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
Log cabin quilt of wools, composed of 30 blocks five wide and six long. There are two borders: a 4 1/4"-wide outer border of four 1"- wide strips and an inner sawtooth 3"- wide border of red and blue. The 30 log cabin blocks are also made of 1" wide strips. All strips have a slight "overhang" along edges which hides the butted seams.
All individual pieces of this quilt are sewn directly to the quilt backing, which is a calico print of tiny green holly-like leaves on black. Consequently, the backing is is also pieced in the shapes of each section of quilt top (squares and two borders). There is no batting and no decorative quilting. The binding is a narrow woven wool tape with a braided appearance.
A small piece of paper stitched to bottom left corner of quilt front, now removed, has an old handwritten note in ink: "(Ade)line W. Kreider/ Cassel/ made this about/ the yr. 1867." The writer of the note was obviously indicating that the quilt was made in preparation for her marriage, while living at her East Hempfield Twp. home. According to the records of Rev. J.J. Strine, Addie W. Kreider, dau. of Jacob G. Kreider of East Hempfield, married John H. Cassel of Penn Twp. on Dec. 19, 1867.
Provenance
Provenance: Descent from Adeline Kreider Cassel
to daughter Fannie K. Cassel (Mrs. Hiram G. Kauffman)
to daughter Adeline Dora Kauffman (Mrs. J. Wayne Aungst, Sr.)
to son John W. Aungst, Jr., (great-grandson of maker).
Quilt descended in family homes all located within a few miles of each other, (south of Manheim (Lancaster Junction) to Landisville area).
Once-vibrant colors of the wool are now strongly faded and are thin, fragile fabric. There are strong holes, esp. in outer border; several areas of liquid staining. Binding is deteriorating and detaching with multiple holes. Unfaded area near corner where paper tag removed.
Backing has some holes/tears at corner and numerous slits/holes along edges.
Object ID
G.08.03.02
Place of Origin
East Hempfield Twp.
Role
Quiltmaker
Credit
Gift of Margaret C. Aungst, Heritage Center Collection
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."
All cotton album quilt of 30 blocks of 12" x 12", each with a different papercut applique done in solid red and green with minor use of a mustard yellow floral print (possibly one of the chrome yellow small-scaled prints used in the 1830-1860 period.( See p. 66 of "Dating Fabrics" by E. J. Trestain.) Most appliques are floral or snowflake designs, but one stands apart, a pair of hands with a pair of scissors.
Surrounding blocks is a 7" wide pieced strip/border of white cotton, decorated with scallop-edged crescent appliques of alternating red and green.
Imaginative quilting includes hearts, cable, floral and foliate motifs. Outer border has parallel slanted lines. Batting is minimal with only tiny clumps remaining.
Attributed to George Evans Howett (31 Dec 1841 - 8 May 1864??) & mother Ann Howett. See Provenance and Notes.
Gatchellville, Fawn Twp.,York Co., Pennsylvania or Pylesville, Harford Co., Maryland
Provenance
Reported provenance of quilt: Howett family to Wright family operating a store in Gatchellville, York Co. Then to the Wright daughter who relocated to Christiana and sold it to Teressa Phillippy Brinton (1893-2002) of Christiana. Teressa wrote down the story and passed quilt and story on to donor, her granddaughter. (See NOTES).
Significant overall fading and wear, esp. evident in red fabric binding and appliques. Minor losses and small holes in binding. More significant holes in red appliques, esp. large hole (1-1.5") in one red scalloped crescent.
Overall light staining; significant dark stain on white outer border near one corner (3" x 0.25") and one small dark stain within centerfield.
Object ID
G.11.03.01
Notes
Written account passed to donor from her step-grandmother Teressa P. Brinton, states that a Civil War soldier, George E. Howett, returned from the war badly wounded to his parents' home (John and Ann Howett). To pass the time until death took him, he cut out quilt patches which his mother Ann Howett appliqued to a white ground to make an album pattern quilt top. Later, since the family needed money to settle an account at the local store, the quilt top was offered in part payment. The store operated by Mr. Wright, was located in Gatchellville, York County, PA (about 9 miles from McCall's Ferry). Mrs. Wright, the wife of the store owner, then had the top made into a quilt for $2.00.
The Wright's daughter Mary eventually moved to Christiana along with the quilt, where she sold it to Teressa Phillippy Brinton, 2nd wife of Maurice Jackson Brinton of Christiana. He was the grandfather of donor. Teressa Brinton (5 Nov 1893 - 13 May 2002) passed quilt on to granddaughter Esther H.M. Power, who then donated quilt along with the story as recorded by her step grandmother.
Copies of military documents given by donor appear to contradict George's return from battle to die at home. The repeated statement is that Howett died May 8,1864, "of wounds rec'd on the battlefield" at Spottsylvania, VA. Does "killed" mean mortally wounded but not yet deceased?
After George's birth in Drumore Twp., the family lived near Pylesville, Harford Co., VA. By 1870 census they were living in Gatchellville, Fawn Twp., York Co. All three locations are in close proximity. Other Howett relatives were living in Fawn Twp.
Credit
Gift of Esther H.M. Power, Heritage Center Collection
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
Princess Feather quilt, hand pieced and appliqued cotton top with chain stitch embroidery. Four-square design of large Princess Feathers of brown and green appliqued on a yellow ground. Inner borders defined by brown triangles in single file arrangement. At center of quilt is a brown square embroidered in wool yarn with maker's name and date: "Mary Brubaker/ 1869."
Mary would have been 25 years old when she made this quilt.
Hammer Creek area, Elizabeth Twp., Lancaster Co.
Backing is a small scale cotton print of brown and cream flowers on a red ground. Brown cotton binding.
Made by Mary Brubaker (7/14/1844 - 6/5/1911) before her 23 Dec 1869 marriage to Richard Henry Rickert (1841-1907). Made in the home of her parents John and Kitty Hackman Brubaker who lived two doors away from Joseph Lehn. When Mary Brubaker Rickert moved to a room on Cedar St. in Lititz, quilt passed to Olive Sturgis Rickert, wife of son David James Rickert. Herma Rickert Losensky, daughter of Olive and David, moved to family farm when Olive died. Herma and her sister then divided their mother's things. When Herma's father died in 1967, she took ownership of the quilt. Donor recalls the quilt being used on her bed as a little girl.
Princess Feather paper template used to make this quilt is G.99.12.1. (Quilt Harvest #21-H-I).
Provenance
Maker to son David James Rickert and his wife Olive Sturgis Rickert. Then to daughter Herma, donor.
Very worn and faded with multiple stains and accretions, some fabrics shredded with losses. Loss of some embroidery in inscription. A tear of about 4" is near center of right edge. Back extremely worn.
Donor recalls this quilt being on her own bed and medicine being spilled on it.
Object ID
G.91.08.1
Place of Origin
Elizabeth Twp.
Role
Quiltmaker
Credit
In memory of Mary Brubaker Rickert by her granddaughter Herma Rickert Losensky, Heritage Center Collection
