QUILT INDEX RECORD

25-21-368

Who documented this quilt?

Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association, Texas Quilt Search

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin

Texas Quilt Search Number:

tqs_0035

Person filling out this form is:

Blood relative of quiltmaker; Quilt owner; Other

Source of the information on this quilt:

This quilt was identified and reviewed during the Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association's Texas Quilt Search, 1983-1985. Karey Bresenhan served as quilt historian.

When was the form filled out?

1983-1985

Choose the best description of the source to the quilt:

Quilt owner

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

Inherited

Describe the relationship to the quilt's maker:

The present owner of this quilt is the granddaughter of the quiltmaker.

This is a:

Finished quilt

Owner's name for quilt:

Carpenter's Square

How wide is the quilt?

78 in.

How long is the quilt?

78 in.

Shape of edge:

Straight

Shape of corners:

Straight

What color is the quilt?

Blue or Navy; White

Antique colors:

Indigo Blue

Overall color scheme:

Two color

Quilt's condition:

Very good/almost new

Damage:

Stains

Describe the damage:

damage to top edge

Notes on condition, damage, or repairs:

In 1985, as part of the preparations for the “Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1836-1936” exhibit in the Texas Capitol Rotunda, the Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association sponsored a Quilt Conservation Seminar. Part of the seminar was a two-day intensive hands-on laboratory attended by quilt experts who stabilized, backed, or otherwise prepared the quilts, including this one, for this exhibition.

Time period:

1876-1900

Date estimated by an antique dealer, quilt historian or appraiser:

ca. 1885

Who estimated the quilt's date?

Karey Bresenhan

Describe the quilt's layout:

One patch or allover

Number of quilt blocks:

9

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Straight

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Side by side

Number of different block patterns used in the quilt:

1

What is the shape of the quilt blocks?

Squares

Number of borders:

3

Describe the borders:

three one-inch borders in white, indigo blue print, and white

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Fabric types used to make the quilt top:

Muslin

Fabric styles used in the quilt top:

Print; Solid/plain

Describe the fibers or fabrics in the quilt top:

indigo blue with tiny print

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Piecing

Can you feel or see paper on the quilt that was used as a construction aid?

no

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

Description of the back:

muslin

What color is the back of the quilt?

White

Describe the back:

Same fabric used throughout; Solid/plain

Materials used in the quilt binding:

Cotton

Describe the binding:

same indigo print as used in top

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 thick is the quilt?

Thin (Less than 3/16?)

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Thread type used for the quilting:

cotton

Color of thread used in the quilting:

white

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Double parallel lines

Describe the quilting designs used:

channel quilting throughout

Features or notes about the quilt's appearance, materials, or construction:

Complicated maze of interlocking squares that form four white block Xs featuring three rows of double quilting surrounding a central white diamond. Meticulously hand pieced; quilt remains crisp. Indigo print used in pattern that requires great precision.

Quilt top made by:

Wilson, Martha Harriet Kincaid

Quilted by:

Wilson, Martha Harriet Kincaid

Where the quilt was made, city:

McKinney

Where the quilt was made, county:

Collin

Where the quilt was made, state:

Texas (TX)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

How was this quilt acquired?

Inheritance

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

Quiltmaker Martha Harriet Kincaid Wilson lived most of her life in Collin County, Texas, where she raised thirteen children. Her Carpenter's Square quilt passed to one of her sons, who gave it to his daughter, the quiltmaker's granddaughter.

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

Martha Wilson moved to Texas when she was six. As a child she attend a Dame School, a combination nursery school, kindergarten, and first grade, where small children were taught, often by a spinster or a housewife, their alphabet and were instructed in sewing and knitting. Martha married George Wilson at age sixteen and had fourteen children, one of whom died stillborn. Although she suffered a deformed left hand, Martha Wilson was skilled in sewing, knitting, crocheting, and weaving, in addition to quilting. She made beautiful clothing, and her granddaughter owns a coverlet Martha made, including carding and dyeing the wool.

Why was the quilt made?

Art or personal expression

The quilt was made to be used for:

Bedding, special occasion

Quilt is presently used as:

Artwork/wall hanging; Bedding, special occasion; Keepsake/memento

Where did the maker get their materials?

Unknown

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Public domain/traditional pattern

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

One of 62 Texas quilts exhibited in “Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1836-1936,” Texas State Capitol Rotunda, Austin, Texas, April 19-21, 1986; "1880s Indigos--Quilts from 100 Years Ago," Thirteenth Annual International Quilt Festival, Houston, Texas, November 1987.

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

Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association’s Texas Quilt Search Archives

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

Bresenhan, Karoline Patterson and Nancy O'Bryant Puentes, Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, Vol. I, 1836-1936 (Austin: University of Texas Press), p. 92-93.

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Rebecca Wilson Huston

Quilt owner's state:

Texas (TX)

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Kincaid, Martha Harriet

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's birth date:

02/20/1839

Quiltmaker's birthplace, state:

Illinois

Quiltmaker's birthplace, country:

United States

Quiltmaker's date and place of death:

01/08/1922

Quiltmaker's religious affiliation:

Methodist

Quiltmaker's occupation:

homemaker

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Rural

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Kincaid, John M.

Quiltmaker's father's birthplace:

Bath County, Kentucky

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Kincaid, Temperance Rattan

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

Wilson, George W.

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

surveyor, real estate, farmer, stockman

Number of children:

14

How did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

Self-Taught; Other

When did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

Under 10 years of age

Why does the quiltmaker quilt?

Necessity; Pleasure

Who photographed this quilt?

Sharon Risedorph

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Assistant Director Winedale