13 August 2012

Quilt Depicting the House Built by a Grandfather




You may remember that last month we did a piece “Rockdale Township woman dives into family history in creating historic quilt.” Upfront with NGS reader Francis Taylor shared this in response ...


I'm not sure this qualifies as "something to honor an ancestor", but I have made a quilt depicting the house my grandfather built on his homestead in Montana.  The house was ordered from Montgomery Ward and replaced the one-room cabin he built with materials he took west in his "immigrant car."  I spent time in this house every summer from 1937 when I was 4 until I was in college.  Our family had reunions in the house from 1938 until hosting 70 plus people became too great a chore for my aunt and uncle in 2000.The house and land represent family in the memories of my grandparent's descendants and I am not the first of the family to create an image of it.  I have just returned from a reunion where there were about 100 descendants present.  My grandparents not only created a place but a tightly knit family.  We enjoy each other, help each other in times of illness and gather from places as distant as Australia and Europe.

I think you’ll agree that this is a wonderful homage to her grandfather, his house and the emotions that can be imbued in a quilt!

Do you have a quilt, handicraft or something similar to share with Upfront with NGS readers?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                



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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousAugust 13, 2012 6:37 PM

    I really like the quilt and think it's a great way to not only honour an ancestor but to create another record. My mother gave me a quilt that was made by the Fort St. John (BC) Women's Institute in the 1980's. The quilt is a whole piece quilt and has the British Columbia dogwood floral emblem at the top. The remainder of the quilt follows the Dominion Land Survey (Canada), in other words, a whole lot of squares! What is interesting about this quilt is that each square depicts a 1/4 section of land and records the name of the original homesteader. From the information recorded on this quilt I have been able to find land records for my maternal Grandparents. From my perspective, it not only honours the early settlers to the British Columbia Peace River Block but for me was also a genealogy resource.

    Salli Rice
    Hope, BC

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