Historic Quilts Show Art, Beauty, Technical Ability, Precision

When Sally and I visited the Folsom History Museum, we discovered that a friend of ours had three beautiful quilts on display.

Part of the fascination with collecting vintage quilts is the investigation that needs to be undertaken to location information about each quilt.

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Researching the Signature Quilt

Internet searching the names on this quilt brought up death notices in Missouri which led me to living relatives. This pin pointed the location as to where the quilt was made.

Contacting some of the people who had lived in the community of Tin Town, Missouri and the Newspaper in the area provided me with the information I needed to identify all of the ladies on this quilt. The women whose signatures appear on the quilt are deceased with the exception of two who are in Nuising Homes.

The local genealogical society was helpful in locating death notices and providing me with names of people in the community who were interested in assisting with the information I needed.

I was particularly interested in the center block on the quilt which has the name, Julia Glover, July 15,1878. The Tin Town area was a farming community. The women gathered together to quilt and visit and often made quilts for each other or someone in their community in need, such as a loss from a house fire, or a special occasion such a Birthday or Anniversary. The Julia Glover quilt may have been for her Birthday.

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The group called themselves The Sunshine Club. It is believed that the quilt would have been made prior to 1935. The means for determining this were three sources who reported that there are signatures on the quilt with maiden names and these ladies did not marry until after 1935. A retired School Teacher, Jean Choate and her husband Willard Choate who live in the nearby community of Pleasant Hope, Mo. were very helpful in providing much of the information on the women who made this quilt as well as the photograph of Julia and Jimmy Glover.

Beth Jacobson

Unaohi, California

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Crib Quilt With Instructions

This Crib Quilt display, owned by our friend Betheney Urquhart-Webb also has the original pattern with it.

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Crazy Quilt from the 1800s

Eliza Jane Carroll was born 7 Mar 1830 to Richard Carroll and Maria L Ray (Carroll) in Philadelphia, PA. She married Joseph Albert Githens on 9 Feb 1865 in Philadelphia. Joseph owned a grocery store in Philadelphia. They had 3 children. The 1880 census indicates that E. Jane Githens was a saleslady the three children were in school and there a housekeeper living with them.

Their oldest child, Jennie Carroll, was married in Denver Colorado to Charles Robert Turt1e.

They had two children. The first died an infant. The second was Lolita Balcom Turtle.

Lolita’s father, Charles Turtle, died in 1896 when Lolita was three years old. Around that time, E. Jane Carroll (Githens) came to live with Jennie and Lolita, her daughter and granddaughter. E. Jane’s husband, J. A. Githens was in Arizona in mining.

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Crazy Quilt, made by Eliza Githin, nee Carall of Philadelphia.

In the late 1800’s E. Jane Carroll (Githens) moved to Coloma by train, taking her granddaughter, Lolita with her. Lolita’s mother joined them in Coloma. CA. They were living in Coloma during the 1900 Federal census. They were included into the social life in Coloma living there for several years. During that time E. Jane Carroll (Githens) became ill. When she was better she took a vacation traveling to Denver, Colorado, Philadelphia PA, and New Jersey.

She returned to Coloma then moved to Oakland, CA where she died on 30 Dec. 1908 of “cancer of the stomach.” She was buried in the Fairmont Cemetery in Denver, CO. According to her daughter, Jennie, she never used the name Eliza but was simply E. Jane Carroll.

The crazy quilt was passed down to her granddaughter. Lolita Turtle, and is now owned by her daughter Lolita Taylor. There are many initials of relatives and friends embroidered on the quilt.

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See also:

Disappearing Crazy Quilts on Show At The Folsom History Museum

The Folsom History Museum Annual Antique Quilt and Vintage Clothing Show, August 1- September 30

www.folsomhistorymuseum.org

823 Sutter St

Folsom, CA 95630

(916) 985-2707

Get Directions

Alan Gray is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of NewsBlaze Daily News and other online newspapers. He prefers to edit, rather than write, but sometimes an issue rears it’s head and makes him start hammering away on the keyboard.

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Alan has been on the internet since it first started. He loves to use his expertise in content and digital marketing to help businesses grow, through managed content services. After living in the United States for 15 years, he is now in South Australia. To learn more about how Alan can help you with content marketing and managed content services, contact him by email.

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Alan is also a techie. His father was a British soldier in the 4th Indian Division in WWII, with Sikhs and Gurkhas. He was a sergeant in signals and after that, he was a printer who typeset magazines and books on his linotype machine. Those skills were passed on to Alan and his brothers, who all worked for Telecom Australia, on more advanced signals (communications). After studying electronics, communications, and computing at college, and building and repairing all kinds of electronics, Alan switched to programming and team building and management.

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