The Quilt Trail

I am bringing this thread back up. There are more and more quilts on barns, garages and sheds in my area. This idea of displaying quilts is all over Ky. We have seen them in Western Ky, in Land Between the Lakes, area, in the Maysville area by the Ohio River, in counties of Fayette, Jessamine and Franklin. They are all over. I love to see them and try to make notes of where they are .
 
It dawned on me looking back on this thread that the hexagonal quilt of Elizabeth Keckley was very popular because it uses up a lot of small scraps of fabric. It also lent itself to hand piecing.

My grandmother was an excellent seamstress and quilter who belonged to a quilting club. But on her best quilts, quilted them all herself.

Great thread, donna.
 
Robert P
I have been researching a beautiful Seven Star quilt.
I concluded it was Civil War era and it led me to your post.
I was struck by the similarities to your great great grandmother's quilt.
The stitching is extensive and the applique work with its points and rounds is quite fine.
Did your gg grandmother sign her quilts?
Would you share her name and more of her history?
Did she have connections to the Blackshear family or Georgia?

I have uploaded images of the quilt for your review.
Thank you
Seven Stars
Quilt 7 sisters star 2 (1).jpg
Quilt 7 sisters star.jpg
 
Thank you! Robert replied and shared that his great great grandmother, the quilter, was Mary Milner Calloway Oliver. He agrees that the quilts appear to be designed by the same quilter. I have not found any other examples of the combination of rounds and points with such extensive quilting. Mary's husband was a Captain/quartermaster in the 31st Louisiana.
 
Thank you! Robert replied and shared that his great great grandmother, the quilter, was Mary Milner Calloway Oliver. He agrees that the quilts appear to be designed by the same quilter. I have not found any other examples of the combination of rounds and points with such extensive quilting. Mary's husband was a Captain/quartermaster in the 31st Louisiana.
Railroad Quilt referred to in P.M.

Sevenstars, from post in another thread:

This quilt was given to me by my grandmother and great Aunt. Aunt Ella said it was "Mama's quilt" and when they were children they called it the "Railroad Quilt" and played on it. Both women were born in the early 1880's so that tells you something of the age., probably the 1870's but perhaps a little earlier.

It is a variation of the New York Beauty, also in the South called Rocky Mountain Road, Richmond Beauty, and Georgia Beauty. If you look closely you will see four stitched oak leaves N-S-E-W around each star centered on the white background. I included a pic of the back of the quilt where they show up better in a photo.


upload_2017-5-25_5-53-58.jpeg


upload_2017-5-25_5-54-26.jpeg


upload_2017-5-25_5-54-56.jpeg
 
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I can see the similarities between the Oliver Family quilts and our quilt---
  • the designers use of cool blue and warm red against a creamy cotton background
  • the five leaves of the Live Oak Tree---the beloved symbol of the South's vigor and beauty
  • the quilted rounds provide a sense of movement that reinforce the wheel of stars
  • the quilts show not only a mastery of the needle but an artist's eye
Your diary quote fills me with admiration for the grace and grit of the women in your family--steel magnolias!

"As an aside I want to tell you about the household goods that started to Texas. When the Red River was being crossed, one of the wagons turned over. As it happened and as it often happens, it was the one wagon that was loaded with our most valuable things. There were on it all Mother's silver, the family records and business papers, including our very old Bibles and all of our better clothing. The only thing salvaged was a quilt which covered the contents of the wagon. I have it now, all yellowed and stained by the brick colored waters of the Red. It was an original pattern of Mother's, the seven stars of the Confederacy. And it was quilted in very tiny circles made with Mother's gold thimble as a pattern for the quilting. How many fears and worries and forebodings must have gone under those almost invisible stitches which were made when Mother could not sleep. She on one side of the Mississippi and my (future) husband's mother on the other often sewed all night when they heard the guns at Vicksburg. Again, I say, those women.

quilt-7-sisters-star-jpg.139158.jpg
 
I can see the similarities between the Oliver Family quilts and our quilt---
  • the designers use of cool blue and warm red against a creamy cotton background
  • the five leaves of the Live Oak Tree---the beloved symbol of the South's vigor and beauty
  • the quilted rounds provide a sense of movement that reinforce the wheel of stars
  • the quilts show not only a mastery of the needle but an artist's eye
Your diary quote fills me with admiration for the grace and grit of the women in your family--steel magnolias!

