Block Format Quilts
By the second half of the 19th century, American industry was providing colorfully printed fabrics in abundance. Block format quilts became popular, and people with means could purchase enough fabric to make color-themed quilts like this "red and green" rose appliqué example.
Album, c. 1860–1880
Maker: Unknown
Although Spokane's Griffith family donated this quilt, they did not recognize any of its inscribed names. Persistent researchers located many of the names in a three-county area of New York State in the 1850 census. Quilts like this one (in which all blocks are the same pattern and each block is signed) are called friendship quilts. These were made most often for special presentations to wedding couples or as send-offs for migrating families.
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Birds in the Air, Inscribed: 5th November 1846
Maker: Sarah Glover
Sarah Koentz was only 16 years old when she married Philip Glover November 13, 1819 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Thirty years later, the Glovers sold their farm, packed up eleven children and this quilt, and drove the Oregon Trail to settle east of Salem. The Glovers' son James founded Spokane in 1871.
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Crosby Album, c. 1860
Maker: Julia Stevens Crosby
This is one of three known, nearly identical quilts that Julia Crosby, who lived in Stevens Mill, Vermont, made for her children in 1860. Her son John Quincy Adams Crosby carried this personalized quilt with him to Cedar Falls, Iowa. The inscriptions on each block form his family tree, including his siblings and cousins, and the family tree of his wife Julia Sawyer. The quilt was passed from generation to generation until Julia's great-great-granddaughter donated it to the Museum.
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Double Nine Patch, c. 1867
Maker: Mary A. Griffith McConnell
Mary A. Griffith organized tiny, one-half inch, hand-pieced scraps to create her quilt. Perhaps she made it in preparation for her marriage to James M. McConnell on October 9, 1867 in Schuler County, Illinois. The couple moved to Idaho, then Oregon and eventually homesteaded near Colfax, Washington. They raised 8 children, and Mary died in October 1901.
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Ducks Foot, c. 1880
Maker: Jane Jacoby
When Dr. Pratt donated this quilt to the Museum, he wrote that it was made by his mother's mother's sister!That woman has proved to be Jane Jacoby who lived in Henry County, Indiana and married in the 1870s. Widowed with one child, she survived by living with relatives and making quilts to pay for her keep. She made this one for her nephew, Dr. Orville Pratt, who became Superintendent of Spokane Schools in 1915. Pratt was instrumental in forming the retired teachers'
association, and wrote numerous articles on education and Spokane history.
Honeybee, c. 1890
Maker: Sarah Chambers
This quilt was mistakenly dated circa 1850 because of its trapunto, appliqué and quilting techniques. But researchers found no record of its maker in that era. A closer look at its fabrics proved a later date; after 1880 American manufacturers were cutting costs by producing an inferior cotton fabric with lower thread count. With this new information, researchers found Sarah, who lived and died in Medina County, Ohio. She never had children of her own and probably made this quilt as a wedding gift for her grand-niece Charlotte, who came to Spokane about 1915.
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Feathered Star, 1875 and 1930
Maker: Alice Belknap and Elizabeth Ruth Clizer Cross
Alice was only 16 years old when she made her Feathered Star quilt! The complicated technique of positioning the little triangles around the star points didn't seem to deter the already-accomplished seamstress. Made at a time when red and green quilts were popular, the red cotton remains vibrant, probably dyed with colorfast Turkey Red. Alice’s top was quilted years later by her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Ruth Clizer Cross.
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Fifty-Four Forty or Fight, c. 1900
Maker: Jesse and Ruth Brockway
Made shortly before 1900, this pattern features an eye-catching light star surrounded by darker shaded stars. The bright orange setting strips invite each star to stand alone. Sisters Jesse and Ruth used wool and heavy cotton clothing scraps to piece this graphic work of art. Women named and used patterns to express their political views. This pattern represents the turmoil between Britain and the United States over the Oregon Territory boundary, now the northern boundary of Washington State. An 1846 treaty settled on the 49th parallel precisely established by a survey in 1860.
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Nine Patch, c. 1890
Inscribed: Mary Jane Wirt, Born October 12, 1851
Normally, a cradle quilt was marked with a baby's name. But this quilt's "cadet" blue fabric was not readily available until about 1900, decades after its 1851 inscription. Mary Jane Wirt Freter is buried in the Moran Prairie Cemetery south of Spokane, and her heirs found the quilt in a trunk.
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Rose Appliqué, c. 1850
Maker: Unknown
The outer blocks in this quilt appear to be the same, but close examination reveals that the appliqué placement is slightly different on each block and the stitching style varies. These inconsistencies suggest that more than one person made blocks for this quilt.
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Royal Album, c. 1868
Maker: Unknown
The prominent Methodist family names inscribed on this quilt are young girls, ages 6 to 15, plus two older women who may have assembled the quilt. Its fabrics date to the late 1860s, when these girls were living in Cowlitz County, Washington Territory and Columbia County, Oregon. Reverend H.J.B. Royal had served this area as circuit preacher from 1855 to 1857, and very likely received this quilt in 1868 on the occasion of his second marriage to Emma Cornell.
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Seven Sisters
Maker: possibly Josie Hamilton
Inscribed: Josie Age 14 Wint 1876 Wash T.
Hand-pieced from a scrap bag, the tiny triangles include a fabric printed "1876" in celebration of the nation's Centennial. Much of the stitching is very child-like. The indigo print was manufactured as early as the 1860s. However the lighter "cadet" blue dates closer to 1900. Records that came with the quilt acquisition indicate that "it was probably made by Josie Hamilton who was killed by Indians near Kamiah, Washington Territory in 1878." No cemetery or census record or local inquiries have confirmed her life. This quilt is filled with mystery.
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Tree of Life, c. 1870 -1890
Maker: Unknown
Representing the mid-19th century fashion for red and green quilts, these fabrics illustrate the problems that American chemists faced in developing dyes for cloth. If a quilter purchased two different lots of green, one might have faded to the soft beige shown here, while the other stayed a lovely sage color. Later in the century, mordants provided a stable and permanent green dye.
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Yankee Puzzle, c. 1900 and 1930
Maker : Rene Snider and Trissa Moore
Rene hand-pieced this quilt with tiny prints dating from 1850-1900, indicating that this was a scrap bag quilt. She died in childbirth shortly after she completed the top, and her tombstone in Wenatchee, Washington reads simply "Snider - Mother and Baby." Rene's sister-in-law Trissa Moore quilted the top with the help of her family about 1930.
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