The surnames are those of sturdy pioneer stock, names still found in Plymouth Township: Smith, Anderson, Battles, Wright, Hall, Powell, Hillyer, Holcomb and Miller.
There are nearly 500 such names on the quilt Barbara Smith-Antoline owns. Each name is painstakingly embroidered in red thread on white panels about 9 inches square and set against of a background of red, white and blue triangles. There are about 15 names on each of the 32 panels.
The name of Smith’s father is on one of the blocks. Clifton Leroy Smith, born Sept. 8, 1910, would have been no more than 4 years old when the quilt was made. His next sibling came along in 1914, and that name does not appear on what appears to be a family block.
Aside from that deduction, Smith-Antoline and her sister Lou Johnson and cousin Mary Ellen Mock have no way of dating the quilt, which Lou recently entrusted to her sister for safekeeping.
Mock says the story that was passed down with the quilt is that their grandmother Mary Smith won it in a raffle held by the Plymouth Grange. The quilt was apparently a Grange — or perhaps a community — project made as a fundraiser for the organization, which is still in existence. Mary Smith paid one thin dime for her chance.
The quilt has had several owners, all of them descendants of Mary and Owen Smith. Lou Johnson, who is relocating to Florida, was its most recent owner. With the move, she decided to pass it along to her sister, who plans to keep it in the family.
The quilt holds many mysteries.
Who made it? What is the significance of the names on it? What event or purpose did it celebrate? Why, out of all the names on the quilt, are two of them embroidered into the center of the quilt, outside a white block.
Those names, Herbert and Gertrude Lewis, mean nothing to the sisters, but they’d like to know more about them and the other people whose lives are red threads on a quilt of time and mystery. Anyone with an insight into the quilt can reach Mock at 964-9192.
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Nearly 100 years old, quilt from Plymouth Township holds many names, questions
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