"As an aside I want to tell you about the household goods that started to Texas. When the Red River was being crossed, one of the wagons turned over. As it happened and as it often happens, it was the one wagon that was loaded with our most valuable things. There were on it all Mother's silver, the family records and business papers, including our very old Bibles and all of our better clothing. The only thing salvaged was a quilt which covered the contents of the wagon. I have it now, all yellowed and stained by the brick colored waters of the Red. It was an original pattern of Mother's, the seven stars of the Confederacy. And it was quilted in very tiny circles made with Mother's gold thimble as a pattern for the quilting. How many fears and worries and forebodings must have gone under those almost invisible stitches which were made when Mother could not sleep. She on one side of the Mississippi and my (future) husband's mother on the other often sewed all night when they heard the guns at Vicksburg. Again, I say, those women.

View attachment 139518
Thank you for the compliments.

I've related the story before in the forums but you may not know it. They left their place near Monroe as refugees to Texas after the fall of Vicksburg, as did a number of other families from the region. There is a thread somewhere about the refugees from Louisiana to Texas. They crossed the Red at Shreveport where the wagon overturned but eventually made their way to Rusk County, TX where they stayed until the end of the war.
 
This quote from a book about Civil War Quilts may hold some of the inspiration for Mary Millner Calloway Oliver to design a seven star quilt with pointy stars and quilted thimble tracings


Quilts Civil War.jpg


quote from the memoir of Mary Milner Calloway Oliver's daughter provided by RobertP

"As an aside I want to tell you about the household goods that started to Texas. When the Red River was being crossed, one of the wagons turned over. As it happened and as it often happens, it was the one wagon that was loaded with our most valuable things. There were on it all Mother's silver, the family records and business papers, including our very old Bibles and all of our better clothing. The only thing salvaged was a quilt which covered the contents of the wagon. I have it now, all yellowed and stained by the brick colored waters of the Red. It was an original pattern of Mother's, the seven stars of the Confederacy. And it was quilted in very tiny circles made with Mother's gold thimble as a pattern for the quilting. How many fears and worries and forebodings must have gone under those almost invisible stitches which were made when Mother could not sleep. She on one side of the Mississippi and my (future) husband's mother on the other often sewed all night when they heard the guns at Vicksburg. Again, I say, those women."
 
View attachment 139990

Mention of a Disunion Quilt
Seven Stars, the 7 stars quilt pattern for the early Confederate flag is somewhat rare as most had the stars in a circle instead of 6 with 1 in the center. However I do have a clue as to the pattern's origin. Early War envelopes were patriotically printed with flags of various designs in the upper left corner. Below is an example of one from April 1861 printed in New Orleans and mailed to Ohio. Remembering that the Olivers lived in Louisiana and traded with ports from Vicksburg to NOLA they likely came upon correspondence using the same flag design. It's my theory and I'm sticking to it! :smile:

IMG_1968.PNG
 
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Arizona Quilt Documentation Project lists a circa 1870 quilt by Martha Hunter, wife of Thomas Hunter; the quilt is similar in its design to the Mary Oliver quilt. I looked at the family and found connections to Louisiana and the Confederate War. Is there a family connection between the Calloway, Olivers, Hunters, Lawsons?

http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=67-EC-4FD


Seven Stars, 1860. Made by Martha Alice Lawson Hunter. Louisiana..jpg

http://files.usgwarchives.net/az/statewide/bios/hunter.txt

Thomas Thompson Hunter, who made a permanent location n
Graham County in 1878 and who through the passing years
identified himself with practically every phase of progress
and advancement, died February 1, 1913. It was felt as a
personal bereavement by his many warm friends.

