QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-9210

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

85.0176

Owner's name for the quilt:

Shoofly in a Frame

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Wrench variation

Biography of the quiltmaker?

Cornelia Driggs Small was born 26 March 1844 at the Elyria, Ohio farm home of her parents, Joseph and Cornelia Pierson Driggs, who were married in N. Middlefield, New York on the 14th of May 1812. Joseph and Cornelia Driggs moved from their farm at Middlefield, NY to Elyria Ohio and started farming there is 1832. Cornelia was their eighth child. In 1865 they again moved to Rome in Lenawee County, Michigan and purchased a farm at the intersection of what is now Onstead Highway and Burton Rd. Cornelia met Henry Small at the Rome Grange, and after a courship of three years, they were married at the home of her parents the 20th of February 1869. Charity Driggs, Louisa Small, James Small, John Gillett Driggs and the bride and grooms parents were witnesses. Henry and Cornelia Small purchased a farm three miles south of Reading, Michigan in Camden Township where they erected a log house from timbers on their property. Cornelia was an accomplished homemaker, and an excellent seamstress who took great pride in her work and family. She was very interested in events of the nation and active in the M.E. Church in Reading. Shortly after they were established on their farm Cornelia, with the approval of her husband, purchased a weight driven Seth Thomas clock for a wagon load of hay which was harvested by hand. Family history has it that this clock was the first in their area. It still keeps accurate time in the home of her great grandson. Henry and Cornelia had only one child, Charles Driggs Small who was born 2nd, January 1870 to whom she and her husband were devoted and oversaw his education. After her parents estate was settled, Cornelia used a portion of her share to commission Horatio Shaw, a painter in Cadmus, Michigan to paint portraits of her father, mother and younger sister Charity from tintypes in her possession. In 1889 they replaced their log house with a frame house which was erected by Mr. Small and his son with lumber cut from trees on the farm with a steam powered saw mill. At the same time they built a house on Elm St., Reading, which their son and his bride would use. In 1894, due to Cornelia's declining health, Henry and Cornelia moved to the Elm St. house and their son and his family moved to the farm. Henry Small died 7th April 1895 at the Elm St. house and Charles and his wife moved back to Reading to care for Cornelia and hired a man to do the farming. Cornelia Small died 19th June 1903 and was buried alongside her husband at the Berg Cemetary near Camden, Michigan.

Quilt top made by:

Small, Cornelia

Quilted by:

Small, Cornelia

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

Inherited

Where the quilt was made, city:

Reading

Where the quilt was made, county:

Hillsdale

Where the quilt was made, state:

Michigan (MI)

Time period:

1850-1875

When was the quilt finished?

c1870

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

Montgomery

Quiltmaker's county:

Branch

Quiltmaker's state:

Michigan (MI)

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Driggs

Quiltmaker's birth date:

2/26/1844

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Rural

Quiltmaker's date and place of death:

6/19/1903

Quiltmaker's religious affiliation:

Protestant

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Driggs, Joseph

Quiltmaker's father's ethnic/tribal background:

American G.G. Grandfather was Dutch in New Amsterdam

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Driggs, Cornelia Piersons

Quiltmaker's mother's ethnic/tribal background:

American G. Grandfather English

Quiltmaker's marriage date(s):

2/20/1869

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and /or partner's/partners' name(s):

Small, Henry

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' ethnic/tribal background:

born in Ashford, Kent, England

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' occupation:

Farmer

Number of children:

1

How many of the quiltmaker's children were boys?

1

How did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

From Relative

When did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

Under 10 years of age

Why does the quiltmaker quilt?

Necessity

Other notes on how the quiltmaker learned, and how and why they quilt:

Equip the family beds.

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

64"

How long is the quilt?

84"

Shape of edge:

Straight

Shape of corners:

Straight

Quilt's condition:

Fair/worn

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Number of quilt blocks:

16 pieced, 9 plain

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Separated by plain sashing

Number of borders:

1

Describe the borders:

9" plain, tan print

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Piecing

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

2

What is the width of the binding (measure on the top only)?

less than a half inch

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:

9

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

8

Quilting designs used, background fills:

Parallel lines

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

Michigan Quilts, fig. 29, p. 35

Publications (including web sites) where this quilt or maker was featured:

Obituary

Person filling out this form is:

Quilt owner

Source of the information on this quilt:

Great grandson of quiltmaker

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Stanley C. and Nancy M. Surratt

Quilt owner's city:

Clinton

Quilt owner's county:

Lenawee

Quilt owner's state:

Michigan (MI)

How was this quilt acquired?

Inheritance

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

Cornelia Driggs Small, to daughter-in-law Effie Luticia Small, to daughter Florence Amelia Surratt to son Stanley Charles Surratt

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

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

Made entire quilt

Who photographed this quilt?

Peter Glendinning

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum