Quilt, pieced and autographed

Date1850-1852

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Lunenburg County and Mecklenburg County

MediumCottons

Dimensions94 1/2 inches X 82 inches

Credit LineGift of The Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA

Object number2024.609.1

DescriptionRectangular quilt consisting of 42 pieced blocks separated by sashing 1 3/4 inches wide. The blocks consist of white triangles and multicolor printed and plain cotton squares set on point with solid white squares on point in the center. The printed cottons include geometrics, florals, and small textured effects. Some of the white center squares are signed in ink or cross stitch embroidery (see inscriptions). Quilted with 5-6 running stitches per inch in straight line grid in the pieced blocks and a simple two-line cable in the sashing. The quilt is backed with alternating blue and white solid cottons pieced in bands 11 to 12 1/2 inches wide. The backing is brought to the front to form the edge finish. The edges of the quilt appear to have been cut down, as the outer blocks are incomplete. The quilt has stains and holes, including disintegration where the ink autographs have etched the cotton textile.Label TextIn 1850 and 1851, a group of friends from Mecklenburg and Lunenburg Counties in southern Virginia signed blocks for this "Friendship Quilt." The quilt was apparently well used, as shown by its fragile condition. Nevertheless, it stands as a document of women's lives and friendships in the middle of the nineteenth century and evidence of the variety of printed cottons available at the time.Inscription(s)Signatures in ink and cross stitch:
"Susan Bruce / [Lunenberg] Co Va / May 1850"
"S. F. Jeffreys / A place in your / Memory / Decr 20th 1851"
"S E M" [cross stitch]
"[Nancy] B. Jeffress / July 29th 1850"
"Think of me / though [?] be / [?] / Dec [?] 18[?]"
"[ ? ] 1850"
"[Amelia ?] W[?]ten / Jany 1850"
"A Couch" [cross stitch]
"Elizabeth Bruce / Lunenberg Co Va / May 1850"
"M M" [cross stitch]
"[Lucy] A. Gregory / Meclenburg Virginia / [?]ber 25th 1851"
"M[ary] E. [?] / Charlotte [Co] / June [1] 1850"
"M. E. Yates" [cross stitch]
"[Bettie] A Walker / May 1st 1850"
"Eliza [ ? ] / Mecklenburg / July 20 1850"
" M. E. [?]"
"F. W. L"
"S. E. [?]ship / whoever is much [examined?] / is much [experienced?]"
"[Sarah ?] Charlotte Co / June 8 1850"
"Keep this in [?] / [?] 1850"
Other inscriptions indecipherable.
Mark(s)Inked tag stitched to corner reads "65.15.28"ProvenanceSaid to have been made by Margaret Anne Jeffress (Mrs. Robert B. Burton). Probable line of descent: 1850s, Margaret Anne Jeffress [1827-1857] and her husband Robert B. Burton [1818-1885] (Mecklenburg County, VA); ca. 1857, to their firstborn daughter Mary Elizabeth Burton [1849-1936] and her husband Charles Henry Williams [1837-1920], (Mecklenburg, VA and North Carolina); ca. 1936, to their daughter Nancy Bedford "Nan" Williams [1894-1978] and her husband Albert Lee May [1896-1952], Richmond, VA and Jacksonville, FL; 1965 gift to the Valentine Museum (Richmond, VA); 2024, gift to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)