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Quaker Valley Quilt
The Quaker Valley
Quilt, which was purchased in honor of William and Roseanna Wright in
early 2000's, has come home to Menallen Meeting. The signature quilt
was made circa 1850 and has seventy-six names, which have been
researched by Menallen members Deb McCauslin and Judy Pyle. They found
that most persons whose names are inscribed on the blocks had local
origins, although over half had moved
west, to Ohio, Indiana and Iowa. Only twenty-five of the persons
actually lived in Adams County. Hiram A. Thomas, whose name appears
in the middle of the quilt, married Rebecca Wright, whose name is in
the lower left corner, in 1854. They moved to West Liberty, Iowa where
Rebecca continued to teach school.
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Of special interest
is the name of Mary Payne, who was the daughter of Kitty Pain. Kitty
was a freed slave living near Bendersville in July, 1845, when she and
her children, including Mary, were abducted by slave-catchers and taken
to Virginia, where they were kept for a year while Adams County Quakers
fought in court for her freedom. When they were finally freed, they
returned to Adams County and Mary went to live with the Joel and Ruth
Wright family. Other names of interest on the quilt are those of
Louisa Steer and Elizabeth Stone, abolitionists from Loudon Co., VA.
Louisa's name appears in the Women's Meeting minutes in July 1851,
saying that she had visited Menallen with a "religious concern". | | |
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