Wednesday, October 21, 2020

 The Miracle Quilt

As a child, I have vivid memories of my mother, Ida Stevens Clemens, and her mother, Bertha Agnes Gearheart Stevens as they pieced squares and triangles together making quilt tops.  I believe the fabrics were those that had been worn as clothing and still had a bit of a life in them.
Mawmaw would live with us every winter.  My parents and I would make the trip from Ohio to Kentucky in October to pick her up and bring her up north.  Mom was always afraid that her mother would take a tumble while going out to pick a bucket of coal for the stove.  One year she did fall, and broke her arm in the process.  But, as soon as the weather would be clear enough to go back home, we took her.  She was anxious to get back for “plantin’ time”.
Mawmaw passed on.  Then, my mother passed on.  One day, while at my father’s home, we were going through an old steamer trunk that had been in the family for years.  I pulled out quilt after quilt, as well as four quilt tops.  I mentioned to dad that I would be happy to take them home and repair, clean and preserve them.  He thought about it, but said my three sisters would probably be jealous.  I did talk him into letting me take the four quilt tops, promising that I would someday make them into quilts for my sisters and myself.
Just two months later, my dad went to Kentucky to visit relatives.  When he came home, the only thing standing was his front door and the front wall of his home.  Lightning had struck the house and burned it to the ground while he was gone.  My sisters and I helped him go through the rubble, trying to salvage anything we could.  The only thing that remained intact was the genealogy, the pictures, and a drawer with his underwear in it.  Those items smelled of smoke and had a bit of water damage, but were mostly in good condition.
Through years of raising my own family, the quilt tops were forgotten.  They remained in a black garbage back in my attic.  But, one year I rediscovered them and decided it was time to make them into what they were intended to be – beautiful quilts.
The fabrics were old and mismatched, but through the help of a friend and her quilting machine, we began to work on them to get them quilted.  I thought of how each one was so different and decided which of my sisters would get the finished one. 
All except for one.  I couldn’t find it anywhere!
I tore the house apart.  I promised a reward to any of my children that could find it.  I cried.  I prayed.  I was desperate. 
The impression came to look in the back of my van, for I had loaded up a number of items to take to the thrift shop.  Sure enough, as I reached through the clothes to the bottom of the bag, I could feel the familiar stitches my mother and grandmother had made some forty years before on material that was even older than that. 
The quilts were finished and given to my sisters for Christmas that year.  They were absolutely dumbfounded, for they had all assumed that everything had been destroyed in the fire.  I can still remember their voices as they exclaimed over the fabrics, remembering a dress, or a tie, or an apron, etc. that brought back a flood of memories.
I am saddened for the quilts that were lost in the fire, but am so grateful for the quilt tops that I brought home that enabled me to give one final present from Mom and Mawmaw to each of us granddaughters.
Fern, Jean, Betty, and Peggy

Monday, October 5, 2020

Because of those obituaries and funeral cards

 During the 2020 pandemic, it has actually been a blessing to have some time on my hands to get some much needed backlog work done. One of those items has been nagging me in the back of my mind for several years.

A box filled with obituaries and funeral cards given to me by my Aunt Betty Jones Stevens. Aunt Betty was married to my mom's youngest brother Richard.

Aunt Betty Jones Stevens b1936 d2017

Aunt Betty knew that all of us girls were interested in that "genealogy stuff", and that the majority of our family members from the mid-1800s until now lived in parts of eastern Kentucky. 


Richard Stevens b1931 d2015

Her husband, my Uncle Dick knew everybody in the county, and if he didn't know them, he knew their brother. His knowledge reached to the surrounding counties, too. In his later years, he went to every funeral he could to console the grieving and pick up a funeral card for us. He also took a fork with him and kept it in his pocket, just in case there was an invitation for the funeral meal. There usually was.

The box of obituaries and funeral cards that Aunt Betty collected for us during the years.

These funeral cards have sat on a shelf in my office for several years - probably pre-2016. The few I saw on top I knew I already had in my possession, for I had likely attended the funeral or had inherited them from my parents.

But, she collected them all, recalling some of the surnames she had heard us mention through the years.

About a month ago I began to photograph and/or scan these items into a folder of "Misc. Families" on my computer. It was then that I thought that I could and should do something more with them.

So, enter FamilySearch.org.

One by one I began to look them up. First, I checked my own database. Second, I began to look on FamilySearch. Under the Memories section, I uploaded the scans to Documents.

That's all that I did. I didn't enter information. I didn't tag anyone. 

I simply uploaded the scans for their family to find someday.

Here is an example of one of them. I am not related to this man - but, someone is.






I absolutely love the information that has been included on this tiny funeral card, and have rethought what may be included on the ones Kerry and I will design for our own funerals. Just look at all of that information on the centerfold!

I also uploaded obituaries and funeral cards I had collected from family, personal friends, church friends, and friends through Boy Scouts. Again, I add no information other than the scan.

So, as of this morning I have added nearly 300 obituaries, and still have half a box that I need to work on. I am keeping the ones who are family members and throwing the rest away.

Out of all of those people, there have only been two I haven't been able to find on FamilySearch. 

So, rather than sit around and wring my hands over a virus I can't do anything about, I have put my time to good use. And perhaps there will be someone, someday who will be glad that I uploaded those scans.