Quilt Fest of NJ

My friend Rachel and I went to The Quilt Fest of NJ yesterday in Somerset, about 45 minutes from where we live. It's always fun to catch up with quilting friends who we haven't seen in a while. And, of course, check out the vendors and look at all the wonderful quilts. Here are some that caught my eye:

The Bizzy Bird Farm by Julee Prose of Ottumwa, IA, won Judge's Choice at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival.

Just love the white background fabric with black circles and dots . . .

. . . and all the fussy-cut animals and birds.

Fan Fare was made by Mary Chalmers of Willmar, MN and was awarded Best Use of Embellishments at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. It is a reproduction of a quilt in the Henry Ford Museum from a Fons & Porter book and is made of wool with exquisite embroidery. Unfortunately, this picture doesn't do the quilt justice.

 

 

Flowers for Rose was voted Viewers' Choice at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. It was made by Susan Marra of New Bern, NC. 

It is an original design, hand appliqued, hand pieced, and hand quilted in lots of feather motifs.

Sweet Emilie was made by quilting friend, Jill Reid, and quilted by Bellwether Dry Goods. Her inspiration came from an antique quilt.

 Note the four-patches in the sashing.

I'm having a hard time reading the story board but I believe the name of this quilt is Complex Irish Chain.

It won an Honorable Mention.

 

Midnight Goose Chase was made by Sue Glasnapp and was based on a design by Gail Gerber. One of these days I'm going to make a red and white quilt . . . one of these days . . . really, I am!

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Copyright 2013, Barbara Schaffer

Signed by Carvers

I'm always on the lookout for gravestones that have the signatures of the carvers. So far, in all the 7,500 plus photographs that I've taken, I've only found three--two signed by Ebenezer Price of Elizabethtown, NJ, and one by H + O.

March 22, 1786, Political Intelligence, Elizabeth, NJ

This is to give notice,

That Ebenezer Price, Stone Cutter, has remo-

ved to the White House, in this town, and

continues to carry on that branch of business in all its

parts—where the public may depend upon being sup-

plied with any kind of STONE CUTTING and EN-

GRAVERY WORK, done with the utmost care, dis-

patch and as reasonable as possible—And wanting to

build immediately, will BARTER for timber, stone,

brick, boards, window-frames, doors, sashes, shut-

ters, hinges, carting, labor, &c. &c. as may best

suit those respectively who incline to undertake to

get any part of the said wanted articles, provided they

apply and agree very soon, who may depend upon

ample justice and all accompts evened with cash,

by                                            EBENEZER PRICE

A L S O,

He has a five acre lot of SALT MEADOW to sell,

and a HOUSE and GARDEN in town to rent this

spring, to the first that applies and agrees, and all in

the way of barter for the building articles above men-

tioned, if convenient. –Enquire of said Price or

the Printer thereof.

 HERE LYETH

the Body of Mrs. Mary Read

Consort of the Rev’d Israel Read,

who departed this Life Janua’y

the 13^th A.D. 1770. In the 38^th

Year of her Age ~~~~~~~

Love my Memory. Cherish my Friends.

and in me behold the End of this World

with all it’s vanities.

Thus must thy flesh to silent Dust descend,

Thy Mirth & worldly Pleasures thus will end,

Then happy holy Souls: but wo to those

Who Heaven forgot & earthly Pleasures chose.

Hear now this preaching Grave without delay

Believe, Repent & Work While it is Day. 

Life how short

Eternity how long

Memento Mori

                       

                                       Cut by E. Price at Eliz:Town

 

The gravestone of Mary Read (above) can be found at the Old Presbyterian Graveyard in Bound Brook, NJ. Ebenezer Price's signature is in the lower right corner of the stone. 

 

There are also two crudely cut initials in the upper left section near the heart-shaped soul effigy--at first glance they appear to be an E. and possibly a P., but one is actually an F., the other an O. or a D., most likely those of an apprentice. 

 June 18, 1788, New-Jersey Journal, Elizabethtown, NJ

THREE POUNDS REWARD.

RUN away from the subscriber about three

weeks ago, an apprentice boy, named Abner

Stewart, strong and able, near twenty years old, five

feet eight inches high, brown hair, bluish eyes,

cloathed in a half worn suit of blue coating, plated

buttons, and good wool hat; went away on account

of a riot, &c. committed in this town, in which he

was supposed to have been an aggressor; it all be-
ing settled by his father, who is desirous that he

should return to his master and serve out his time,

being his duty and interest so to do. –All persons

are hereby forewarned entertaining, employing or

carrying him off, but should he return immediately,

all shall be well, if not, whoever will take up said

apprentice and bring him home, or secure him in

any goal, so that his said master may have him a-

gain shall have the above reward, and all reasonable

charges paid by

                                    EBENEZER PRICE, Stone Cutter

Elizabeth-Town, June 3, 1788

  

 

 Eben Price Sculp

Another gravestone with his signature is that of Katherine Eckley (above) which is located in the cemetery next to the First Presbyterian Church of Hanover in East Hanover, NJ. See my blog about this ledger-style marker.  

