Images(3)

Quilt, Pieced Irish Chain

Dateca. 1890

OriginAmerica, North Carolina

MediumCotton

DimensionsOverall: 82 1/2 x 66in. (209.6 x 167.6 cm)

Credit LineGift of George H. Yetter

Object number2014.609.2

DescriptionRectangular cotton quilt pieced of red, brownish- green, and white in a triple Irish chain pattern. The running stitch quilting follows the lines of the piecing; in the white areas, five interlocking circles are drawn in pencil and quilted. Bound with red straight-grain fabric. Backed with white cotton.Label TextThis brightly colored quilt in the Triple Irish Chain pattern was probably made by Marenda Anne Thomas Humphrey (Mrs. George Franklin Humphrey, 1856-1934) of Duplin County, NC, for her son Walter Davis Humphrey (1876-1942). According to family tradition, Walter took it along to school when he attended Bingham Military Academy in Asheville, North Carolina.

Art of the Quilter:
Marenda Humphrey produced this striking Triple Irish Chain quilt for her son Walter Davis Humphrey when he attended Bingham Military School in Asheville, North Carolina. While the small private military school promoted its location in a healthful climate, Marenda’s son would have enjoyed the comfort of this all-cotton quilt in the colder months in the North Carolina mountains.ProvenanceWalter Davis Humphrey, owner of the quilt, was born 1876 in North Carolina; he attended Bingham Military Academy in Asheville, NC, and moved to work in Oklahoma Indian territory about 1901. He married Miss Eva Sudderth of Nowata, Indian Territory, in 1906. The quilt descended to Mrs. George A. (Martha Wilda Humphrey) Yetter and then to George Yetter, who donated it to Colonial Williamsburg.