Quilt passed down in the Gillenwaters/Brown family
who came to Cass County, Missouri in 1842.
The last three posts have been about this intriguing quilt
and a similar bedcover in the same family collection.
See the posts here:
https://quilthistorysouth.blogspot.com/2020/11/tennessee-to-missouri-1-regional-style.html
https://quilthistorysouth.blogspot.com/2020/11/tennessee-to-missouri-2-maria-rodgers.html
https://quilthistorysouth.blogspot.com/2020/11/tennessee-to-missouri-3-who-stitched.html
As noted, the two Missouri quilts have a good deal in common, complicated pieced pattern alternating with plain white blocks, similar fabrics, stuffed work in the white squares and a fringed edge.
Stories in the Stitches: Quilts from the Cass County
Quilt Documentation Project by Jenifer Dick, Carol Bohl,
Linda Hammontree & Janice Britz.
They've been discussed in the Cass County book, attributed to Maria Rodgers Martin pictured above. Maria does not appear to have been a seamstress of any note, so the attribution is questionable. Our better understanding of regional differences in quilt style also leads us away from Missouri and back to Tennessee, the home before 1842 of Maria and the people who held her as a slave.
Now it may be that other women at the Brown house in Missouri stitched these quilts in the 1840s or '50s. Two older, unnamed African-American women lived in slavery there according to the 1850 slave schedule, as did matriarch Elizabeth (Roddye) Gillenwaters who died in her early '50s in 1851. Elizabeth's only daughter Mary Roddye Gillenwaters Brown (1819-1890) might have done the work, being in her thirties during the 1850s when this type of quilt was fashionable.
Stuffed quilting links the Missouri quilts to Rhea County, Tennessee,
home of the Gillenwaters, Browns and Maria Rodgers Martin.
However, we doubt (Merikay & I) that these are Missouri quilts.
Thirty five years ago quilt researchers in Tennessee were surprised to find so many stuffed work quilts in Rhea County. Merikay Waldvogel pointed out the connection between the Tennessee and Missouri styles.
Among the Tennessee findings were two closely related quilts with feathered stars, stuffing, fringe and one with the same zig-zag border
And another Oakleaf/Turkey Tracks design.
Victoria Darwin Caldwell's descendants called the pattern Turkey Tracks
and told the story that this quilt was hidden under the floorboards in their home
in Spring City, Rhea County during the Civil War.
Victoria Darwin Caldwell (1839-1919)
She had 12 children, 11 of them still living in 1900.
She must have been named for Queen Victoria, crowned in 1838.
Her quilt is pictured in Southern Quilts: Surviving Relics of the Civil War
where Bets Ramsey & Merikay estimated the date as late 1850s.
The Tennessee State Museum has this quilt dated 1808 by
Rebekah Foster in their collection.
Quilt attributed to Eliza West Cash (1825-1896),
Spring City, Rhea County, Tennessee.
If we dated these quilts on overall style, comparing
them to stuffed-work quilts in the rest of the country
we'd say: Before the Civil War.
But fabrics and Rhea County family histories are not always consistent with that date.
A second quilt by Eliza West Cash from the Tennessee Project
Pieced of an indigo print and a little pink, stuffed work quilting
in alternate blocks. Very hard to date. Only one print.....
Quilt attributed to Mary Ann Walker Trentham (1857-1920) and sister-in-law
Nancy Jane Trentham (who "helped with the quilting.")
All solids, Turkey red, chrome orange and a light blue.
Nancy Rebecca Trentham was born in 1880 so the quilt is dated to 1881.
She lived until 1955 and may have been the source of the quilt's history.
Nanny's quilt has the same unusual pattern of a stuffed
feather in the sashing---a feather swoop between the blocks,
the same design seen in Eliza West Cash's quilt above and in the floral vase below.
