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.

The Favorite "Blankie"

Most children have a favorite blanket or toy that follows them through their early years. Some only feel the need for a few years. Others will have it on their bed, at least, into teen years.

This is something familiar to comfort them when the challenges of being a child seem overwhelming. This helps them fall asleep, overcome fears, and simply make them feel good.

I made small patchwork quilts for each of my grandchildren at their births. These were of the Rail Fence Design…blue, white, and yellow for Kara and green, white, and yellow for Alex. (Kara was four years old when Alex was born; we have photos of her helping me finish it.)

Kara used hers for many years and now has it packed away. Alex’s has become very worn, so that their mom has patched and re-patched it, front and back. Finally the back couldn’t be patched any more, so she put on a completely new one, using fabric that matched his pajamas.

(Read about this blankie and see pictures at her blog: http://meanderingthreads.blogspot.com )

I never imagined when I made these crib quilts for my grandchildren that they’d become so treasured. It seems I was carrying on a tradition. My grandmother made my brothers, my sister, and I bed-sized patchwork quilts (with me, at 8-years old) helping her. I was so pleased when I discovered my mother had saved mine.

©2006 Mary Emma Allen

(Mary Emma Allen lives with her family in a multigenerational household in New Hampshire. Visit her other quilting web site: www.quiltingandpatchwork.com )

Quilting with Susie at Trails End

When I think of my grandmother’s friend Susie, tying quilts around the dining table at Trails End comes to mind. I’d helped cut and stitch pieces for quilts Nanny made for us four grandchildren. Now I felt so grown up as she, Aunt Esther (or Auntie as we children called her) and Susie invited me, a mere eight-year old, to help tie the quilt spread out on the large table.

Susie also assisted my grandmother, Nanny, and Auntie at canning time, spring cleaning time, harvesting season, and other occasions. She was between Nanny and Auntie in age, as near as I recall. At family gatherings, Susie often attended, helping with the meal, joining the activities. She attended Christmas festivities. We gave her gifts and she made some for us. In later years, when Nanny was an invalid, Susie became her companion.

It was years before we children realized Susie was more than deeply tanned. One evening, we stayed overnight at her cozy home because all of Nanny’s guest rooms were filled with other relatives. Perhaps one of us children asked a question; perhaps Mother thought we’d see some family pictures; perhaps someone had made a remark.

Mother mentioned that Susie and her brother, who lived with her, were Negroes. Their parents had come to the community many years before; Susie and her brother had grown up there.

The fact that Susie was of a different race made no difference to us; she was still “our” Susie and a friend who was considered part of the family. So I never thought to ask her about her heritage and why her family came to settle in the small town where Trails End Farm was located.

I wonder now, if her parents or grandparents had any association with the Underground Railroad. Did quilts play a role in their escaping from the South? Since my prominent memory of Susie consisted of her chatting and laughing with Nanny and Auntie as we tied quilts, I wonder if they were part of her heritage.

When I research, reminisce, and write about the Trails End Quilters, Susie stands out as one of those ladies who contributed to my quilting and patchwork heritage.

(c)2006 Mary Emma Allen