QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-895

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

85.1732

Owner's name for the quilt:

Flower Basket

Biography of the quiltmaker?

My grandmother Thomasine Gardner, was born in 1862. Her mother was Nancy Ann Ford, whose brother William was Henry Ford's father. That would make Henry and Thomasine first cousins. In the 1870s, when Thomasine was a young girl, she frequently travelled from her home in Marquette, Michigan on a freighter to visit her Ford cousins, William, Margaret, and Jane. She stayed at the Ford farm in Dearborn, Michigan in the summertime, and helped with the harvesting. It was during one of these visits that Thomasine met James Gardner, son of pioneer Richard Gardner who built his farmhouse in the early Scotch Settlement, Dearborn, Mich. in 1832. James Gardner and Thomasine Falherty were married in 1885. In 1898 James was elected supervisor of the Village of Dearborn. James and Thomasine had 2 children; Russell, and my mother, who was born Esther Gardner in 1894. My mother Esther tells how her birthplace home came to be in Greenfield Village, "He just thought it would be nice to have a lot of old early American ways of living, types of buildings and such all collected in one spot. My house was a place where Henry used to play when he was a young boy." Henry Ford also wanted the home because it was put together with large dowel pins and huge beam rafters, and made a perfect example of Pioneer Settlers in Michigan. The Gardner home was moved to Greenfield Village in the early 1930s. Thomasine Gardner was an imposing woman. She had white hair that was marcelled in waves flat against her head. Her figure was large. She came from stout pioneer stock, and in adult life grew into a big boned, portly woman. Thomasine designed and made this quilt just for me when I was a young girl 10 years old, in 1938. I very well remember receiving the package. It was wrapped in brown paper, and came through the mail all the way from California. It remained on my bed for many years. Then in the 1960s when I had a family of my own, it covered my own daughter, Clare Gardner Irwin's bed. Four generations have loved that quilt, and we all know and appreciate that family heirlooms have wonderful stories to tell. A unique history lesson for everyone. Ann Davis Irwin My great-grandmother Nancy Ford Flaherty and Henry Ford's father were brother and sister. My grandmother was Thomasine Flaherty Gardner. Henry Ford was her uncle. My mother, Esther Gardner, always tried to teach me our family history and how close Thomasine was to Henry and Clara Ford.

When was the form filled out?

10/10/1985

Quilt top made by:

Gardner, Thomasine

Quilted by:

Gardner, Thomasine

If you are a relative of the quiltmaker, how are you related? The quiltmaker is my:

Quilt owner

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

Received as a gift

Where the quilt was made, state:

California (CA)

Time period:

1930-1949

When was the quilt finished?

1938

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

Dearborn

Quiltmaker's county:

Wayne

Quiltmaker's state:

Michigan (MI)

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Flaherty

Quiltmaker's birth date:

1860s

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Rural

Quiltmaker's religious affiliation:

Protestant - Methodist probably

Quiltmaker's occupation:

Housewife - farmer's wife

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Flaherty, Thomas

Quiltmaker's father's ethnic/tribal background:

Ireland

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Ford, Nancy Ann

Quiltmaker's mother's ethnic/tribal background:

Irish

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

Gardner, James

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

Irish

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

Farmer

Number of children:

2

How many of the quiltmaker's children were girls?

1

How many of the quiltmaker's children were boys?

1

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

84"

How long is the quilt?

87"

Shape of edge:

Straight

Shape of corners:

Rounded

Quilt's condition:

Fair/worn

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Number of quilt blocks:

20

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Alternating with plain squares

Number of borders:

1

Describe the borders:

10"

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Fabric styles used in the quilt top:

Dotted

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Piecing

Applique techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Applique

Embellishment techniques used to make the quilt top:

Embroidery

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

What color is the back of the quilt?

White

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

1

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Cannot tell

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

13

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

13

Describe the quilting designs used:

Scallops, Leaf

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

Michigan Quilts: A Celebration of 150 Years of Textile Tradition, East Lansing, MI, September 12-November 1, 1987, Kresge Art Museum, MSU

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

Michigan Quilts (1987) book, figure 155, page 104.

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

Photocopy of an article about the Gardner House and the Scotch settlement.

Person filling out this form is:

Quilt owner

Source of the information on this quilt:

Granddaughter of quiltmaker

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Ann D. Irwin

Quilt owner's city:

Bloomfield Hills

Quilt owner's county:

Oakland

Quilt owner's state:

Michigan (MI)

How was this quilt acquired?

Gift

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