Ebenezer Price died on March 23, 1788. He is buried in the First Presbyterian Churchyard in Elizabeth, NJ. 

  

Here lies ye Body of Sa-

rah Wife of William Dixon

Who died Febru’y 17^th 1778

Ag’d 70 Year 11 Mos & 17 Days

How lov’d how Valu’d once avails ye not

To whom Related or by whom begot,

A heap of Dust alone Remains of the

Tis all thou art & all ye Proud shall be.

                                                H + O

Sarah Dixon's gravestone is also in the cemetery at the First Presbyterian Church of Hanover. The initials H + O could be those of Henry Osborn, a stone cutter from the Westfield Ward of Elizabeth Township, not far from where Ebenezer Price conducted his business, but this is only a guess.

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Copyright 2013, Barbara Schaffer

Founders' Day Celebration

For the past year I have been a volunteer on the Livingston Bicentennial Historical Committee planning events to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of our town in 1813. I was mainly focused on providing costumes, creating exhibit boards and researching descendants of the Founding Fathers.

Our first event was on January 1st where we had people dressed in costume for the Town's Reorganization Meeting.

 

In preparation for our second event, Founders' Day on February 5th, I did an exhibit board for each of the original seven hamlets in the township: Teedtown, Cheapside, Squiertown, Northfield, Centerville, Washington Place, and Morehousetown.  Here they are hanging in Town Hall.

The Morehousetown board has a picture of our house which was built in 1730 and is the oldest in town (lower right). Early owners, Aaron and Phebe (Burnet) Beach raised their children here and their eldest daughter, Nancy (1788-1873), married David Morehouse (1785-1849) who owned and operated a general store. Aaron Beach, his son Israel Beach, and David Morehouse were all Founding Fathers.

We defined a Founding Father as one who signed the original 1811 petition to establish the Township of Livingston; or, was elected to a position at the first Town Meeting April 12, 1813; or, was on the 1813, 1814, or 1815 tax list. Based on this criteria we set our goal to find living descendants of some of the Founding Fathers and invite them to our celebration.

I chose to research the descendants of Aaron Beach (1765-1826), Israel Beach (1790-1868), David Morehouse (1785-1849), Brainard Dickinson (1752-1819), Elijah Squier (1738-1808), Jedidiah Tomkins (1737-1818) and Thomas Force (1758-1827).

Our committee located 32 living descendants, some of whom were related to more than one Founding Father, and presented their direct-line ancestry on exhibit boards like the one above. We hung a total of 15 genealogy boards. 

 

Founders Day finally arrived this past Tuesday. Students portrayed various characters from early Livingston and welcomed guests to "1813." 

Veteran actor, Ed Schiff, as New Jersey Governor Aaron Ogden, read the Town Charter. 

Each of the descendants was presented with an "Acclamation of Historic Lineage" certificate.

Ex-Governor, Thomas Kean, reminisced about Livingston in front of an audience of nearly 300 people who filled the court room and hallways. Afterwards, there was a "Sweet Memories of Livingston" reception with lots of goodies made by volunteers. When it was all over, I was flying high!

The next day I invited several Beach/Morehouse descendants, who had come all the way from California and Massachusetts, to spend a day at our house and visit the cemeteries where their ancestors are buried. It was our house that brought us together--and we so enjoyed sharing it with them!

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Copyright 2013, Barbara Schaffer

GSQ Friendship Quilt

Every year members of Garden State Quilters make a friendship quilt and those who work on it get to put their name on a piece of paper for a drawing at the Strawberry Supper in June. When my friend Rachel Cochran was president of the guild in 1996 I was in charge of the Friendship Quilt.

My idea was to make a New Jersey-style 1840s quilt set on the diagonal with leaves around the outer edges. The block idea came from the Mary P. Allen Album Quilt in Sandi Fox's book, For Purpose and Pleasure, p. 46-48.

Natalie Hart provided some of the red fabrics and when Rita Erickson and I were at the Quilters Hall of Fame celebration in 1995 I purchased 1/2 yard of the blue oak leaf stripe but had no idea at the time what I was going to use it for. Well, it was the perfect stripe for the sashing in this quilt but I needed more. I called the fabric store in Marion, IN, where I thought I bought it and they had no idea what I was talking about! Fortunately, Natalie found it at Joanne Fabrics right here in NJ.

My intention was to have everyone sign their name and/or draw a picture for the center square in each block. I drafted the block pattern and made up several samples so I could experiment with placement and color. Susan McKelvey, author of Friendship's Offering was coming to lecture at our meeting and do a workshop on writing on quilts so it was the perfect opportunity for anyone who wanted to get some ideas and learn a new technique. 

I put together 85 packets with fabrics and instructions and began selling them at the October meeting for $3.00 each. Blocks had to be returned by the January meeting and when they started coming in I was thrilled to see such creativity! 

 

Natalie put her signature in a leaf motif. 

 

Rachel added books.  

 

Rita Erickson did a sheaf of wheat.

 

Irene Aspell drew horses. 

Mary Lou Nichols did a sunflower.

And Sylvia Morgenstern drew an Iris.

Natalie and I assembled the quilt in January and then turned it over to guild member Lois Griffith who added the backing and sent it out to be quilted. It was hand quilted by Mattie Hershberger, an Amish quilter in NY state. By the May meeting it had been returned and I put the binding on Memorial Day weekend. The quilt was done on May 30, 1997--label and all.

Guild member, Anna Lega, won the quilt at the June meeting. Lucky her!


__________________________
Copyright 2013, Barbara Schaffer

Samuel Bower - Not A Family Man

My maternal gr-grandfather, Samuel Bower, was born in Lawrence, MA, in 1858, married Irene McCord in West Farms, NY, in 1886, left his family in 1901, and died in 1913.

Sam Bower was the 5th child of English immigrants, Robert Bower and Phebe Marsland. In 1880 he was 22 years old living with his older brother, William and family, in Rhode Island. His occupation was "working for a printer."

 

He was Commander of Oliver Tilden Post #26 in NYC in January 1885 and again from 1892-98. Membership in the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War was open to any man who could prove his ancestry to a member of the Grand Army of the Republic or to a veteran eligible for membership in the GAR. Sam's father, Robert Bower, served in the Civil War with the 50th MA Volunteers from 1862-63.

During his term of office, he instituted the Vanderbilt Auxiliary, an organization open to wives, mothers, sisters and all female descendants of Civil War veterans, as well as widows, nieces, and grandnieces. Years later, his daughter, Leila Bower Kroepke would serve as its president from 1915-1917.

Sam married Irene McCord on November 4, 1886 at Grace Church in West Farms, Bronx, NY. He was 28 years old, she was 19. He gave her a gold wedding band engraved "1886." 

Irene Florence McCord, daughter of James McCord and Maria Miller, was born August 1, 1867. I believe this is her wedding photo. Her left hand prominently displaying a wedding ring :-)

Sam and Irene had two children, Stanton M. Bower (my grandfather) born 1888 and Leila Bower born 1890.

On the back of this c. 1895 photograph his daughter wrote: "Father, Samuel Bower, Uniform of Signal Corp." 

In the 1900 census the family was still together though Sam was unemployed. The following year he left home and never returned. Correspondence I had with relatives in the 1970s shed a little more light:

From Leila Bower Kroepke (his daughter), April 20, 1972:
"After Stan and Ethel were married and had Etta they got in touch with Samuel Bower and took the baby to see him - only once that I know of. I never saw him after he left home - until he died and was buried from Gleason Ave. Bronx . . .[my note: Stan and Ethel were my grandparents, Etta my mother. It's sad to think that my mother never knew her grandfather and that he never made the effort to stay in touch.]

From Josephine Bower Weeks (his niece), postmarked Feb. 24, 1979:
"When he [Sam] was sick with pernicious anemia, and he needed care, he lived with us for six weeks, thinking it would be a curative vacation, but was not so, as he died soon afterwards in New York. He was wonderful to me, I was his pet--and after he went back to N.Y. he sent me presents--one was a beaded bag, and, coming from N.Y., it was the envy of my schoolmates . . . Uncle Sam was a huge man, that is in height--I think he was well over 6 ft. He looked like my father, and, too, had many of the characteristics." [my note: this letter portrays a much more loving Sam Bower.]

In 1995 my Aunt Midge and I went to St. Michael's Cemetery in Astoria, Queens, NY. We knew the section, plot and # of Sam's grave so a very nice employee helped us find it by taking "giant steps" to pinpoint its exact location--between the two graves above. Unfortunately, there is no headstone. We were told it was probably buried when that section of the cemetery was cleaned up.

All in all, we were comforted in knowing that we finally "found him." I wonder if he "felt" the same about us.

As for Irene, she remarried but that is another story.

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 Copyright 2013, Barbara Schaffer

Benjamin W. Wooster R.I.P.

When we were in Albany, NY, the week before Christmas, I had made up my mind to spend some time at  Albany Rural Cemetery. There were times when I would take 200 photos at any given cemetery and then spend a month or two re-sizing and labeling them to post on Find A Grave. I was all prepared to take at least that many photographs when, after 30 or so, the memory card in my camera indicated it was FULL. Was I ever disappointed!

In large cemeteries I just wander and photograph gravestones that appeal to me. This monument with its graceful statue and three-dimensional ivy leaves caught my eye.

 

BENJAMIN W. WOOSTER

1819-1897

MARY E. STEELE

HIS WIFE

1822-1850

CATHERINE M.

WRIGHT

HIS WIFE

1830-1920

 

 Troy Daily Times, September 6, 1899

I found this ad in a local paper on Old Fulton NY Post Cards. This site is great for researching historical NY newspapers.

    

GEORGE T.

1853-1855

KATIE E.

1857-1860

RODNEY S.

1864-1866

CHILDREN OF

B.W. AND C.M.

WOOSTER

 EDWARD B.

SON OF

BENJAMIN W.

AND

CATHERINE M.

WOOSTER

1854-1944

HARRY GREEN

SON OF 

BENJAMIN W.

AND CATHERINE M.

WOOSTER

1867-1893

DAVID WOOSTER

1791-1844

POLLY WOODBURY

HIS WIFE

1794-1834