Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

Continued research on the new acquisition quilts caused additional research on early English textile printing which supports earlier dates on certain printing milestones. The date of 1815 is cited frequently for designs on cotton with some complexity. However, I would argue the date should be earlier. In 1752 copper plate printing was developed in Ireland, and quickly spread to England. Prints from copper plates produce the finer details needed to create complex designs. Also of note, in 1774, parliament passed the “United Kingdom of the Realm Act” which required foreign cottons to be heavily taxed upon import into England. English printed cottons intended for export from England would be marked with “the three blue threads” and be refunded the tax in the colonies. If you have antique fabric with three blue threads in the selvedge, then...

Dr. Mason Crary name is inscribed Dr. M. Crary with an image of bloodletting tools. (It’s hard to unsee, once you see it and think of what it shows.) He was born in 1779 in Connecticut, from there the family moved to Albany, NY where he studied medicine. In 1804 he moved to Luzerne Co where he met the Nathan Beach family, the first white settlers in the area and married the daughter Desire. Nathan Beach, an attorney, was very influential in Pennsylvania serving in the legislature and various offices for the Susquehanna and Lehigh Canal as well as the turnpike. In 1814 Dr. Crary moved to Philadelphia where he practiced as a Dr. and sold his own medicine “Dr. Crary’s Anti-bilious Family Pills.” In 1824 he sold his practice to his assistant and returned to...

The Hyers are a reminder that the Machette coverlet (the earliest of this group) is less about fundraising and businesses, but more about family and neighbors. There are 10 Hyer family inscriptions, including William Jacob Hyer, who was the patriarch of the inscribers on the coverlet. William Hyer was born on December 11, 1765, in New Jersey and was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1789. He married Sarah Chambers in 1796. (Note there are six Chambers family inscriptions on this coverlet and one on the DAR Fish Album Quilt. In addition, Emma Fish did marry into the Chambers family.) In 1807 William Hyer was a clerk for the Supreme Court, a position he held for 4 years before being appointed the Clerk of the Court of Chancery by the Governor. He had his own...

Dr. Carolyn Ducy at the International Quilt Museum started the connections between some NSCA quilts by connecting the Emma Fish Album Quilt (Daughters of the American Revolution Museum), Emmeline Fish Album Quilt (International Quilt Museum), and the Fish/Perrine Album Quilt (Denver Art Museum). Through the Taylors and Machette/Vallettes we are showing connections to the Machette & Taylor Coverlet (Poos Collection), and the Machette/Vallette Album Coverlet (auction quilt.) Potentially the Sarah Flickwir Album Quilt (Philadelphia Museum of Art) is also connected through the Taylors, but we hope to be able to confirm that with an in-person research trip the end of May. Additionally, several of these families were connected through businesses. Benjamin Fish and Samuel Stryker were listed as managers of the Trenton Manufacturing Company in a June 22, 1836 Philadelphia Public Ledger article. Samuel Stryker and...

As we continue our research into the Northern Style Cut-out Applique Quilts (NSCA), we will examine the influence of the Machette/Vallettes family. Besides Hetty Coe Taylor, the other prominent inscription was Edwin Vallette Machette, possibly the groom in our working theory of an engagement coverlet and he married Hetty two years later. Mr. Edwin Vallette Machette was a hardware merchant in Philadelphia from 1847-1859 at Machette & Raiguel store which sold hardware and cutlery both foreign imported and domestic. In 1859, he and his partner sold all the goods of the store and E.V. Machette had no listed job in the business directory. However, E.V. Machette was involved in Whig politics, served on the Common Council, and a cemetery board. In his obituary he preferred to be known as a “leading life insurance agent” a position...