Quilt No.905CFM - Carbethan Folk Museum

Carbethan Folk Museum
Owner: 
Carbethan Folk Museum
Location: 
QLD South West
Maker
Maker: 
Ellen Smith
Made in
AUSTRALIA SA
Date: 
1881 - 1900
Description: 
Patchwork quilt in a variation of Log Cabin. The materials are cotton and cotton velveteen. The backing is twill cotton ticking. There is no padding.
1499 x 1169mm.
History: 

Ellen Smith made the quilt at Nairne South Australia probably about the turn of the century. The family moved from Nairne to Crows Nest in Queensland. Fred Smith, Ellen's son, went to SA to visit his family and brought the quilt back in the 1930s. Fred gave it to his daughter Beryl Deeth (Smith) who donated it to the Carbethan Folk Museum at Crows Nest Queensland.

Story: 

"Ellen [Haines] arrived from England on her 17th birthday, the 8th May 1850, on the 'Lysander'. She later married the bullock driver who transported her from port Adelaide to her brother (Perc)'s place at Nairne. They arrived at 2 a.m. in the morning and Ellen's sister in law just moved over in her bed to make room for her that night. She and Mr Hillman [her first husband] had a son who died, and is buried near the forked gum tree in Nairn cemeteery and Mr. Hillman also died from injuries received in an accident, and is buried in the Hillman vault in Nainre cemetery." [Extract Geneology of John Smith by Dawn Foote]
Edis Smith was born in 1827 in England and arrived at Port Adelaide on the 'Star Queen' in 1854. He and Ellen Hillman were married in 1857 and they had twelve children: Emily, Mary Sophia, Rebecca, Zilla, Frederick, Rosina, Hephzibah, Elizabeth Amy, Isabella Annie, Albert Edis, Martha, Herbert Edis. It is said Ellen made a quilt for each daughter.
Ellen was a deeply pious woman and with Edis (a lay preacher for 50 years) helped build the Nairne Wesleyan Church. She died in 1916 aged 83. [Source of information, geneology of John Smith]

Edis and Ellen Smith
Edis and Ellen Smith

Related Quilts:

Jillian Towers
Hand pieced patchwork quilt with blue and black checkerboard central frame surrounded by 4 borders of irregular sized rectangles. Mainly dress materials with possibly some furnishing material. It is not quilted or tied. The backing is a large rectangular red check table cloth with 3 borders of irregular shaped pieces down 2 sides and 1 border down 2 sides. There is no padding.
1860 x 1730mm
Thelma Lithgow
Repeat block quilt top based on hexagons, each 350 mm diameter. Six hexagons and a centre one make a 'flower' and these are set in rows against a plain calico background. Patterned cotton fabrics are used for the hexagons, small prints, fine stripes and tiny flowers. As it is a quilt top only, there is no lining or padding. 2100 x 1800 mm
Mary Elizabeth (Beth) Burnett
Tumbling Block quilt made from pure silk ribbons, patterned and plain. The quilt edge follows the block shapes. The backing is polished cotton printed with flowers.
2743 x 2439mm
Nancy Dunlap
Repeat block in wedding ring pattern. All cottons with cream background and mainly pale mauve and green dressmaking prints in wedding rings. Green border and cream calico backing. The padding is cotton. 1800 x 210mm.
National Trust of Australia (NSW)
Handsewn quilt of hexagon patches in cotton prints in 'Grandmother's Flower Garden' pattern. Each flower consists of double rows of print hexagons around a yellow centre and these are joined by 'paths' in plain green and white cotton. Backing is green cotton and there is a wool padding. There is outline quilting around all green and white hexagons and centre and first row of hexagons in flowers.
1885 x 1750mm
Historical Society of Cockburn
Handmade quilt in off centre log cabin pattern. Pieces are floral furnishing and dress fabrics, in twenty blocks. There is no padding, and backing is of bright floral cotton. 1900 x 1500 mm.