QUILT SQUARE

This quilt square was pieced by Lydia Preston Meade before her death around 1897. The quilt top was left to her daughter Martha Jeanette Meade Bartlett, Mommy as she was called by the grandchildren. The quilt was kept in a cedar chest or trunk and Mommy never got around to quilting it. The flood came in 1937 and the Ohio River overflowed its banks and the town of New Boston. The family had to leave their house through an upstairs window and ride in a boat to safety. The quilt was left at the house where it was immersed in flood waters. Because of some metal in the trunk there were rust stains left on the quilt top. Mommy gave the quilt top to her granddaughter, Robert Jo “Bobbie” Bartlett one day while Bobbie was helping her mother, Lucille Reynolds Bartlett, make some quilts for some bunk beds. Bobbie was given the quilt top because she was the only child or grandchild of Mommy’s who was interested in making quilts. Bobbie married James L. Bray who was in the Air Force. They traveled the world and took the quilt top with them. These are the places they lived: San Antonio & Marfa, Texas, Greenville & Camden, South Carolina, Warner Robbins, Georgia, Orlando & Cape Canaveral, Florida; Camp Springs, Maryland (Washington, D.C.) – this is where the quilt top was when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.); Biloxi, Mississippi; Yalova, Turkey; the island of Guam & Anchorage, Alaska. As you can see this quilt has had quite a history. Bobbie brought the quilt top to her sister, Lee’s house and while there was gracious enough to cut the quilt apart so that several of us would have a piece of this history. Three pieces were left at her sister Lillian’s house and I, Lillian’s daughter, took the pieces and quilted each of them. It was amazing to be able to quilt squares of fabric that my great, great grandmother had pieced together. My husband framed each of the quilt squares in frames that he made. They were given to Lillian, Bonnie, and Patsy Atkins Jackson, Lillian’s daughter in-law. The quilt squares were to be passed down to Lillian’s granddaughters, Kristy Hanes Stace, Holly Ann Hanes and Tracey Elizabeth Jackson and hopefully they will pass them down to future generations to enjoy and to remind them of their history. Since that time, Lillian has passed on and her quilt square was passed down to Kristy Stace.