Family history

Since the beginning of the year I have been digging through some of the photos and family history that I have acquired.  I don't want to just abandon these things but I don't know how much anyone after me will care about some of these stories and photos.  I don't plan on destroying them but I need to date them and pass them along.

One of my nephews has an interest in the family history and that is very cool - so he's the one who I am thinking of when I write these things.  I had the good fortune of growing up in our family home that my great-grandfather had built.  I had the benefit of hearing stories from my grandmothers who shared stories that they had learned from their grandparents.

Our family home was also a collection of odds and ends from about five generations.  One of the interesting items we had was a quilt that my grandmother kept tucked away on a shelf in a closet.  It would come out on odd occasions to delight a visitor who seemed interested.

Zachary Taylor – Baltimore Album Quilt

After the inauguration of President Zachary Taylor in March, 1849, arrangments were made to invite him to visit Berkeley Springs (Bath), Virginia (now West Virginia).  President Taylor was a native of Virginia and the Morgan County Chapter of the Ladies of the Whig Society were anxious to welcome their favorite son.

On such an occasion the Society would want to present the visiting President with something to commemorate his visit.  At that time a particular style of quilt was popular – the Baltimore Album Quilt, so called because the center panel featured a scene from the city of Baltimore, Maryland.  The quilt panels were all white backgrounds with a variety of decorations.

Each lady in the Whig Society likely made one or two squares and then the squares were arranged and pieced together.  Finally the quilt top was quilted.

Alas, President Taylor never made it to Berkeley Springs.  During July 4^th activities at the Washington Monument, President Taylor became ill and died five days later.

The quilt came into the possession of Mr. Jimmy West of Berkeley Springs.  Presumably his mother had been a member of the Whig Society. 

Peter R. Lawyer, Jeweler and sometime Mayor of the Town of Bath was a friend of Mr. Jimmy West and helped him with his financial affairs.  When Mr. West died, some of his belongings came into the possesion of Mr. Lawyer.

In the mid-1980’s Mr. Lawyer’s granddaughter and her husband, C. Dwan and Margie McBee (my mother and father) learned about the Baltimore Album Quilts from a friend who is a quilter.  The friend, Mary Pat Jebo, the daughter of my godmother.  She was visiting and talking about her new found hobby of quilting.  Mother was talking about the quilts at our family home.  When she started to describe this particular quilt, Mary Pat became very excited because it sounded to her like a Baltimore Album Quilt.

My parents knew the history of the quilt, but did not know the significance of the Baltimore Album Quilt.  They photographed the quilt, capturing individual squares.  They later had the quilt appraised and sold through auction by Sotheby’s.

Four of the quilt panels can be seen in the images below.