The Cather-Robinson Quilt, d. 1848

The Cather-Robinson Quilt, dated 1848, is one of several Signature Album Quilts made and inscribed by mid-nineteenth-century Quakers who resided in the Back Creek Valley district of Winchester, Virginia. The quilt first came to the attention of contemporary Cather and quilt scholars in 1997, when it was brought to the Seventh International Willa Cather Seminar in Winchester, Virginia, by a descendant of the quilt's makers. Owned for many years by the Willa Cather Institute of Shenandoah University, its ownership is in the process of being transferred to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.

Cather-Robinson Quilt, dated 1848. Photographed May 2017.

Measuring 101.5 x 88 inches, the quilt has thirty-six blocks and is set en point. Many of the blocks are inscribed with still-decipherable names and dates in ink, stamps, or embroidery. Significantly, the quilt is tied to the famous American author, Willa Cather, through the inscribed identities of her grandparents' cousins, as well as by her fictional depiction of the real community in which the quilt was made. Cather was born in Frederick County, Virginia, where she lived as a child for nine years before her family migrated west to Nebraska.

Frederick County, Virginia, birthplace of Willa Cather, photographed June 2017.

Willa Cather is famous for novels such as, O Pioneers! and My Antonia, but she set her twelfth and last novel, Sapphira and the Slave Girl, in the exact, nineteenth-century locale where residents made the Cather-Robinson Quilt. It is said that she based her last novel on tales she most likely heard at the knee of a former family-owned slave, Matilda Jefferson. Jefferson became the prototype for the novel's character, "Aunt Till." There is a great deal of such fascinating research and analysis published in the Willa Cather Scholarly Edition of Sapphira and the Slave Girl, with Historical Essay and Explanatory Notes by Ann Romines. (Romines 313).

As with all Signature Album Quilts, every inscription provides an opportunity to explore the lives of historical quilt makers and inscribed identities. Sometimes, signatures can be attributed to the writer through comparison to other documents that contain signatures. At other times, it is less clear if a name is an autograph or an allograph (defined by the British as a signature written by someone on behalf of another). Either way, when explored in context of time and place, a mere name can lead to interesting stories.

One such name to appear on the Cather-Robinson Quilt is "Andrew A. Robinson," which is stamped inside of a stenciled cartouche. Like other Friends, Andrew A. Robinson held pacifist ideals. A noncombatant during the Civil War, he took a Union stance, and he spent time in a prisoner of war camp. (Cartmell 473).

Cather-Robinson Quilt, detail of block stamped, "Andrew A. Robinson."

The block below is initialed, "A.J.C.," in embroidered cross-stitches. Following extensive research, our best speculation is that the initials represented Adaline Jemima Cather (married name, Purcell).

Cather-Robinson Quilt, detail.

There is a wonderful photograph of Adaline with her sister, Sidney S. Cather (married name, Gore) in the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives of Handley Regional Library that you can see here:

https://handley.pastperfectonline.com/photo/C4DCD867-707B-4909-A1FD-923548660900

The photograph has an estimated date of c. 1848, which is the date found inscribed on the Cather-Robinson Quilt.  We also know that Sidney made quilts. Excitingly, this shows what the makers of mid-nineteenth-century Virginia quilts looked like, how they wore their hair, and what they wore.

Yet another block is inscribed, "Sarah Ann Fenton." Her name appears on a list of students who attended Samuel M. Janney's Springdale Boarding School for Girls in Loudoun County, Virginia. Samul M. Janney is well known to Quaker historians for many things, including his strong anti-slavery stance. Perhaps most relevant to Sarah Ann's participation in a quilt project: needlework was part of the Springdale's curriculum. Sarah Ann Fenton (1832-1873) married Joseph Robinson (1825-1901). They had four children.

Sarah Ann Fenton, (1832-1873), Photograph courtesy of Barbara Harner Suhay. 

Back of Sarah Ann Fenton photograph. Courtesy of Barbara Harner Suhay. 

The back of Sarah Ann's photograph is inscribed, "For Wm & P. Tate." William Tate was another Loudoun County Quaker known for his anti-slavery sentiments and activities. The inscribed name of his first wife, Priscilla (Fenton) Tate, also appears on one of the blocks of the Cather-Robinson Quilt.

Cather-Robinson Quilt, detail of block inscribed, "Priscilla Tate."

Through exploration of its inscribed identities, as well as in view of Willa Cather's last novel, this post just brushes the surface of the Cather-Robinson Quilt's representation of a fascinating mid-nineteenth-century Quaker community.

Notes and Sources:

All text and photographs on this site are by Mary Holton Robare unless otherwise noted. All Rights Reserved. ©Mary Holton Robare 2019.

Special thanks to John Jacobs, formerly of the Willa Cather Institute of Shenandoah University; Nick Powers, Curator of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley; and Ann Romines for so generously sharing about this quilt. Thank you also to Barbara Harner Suhay for sharing the photograph of Sarah Ann Fenton.

Note: While Willa Cather had ancestors of various denominations, just a few of her ancestors were documented as members of the Religious Society of Friends.

Cartmell, Thomas Kemp. Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants: A History of Frederick County, Virginia. Winchester, Virginia: The Eddy Press Corporation, 1909.

Romines, Ann, ed. Willa Cather's Southern Connections: New Essays on Cather and the South. Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 2000.

____, Historical Essays and Explanatory Notes, Mignon, Charles W., Ronning, Karl A. and Link, Frederick M., Textual Essay and Editing. Willa Cather Scholarly Edition: Sapphira and the Slave Girl. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2009.

____, "Willa Cather: A Life with Quilts," in Stout, Janis P. Willa Cather & Material Culture. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 2005, pps. 15-36.