Mr. Hunter was born in Louisiana, February 24, 1844, and is
a son of James and Alice (Lawson) Hunter, the former a native
of South Carolina and the latter of Georgia. The father was
a large plantation owner in Louisiana.
In his family were six
children: John, who now lives retired in Louisiana; Andrew,
deceased; Thomas Thompson, of this review; and Julius, Alice
and Emily, all deceased.

When Thomas Thompson Hunter was sixteen years of age he laid
aside his text books and joined the Confederate Army, serving
through the entire Civil War with Retts' Artillery.
He was at
the front in many hotly contested engagements and in nearly
all of the important battles during the four years, and
unwounded and with a creditable military record, returned
after his discharge to Louisiana, where he joined his uncle.
Together they went to Texas
, crossing the plains with a
party of emigrants and pushing onward to Arizona. Mr. Hunter
met his first wife upon this journey and later their wedding
was celebrated in Wickenburg, Arizona, theirs being the first
marriage recorded in that locality. They remained with the
emigrant train and went to San Diego, California, where they
resided ten yeas, returning to Arizona in 1878. They settled
in graham County, where Mr. Hunter established himself in the
enterprise of the cattle business.

He was a member of the thirteenth Territorial Legislature
when the capital was located at Prescott.

Mr. Hunter was twice married. His first wife passed away
July 11, 1893 leaving four children. Martha Alice is now
the widow of Thomas k. Davis, of Oakland, California. Mary
E. married Harry L. Castle, government employee in the forest
service in Payson and they have three children. Virginia Lee
makes her home in Los Angles, California. Katherine Lawson
married Dr. J.N. Stratton of Safford and they are the parents
of two children. Mr. Hunter was married October 11, 1894 to
Miss Carrie Maurer, a native of New York who survives her
husband and makes her home in Safford.




Yes, it is batting rather than my 'stuffing.' Shows how much I know!

Anyway, I'll post once more about the Confederate Star quilt and then quit. This morning I located my g-grandmother's memoirs, written about 1925. She was the one who wore those beautiful clothes, and since she was born in 1850, had some pretty good memory of the war years. She said:

"As an aside I want to tell you about the household goods that started to Texas. When the Red River was being crossed, one of the wagons turned over. As it happened and as it often happens, it was the one wagon that was loaded with our most valuable things. There were on it all Mother's silver, the family records and business papers, including our very old Bibles and all of our better clothing. The only thing salvaged was a quilt which covered the contents of the wagon. I have it now, all yellowed and stained by the brick colored waters of the Red. It was an original pattern of Mother's, the seven stars of the Confederacy. And it was quilted in very tiny circles made with Mother's gold thimble as a pattern for the quilting. How many fears and worries and forebodings must have gone under those almost invisible stitches which were made when Mother could not sleep. She on one side of the Mississippi and my (future) husband's mother on the other often sewed all night when they heard the guns at Vicksburg. Again, I say, those women."

You can see the tiny, thimble sized quilted circles as little puffs outside the ring of stars.

View attachment 21129
 
I don't know of any family connections. It would help it the article stated where in Louisiana they were located. Also, many families evacuated to Texas and there could have been a connection there. I was not able to find any information on Rett's Artillery. I did locate another article which states:

Thomas Thompson Hunter was born in Louisiana February 24th, 1844. He was reared in South Carolina; received an academic education. During the Civil War he served from the beginning to the end in a battery of General Longstreet's corps, and was mustered out at Nachitoches, Louisiana, June 26th, 1865, when he went into Western Texas and embarked in the cattle business. Learning of the natural advantages of Arizona, he drove his herd across the plains, and came into what is now the Salt River Valley and Phoenix with the first herd of cattle. Upon reaching Maricopa, a few pioneers came over from the Salt River and told his party about that wonderful country where there was plenty of grass and a fine place to recruit their cattle. They changed their plans and on the first of January, 1868, entered the Salt River Valley, and pitched their camp just west of Hayden Butte. Both the Gila and Salt Rivers were at high tide, and after crossing the Gila they lived on beef straight until the waters of the Salt subsided, when they crossed on the 16th of February, 1868, and found a few pioneers on the north side of the Salt River taking out the first canal from that river, known afterwards as the


