Baking Bread with Auntie

One of my favorite Trails End memories, in addition to quilting, was baking bread with Auntie. The Trails End kitchen always was redolent with fabulous cooking and baking aromas since Auntie loved to cook. Nanny had, too, when she was younger, I was told. However, my memories of her were from her more invalid days.

One of my favorite of Auntie's foods was fresh baked bread. She let me cut the crust, or "heel" from the warm loaf and spread it with her home churned butter. What a delicious treat.

Mother know how to bake bread, but didn't have much time with her work on our dairy and chicken farm. So I learned how to bake bread from Auntie.

Some of those memories:

• the scent of yeast dissolving in warm scalded milk
• watching the yellow butter melt and float over the top of the milk
• the fun of kneading the spongy dough before shaping it into loaves
• checking to see if had risen in the pans enough to bake
• the smell of the bread as it baked in the woodstove oven

I have a photo of me, standing on the south porch of our farmhouse, holding a loaf of freshly made bread. Mother and I were so pleased I'd made it all on my own that she took photos, with her Brownie box camera.

I recently used that photo when I taught a class to young writers (ages 6-14) on writing stories about their lives. I wrote my memories about baking bread.

What are some of your favorite younger recipes? Are any connected with quiltmaking or cooking?

Recipes of the Trails End Quilters

In addition to memories of quilting, when I visited my mom's home, Trails End Farm, I recall with fondness those of cooking and delicious meals. My aunt and grandmother lived in one end of the farmhouse. My uncle and his wife in an apartment added onto the west end.

Auntie, who lived with Grandmother or Nanny, cooked such tasty meals and allowed me to cook with her. From Auntie, I learned to bake bread, churn butter, make cottage cheese (called pot cheese in those days), stir up desserts and other items.

My mom cooked, but she also worked on our farm and took care of raising chickens and getting eggs ready for market. So, when she found I liked to cook, she let me do all I wanted, as well as prepare the family meals. Tidbits I picked up from Auntie came in handy.

I realized that this blog should encompass some of those Trails End memories, too.

Researching Mother's Wedding Quilt

Today the Trails End Quilters came to mind as I pulled my mom and dad's Wedding Quilt from hiding. (Actually it consists of pieces of a well worn quilt.)

My daughter Beth and I have been trying to find old fabrics or reproduction fabrics to match it. There are very few pieces that aren't worn, so we'll have to "start from scratch." However, finding matching fabrics is a challenge, especially the sashing.

When the Hancock's of Paducah catalog came in the mail today, I thought some of the fabrics looked similar to that in the Wedding Quilt. So that inspired me to get out a few of the quilt pieces.

Nothing seemed to match, nor even be a near match. So, we'll have to keep searching.

History of the Wedding Quilt

My dad and mom were married in November of 1934, so fabrics would have been of that year or earlier. If Mother ever told me who made it and gave to them, I don't recall, although I keep hoping the name will come from the recesses of my mind. There are no signatures that we can find.

A quilting friend is taking a picture of some of the quilt pieces to a quilt shop where she works and will see if she can match any there.

Do you have old quilts in your family?

This seems to be a popular topic on my Quilting and Patchwork blog.

The Delights of Blogging About Quilting
Kristen's Teddy Bear Quilt from Granny
Photo of Kristen's Teddy Bear Quilt

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Researching the History of Trails End

Since my quiltmaking began with my grandmother, Nanny, at Trails End Farm, I wanted to learn more about it's history. I have many fond memories of visits to this place where my mom grew up. She also shared stories of those younger years.

Some of them involved quiltmaking. As I thought about this, I realized my quilting heritage was connected with this farmstead. My daughter, granddaughter, and I are carrying on this tradition.

So....why not research the history of the farm and its inhabitants...and write about them? That also will tie in with the family genealogy research I continually do.

You can imagine my excitement when I discovered the old deeds to the farm, tracing it's family history back to around 1800! My grandfather's aunt and her husband, the Niles, owned it for many years. Then they sold it to Grandfather's father, William Coons. Over the years, William purchased neighboring land to add to the original farm.

When he died, his son Burton B. Coon inherited. (Burton changed his name from Coons to Coon, maintaining he was only one person!) Burton was my grandfather, whom we called Papa Coon.