Quilt attributed to Rilda Smith Rector (1848-1930)
Her grave:
The only date-inscribed Rhea County quilt found in the Tennessee project
is this pink and red one attributed to Eleanor Wilson Broyles with "Enoch '86" in
the quilting.
The pattern, a Triple Irish Chain, was quite popular around
the country in the 1880s---but the stuffed quilting rarely found anywhere
but Rhea County that late.
The stuffed, gridded basket is seen in variations.
Adelia Gillespie Darwin 's feathered star with basket
similar to the Cass County feathered star.
Tennessee State Museum
Adelia's quilt is remarkably like the Cass County quilt.
Another Feathered Star attributed to Elizabeth Brabson Smith, wife of a Roddy who stayed behind in Rhea County, related to the Roddyes who moved to Missouri.
Elizabeth (Betsy) Brabson Smith Roddy (1823-1902),
perhaps soon after her 1842 wedding, from a lengthy 1935 article on
Roddy genealogy in the Chattanooga Times
With husband David Mahaffe Roddy (1810-1885), Betsy had eight children between 1845 and 1862, one of whom she named Mary Jane Roddy.
The younger Mary Roddy Brown from the Chattanooga Times.
This Mary Jane Roddy (1847-1909) married a man named Brown, so we have two Mary Jane Roddy Browns, one in Missouri and a younger one in Rhea County. Coincidences abound.
The red star quilt has remained in the family.
The Missouri Feathered Star
A few months after the Civil War began David Roddy
was selling off some Smith family slaves.
Betsy Roddy's husband was undoubtedly related to the Missouri Roddys. David Mahaffe Roddy of Tennessee and Elizabeth Roddy Gillenwaters of Missouri are descended from English-born Jesse Roddy who fought in the Revolutionary War in North Carolina.
It also seems likely that the pair of Missouri quilts were made in Rhea County, Missouri and taken or sent to Cass County, Missouri. Did they make that trip before the Civil War? It's possible, but based on the quilt style, doubtful. Family surely communicated and traveled after 1865 when elegant quilts might have been welcomed at the Brown house in Missouri, raided several times during the war.
Hello Everyone out there,I am here to give my testimony about a Herbalist doctor who helped me . I was infected with HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS in 2016, i went to many hospitals for cure but there was no solution, so I was thinking how can I get a solution out so that my body can be okay. One day I was in the river side thinking where I can go to get solution. so a lady walked to me telling me why am I so sad and i open up all to her telling her my problem, she told me that she can help me out, she introduce me to a doctor who uses herbal medication to cure HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS and gave me his email, so i mail him. He told me all the things I need to do and also give me instructions to take, which I followed properly. Before I knew what is happening after two weeks the HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS that was in my body got vanished . so if you are also heart broken and also need a help, you can also email him at drgodwinsolutionhome@gmail.com or whatsapp him number: +2348054615060 Contact him today
ReplyDeletewhy suffering in sickness and in pain when there is a genuine herbal doctor call DR JOHN ,that can tracdomedically cure and heal you of your disease.. am a living testimony to what DR JOHN has done for me.. Anyway, my name is Daniel Bohm, from Omaha, Nebraska in America. for about 4 years now, i have been diagnose of herps, and the situation was eaten me badly.. out of frustration, i started search on Internet and in the world in search of solutions to my ailment.. i stumble on DR JOHN testimony on how he cure a woman of herps, i decided to give it a try because i was fed up on Google not knowing who to trust again.i decided to give it a try, to my greatest surprise he administer a herbs to me and i was cure of my disease.. because of the good thing that this great man has done for me, i promise to tell DR JOHN good works he has done for saving my life to the whole world. those passing through such problem should contact DR JOHN via email; drjohnhivcurehome@gmail.com or whatsapp number +2347064365391
ReplyDeletefor more solution to your problems,
He also specialise in curing the following problems
Hiv/aids
Goodluck in life
and all kind of diseaseHpatities A, B
Ex-lover Back