[page 261]

Swilling Canal. Mr. Hunter says: ‘‘"The business men of the Territory were assisting the enterprise, and the Government policy at that time was to aid all infant settlements, and Fort McDowell, being thirty-five miles from us on the Verde River, helped the little settlement a great deal.’’

http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/swetc/hav6/body.1_div.12.html
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That says he was reared and educated back in South Carolina where his father was from. I have looked through the NPS Civil War Soldiers and Sailors system for Thomas Hunter, there are several but none really seems to fit. Maybe someone with a subscription to Fold3 could try to look him up.
 
Mr. Roy stated in his email that the design of our quilts is a variant of the Seven Sisters pattern. Variants are a natural extension of quilt patterns since the needlewoman's skill, materials, and intention vary. The conclusion is supported by quilt indexes and quilt research project databases where variants are listed for patterns. Brackman, the quilt expert, suggests that the Seven Sisters design predates the Civil War and appeared also in samplers, so the experts identify pattern and variant--a quilt taxonomy, if you will.
In the case of the 7 stars, I suppose the Moravians adapted the pattern because of the importance of the Moravian Star to their group and this can be seen in the MFA Boston quilt from Ephrata, PA.

The Confederate ladies appear to have seen the chance to use the Seven Sisters (The Pleiades) design as a patriotic expression when the group of 7 Southern states seceded from the Union and to echo the flag design. ( found on envelope) Of course, each State in the Union was associated with a star since the 18th century; so it was natural for people forming a new country to look for star metaphors. I found a poem by a famous South Carolina Civil War era poet, William Gilmore Simms, titled "The Lost Pleiad" and reference to South Carolina as the "Lost Pleiad" as early as a 1833 during a debate about the South Carolina's secession and tariffs. Classically educated 19thc men and women often studied astronomy and not only could identify stars and planets without but could also recite the myths associated with their names. The Pleiades appears in literature, theater, music, and poetry during the time of the secession. Importantly, there is also a verse from Job 38 about the Pleiades and a Christian lady , the daughter of a preacher, would have likely known the quote.

“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt?

In the May 1861 issue of the Southern Cultivator Augusta Georgia Vol XIX , we find the following Seven Sisters poem. It was
Published originally in the Southern Christian Advocate --

Cm9jcd7Wnk4XsRpL3b3g1gCm1L4cnBle4soW41o7DGTh2cJ8YOre2hQgy1qvq_xbt-iCp7AKMv6y1fNtIe-xXrIbclvTnLrM.png







7WHj8CtvGiRzirsR-zDn1leGvYj0qR6cFk-IGf17zlWPJj0f9hCvMkbFlX_lOKOkWFzFe7WSAxv8wV-464Xl33UFr3F1hpg2.png


Bear in mind that the myth of the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, is associated with 7 stars in a formation pursued always in the night sky by Orion. Yet, only 6 of the stars would have been visible giving rise to the Lost Pleiad concept and becoming an apt analogy for South Carolina's secession from the field of stars. How very clever the Civil War era ladies were to use their needlework to create political statements-- in the North and South.

The Hunter quilt, my quilt, and your family quilt have a distinct use of rounds with points and suggest some sort of connection. Just to cut out the perfectly uniform shapes and turn under the edge and applique them while maintaining shape and symmetry is a tour de force. The extensive quilting speaks to great skill and care. I hope you can make the connection between Hunter and Oliver--family? Church? ladies group? neighbors?

Since I know only that my quilt came from Georgia, I cannot lay claim to political intent for its origin, as you can with a family memoir to make the case. I must continue to work on style similarities to the other variant quilts and dating of fabric, if possible.
 
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Thanks so much!
I am researching a Civil War era Seven Sisters Quilt found in Georgia, so I thought the name was apt.
The Seven Sisters is another name for the star formation--The Pleiades--and is associated with an ancient myth.
The Lost Pleiad was a poem by the 19th c South Carolina poet, William Gilmore Simms.

I love your user name @sevenstars! How did you pick it? Is there a story behind it?
 
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