Here my mother grew up with her sister and two brothers. Here we (her four children) visited often. Sometimes my sister and I spent a week at a time at Trails End during school vacations. By that time, Papa Coon had died and his son Webster now owned the farm. He, his wife Bessie, Nanny, and her daughter Esther (or Auntie) lived there.

As I research and learn more about the people who resided there over the decades and write down my memories, Trails End and it's quilting heritage take on new meaning.

(c)2007 Mary Emma Allen

Preserve Your Quilt Memories Through Journaling

I've been discussing at my b5media blog, Quilting and Patchwork, preserving your family memories, including those of families involved in quilting. My quiltmaking began with my grandmother when I was 8-years old. It was revived during the Bicentennial years of 1975-76.

You may want to read some of the articles at Quilting and Patchwork about family memories and quilting, including the responses I've received from readers.

What are your thoughts on preserving your quilting memories? Do you do this?

Researching Susie

Since my grandmother's friend, Susie, played a role in our quiltmaking, attending the tying sessions at the dining table, I decided to find out more about her. She was a figure in my childhood, too, often at Nanny's home when I visited. Susie also helped care for Nanny when she was ill and helped Auntie with housework and did sewing. Even though Susie probably was paid for housework, she was a friend.

It was many years before I realized that Susie had Negro blood she was so fair skinned. As we children got older, Mother mentioned this, perhaps realizing we'd hear something or notice that her hair was tightly curled or her skin was dark, not tanned, in winter time.

Checking the Census

Where is the first place one goes when trying to find more information about a person who lived years ago? Those involved in genealogy know the census is very helpful. Ancestry.com usually has many of these.

I did learn from the census that Susie was unmarried in 1920, the last census where I found her, but I know she must have lived until the 1940s because I remember her. I knew there were men in her life, but these were her brothers. Her mother was living with them in the 1910 census.

Then I traced her mother in earlier census and learned whom she married. I traced his genealogy and found his family. Since I don't know the mother's maiden name, it's difficult to know much about her family.

Although I'd been told Susie was Negro or black, on all the census except one, Susie and her family members were listed as mulatto. So that would account for Susie being so light skinned.

By tracing Susie's background, I'm trying to give her a place in history. (As far as I can tell, she has no descendants. Susie and her brothers were unmarried.)

Susie has a place in my Trails End memories, as a lovely, dignified lady who cared for my grandmother, attended our quilting sessions, and was a friend of the family.

Quilters' Tea Time Traditions

As I read my grandfather's journal, I discovered that he, Burton Barker Coon, discussed tea time and his mother's group of quilters. When the neighboring ladies gathered to work on their quilts, they might serve tea, he said.

His mother, Mary Barker Coon, was one of my ancestors, part of the group I call the Trails End Quilters. My daughter, granddaughter, and I continue their tradition of making and enjoying quilts.

To learn more about tea time traditions, some that evolved in my family and others I've discovered around the world, visit my blog, Tea Time News & Notes at http://tea-time-notes.blogspot.com .

More Quilting News & Information

If you'd like to read my other blogs/web sites with information about quilting and patchwork in addition to that involving the Trails End Quilters, check out:

Quilting and Patchwork at: www.quiltingandpatchwork.com

Quilter's Potpourri at: http://quilterspotpourri.blogspot.com

Here you'll find a variety of postings and stories about quilting past and present.

Mom, Write Down Your Memories

"Mom, you spend time researching our family history and telling me stories about Grandma and Great Grandma. But you need to write down your memories for me and your grandchildren," my daughter said.

So often we think other people's memories and stories are more interesting and important than our own. However, to our families, as Beth reminded me, ours are a part of our family heritage as well. (This also includes our quilting memories and journaling about what we're doing today. Involved in this would be research and writing about us as Trails End Quilters.)

I began relating some of my childhood memories, as well as those of later years, so they would become part of my daughter's and my grandchildren's background.

Perhaps in the future, they will be as excited to learn about my life as I am about my great grandmother's letters telling of homesteading in the Midwest. Your journals, your stories, and your memorabilia are part of the heritage that binds your family together.