QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-8373

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:

86.0969

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

2019:14.1

Object label:

Mary Jane Carpenter Clark (1835-1910).
Mariner's Compass (Christmas Star) made 1859-1910, Belleville, Wayne County, Michigan.
Katherine Kay Vielmetti Peters, lender.
Cotton with wool filling, 73" x 84.25", MQP 86.969

Essay:

In 1842 when Mary Jane Carpenter was seven years old, she and her family moved from their home in New York to Michigan and settled in Wayne County. In 1859 she married Woodbury Clark, who had also moved from New York via the Erie Canal to Michigan in 1838.

By the time she married, Clark had made 115 quilts for her hope chest and at least one quilt for the hope chest of another. As her family grew - the Clarks had three children - she continued quilting, working alone on one quilt per year for the family and working with a group on one quilt per year for the church. Her granddaughter, Gail Clark, remembered groups quilting in Mary Jane's Belleville home. Several people would sit together around a large frame set up in the front room. The materials used were usually purchased at Potter's General Store in Belleville, but one Mary Jane included a piece of her wedding dress - a dark maroon silk taffeta - in a Crazy quilt. Because of her selection of colors and her use of even quilting stitches, her sisters thought she was the best quilter in the community. Gail saved many of the better quilts in a cedar chest so they wouldn't become worn. Because of her foresight, the family now has eight or nine well-preserved quilts.

Clark's Christmas Star quilt, shown here, is thought to have been made as a dowry quilt, which means it would have been made before her wedding on December 22, 1859. The top is made of solid red and solid green cotton blocks that have been pieced and quilted by hand. A saw-tooth border accents the three sides. Solid khaki material has been used for the seven-piece back. Clark combines diagonal lines of quilting on the border and in the star center with clamshell designs from the edge of each block up to the 11 concentric circles that pass through the arms of each of the stars.

The few worn spots on this quilt are in the red fabric on the border and in the stars. As a treasured family heirloom, it has been in the protective hands of four generations: Kate Crysler Clark, married to Mary Jane Clark's son, Ralph; Gail Clark, daughter of Kate and granddaughter of Mary Jane; and Katherine K. Peters, niece of Gail and great-granddaughter of Mary Jane. Peters, the present owner is a quilter herself. See no. 255 for a quilt by Katherine K. Peters.

Excerpt from Michigan Quilts: 150 Years of a Textile Tradition

Owner's name for the quilt:

Christmas Star

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Mariner's Compass

Biography of the quiltmaker?

Her sisters thought she was the best quilter in the community. She had good color choices and very even quilting stitches.

When was the form filled out?

9/11/1986

Quilt top made by:

Clark, Mary Jane

Quilted by:

Clark, Mary Jane

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

Inherited

Where the quilt was made, city:

Belleville

Where the quilt was made, county:

Wayne

Where the quilt was made, state:

Michigan (MI)

Time period:

1850-1875

When was the quilt finished?

c1859

Family/owner's date for quilt:

My Aunt Gail thinks this was one of Mary Jane's dowery quilt and therefore made before 12/22/1859.

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

Belleville

Quiltmaker's county:

Wayne

Quiltmaker's state:

Michigan (MI)

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Carpenter

Quiltmaker's birth date:

12/26/1835

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Rural

Quiltmaker's date and place of death:

1910

Quiltmaker's religious affiliation:

Methodist

Quiltmaker's occupation:

housewife

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Carpenter, John

Quiltmaker's father's ethnic/tribal background:

USA

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Carpenter, Lucy Bennett

Quiltmaker's mother's ethnic/tribal background:

USA

Quiltmaker's marriage date(s):

12/22/1859

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

Clark, Woodbury

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

born in Ostego County, NY; came to Van Buren Twp, Wayne County, MI via Erie Canal in 1838

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

farmer, carpenter, Township treasurer 1877

Number of children:

3

How many of the quiltmaker's children were girls?

2

How many of the quiltmaker's children were boys?

1

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

I know she made quilts for her own hope chest (15) and made at least 1 quilt for another's hope chest.

Estimated number of quilts made by this quiltmaker:

5-20 quilts

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

73"

How long is the quilt?

84 1/4"

Shape of edge:

Straight

Shape of corners:

Straight

Damage:

Tears or holes

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Number of quilt blocks:

16 whole, 4 half

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Straight

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Side by side

Number of borders:

1

Describe the borders:

2 1/3 pieced sawtooth, red & green (on three sides); 3" plain, green, at one end

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

What color is the back of the quilt?

Beige or Tan

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

7

How is the binding made?

Straight grain

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?

Wool

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

5

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

6

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Clamshell

Quilting designs used, background fills:

Parallel lines

Describe the quilting designs used:

Concentric circles

Where did the maker get their materials?

Purchased new

Describe the sources of the quilt's materials:

Fabric purchased at Potter's General Store, Belleville, MI.

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

Contests entered:

Marquette County Quilters Show, Marquette, MI, 1982

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

Michigan Quilts, fig. 25, p. 33

Person filling out this form is:

Quilt owner

Source of the information on this quilt:

Great granddaughter of quiltmaker

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)

Quilt owner's country:

United States

How was this quilt acquired?

Gift

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

Kate Clark (Mary Jane Clark's daughter-in-law), Gail Clark (granddaughter to Mary Jane and daughter of Kate), Katherine J. Peters (great-granddaughter to Mary Jane and niece of Gail.) Donated to MSU Museum by Katherine Kay Vielmetti Peters in 2019.

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

My Aunt Gail Clark said that Mary Jane always quilted alone on the tops for the family. Group quilts were for the church.

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

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

Made entire quilt

Describe any unique traditions, quilting related customs, beliefs, songs or rhymes used by the quiltmaker:

The quilter had 15 quilts for her own hope chest. None of her quilts appear to have a purposeful mistake.

Who photographed this quilt?

Peter Glendinning

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum