Family Heirloom, Textile Object, Historical Artifact
The Antique Redwork Quilt on this site bears the handwritten names of residents of the town of Charlemont Massachusetts circa 1888 to 1890.
For reference, I have numbered each quilt square, or "block," from left to right, top to bottom. The top row, therefore, is Block 1 through Block 6; the second row, Block 7 through 12; and so on, through Blocks 31 through 36 on the bottom row.
Block 17 includes the names of my great-great grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. A. L. Avery; my great-grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. O. C. Avery; and my grandfather, Henry L. Avery.
I was able to date the quilt as follows: my "Grampa Henry", above, was born on April 20, 1888. His mother (wife of Oscar Carter Avery) was Henrietta "Hetta" Eldridge, whose sister was Alice Belle Eldridge. Alice's maiden name, Alice B. Eldridge, appears on Block 12, along with the names of the Eldridge sisters' parents, Mr. & Mrs. R. H. Eldridge (Roswell Hall Eldridge and Eliza Hawks Longley). Alice married William S. Gould, Block 24, on June 11, 1890. I am assuming, therefore, that the names were added to the quilt between these two dates - April 1888 and June 1890.
Researching other names on the quilt drew me into the fascinating history of the village in which I was raised. I am developing a deep appreciation for the contributions of many people whose family names were familiar to me as a child. And I am fascinated to discover their social and civic relationships and sometimes family relationships. Among those family names are Barnard, Maxwell, Mayhew, Upson, Leavitt, Taylor, Rice, Hawks, Sears, and Clark.
I owe a debt of gratitude to Allan Healy, whose love of local history led him to undertake a research project and to write a book in order to preserve the stories of many of those individuals and families whose names appear on the quilt. In his forward to the book, Charlemont Massachusetts: Frontier Village and Hill Town, Mr. Healy thanks my parents, "the Averys," for their contributions. My father, Burton Wright Avery (Henry's eldest child) and my mother, Barbara Goodwin Avery married in 1936. I too am grateful to them for their love of local history and family history, and for their efforts to preserve both. My mother's avid interest in family genealogy spurred her interest in history generally, and local history specifically. She and her sister-in-law Betty Wheaton Avery (the wife of my Dad's brother Paul) shared this passion, and collaborated in their research into the relationships among some of the families whose names appear on the quilt. However, sadly, I have no recollection of either of them mentioning the quilt itself, and so far, have found no references to it among Mother's work, nor in diaries or letters I've perused.
My parents most likely came across the Redwork Quilt after moving into the apartment above A. L. Avery & Son General Store in Charlemont, MA. The store, which is still owned and operated by an Avery descendant, Dennis Avery and his wife Karen Hogness, was established in 1861 in a building referred to as "the Baltimore, " in the center of the village. Above the store are two floors, one used as the family residence, and another formerly as boarding rooms, and then the top floor attic. Until recently the upper floors stored a treasure-trove of family heirlooms and antiques. Those rooms were emptied in 2006 in anticipation of the sale of the building and the business. Many of the items were donated to the town's museum, some acquired by family members, and the rest sold at auction.
The family business, a typical New England general store, was established in 1861 by Amos. L. Avery, originally in partnership with his brother William Barnard Avery. Amos became sole owner of both the business and the building in 1867. Amos and Ellen, and their son Oscar and his wife Hetta, divided and shared the apartment in which I was to grow up many years later. Oscar's second wife Mary Parsons Upson also lived in that same apartment until her death in 1943. Oscar died in 1945, leaving the apartment vacant. The following year, my family moved into the apartment, becoming the third and fourth generations of Averys to live there.
The quilt traveled with my parents to their retirement home in North Carolina in the 1980's, where I discovered it in 2000, after they both had died.
I plan to continue to researching the history of this Redwork Quilt using my mother's genealogy library, which my brothers and I chose to keep intact when we settled our parents' estate in April 2000. That library includes family letters and diaries from the period, as well as history books and public records. I will enjoy continuing to search for clues to help answer the questions, "Who made the quilt", and "Why," and to learn more about each person whose name appears on the quilt. I hope this website will pay proper tribute to those individuals who contributed so much to Charlemont's history.
After the photos on this website were taken, I contracted with Museum Textile Services in Andover, MA to have the quilt professionally cleaned. Stains visible in the photos cannot be completely removed, but have been lightened and stabilized to prevent further deterioration of the fabric. The quilt is being properly stored in archival safe products.
I am very grateful to Camille Myers Breeze, director of Museum Textile Services, for her skill and support in helping me to preserve this family heirloom and the little piece of history it represents.
Karen Avery Solon