Images(2)

Quilt, "Churn Dash"

Date1870s, possibly ca. 1872

Maker Mary Jane Wheeless American, 1851 - 1878

OriginAmerica, Mississippi, Claiborne County

MediumCotton

Dimensions87 X 87 inches

Credit LineGift of The Children of Elizabeth Shaifer Hollingsworth - Allison Shaifer Hollingsworth Moxey, Ann Davidson Hollingsworth Weeden and Christopher Alton Hollingsworth, and The Children of Sanfrid Davidson Shaifer - Mary Laura Shaifer Bell, Jodie Stovall Shaifer Huddleston and Sanfrid Davidson Shaifer, Jr.

Object number2025.609.26

DescriptionSquare quilt pieced from small-scale striped, floral, and geometric printed cottons of blue and off-white. Thirty-six pieced squares are made of blue triangles and squares to create an angular design with square white centers, sometimes known as “Churn Dash.” The Churn Dash blocks are separated by wide sashing of off-white printed cottons alternating with dark blue squares. The textile is quilted with 4 to 6 running stitches per inch in a repeated fan pattern. The machine-sewn backing is blue dotted printed cotton and the batting is medium-thick cotton fiber. The edges are finished with narrow straight-grain binding of blue and white floral and dot printed cotton.Label TextThis quilt is part of a large donation of quilts by the Shaifer family of Claiborne County, MS. These 46 quilts were made by women from four successive generations of the family, dating from the mid-1800s to the 1980s. This quilt represents the work of an extended family member, as it was made by Mary Jane Wheeless (1851-1878), whose sister, Elizabeth, married into the Shaifer family in 1888. The Wheeless sisters were neighbors of the Shaifer family in Port Gibson, Mississippi, and they frequently quilted together. Port Gibson diarist Spooner Forbes recorded in January 1873, "Mrs. Shaifer and the Andrews and Wheeless girls here quilting. Hard rain during the day."

Tragically, Mary Jane Wheeless died in a yellow fever epidemic in 1878 at the age of twenty-seven.ProvenanceDates unknown, Mary Jane Wheeless [1851-1878] (Claiborne County, MS); dates unknown, descended in the Wheeless or Shaifer family (MS); dates unknown, probably Elizabeth Shaifer (Mrs. Al) Hollingsworth [1933-2016] (Claiborne County, MS); dates unknown, Al Hollingsworth (Claiborne County, MS); 2025, given to Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)