QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-9147

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project; Michigan State University Museum Collection

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

86.0489 AIQP

If this quilt is owned by a museum, enter the accession number:

6814.1

Object label:

Star of Bethlehem
Margaret Ogahmahgegedo
Odawa, Agosatown, Leelanau County, Michigan
1912
Collection of Michigan State University Museum acc.#6814.1

Essay:

According to James M. McClurken, co-author with James A. Clifton and George L. Cornell, of People of the Three Fires: The Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Ojibway of Michigan, the star and floral motifs exhibited in this quilt are typical of components of Ottawa designs. Each square and triangle formed against the white background by the center star is filled with floral designs that embellish the central design and mimic designs depicted in earlier porcupine quill work and beaded pieces of the same region. It is probable that Native Americans began quilting after the Grand Traverse Mission period; the first person who was recorded to have had furniture in his home, and thus have a need for domestic furnishings such as quilts, was Agosa, who lived on Old Mission penninsula during the mid 1840s.

The donor, Florence Lackie Hanes, writes that her father, Walter Lackie, acquired it "as a trade for some farm goods. Always treasured by the family, and never used [it is] just called the Indian Quilt." The quiltmaker was known to the family as Mrs. Ogahmahgegedo, but further research has revealed that she may also have been known as Catherine or Jenny Steele. She lived in a settlement known as Ahgosatown, located between Omena and Northport, Michigan.

From Michigan Quilts: 150 Years of a Textile Tradition.

Owner's name for the quilt:

Lone Star with floral applique

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Indian Quilt

When was the form filled out?

10/25/1985

Quilt top made by:

Ogahmahgegedo, Margaret

Quilted by:

Ogahmahgegedo, Margaret

If you are the quilt owner, how did you acquire this quilt?

Received as a gift

Where the quilt was made, city:

Agosa Town

Where the quilt was made, county:

Leelanau

Where the quilt was made, state:

Michigan (MI)

Time period:

1901-1929

When was the quilt started?

1912

When was the quilt finished?

ca 1912

Quilt is presently used as:

Museum collection

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

Omena

Quiltmaker's county:

Leelanau

Quiltmaker's state:

Michigan (MI)

Quiltmaker's ethnic background/tribal affiliation:

Native American; Ottawa (Odawa)

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

66

How long is the quilt?

75

Shape of edge:

Straight

Shape of corners:

Straight

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

Damage:

Stains

Describe the quilt's layout:

Medallion or framed center

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Straight

Describe the borders:

2.5

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Piecing

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

How is the binding made?

Back turned to front

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Cotton

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

4

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

5

Quilting designs used, background fills:

Parallel lines

Describe the quilting designs used:

Outline/Ditch

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

Michigan Quilts: A Celebration of 150 Years of Textile Tradition, East Lansing, MI, September 13, 1987-January 30, 1988, Michigan State University Museum; Quilts from the Michigan State University Museum Collection, traveling exhibit: Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MI, October, 1992 - January, 1993: Southwestern Michigan College Museum, Dowagiac, MI, June - September, 1995; Midland County Historical Society, Midland, MI, December 1, 1997 - January 25, 1998. Michigan Quilts exhibit, Chicago Hilton and Towers, International Quilt Market and Festival, May 9-14, 1989. Great Lakes Native Quilting, exhibit, September 19, 1999-February 27, 2000, MSUM Sloan Museum, Flint, Michigan, September 14 - November 14, 2001.

Related items such as diaries, obituaries, wills, household inventories, or pictures of the quiltmaker:

Ingham County Sesquicentennial News, vol 1, no. 3, September 1987. Michigan Quilts (1987) book, figure 119, page 83.

Person filling out this form is:

Quilt owner

Ownership of this quilt is:

Public- Michigan State University Museum

Quilt owner's name:

Michigan State University Museum

Quilt owner's city:

East Lansing

Quilt owner's county:

Ingham

Quilt owner's state:

Michigan (MI)

How was this quilt acquired?

Gift

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

11-18-1988, Florence L. Hanes, donor

Describe anything about the history of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field:

Caption from the Michigan Quilts book; These two quilts of the Star of Bethlehem or Lone Star pattern are known to have been made by two Native American women from Leelanau County, Michigan. According to James M. McClurken, co-author with James A. Clifton and George L. Cornell, of People of the Three Fires: The Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Ojibway of Michigan, the star and floral motifs exhibited in these two quilts are typical of components of Ottawa designs. Each square and triangle formed against the white background by the center star is filled with floral designs that embellish the central design and mimic designs depicted in earlier porcupine quill work and beaded pieces of the same region. It is probable that Native Americans began quilting after the Grand Traverse Mission period; the first person who was recorded to have had furniture in his home, and thus have a need for domestic furnishings such as quilts, was Agosa, who lived on Old Mission penninsula during the mid 1840s. Little is known about the maker of quilt no. 118. She sold it to Mrs. Richard Lay, who in turn passed it on to its current owners, Elizabeth and Vernon Keye. The owner of quilt no. 119, Florence Lackie Hanes, writes that her father, Walter Lackie, acquired it "as a trade for some farm goods. Always treasured by the family, and never used [it is] just called the Indian Quilt." The quiltmaker was known to the family as Mrs. Ogahmahgegedo, but further research has revealed that she may also have been known as Catherine or Jenny Steele. She lived in a settlement known as Ahgosatown, located between Omena and Northport, Michigan.

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

How did the quiltmaker participate in the creation of the quilt?

Made entire quilt

Who photographed this quilt?

Doug Elbinger

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum