There are so many ways to look at quilts. Most people first notice size, patterns, colors, fabrics, construction, quality, materials, etc. When the quilts also contain inscriptions, they offer a path to exploring additional perspectives on the lives and times of the people whose names are inscribed.
In the case of the "Apple Pie Ridge Star Friendship Quilt," we might most accurately describe it as a post-Quaker quilt, since the people whose names were inscribed on it were no longer active members of the Religious Society of Friends at the time the quilt was made. Looking more closely at their lives and the lives of their families, however, leads to some illuminating details of mid-nineteenth-century Quaker practices, as well as a fascinating story of hidden gold.
"Apple Pie Ridge Star Friendship Quilt," 1853. Courtesy of the
Warren Heritage Society / Laura Virginia Hale Archives, Front Royal, Virginia.
As we learned in my previous post of July 15, 2026, this splendid 1853 Friendship Quilt was donated to the Warren Heritage Society in Front Royal, Virginia. The pattern, which is known by many other names, was first identified as an, "Apple Pie Ridge Star," by T. Janney Wilson when he was showing a different quilt to his cousin. Mr. Wilson pointed to a corner of what is now known as the Hollingsworth Family Quilt, dated 1858, and declared, "My grandmother called that an, "Apple Pie Ridge Star."
Hollingsworth Family Quilt, detail, dated 1858.
Collection of the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society.
Also known as a Snowflake, True Lover's Knot, Kansas Pattern, Lobster Variation and Guadalupe's Dance, the pattern name, "Apple Pie Ridge Star," first appeared in an article for the magazine, Traditional Quilter, in 1998. Since then, I have collected images and data related to over sixty-five quilts that include the pattern. However, up until now, I was aware of just five historical Quaker quilts whose makers were strongly connected to the area of Apple Pie Ridge in Frederick County, Virginia. Those quilts all have overlapping, inscribed identities and the quilts have one or more so-called, "Apple Pie Ridge Star" blocks.
When I learned about this "new" (old) quilt at the Warren Heritage Society, I did not imagine it could be so closely connected to other mid-nineteenth-century quilts made by Friends living and worshipping along the nine-mile stretch of road called, "Apple Pie Ridge." Luckily, there was some provenance in the Society's files.
The person who donated the quilt was a great-great-granddaughter of Mary Ann (Shumate) Jacobs (1811-1891). Notes indicated Mary Ann was the original owner of the quilt. It is most likely the quilt was given to her shortly after the her daughter Catherine was born in 1852. It was passed down directly from mother-to-daughter for four generations before it was donated.
The connection to Apple Pie Ridge -- the location from which we get the pattern name, "Apple Pie Ridge Star" -- is through Mary Ann's brother, Tilman, (sometimes spelled, "Tighlman"), Shumate. Tilman was married to quilt-inscribed identity Eliza (Brown) Shumate. The name of Eliza's aunt, Margaret (Brown) Swayne is also inscribed on the quilt: Margaret was married in 1809 in a meetinghouse on Apple Pie Ridge. (See this blog's post of July 15, 2026.)
Apple Pie Ridge Star Friendship Quilt, detail, block inscribed, "Eliza Shumate."
Collection of Warren Heritage Society / Laura Hale Archives,
Front Royal, Virginia.
Eliza (Brown) Shumate (1816-1877) was the daughter of William Hunt and Martha Rees Brown. They were members of Hopewell Meeting in Frederick County, Virginia. In 1839, the Meeting was informed that, "Willian H. Brown has given his consent for his daughter Eliza to accomplish her marriage contrary to discipline, and made entertainment on the occasion, and further that he has hired a slave." William already had a spotty history with Friends: he had been disowned in 1818 for refusing to fulfill a contract, but was reinstated by his Quarterly Meeting. He was disowned again in 1839 for the above-stated transgressions.
Eliza Shumate, 69-1626 wfchs, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives,
Handley Regional Library, Winchester, Virginia.
Eliza herself was officially disowned in 1839 for her contrary-to-discipline marriage. Her husband, Tilman Shumate, died in 1847 and is buried in the Shumate Family Cemetery in Warren County, Virginia. By 1850, Eliza was living with their four children ages five, seven, nine and twelve in Winchester, Virginia. None of her four children ever married. When Eliza died in 1877 that might have been the end of her story if it weren't for an obituary of her daughter, Martha, When she died in 1924, a fascinating glimpse into the life of the family was revealed.
"GUARD SPINSTER'S GOLD-PACKED HOME
Authorities Protect Fortune Crammed in Nooks and Crannies Before Death.
By the Associated Press.
WINCHESTER, Va., October 22 [1924]
Authorities Protect Fortune Crammed in Nooks and Crannies Before Death.
By the Associated Press.
WINCHESTER, Va., October 22 [1924]
A bonded caretaker guards the residence property here of Miss Martha Shumate, wealthy spinster, who died last week, following the discovery of a hoarded fortune stuffed and crammed in nearly every nook and cranny of the house.
The guard was established when crowds of persons lured by the reports of hidden treasure threatened to overrun the premises. Bank officials today admitted that the rich woman had drawn several thousand dollars from her account recently to distribute in modest bequests among her friends. It also became known that hardly a receptacle in the house has failed to give up money. Clocks, picture frames, covered plates and cracks and crevices poured out old gold and bank notes. Much of the gold coin is said to be of ancient vintage, many pieces from the California mint, coined while the gold rush was at its height, will command premiums.
Last of Old Family
Miss Shumate was the last of her line, a prominent Frederick County family that had conserved riches through a whole century. It appears that she did not complete the work of writing her will for a document has been found in which only one bequest is made, and that for only a small portion of her holdings.
No mention was made of the disposition of enormous bank stock holdings, bank accounts, farms and city property, all of which her bank here, named as administrator, lists among her possessions.
Near and distant cousins will benefit in the Shumate riches after their appraisal by court orders, it was declared."
The guard was established when crowds of persons lured by the reports of hidden treasure threatened to overrun the premises. Bank officials today admitted that the rich woman had drawn several thousand dollars from her account recently to distribute in modest bequests among her friends. It also became known that hardly a receptacle in the house has failed to give up money. Clocks, picture frames, covered plates and cracks and crevices poured out old gold and bank notes. Much of the gold coin is said to be of ancient vintage, many pieces from the California mint, coined while the gold rush was at its height, will command premiums.
Last of Old Family
Miss Shumate was the last of her line, a prominent Frederick County family that had conserved riches through a whole century. It appears that she did not complete the work of writing her will for a document has been found in which only one bequest is made, and that for only a small portion of her holdings.
No mention was made of the disposition of enormous bank stock holdings, bank accounts, farms and city property, all of which her bank here, named as administrator, lists among her possessions.
Near and distant cousins will benefit in the Shumate riches after their appraisal by court orders, it was declared."
It is hard not to imagine widow Eliza and her four children hoarding treasure for all of their years, only to have it disbursed by a bank. We don't know which bank but it is interesting to note that Eliza's only son, Tilman Shumate Jr., worked as a cashier at the Shenandoah Valley National Bank up until a few days before his death at the age of thirty-seven, in 1883. One also wonders how many "near and distant cousins" benefitted, and if their descendants know this story.
As far as I can tell, the house where the gold was found is long gone and is now the site of a church. The "last of her line," Martha Shumate, (1843-1924) is buried, as are her mother and siblings, in Mount Hebron Cemetery, Winchester, Virginia.
If it were not for the name, "Eliza Shumate," being inscribed on a quilt, this tale would have remained as hidden as the family's treasure once was.
NOTES & SOURCES:
For the first published documentation of the name "Apple Pie Ridge Star," see: Janney Lupton, "Hollingsworth Revisited: A Labor of Love," Traditional Quilter, November 1998.
Quaker Meeting Records, Newspaper Obituaries, U.S. Census Records, Find-a-Grave website, accessed through Ancestry.com.
Handley Regional Library, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Winchester, Virginia.
Thank you to the Warren Heritage Society and Lee Meadows, Liz Rishel and Hannah Fletcher-Perez for sharing this quilt with me, and for granting permission to publish.
Thank you also to Cissy Shull and Sherry Jenkins at the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society for years of sharing the Hollingsworth Family Quilt.
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