Quilt of pieced cottons prints; star pattern. Four large stars of similar fabric arrangement on a field of red within blocks defined by yellow sash that also forms outer border. Eight-pointed stars are created with bars of fabric.
Back of green cotton floral print, brought forward to create binding. Quilting patterns are hand-stitched zig-zag, chevron, etc. Batting not evident.
Provenance
Jennie Crum inherited the quilt from her mother, Bessie M. Zeiters Crum (Mrs. David F. Crum). Made by unknown members of the Zeiters family and friends. Groups of women often gathered in various homes to work on quilts, says donor.
Donor's grandparents were Adam and Martha(?) Zeiters, farmers outside of Hummelstown. They built a home at 135 S. Hanover St. in Hummelstown for retirement. Their daughter Bessie married David Franklin Crum on Feb. 23, 1907 and inherited the Zeiters home. Crum was a time and record keeper at Brownstone Quarry outside of town.
Donor was the eldest of three girls, became a teacher and taught (all grades except 2nd) most of her life in the Phila. area, such as Elkins Park. Jennie Zeiters Crum was born Aug. 1908 and recalls quilting parties.
Quilt with Broken Star pattern, cottons with colors indicating Ohio Amish origin (appraiser suggests PA due to greens & pinks). Machine pieced and hand quilted. All solid colors, some polished.
Central large star of yellow, pink, green and lavender on a navy ground. Enclosed by a thin 1.5" wide pieced border of pink and green as well as on outer border of navy, about 7.5" wide. Boldly finished with a sawtooth applique binding of yellow.
Backing is two different lavender solid cottons. Printing on a selvage edge has "LANCASTER KALBURNIE" visible in several areas. Batting is a thin cotton.
Dense quilting is finely done in a contrasting color. Star has parallel lines with feather wreaths in between. Undulating feather motif and grid on both outer border and corners of the large square of navy ground.
Other examples of Broken Star: p. 115 in Eve Granick, The Amish Quilt; p. 52 ff. in Pellman & Pellman, The World of Amish Quilts
Made by an unknown Amish quiltmaker in Ohio or Pennsylvania.
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
Pieced and appliqued block quilt of cotton with floral pattern on white ground and eagle quilting.
Top is pieced with floral blocks on point alternating with white open blocks (approx. 8.5" sq.). There are 64 stylized/geometric pieced flowers (peonies?) of 6-petals. Flower top is a red floral print; lower part is a green floral print. Stem and leaves are appliqued. Floral blocks arranged in 8 columns of 8.
The 49 open blocks are quilted with a spread eagle with shield; border triangles have a feather. Back of white cotton is wrapped to front to create narrow binding. Cotton batting.
Elizabeth Schneider Mann (10/8/1780 - 3/25/1870) was raised in East Donegal Twp, the daughter of George Schneider/Snyder and wife Anna Margaretha. Her birth is recorded in the records of the Maytown Lutheran Church. She made quilt around 65 yrs. of age, during her marriage to Johannes/John Mann, farmer of Manor Twp., just east of Washington Boro. The Mann family was Lutheran.
Provenance
Descent in family from parent to child:
Maker to George Snyder Mann (1822-1912) to Abram Kauffman Mann (b. 1864), to George Snyder Mann to Richard H. Mann, M.D., husband of donor.
Exhibited 2004 in "Home Sweet Home"
Featured in Dec. 2007 "McCall's Quilting: The Art of Vintage Quilts"
Wear and deterioration with many holes on the white flowers of the red print of more than half the floral blocks. Two grayish liquid stains on green print of two separate peonies. Minor light brown/yellow stains across surface and along edges, especially upper left edge. Needle holes along all four edges, suggesting previous mounting. Reverse has some acid burn at folds and a small stain. See condition report in file.
Object ID
G.96.07.1
Place of Origin
Manor Twp.
Role
Quiltmaker
Credit
Gift of Mary Jane Mann in memory of Richard H. Mann, M.D
All cotton quilt of pieced blocks in pinwheel pattern, using early 19th c. dress fabrics. Within a wide border of yellow print -- three sides only -- is a field of blocks set on point. Pieced blocks have a pinwheel pattern composed of four solid white triangles and four red floral print triangles. Alternate blocks are a print of blue stripes alternating with stripes of brown & blue flowers with white ground. Half-blocks in large triangle form use the same striped print to surround the center field on three sides. The triangles at top are a plaid print of blue, tan and brown.
Quilting patterns are feathers in wide yellow border, waffle in striped blocks and clam shell in triangles. The bordering large triangles have repeating chevrons. An inscription in running stitch in upper right corner block is "Catharine/ Myers the rose/ is read (sic) the leaves/ green here is my/ name when I/ am dead in/ the year/ 1816."
Backing is a red foliate print on white ground. It is brought forward to create binding.
Provenance
Descent through family to Mary E. Walter Ziegler who believed it came from her mother's maternal line (Brubakers and Kempers). Mary Ziegler brought quilt to a Quilt Harvest for documentation in 1992 and considered donating to Heritage Center. In need of funds, she instead sold the family quilt in 1996 to dealer Frances Woods who then sold to Heritage Center.
Extensive research indicates descent from the Walter ancestors of Mary Ziegler's father, one of whom, Peter Walter, was married to a Kathryn Myers (although she was certainly born after the 1816 quilt date). Likely made by another Catherine Myers from the preceeding generation. (See file)
Very good for its age. Some minor wear at edges of binding. Soil visible especially on solid white fabric.
Object ID
P.96.05.1
Notes
Trish Herr notes in Quilting Traditions of Lancaster County, 2000, p. 27, that Catharine was the daughter of Henry (b. 1830) and Barbara Brenner Myers of East Donegal Twp. Catharine later married Peter Walter, also a farmer from the same neighborhood. This CANNOT BY CORRECT since this Catharine was born after the quilt was made. This Catharine Myers Walter is buried in the Cross Roads Church Cemetery.
Place of Origin
Lancaster County
Role
Quiltmaker
Credit
Acquired through the generosity of the James Hale Steinman Foundation, Heritage Center Collection
