnea Davis.)
Documented in Quilt Harvest #448-B (records in Archives).
Object ID
G.86.05
Place of Origin
Sadsbury Twp.
Credit
Gift of Marjorie A. Laidman, Heritage Center Collection
Papercut applique quilt, printed cottons circa 1860, made by Eliza (Lizzie) Weidler Rudy (14 Sep 1839 - 18 Mar 1919) of Oregon, Lancaster Co. for her hope chest.
Nine block design with leaf and heart variant appliqued with in a red calicao print on blue ground. Inner sash of dark green print and inner border of a pieced sawtooth pattern in red and blue of blocks. Wide outer border of another red print with mitered corners.
Hand-quilted with a cotton running stitch. The quilt edges are self-finished (back turned to front). Back is a cotton print and the batting is cotton.
Inscription: Signed in ink at both bottom corners, "L.W. Rudy" apparently after marriage since quilt was made before her 4 July 1861 marriage, while in her teens (per granddaughter).
Provenance
Passed from maker to daughter Anna Rudy Keller (Mrs. Harry Lane) to daughter Florence K. Lane who sold it at sale in Lititz while living at Luther Acres, Lititz. Purchased by Trish Herr who then sold to Heritage Center.
Florence Lane reported that her grandmother Eliza Weidler Rudy married Isaac B. Keller, a Church of the Brethren minister and farmer from Springville (north of Lincoln). Eliza was in her late teens when she stitched this quilt for her hope chest. (Eliza was 20 yrs old in 1859, so made no later than this).
Pieced block quilt uses plain white and various printed cottons. Interpreted as either blocks set on point or set straight. Made by a Quaker family.
Top can be viewed as 12 columns of 12 blocks, set straight, yielding 144 blocks. Within each block is a large (7 - 7 1/4") square of either printed fabric or white, set on point. Small triangles in corners match the fabric of the square. A variety of cotton prints are used.
Alternately, top can be viewed as smaller blocks set on point containing either white only or pieced triangles of 2 different prints.
White cotton back; narrow binding of printed cotton with anchors; cotton batting.
Quilting designs are concentric circles, tulip or other flower, asterisk, parallel lines, scallops, hearts, etc. Double-line stitching on the flowers.
Provenance
Donor believes quilt descended from her Quaker ancestors, the Stubbs. Donor's great-grandmother was Verlinda Lily Stubbs(1831-1912) born in the Stubbs Mansion in Fulton Twp. She came from a Quaker family but in 1851 she married Thomas Ross Neel of Drumore Twp., who was Presbyterian Scots-Irish. She was then reportedly disowned by Little Brittain Monthly Meeting for marrying a non-member. Verlinda was the mother of Charles Neel who was in turn the father of Thomas Ross Neel who was the father of donor.
Multiple brown stains scattered over surface; surface soil is pronounced over much of surface and especially evident on white fabric. Back also stained.
Extensive fabric and batting losses due to deterioration.
Object ID
S.20.1
Place of Origin
Lancaster County
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
